Before arriving in Alameda I lived in the South Bay, growing up in Mountain View and then on to San Jose. The lay of the land was quite different in the neighborhoods I resided in especially when you compare them to the great island we live in today. Most of the time there were no corner stores, neighborhood coffee shops or local restaurants close to where we lived. If you wanted to go anywhere, you jumped in the car and drove. One area I lived in was close to stores, but nothing personal, it was all chains no personality.
Then we arrived in Alameda. Initially we lived on the west end of town, our floating home was under construction and we didn't have a kitchen for months. So what did we do, we headed out the front door and walked to Chevy's, Larry and Della's (before the fire) and of course Pasta Pelican - ...hmmm, my earlier comment about my waistline is starting to make more sense! We quickly settled into a new hair salon, About Beauty, and could take a quick trip to the store - or Baskin Robbins - with ease simply by heading to Marina Village, by foot! .
Five years later we became landlubbers moving into our current home on Encinal between High Street and Fernside. For a while I would actually drive "all the way to the other end of the island" - how comical is that statement - but it wasn't long before I discovered Kim's Nails, Katie's Hair Design and Cafe Au Lait, not to mention the Encinal Market! I was back on foot again. Not only that, we were now close enough to really enjoy Park St on a regular basis, Woo Hoo, more restaurants!! Not to mention the movie theater, Tuckers Ice Cream, Peet's and Starbucks with that occasional glorious trip to Sumbody. When I need something special, it's a trip to Daisy's, 3 Wishes or Books Inc.
About a year or so ago, a friend asked what our favorite restaurant was and I listed off a handful of local spots; Asena, La Penca Azul (you know, La Pinata!), Bugermeister, Linguini's, when she stopped and said "No, I meant off the island!" I stopped, thought about it and finally realized I couldn't remember the last time we left Alameda. On one hand it seemed criminal seeming that we can reach San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland in no time at all. But the bottom line is, I love my neighborhood, my Park St, my South Shore and my West End. I love bumping onto people I know giving a quick hello or a fast update on the latest news. I'll take that over a trip in the car any day of the week!
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Tonight marks the end of the first quarter of 2011. I'll be analyzing the sales data for the last 90 days in comparison with the same period last year. Stay tuned to see if the Alameda real estate market is continuing on its path of improvement. One thing I can tell you is the number of properties in contract has increased almost 20% since Measure A passed on March 8th. Lets hope that's a sign of more good things to come!* * * * *
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