Pros & Cons of Moving "Through The Tunnel".

"Through the tunnel" is how people living around here define the two areas separated by the Caldecott tunnel.  The Caldecott is a four bore tunnel via highway 24, which goes through the Berkeley hills.
One one side of the tunnel is Oakland/Berkeley and on the other side is Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga (also known as "Lamorinda") and Walnut Creek.

Oakland is urban, more traffic, more diversity, more restaurants, more things to do, higher in crime... just more urban.

Lamorinda is more suburban, more green, less traffic, more rancher style homes... less restaurants, some would say less diverse.

That's it in a nutshell.  They are both very different places in some regards, but also very similar because they are less than a quarter mile apart. (Actually, the tunnel is 3,610 feet, long, to be exact.)

The Lafayette Reservoir - popular hiking area.

And yet, people who live on either side will have lots to say about what it's like on the other side of the tunnel.  It can seem like they are two different worlds, these two sides.  But the truth is there are lot of people who have lived on either side and move back and forth. And let's not forget how short the distance between the two really is, so it's hard to imagine that it's all that different.

I have known people who have said, they will never ever want to live in Oakland, and then some who say they would never ever live in Lamorinda. But most people, I think, would be open to either.  And so the decision of on which side of the tunnel to live can be difficult.

American Kitchen - popular outdoor dining in downtown Lafayette

The public schools in Oakland are struggling.  Lamorinda has better public schools.  But some of the public schools in Oakland are good also, and there are some incredible private and charter schools there too.  Both places are beautiful.  Oakland has impressive bay views with all 3 bridges, or Lake Merritt views. Lamorinda has trees, rolling hills, nature, beautiful canyon views, the Lafayette Reservoir and warmer weather.

If you will be living in Lamorinda and working in Oakland or San Francisco - as many do - there's the commute to consider.  The tunnel itself can have some heavy bottle neck traffic.  But there is also BART (train) stations in Orinda and Lafayette, so that makes it convenient.

I have lived on both sides of the tunnel. I like them both and it's hard for me to chose which one is better.  As a Realtor, I get many clients who are relocating here and work in either Oakland or San Francisco and are debating on whether to live on the Oakland side or through the tunnel in Lamorinda.  I try to paint a picture of what either side is like, and try to guide them as to what will suite their lifestyle the best. (Are public schools the most important to them? Do they want a shorter commute to work? Is nightlife important?)

Lake Merritt - they have gondolier rides.

One fact is for sure; the Lamorinda side is hotter.  The weather is.  Sometimes 10+ degrees warmer. And I personally like that, but not everyone does.  Otherwise, you can't lose and we are lucky to live in the beautiful Bay Area at all!

The Lowdown on Upper Rockridge.

Here's how it goes for many families who live in the Bay Area...

You're younger and maybe single and move to San Francisco. You live in the city and you're living it up. Working, enjoying the nightlife, amazing restaurants, arts & entertainment and all your friends. Then you settle down and eventually your family grows, you have children and may realize you don't want to be in the city long term.  You start thinking about moving away for more suburbs, better school selections, larger living space for less money, easier parking and... more sun and less fog, perhaps.

The new Bay Bridge span. Connecting San Francisco with Oakland.

That was our story anyway. I remember having just given birth to our first child, ten years ago, and lying in my hospital bed at California Pacific Medical Center, just two blocks from our apartment we rented in San Francisco, and getting a call from our realtor that we got the house we bid on in Upper Rockridge, Oakland.  I was living in San Francisco for the past six years and really loved it there, but once baby #1 came along, we knew it was time to move away.

My husband and I had spent months before then cruising around Oakland, looking for homes. We wanted Oakland because we owned a business there and we were not ready to let go of urban life completely and go any further east for more suburbia.  Because he worked there, he knew Oakland pretty well, I didn't know it at all.  All the neighborhoods blurred together for me, and as I heaved myself out of our car, way pregnant, looking at all those open houses, I started to not really care anymore where we'd end up.

But luckily both of us were not pregnant, and his mind was clearer and so he insisted on really thinking about which neighborhood we wanted to end up in.  I even remember not really paying attention what school district the house was in, because I just couldn't wrap my head around caring about schools when I felt like I was so far away from being a Mom of a school aged child. I also didn't realize how different all the schools could be within the same public school system.

I'm glad we ended up with our first home in Upper Rockridge, an area as I describe as next to Rockridge, Piedmont and Montclair.  The lower side of where Highway 24 and 13 connect. Upper Rockridge is at the base of the Oakland Hills, the hills that overlook all of Oakland and the Bay.

