A Closer Look at Oakland's Downtown & Chinatown

As I headed down Telegraph Avenue into Oakland’s Downtown (location of both Chinatown and the City Center) last Saturday, I was initially struck by both the new development of The Uptown Apartments and the re-development of the Fox Theater.

The Uptown Apartments are a three-building, 665-unit complex of brown bricks and metal balconies, and inside the Welcome Center waits Chase Maxwell, the Uptown’s concierge. He reveals that the massive apartments are “green,” span four city blocks, and are still looking for residents.

A block away, the Fox Theater whizzes with construction crews, while a vinyl sign counts off “50 Days Till Open.” According to its Web site, the theater is slated to re-open in January 2009 after a nearly 40-year hiatus. The restored venue will host live entertainment and serve as the new location for Oakland School for the Arts.

At Frank Ogawa Plaza, where City Hall is located, the area is noticeably quiet compared to the weekday bustle of city officials and office workers. Across the street at the City Center (14th & Broadway—Telegraph diverges at 15th) it’s the same story: Two floors of shops (sans shoppers) are shadowed by surrounding office buildings, and inside a Top Dog sits Galen Evans, a lonely hot dog slinger.

Evans is a part-time student living in West Oakland, who says the downtown location caters to office workers and is one of the few in the plaza to stay open through the weekend. “We lose a lot of business on the weekend,” he says, as a pile of hotdogs ruminate on the grill behind him.

Down Broadway and left onto 12th Street, an explosion of shops and sounds contradict the scene behind me. Oakland’s Chinatown! Its commercial section fills the territory between 7th and 12th and Broadway and Harrison streets.

Outside the New Sun Hun Fat Supermarket, people crowd together in a sort of cordial chaos. The street is lined with Asian produce, and inside are isles of Japanese candies—seemingly anything edible is offered pickled.

On 9th Street is the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. This is home to the Oakland Library’s Chinatown branch, which houses books in eight Asian languages.

On the upper-level of the Cultural Center is the office of Jennie Ong, the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce’s executive director—she shares with me some of Chinatown’s issues and assets.

Ong cites traffic as a big issue in Chinatown, attributing car congestion to the neighborhood's proximity to the 880 Freeway and the Alameda tunnels. She describes the “Scramble System” built this year at the intersections of 8th and Webster and Franklin and 9th. The crosswalk is an all-directional system allowing pedestrians to safely cross streets from all angles while cars wait.
The crosswalk is marked by colorful inlayed tiles, which Ong labels as generic Ching dynasty-era patterns intended to represent Chinatown’s cultural identity.

Downtown Oakland is a growing center of culture and commerce that has a historic value, despite modern developments. I’m excited to spend the coming months exploring this community!