SAN FRANCISCO by quashlo

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North of Downtown is Pill Hill, home to a couple of large medical campuses (Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente). The new Patient Care Pavilion at ABSMC, shown here, is almost complete.







Downtown Oakland's main street is Broadway, which continues north all the way into the Claremont district. This stretch is currently home to low-density uses such as car dealerships, but is the next frontier in the densification of Oakland, with plans already underway as part of the Broadway / Valdez District Specific Plan.





Behind is the I-580 / SR 24 / I-980 interchange.

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Northgate / Waverly area. Unfortunately, there's still quite a bit of surface parking remaining here, serving employees working in the northern parts of Downtown Oakland.







The residential boom in Downtown, exemplified by dozens of midrise buildings like this, has helped fuel new restaurants and neighborhood-oriented uses.





North Oakland



Looking northwest towards Emeryville and the Bay Street shopping complex.

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Emeryville Marina and San Francisco Bay



The eastern span of the Bay Bridge. The new span just recently opened, but the steel truss predecessor still remains, at least for now.



Fog bank rolling over the Marin Headlands. In the front is the Outer Harbor of the Port of Oakland and the Bay Bridge approach, while behind that is Treasure Island.



Across the Bay is San Francisco:







West Grand Avenue. In the distance is the MacArthur Maze, a spaghetti junction of ramps and flyovers at the east approach of the Bay Bridge.

[quashlo]

Next, let's go for a walk around the lake. It isn't a very big lake, but it's irregular shape means that a full circumference measures about 3 mi and can take almost an hour at walking speed. We'll head in a counterclockwise direction.

The northwestern corner of the lake, home to St. Paul's Episcopal Church:



The adjacent St. Paul's Towers:



Veterans' Memorial Building (1926)



And, of course, Children's Fairyland, for the kids.



The Essex and the Lake Merritt Hotel (1926)

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Lakeside Park along the northern shore of the lake is home to a variety of public uses, including a boating center, gardens, a nature center, and playgrounds.



The recently restored gazebo



Looks like an office building, but the Park Bellevue Tower is actually residential.



Cathedral of Christ the Light, along with one of the bulky office buildings in this part of Downtown.





Looking across to the eastern shore:

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The Lake Chalet is a fairly popular sit-down eatery. In the distance is the Oakland Auditorium (1914), now more commonly known as the Kaiser Convention Center, named in honor of local businessman Henry J. Kaiser.

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The Lake Merritt Boating Center and the Bellevue–Staten Building (1929):









A new bridge crossing the Lake Merritt Channel leading into the estuary.



Recently redesigned portions of the lakefront trail:

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The Pergola and Colonnade (1913), at the northeast corner of the lake. This is the gateway into the Grand Lake and Lakeshore neighborhoods. Also visible is the marquee of the Grand Lake Theatre (1926).













The Lake Chalet occupies the old lake boathouse. The Beach Chalet in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is a sister facility.

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The redesigned green at the southern side of the lake is one of the more popular hang-out spots. There's a new connection underneath 12th Street, so you can easily get to Peralta Park and Laney College.





At left is the lakefront trail, separated by a small green strip from the running trail and Lakeshore Avenue sidewalk. Some of the other portions of the trail have not yet been improved, but if you can avoid the abundant goose droppings and the occasional space-hogging dog owner or unruly biker, it's a pleasant walk / run for the most part.





A taste of some of the historic architecture in the Gold Coast area… Camron–Stanford House (1876):



Scottish Rite Center (1927)

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[peanut gallery]

Cool shots, quashlo. I always enjoy your photography.

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Maybe hard to believe given its urban context, but Lake Merritt was the first wildlife refuge in the U.S. You can find a lot of birds here, particularly during the winter months—aside from run-of-the-mill Canada geese, mallards, gulls, egrets, cormorants, and coots, there's also pelicans (both brown and white), scaups, canvasbacks, goldeneyes, and buffleheads. Here's some night herons:

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While I would recommend avoiding all contact with the water, one of the lake's hidden gems is the gondola service:







The Ordway Building, Oakland's tallest, is connected with the nearby Kaiser Center via skybridge.











The 28-story Kaiser Center (1960), Oakland's tallest building at the time. Henry Kaiser's business empire included shipbuilding (Kaiser Shipyards), construction and engineering, aluminum and steel, automobiles (Kaiser Motors), and Kaiser Permanente, the largest HMO in the U.S. Plans to construct two additional towers on the Kaiser Center site (34 and 42 stories) passed environmental review but have yet to begin construction.

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Some final skyline shots as the sun begins to set…