Rockridge

Yesterday, our class went down to Rockridge, which is surprisingly very close from our school. After all, Rockbridge is IN Oakland. I have never actually heard of this area, so I don’t think that I had a perspective on how it will be. For some reason, the name made me think that it would be somewhat similar to what we experienced at Walnut Creek, but because it is in Oakland, I thought that it wouldn’t necessarily fit into that criteria. When we got off Bart to my surprise Rockridge was very nice. As we walked through College Blvd. we saw many cafes, restaurants, and boutiques. The area seemed pretty calm, everyone that was there seemed to be shopping of dining at one of the many restaurants. The feel of this area, to me, seemed very chill and relaxed, kind of like Berkeley. There were many people riding bikes, and others just talking outside Cole Café.

After visiting Rockridge I realized that there are a lot of differences when I compare it to Fruitvale. Some of the major differences are that Rockridge is cleaner, and a lot of people are riding bikes. At Fruitvale you do see some people riding their bikes around the neighborhood and what not, but not like in Rockridge. Another thing is that the Fruitvale area is closer to more fast food restaurants and liquor stores, and at Rockbridge the only mainstream stores were Trader Joes and Safeway. The priced between both of these places were also very different, which shows how much money people are able and willing to spend on things. When my group and I went inside a boutique to interview a worker there, she was busy talking on the phone, so we were looking at the clothing prices. Can you believe that a women’s plain and simple white t-shirt, can cost up to $133? A store like that would die at Fruitvale because almost no one would buy a shirt that expensive. At Rockbridge I also went into a jewelry store that had very expensive prices. I saw a pearl necklace for $9,800, which is another store that probably wouldn’t survive in the Fruitvale area. At Fruitvale they do have jewelry stores, but not as expensive as those of course.

It is very hard to think of similarities between these two different areas. The only thing that comes to mind is the fact that in both places, it does feel like a small community. There are a lot of things that are accessible. For example they both have a Bart station surrounded by stores and restaurants. Besides that I don’t think it’s the same. At Rockridge it didn’t feel very diverse. There were a lot of whites, and Asians. Rarely did I see Latinos and African Americans.

Overall, what surprised me is that Rockridge is actually IN Oakland when it doesn’t even feel like that. It is completely different, but not so much as Walnut Creek.