Claremont Avenue Walking Tour
Created for GEOG C160 - American Landscapes at UC Berkeley, this walking tour encourages visitors to critically engage with the surrounding physical landscape and to read between the lines of the urban environment to find deeper meaning in the streets, sidewalks, and buildings in the neighborhood. Photographs, Map, and narrative by Andy Gagliardi.
An aerial view of the shopping district along Claremont Avenue in Oakland, CA. Apple Maps, 2022.
Map of the walking tour route.
Stop 1 - Claremont Ave & Webster St Bus Stop
Look around. From here you can see—almost exclusively—residential buildings. Up on the hill, you can see single-family homes. Across the street, you can see multi-unit dwellings, but right on the block you’re standing on there’s a chain-link fence, some trees, and a sign, forbidding trespassing and loitering right next to a bus stop. What could be behind this? Who has the power to declare such valuable land impassable and unusable for housing?
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Stepping back, we can see a large corrugated roof covering some sort of low structure, which we can guess to be a water reservoir. Water is, of course, an essential service and a human need, but why is the reservoir here? Perhaps it tells us that the land was available at a time when it was cheaper to purchase and was built many years ago. Perhaps it tells us that this area used to be less desirable or more remote from other settlements and given its distance from downtown Berkeley in downtown Oakland, this seems plausible. It is also uphill from downtowns, and that would allow for natural water pressure to build up as water flows downward toward buildings at lower elevations. Consider how such an abrupt block of land in the midst of a residential area impacts those who live in the area, and how it impacts passengers waiting at this bus stop.
Stop 2 - Cross Claremont Ave at Webster St
Of course, be careful not to be struck by a fast-moving car on this arterial road as we cross this crosswalk which has no pedestrian protection beyond the common courtesy of the driver. Pay attention to the width of the street. Four total travel lanes in each direction and two total parking lanes. This street is much wider than surrounding neighborhood roads, especially Webster Street which is blocked off from auto traffic entering from Claremont. Why might Webster be blocked off? What happens to Webster Street because of that? Auto traffic is directed to Claremont Avenue as a thoroughfare, while Webster Street is allowed to be free from large volumes of car traffic, making it safer for pedestrian and bicycle use of the street.
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Wide streets in the East Bay were historically wide because they held street cars, and we can assume that Claremont Ave once had trolleys running in the street, trolleys which are no more. Today, the road is served by two bus lines, one which runs all day frequent service and one which carries commuters into Downtown San Francisco. The legacy is a wide street, which has been repurposed as an auto thoroughfare, and today, The City of Berkeley’s decision to keep fast moving cars off of smaller streets, represents Berkeley’s commitment to pedestrian safety and the deliberate act of making most of Berkeley’s streets quieter and less auto-oriented.
Stop 3 - Oakvale Ave and Claremont Ave
Look to the northside of Claremont Avenue and pay attention to the layout of the houses relative to the street. They are angled, and do not directly face Claremont Avenue. Why might this be? Turn around and look down Oakville Avenue and observe that the houses on the southern side of Claremont Avenue do directly face Claremont Avenue. Why might this be?
In a city which was developed through privatization of land development, tracts of property were purchased and built incrementally and without a centralized authority. We can deduce that the developer of the southern side of Claremont Avenue wanted to orient their properties and their street grid perpendicular to Claremont Avenue, and we can deduce that a different property developer was obeying a different street grid axis when developing the northside of Claremont Avenue. Here, the streets which intersect the north side of Claremont Avenue perpendicularly intersect College Avenue, indicating that the developer may have used College Avenue as their primary axis rather than Claremont Avenue.
Stop 4 - 3006 and 3008 Claremont Ave
Now, we are going to zoom in to building material and specific structures. 3006 Claremont is made of wood shingles and is angled with College Avenue rather than Claremont. 3008 has a front façade which faces Claremont Avenue and is made out of stucco for its exterior. 3008 fills the entire footprint of the lot nearly, and 3006 is setback significantly, creating a large yard, which is fenced off, and closing the sidewalk.
We can imagine that these buildings were built at different times, and for different purposes. 3008 is part of a multi-unit dwelling, 3006 is a large detached single-family home. It’s likely that 3008 was developed to fill in an empty lot, especially considering that the lot is much smaller than surrounding lots on this block. Ponder which type of land-use and housing development generates a more pleasant pedestrian experience. A building right up against the sidewalk with a small but visible yard and street trees, or a tall fence with trees, extending over the street, and no visible yard?
Stop 5 - Claremont Ave and Prince St
We are entering a small commercial district which is directly adjacent to detached single-family homes. These two types of land use are typically separated by miles of arterial road in more recently developed areas, but here they are directly adjacent. Pay attention to the architecture of the nearby houses we can see from this corner. We can see stucco, wood, shingles, houses, craftsman buildings, and even some craftsman with tutor influence. Turn now to 3032 and notice the façade of the building. Notice the tile, the ornament, the tile roof, the overhanging lights, the curved windows, and the large glass of the showroom windows.
These are all building styles, which date two nearly 100 years ago, when this neighborhood was built out. These houses are closer together, which helps increase the population density of the area to levels generally higher than most suburban neighborhoods of detached family homes. Looking at the commercial building, we can see a level of detail in ornament not found in modern property development or architecture, indicating the age of the building. This is an old part of Berkeley, and its preservation indicates that this type of property continues to hold tremendous value. Art Deco elements are employed in this building, and a relatively unifying cornice line from this building extends down the street, maintaining a consistent height from the street as the road slopes downhill which we’ll examine in the next section.
