Jack London District, Oakland, California

Last updated
Jack London District
Oakland Ferry at Jack London.JPG
The Oakland Ferry Terminal at the north end of Jack London Square
Location map Oakland.png
Red pog.svg
Jack London District
Location within Oakland
Coordinates: 37°47′41″N122°16′38″W / 37.794742°N 122.27715°W / 37.794742; -122.27715
Country United States
State California
County Alameda
City Oakland

The Jack London District, also called the Loft District, is a neighborhood of Oakland, California, USA, that occupies the region south of the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880) along The Embarcadero, between Adeline and Lake Merritt Channel. It includes and surrounds the Jack London Square shopping and tourist area, as well as the Warehouse District north of the Oakland Amtrak Station. The area has a long history of industrial and warehouse land use. Since the late 1990s, the area has seen residential redevelopment.[ citation needed ]

Contents

History

The district developed early in Oakland's history as a warehouse and industrial district due to its proximity to major transportation: Broadway, Oakland's main street; the Transcontinental Railroad main line along Seventh Street (leading to the immense Oakland Long Wharf); two passenger depots of the Central Pacific Railroad (later, Southern Pacific), located at Seventh and Broadway and First and Broadway; the Key System streetcar line along Broadway; the Oakland Estuary (early referred to as the "Creek"); a bridge, later replaced by underwater tubes to adjacent Alameda; and lastly, a public highway using city streets, connecting to points east and south, replaced in the 1950s by Nimitz Freeway, (Interstate 880).

Nearby rail and Oakland's geographic centrality led to early industrial and warehouse development, which quickly spread northwest and southeast, largely along the rail corridors. Rail lines once ran directly alongside warehouse buildings along second, third, and fourth streets, so that freight could be loaded directly from box cars to and from the warehouses. Track is still visible in some areas along the public right of way, many of which lack sidewalks and are currently used to park and store private cars.

Today

Jack London's replica 19th-century cabin reconstructed in Jack London Square with some of the original logs from its former location in the Klondike. OAK JackLondonSquare 20150923.jpg
Jack London's replica 19th-century cabin reconstructed in Jack London Square with some of the original logs from its former location in the Klondike.

The Jack London District encompasses more than 70 blocks and a significant stretch of the Oakland waterfront which had been a prime development project for Oakland's mayor, Jerry Brown. Prior to 2000, housing mainly consisted of the Portbello condominiums (dating from the mid-1970s) and several reused warehouse buildings including the Fourth Street Lofts, the Tower Lofts, the Brick House Lofts, the Pocket Lofts, the Portico Lofts and the Phoenix Lofts. Since 2000, over one thousand new units of housing have been built in the area including The Sierra, the New Market Lofts, the Allegro Condominiums, The Landings, The Ellington, 288 Third, 428 Alice, AquaVia, The Bond and 200 Second Street. A neighborhood association in the district, The Jack London Improvement District advocates for the interests of the residents and commercial users of the District. [2]

The district includes Jack London Square, one of Oakland's largest tourist attractions, which is an area of retail and office buildings that reside on the former heart of Oakland's port operations. With the advent of containerized shipping the Port of Oakland and most of its operations has moved up the Estuary helping Jack London Square open up to the retail shops and restaurants it now houses, including Yoshi's jazz club. [3]

In 2015, many formerly closed stores were being reutilized as restaurants and entertainment centers. The Barnes & Noble building, the anchor tenant that had closed in 2010, reopened as the Plank entertainment center/restaurant.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emeryville, California</span> City in California, United States

Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 as of 2020. Its proximity to San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the University of California, Berkeley, and Silicon Valley has been a catalyst for recent economic growth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 880 (California)</span> Interstate highway in California

Interstate 880 (I-880) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It runs from I-280 and State Route 17 (SR 17) in San Jose to I-80 and I-580 in Oakland, running parallel to the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. For most of its route, I-880 is officially known as the Nimitz Freeway, after World War II fleet admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who retired to the Bay Area. The northernmost five miles (8.0 km) is also commonly referred to as the Cypress Freeway, after the former alignment of the freeway and its subsequent replacement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 580 (California)</span> Interstate highway in California

Interstate 580 (I-580) is an approximately 76-mile-long (122 km) east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in Northern California. The heavily traveled spur route of I-80 runs from US Route 101 (US 101) in San Rafael in the San Francisco Bay Area to I-5 at a point outside the southern city limits of Tracy in the Central Valley. I-580 forms a concurrency with I-80 between Albany and Oakland, the latter of which is the location of the MacArthur Maze interchange immediately east of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. I-580 provides a connection from the Bay Area to the southern San Joaquin Valley and Southern California via I-5, as I-5 bypasses the Bay Area to the east.

