Geography
Oakland is in the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay. In 1991, the City Hall tower was at 37.805302°N 122.272539°W (NAD83).
(The building still exists, but like the rest of the Bay Area, it has shifted northwest perhaps 0.6 meters in the last twenty years.)
The United States Census Bureau says the city’s total area is 78.0 square miles (202 km2), including 55.8 square miles (145 km2)
of land and 22.2 square miles (57 km2) (28.48 percent) of water.
Oakland’s highest point is near Grizzly Peak Blvd, east of Berkeley, just over 1,760 feet (540 m) above
sea level at about 37.8786°N 122.2241°W. Oakland has 19 miles (31 km) of shoreline, but Radio Beach is the only beach in Oakland.
Oaklanders refer to their city’s terrain as “the flatlands” and “the hills”. Until recent waves of gentrification,
these terms also symbolized Oakland’s deep economic divide, with “the hills” being more affluent communities.
About two-thirds of Oakland lies in the flat plain of the East Bay, with one-third rising into the foothills
and hills of the East Bay range.
Ruptures along the nearby San Andreas Fault caused severe earth movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1906 and 1989.
San Andreas quakes induces creep (movement occurring on earthquake faults) in the Hayward fault,
which runs directly through Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose and other Bay Area cities.
Neighborhoods
Oakland has more than 50 distinct neighborhoods. The city’s greater divisions include downtown Oakland
and its greater Central Business District, Lake Merritt, East Oakland, North Oakland, West Oakland,
and the Oakland Hills. East Oakland, which includes the East Oakland Hills, encompasses more than half of Oakland’s land area,
stretching from Lakeshore Avenue on the east shore of Lake Merritt southeast to the San Leandro border.
North Oakland encompasses the neighborhoods between downtown and Berkeley and Emeryville.
West Oakland is the area between downtown and the Bay, partially surrounded by the Oakland Point,
and encompassing the Port of Oakland. In 2011, Oakland was ranked the 10th most walkable city
in the United States by Walk Score.
Oakland’s Chinatown district is one of the oldest in the nation.
Lake Merritt, an urban estuary near downtown, is a mix of fresh and salt water draining in and out from
the Oakland Harbor at the San Francisco Bay and one of Oakland’s most notable features.
It was designated the United States’ first official wildlife refuge in 1870.
Originally a marsh-lined wildlife haven, Lake Merritt was dredged and bordered with parks from the 1890s
to the 1910s. Despite this reduction in habitat, Oakland is home to a number of rare and endangered species,
many of which are localized to serpentine soils and bedrock. Lake Merritt is surrounded by residential
and business districts, including downtown and Grand Lake.
The city of Piedmont, incorporated in Oakland’s central foothills after the 1906 earthquake,
is a small independent city surrounded by the city of Oakland.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland,_California
Author: Kirill Shrayber, Ph.D.