The Piedmont Avenue neighborhood is a residential and commercial district in the North Oakland region of Oakland, California. It is named for Piedmont Avenue, a commercial street known for dining and retail. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by Temescal and Broadway on the west, Oakland Avenue and the City of Piedmont (a separate municipality, an

enclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is so ...

within Oakland) on the east, the Mountain View Cemetery on the north, and the MacArthur Freeway section of Interstate 580 on the south.

History

The Piedmont Avenue neighborhood was founded in the late 1800s. It developed after Mountain View Cemetery opened in 1863, bringing visitors and public transportation. The area was annexed into Oakland in 1897. The

Key System The Key System (or Key Route) was a privately owned company that provided mass transit in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Richmond, Albany, and El Cerrito in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area ...

ran their C Line

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

down Piedmont between 41st Street and Grave Avenue, with passenger operations running between 1924 and 1958.

Landmarks and features

At the north end of Piedmont Avenue and Pleasant Valley Avenue is the hillside Mountain View Cemetery, which was designed by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

and opened in 1863. It is known for Millionaire's Row, a section high on the hill lined with the ornate mausoleums of wealthy families, including those of

Domingo Ghirardelli Domenico "Domingo" Ghirardelli (; February 21, 1817 – January 17, 1894) was an Italian-born chocolatier who was the founder of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company in San Francisco, California. Biography Early life Domenico Ghirardelli was bor ...

Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known for his shipbuilding and construction projects, then later for his involvement in fostering modern American health care. Prior to World War II, ...

, and

Charles Crocker Charles Crocker (September 16, 1822 – August 14, 1888) was an American railroad executive who was one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, which constructed the westernmost portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and took ...

. Other notable people buried in the cemetery include civil rights activists

Fred Korematsu was an American civil rights activist who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Shortly after the Imperial Japanese Navy launched its attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Ord ...

and

Bobby Hutton Robert James Hutton (April 21, 1950–April 6, 1968), also known as "Lil' Bobby," was the treasurer and first recruit to join the Black Panther Party.Ina Coolbrith, and architect

Julia Morgan Julia Morgan (January 20, 1872 – February 2, 1957) was an American architect and engineer. She designed more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career.Erica Reder"Julia Morgan was a local in ''The New Fillmore'', 1 Febr ...

, who also designed the nearby Chapel of the Chimes. The cemetery was featured prominently in the 2018 movie '' Blindspotting''. Near the center of the Piedmont Avenue commercial strip, at 4021 Piedmont Ave. is another Julia Morgan-designed building, originally built as the Fred C. Turner Stores. This 1916 red brick building hosts both restaurants and retail, and features glazed terra cotta in the style of the della Robbia family. Next door, at 4037 Piedmont Ave., is the location of the original

Longs Drugs Longs Drugs is an American chain owned by parent company CVS Health with approximately 70 drugstores throughout the state of Hawaii and formerly in the Continental US. Before being acquired by parent company CVS Health in 2008, it was a chain of ...

store, which opened in 1938. The building currently hosts a Posh Bagel. Piedmont Avenue also has "the Bay Area's Book Row," with multiple independent bookstores concentrated within a six-block radius; the Piedmont Theatre, which is the oldest still-operating theater in Oakland (built in 1917); and the 1893 ice cream parlor Fentons Creamery, which was featured in

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

's 2009 movie '' Up''. Piedmont Avenue former train station

At Piedmont Avenue and 41st Street are the Key Route Plaza and what is left of the

's C-line station, which was built in 1939. The former station is an angular building with a clock tower, which was restored by a group led by neighborhood activist Michael Lydon. In 2005, with support from the Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Improvement League, Rocky Riche-Baird painted a mural recognizing the building's history, including the Key System's founder, Francis Marion Smith. However, a large part of the mural was controversially destroyed during renovations in 2014. Another Riche-Baird mural about the area's native

Ohlone The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the l ...

people, "The Capture of the Solid. The Escape of the Soul," can be seen on the exterior 41st Street wall of 4150 Piedmont Ave.

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP) is an American integrated delivery system, integrated managed care consortium headquartered in Oakland, California. Founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield, Sidney R. Garfield, the ...

's flagship hospital campus is located in the southern part of the neighborhood. Nearby is Oak Glen Park, which contains an open-air section of Glen Echo Creek.

Education

* Piedmont Avenue Elementary School of

Oakland Unified School District Oakland Unified School District is a public education school district that operates a total of 80 elementary schools (TK–5), middle schools (6–8), and high schools (9–12). There are also 28 district-authorized charter schools in Oakland, ...

** The school's campus hosts the Piedmont Avenue Branch of the Oakland Public Library * St. Leo the Great Catholic School

References

External links

Piedmont Avenue Elementary School

Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Community List

Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Improvement LeaguePiedmont Avenue Merchants Association

{{SFBayshopping Neighborhoods in Oakland, California Shopping districts and streets in the United States Streetcar suburbs Streets in Oakland, California Shopping districts and streets in the San Francisco Bay Area