This home we bought was about one block away from highway 13.  Our back deck had a view of a small valley, with houses all over the opposite side, facing us, and the highway buzzing down below.  I remember standing in the nursery, right by the window on the highway side, before we decided to put an offer in on the house, and listening for the highway noise and wondering if that would bother me. It's hard to predict those things, and ideally, before you buy a house, you could have a trial week living in it.  It turned out, the highway noise never bothered me, as it was a constant consistent hum.

We moved in with our little family, and it was the perfect house for us.

At first we were really worried if Oakland would bore us.  Would we miss the restaurants, the friends, the street fairs, the urban living of San Francisco?  The truth is we never looked back. Because unless you are ultra hip, your life with a baby and children changes and other things become important. I was now interested in visiting playgrounds, children's classes and meeting other Moms and having friends over at home.  (But of course it turns out Oakland has amazing restaurants and endless amounts of things to see and do. More on that in other posts.)

We only had one car then, because that's all you need in San Francisco.  And we lived for a whole year with one car in our Upper Rockridge home.  Husband would take it to work each day and I went on my way with baby and a stroller.

I walked to Montclair Village often.  I even did my grocery shopping that way; (Safeway and Lucky's are there), stuffing the stroller basket and a backpack with groceries. Montclair park was a few blocks from our house, with two playgrounds, a pond, (geese, ducks and turtles!), a sports field, the Wells Fargo carriage to play on, and a skating ramp. The park also has the Montclair community center, with lots of interesting classes for kids.  Most Montclair families with young kids know Miss Marilyn's dance classes there.

Wells Fargo stage coach play structure at Montclair Park.

Montclair has it's own little library, in an old tudor style house, where I spent many hours for Toddler Reading time.  The Village itself is unusual, in that it really is like a little village, about four blocks long, with lots of stores and restaurants and services.  I think the Village is pretty unique to the Bay Area.  It's gives the area a nice community feel with fun annual events like their Holiday Stroll, Halloween Parade and Art & Wine Fest and a year round farmers market on Sunday. When you're in the village you are bound to run into a neighbor or someone you know. It's that kind of a place.

I also literally stumbled onto Lake Temescal park one day.  A total surprise park, in our neighborhood, hidden off of Broadway Terrace, in a little valley, with grassy fields, a lake for swimming with a beach and lots of paved paths for biking or strollering.  A popular spot for birthday parties, play dates, fishing and walks.

We bought into this neighborhood because we liked the house we found there, but also because of the public schools. The three public schools in this Upper Rockridge area are Hillcrest (k-8th), Montclair Elementary and Thornhill Elementary.  All three of these are excellent schools (go to greatschools.org to see the details) and all the families attending put in tremendous effort and many volunteer hours to make them so.  Major fundraising happens at these schools, to raise money for things such as teacher aides, libraries, art, music, physical ed and more.

These schools are popular, and they are pretty small with just a few hundred students each. With the neighborhood demographics changing over the past decade, the schools are getting fuller and it's not always a guarantee that every resident will get to attend their neighborhood school.  It's always good to find out directly from the school what their enrollment situation is for that year.

One of the many schools in Upper Rockridge.

Besides these three public elementary schools there are also some great private schools within just a few miles of each other; including Aurora, Holy Names High School, and St.Theresa.  And there are lots of preschools and day cares, including Montclair Community Play Center (the preschool my three kids attended. The oldest co-op preschool in the West.), The Cottage Play House, Smile's Day School, Apple Garden School (Montersorri) and lots of others.

This area of Oakland was hit hard by the Oakland Fire Storm of 1991. A devastating fire that destroyed over 3,700 homes.  Large patches of Upper Rockridge had to be completely rebuilt. Sometimes you can see the fire line, by noticing where the older homes were spared. In some cases, like on Proctor Ave., one side of the street has new homes, and the other side of the street has the original 1940s era homes, (or "pre-fire" homes, as they are often referred to), which are usually smaller.  There are lots of beautiful tudor, cottages and colonial style homes in Upper Rockridge.

Upper Rockridge homes; a mix of new and old.

Now ten years, and two kids later (that's three total), I'm still happy in Upper Rockridge.  I love the weather, usually sunnier and clearer than across the bay in San Francisco. I love the people, the parks, and that it's centrally located to Berkeley, Lamorinda and San Francisco.

There's so much to do and see right here... I go months and months without ever going to the city. The incredible restaurant choices are endless, with College Avenue and Rockridge right down the hill from us. College Avenue, is a long road (going all the way to UC California Berkeley, thus the name), lined with fun shops, (luxury consignment shop I wrote about, Labels is here) gourmet food markets, and the Rockridge BART (train) station is there too.

Views from Mountain View Cemetery. 

Hiking in Upper Rockridge.

I'm glad we found our spot right here, for now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It's a big decision to decide where you want to start your journey of family life with kids, schools and new friends.  Do the research, ask around, hang out in neighborhoods that you are considering. You'll be able to tell if it feels like home.