Stop 6 - Shopping Corridor
Pay attention to the types of stores, which occupy this shopping district. Included in the row are a hair salon, a dry cleaner, multiple furniture, and import stores, a small grocery store, a real estate office, and a comic book store. Who might these stores be for? Who gets to come to them? There is a Safeway and several cafes within walking distance of this area, and yet there is still a grocery store and cafe right here.
We can deduce that this area serves primarily higher income people, given the nature of the stores. Many of them sell expensive, peripheral, and unnecessary items, though they are all wonderfully calibrated to provide a pleasant aesthetic experience to patrons and pedestrians. Crucially, these buildings do not have parking lots, and instead depend on pedestrians to be their patrons. Consider how this changes the patron’s experience with the shop, that instead of walking across a parking lot to access the stores the patron gets to walk under street trees and on a pleasant sidewalk to enter the stores. The space is small and cozy, qualities lost in most contemporary property development.
Stop 7 - Claremont Ave and The Uplands
Notice the pillars with lamps atop them with the signs telling us we are entering a street called uplands and leaving Claremont Avenue. Also, notice two shelters made of similar rock material and with Spanish style clay tiles. Notice that one of the shelters continues to be used as a bus stop, while the other does not appear to serve any immediate function beyond aesthetic symmetry. Who might have built these structures, and why did they do so?
This is, perhaps our strongest suggestion to the privately developed origins of the residential properties in this area. A developer seeking to create an entrance to the tract which they are turning into housing would want to create a grand entrance, even if said grand entrance does not control access as anyone can enter this neighborhood. We can guess that the shelter structures were built to serve the historic streetcar line, especially considering the development pattern of streetcar lines being privately built-in partnership with real estate developers away from city centers in the early 1900s.
Stop 8 - Woolsey Street in Claremont Avenue
Consider here that Woolsey Street intersects Claremont perpendicularly, but soon after it makes a jog to the left to be rectilinear with College Avenue as it approaches that intersection. What could this tell us? Also notice that Woolsey Street is not blocked off from auto traffic, unlike Webster St where we started our tour. Why might some streets have automobile traffic, and others not?
Decisions to allow auto access, and to revoke auto access can represent the modern-day city of Berkeley’s priorities, and we can perhaps understand Woolsey’s auto access to be deemed more important than Webster’s. Curiously, there is a sign indicating that Woolsey is a bike route, despite its seeming auto orientation. Ponder who a street should be for and how land in streets should be used. Perhaps this area was developed as a different tract by a developer who valued perpendicular intersections with both major arterial roads, rather than only one, or perhaps city planners had imposed more strict rules about street intersections and their street grid pattern when Woolsey was constructed.
Stop 9 - Hillcrest Rd, Brookside Drive, and Claremont Avenue
A sign within a hedge announces that Brookside Drive contains no outlet. The street intersects perpendicularly, and then begins a curve pattern. Houses along the street are made primarily of stucco, and no wood shingles can be found. Turn to observe the other side of the street where Hillcrest Avenue meets Claremont with a similar gate entrance using identical styling and materials. Looking down the road, you can barely see the commercial district thanks to the street trees and slope of the road. We have entered a residential area, and without the shops, the street feels less pedestrian safe. Notice that at this intersection there is only one sidewalk to cross Claremont Ave. What if a pedestrian wants to cross on the other side?
We can deduce that the gate at Hillcrest was built at the same time as the gate at The Uplands, possibly, even with stone from the same quarry to give a similar aesthetic to indicate entrance to a defined place within that property developer’s tract. This can be read as a deliberate attempt at place-making, at defining an ‘inside’ and an ‘outside’ of the housing tract. The lack of full crosswalks tells us that the traffic engineers prioritize the movement of cars over the movement of pedestrians on this thoroughfare. Though not a shocking lesson, ponder how this pedestrian space is different from the pedestrian space we encountered just one block up the street with the shops, and ponder how those differences alter your pedestrian experience.
Stop - 10 walk through Brookside Drive and Brookside Court
Noticed that the houses are very close together. Earlier on we saw properties with substantially large yards and considerable street setbacks, but here we see buildings spaced closely together. There is minimal auto traffic, and the only cars that travel through here belong to residents. Pay attention to the curb and sidewalks. Notice a sloping of the curb, and that the concrete poured appears relatively new. Also noticed sections where there are and are not sidewalks. One side of the road lacks sidewalks entirely. In Brookside Court, the sidewalk abruptly ends and is replaced by stone pathways leading up to the entrances of the homes. Also notice the style of the buildings. Many have tutor and craftsman influences, and they are relatively small compared to other residential buildings we’ve seen on this tour. Amusingly, both sides of Brookside Drive have a no outlet sign, which is empirically false given that one can drive through both one can enter on one side, an exit on the other.
Given the excellent state of repair, newness of some of the infrastructure, and high-quality pavement, we can deduce that a homeowners association funds maintenance and repairs of the street to a level that exceeds what a city government might otherwise provide. Given the unique special configuration of buildings and streets, we can deduce that this is another track, and that the homes here were developed all at once and intentionally built with this specific aesthetic. Consider who gets to experience this pleasant environment, and how the space gets to be used. If streets have limited car use, then it would be safer for children to play in them, indicated by the presence of a basketball hoop on a telephone pole. Desirability drives demand, so the houses here are surely quite expensive. We can imagine that residents of these homes who have walkable access to those shops encourage the nearby shops to sell expensive and unnecessary goods like imported furniture. The parallel no outlet signs tell us that the residents of the streets want to keep non-residential traffic out of them, and this is an understandable perspective given how much more pleasant and pedestrian safe Brookside Drive is compared to Claremont Avenue. But it still begs the question of who gets to belong in a space like this? Should places like this be exclusively for those who can afford to buy houses here?