Now for some real Oakland controversy
Neighborhood names are the only thing that riles up Oaklanders more than election recalls.
Here's my two cents:
Don't believe Google Maps or the real estate folks, many of those names need to be expunged from the discourse (Lynn? Bartlett? lmao)
The map below shows the legit Oakland neighborhood names as per the City of Oakland Planning Department in 1979.
Names are ultimately defined by the citizens and they evolve over time but this map remains remarkably good, 45 years after it was published. The only changes I propose are:
- changing "southeast" to "deep east"
- Madison Square to Chinatown
- Lower Broadway to Downtown
- Broadway Heights to Piedmont Avenue
- Clinton Park to Eastlake
- Peralta Heights to Cleveland Heights
- add Uptown and Jack London Square
Additionally none of these neighborhoods should ever be referred to using the article "the." No, you don't live in "the Laurel", you live in "Laurel." When you talk like that you sound like a SoCal person referring to "the 580".