The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significant urban renewal since the mid-1980s when it was reclassified as mixed use from industrial, including the arrival of artists, the removal of a viaduct and construction of the Portland Streetcar. It now consists of industrial building conversion to offices, high-rise condominiums and warehouse-to-loft conversions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack London Square</span> Neighborhood of Oakland in Alameda, California, US

Jack London Square is an entertainment and business destination on the waterfront of Oakland, California, United States. Named after the author Jack London and owned by the Port of Oakland, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels, Amtrak's Jack London Square station, a San Francisco Bay Ferry ferry dock, the historic Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon, the (re-located) cabin where Jack London lived in the Klondike, and a movie theater. A farmer's market is hosted among the retail shops on Sunday mornings. The former presidential yacht USS Potomac is moored at an adjacent slip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Loop, Minneapolis</span> Neighborhood in Hennepin, Minnesota, United States

The North Loop is a neighborhood in the Central community of Minneapolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacArthur Maze</span> Freeway interchange in California

The MacArthur Maze is a large freeway interchange in Oakland, California. It splits traffic coming off the east end of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge into three freeways: the Eastshore (I-80/I-580), MacArthur (I-580) and Nimitz (I-880).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinatown, Oakland, California</span> Neighborhood of Oakland in Alameda, California, United States

The Chinatown neighborhood in Oakland, California, is traditionally Chinese which reflects Oakland's diverse Chinese American, and more broadly Asian American community. It is frequently referred to as "Oakland Chinatown" in order to distinguish it from nearby San Francisco's Chinatown. It lies at an elevation of 39 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Oakland, Oakland, California</span> Neighbourhood in Oakland, California

West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland, California, United States, situated west of Downtown Oakland, south of Emeryville, and north of Alameda. The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the Port of Oakland and at the eastern end of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. It lies at an elevation of 13 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruitvale, Oakland, California</span> Neighborhood of Oakland in Alameda, California, United States

Fruitvale is a neighborhood in Oakland, California, United States. It is located approximately 4 miles (6.44 km) southeast of Downtown, and is home to the city's largest Hispanic population, with Hispanics constituting 53.8% of Fruitvale's population. Fruitvale's ZIP code is 94601. It lies at an elevation of 49 feet.

Oakland City Center is an office, shopping and hotel complex in Downtown Oakland, Oakland, California. The complex is the product of a redevelopment project begun in the late 1950s. It covers twelve city blocks between Broadway on the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Way on the west, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza on 14th Street on the north side of the complex and the Oakland Convention Center and Marriott Hotel extend south to 10th Street. An hourly parking garage is located beneath the complex's shopping mall. The mall features an upscale fitness and racquet club, in addition to numerous take-out restaurants and other stores. The complex is served by the 12th Street/Oakland City Center BART station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Oakland</span>

Old Oakland is a historic district in downtown Oakland, California. The area is located on the northwest side of Broadway, between the City Center complex and the Jack London Square district, and across Broadway from Chinatown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cypress Street Viaduct</span> Interchange in California

The Cypress Street Viaduct, often referred to as the Cypress Structure or the Cypress Freeway, was a 1.6-mile-long (2.5 km), raised two-deck, multi-lane freeway constructed of reinforced concrete that was originally part of the Nimitz Freeway in Oakland, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakland Estuary</span> Strait between Alameda Island and the mainland coast of California, United States

The Oakland Estuary is the strait in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, separating the cities of Oakland and Alameda and the Alameda Island from the East Bay mainland. On its western end, it connects to San Francisco Bay proper, while its eastern end connects to San Leandro Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cityscape of Lexington, Kentucky</span> Architecture and urbanism in Lexington, Kentucky (USA)

The urban development patterns of Lexington, Kentucky, confined within an urban growth boundary protecting its famed horse farms, include greenbelts and expanses of land between it and the surrounding towns. This has been done to preserve the region's horse farms and the unique Bluegrass landscape, which bring millions of dollars to the city through the horse industry and tourism. Urban growth is also tightly restricted in the adjacent counties, with the exception of Jessamine County, with development only allowed inside existing city limits. In order to prevent rural subdivisions and large homes on expansive lots from consuming the Bluegrass landscape, Fayette and all surrounding counties have minimum lot size requirements, which range from 10 acres (40,000 m2) in Jessamine to fifty in Fayette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Oakland</span> Central business district of Oakland, California

Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States. It is located roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lake Merritt on the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old City, Knoxville</span> United States historic place

The Old City is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, located at the northeast corner of the city's downtown area. Originally part of a raucous and vice-ridden section of town known as "The Bowery," the Old City has since been revitalized through extensive redevelopment efforts carried out during the 1980s through the present. Currently, the Old City is an offbeat urban neighborhood, home to several unique restaurants, bars, clubs, and shops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uptown Oakland</span> Neighborhood of Oakland in Alameda, California, United States

Uptown Oakland is a neighborhood in Oakland, California, located in the northern end of Downtown. It is located roughly between West Grand Avenue to the north, Interstate 980 to the west, City Center and 14th Street to the south, and Broadway to the east. The neighborhood has become an important entertainment district in recent years.

Oakland's Civic Center neighborhood is a residential and public building district on the east side of Oakland's Central Business District. Its borders are roughly Downtown and Harrison Street to the west, the East Lake Neighborhood and Lakeshore Avenue to the east, the Lakeside Apartments District and 14th Street to the North, and Chinatown and 11th Street to the South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Park (Downtown Los Angeles)</span> Neighborhood in County of Los Angeles, California, United States

South Park is a commercial district in southwestern Downtown Los Angeles, California. It is the location of the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Crypto.com Arena, and the "L.A. Live" entertainment complex.

References

  1. Spotswood, Ken (5 December 2016). "History of Jack London's Cabin" (PDF). Dawson City, Yukon: Jack London Museum, Klondike Visitors Association.
  2. "Home". jacklondonoakland.org.
  3. Francine Brevetti (23 October 2007). "Oakland's Jack London Market moves closer to reality". The Oakland Tribune. Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 13 February 2010.

37°47′41″N122°16′38″W / 37.794742°N 122.27715°W / 37.794742; -122.27715