dimondites

_{RAY CHAVEZ Staff photos RECENT SAN FRANCISCO TRANSPLANTS Kristine Dang and her fiancé, Alex Kuethe, live in a home in Oakland’s Dimond district. Dang writes a blog devoted to the largely unknown neighborhood on www.dimondites.com.}

The hillside neighborhood, marked by the central commercial district along MacArthur Boulevard and Fruitvale Avenue and surrounded by homes, is generally bordered by Canon Avenue, Dimond Park, Coolidge Avenue and East 27th Street.

Resident Kristine Dang compares the growing pains of the Dimond neighborhood, largely unknown outside Oakland, to a startup company.

New residents are moving into the neighborhood. At the same time, a group of residents and merchants are hoping to revive the commercial area and turn it into a destination shopping area, like Piedmont or Lakeshore avenues.

“It feels like a start of a company, going through a change,” Dang says.

She should know — Dang is a branding specialist and former executive of San Francisco-based Web retailer RedEnvelope (she named the company).

She made the move across the Bay with her fiance a year ago after living in San Francisco for 20 years and now spends her time working from home as a Web 2.0 consultant.

And blogging.

One of her side projects is posting entries about all things Dimond on http://www.dimondites.com. Like many transplants, Dang has a kind of Oakland pride unique to newcomers.

“There’s a lot of new people, like me, coming from San Francisco,” she said.”Dimond also has alot of second-generation people. You have people who have been here forever. It’s a changing time.”

And it’s true — though most commercial districts wax and wane over time, this one seems to be on the upsurge, or at least going more upscale.

Peet’s Coffee and Tea may be moving into the district on Fruitvale Avenue. A couple of stores down, La Farine French Bakery, which also has a Rockridge storefront, plans on moving into the former Payless Shoe Source site, according to Councilmember Jean Quan’s office.

Kristine Dang, right, and her boyfriend Alex Kuethe with their dogs East and West, respectively, in the backyard of their house in Oakland’s Dimond district.(Ray Chavez/The Oakland Tribune)

 

Can’t find it on a map

For a district that’s often misspelled (it’s named after estate owner Hugh Dimond), it’s a hidden gem of Oakland, Dang said. Dimond Park and Sausal Creek are nearby and it’s not as expensive or exclusive as other areas. Dang said she could have afforded a house in Piedmont but chose this neighborhood. Many of the homes, though modest in appearance, have huge back yards.

Part of the area’s growing pains includes how it’s perceived. Many new residents don’t even know the neighborhood exists. The Oakland Convention & Visitors Bureau Web site highlights Oakland districts, but Dimond, along with the Laurel and Glenview districts, is not on the map.

And with the expected arrival of Peet’s, another change may come — the mural of a giant diamond on a wall easily seen from nearby Fruitvale Avenue may go, because Peet’s wants to add extra windows in the wall. Many on the neighborhood e-mail list said they’d take Peet’s over the mural any day.

Like residents in other Oakland neighborhoods, they see the link between businesses and liveability. And like other neighborhoods yearning for a good local grocer, the Dimond received its neighborhood grocer last year.

Many residents credit the arrival of family-owned Farmer Joe’s — not to be confused with Trader Joe’s — as a turning point for the area.

Though some East Bay Albertson’s sites are being filled by Trader Joe’s and other chains, Farmer Joe’s is truly a family-owned, neighborhood company with one other smaller market in the Laurel district that opened in 1994.

Before opening the shop, owner Joe Tam worked at Safeway, mostly in produce, for 19 years, his wife and company co-owner Diana Tam said.

Joe Tam worked on a farm one summer when he was 13, soon after immigrating to the U.S. in the early 70s, said Diana Tam — hence the name “Farmer Joe’s.”

“We really appreciate the support we’re getting from the customers,” she said. “We created kind of a community store. We opened this second location hoping we’d make a little difference, to make the community a little better.”

First-generation immigrants from China, and long-time Oakland residents (they moved to San Francisco in recent years so family members could help with their three kids), the Tams took a gamble with opening the much bigger, 20,000 square foot store.

Business is good during the weekends, but they could always do better, Diana Tam said.

But even this store has growing pains — employees are not unionized and the United Food and Commercial Workers is expected to do an information picket in front of the store.

And elsewhere in the commercial district, several storefronts still sit vacant, including a shuttered Blockbuster Video.

“As badly as we want to fill some vacancies, it’s definitely carefully thought about,” said Daniel Swafford, co-chair of the Dimond Improvement Association. “We don’t want a suburban-type neighborhood in the middle of Oakland.”

Business on the rebound

Swafford, who lives in the Dimond home his grandparents bought in the 1930s, said business in the area began dipping 15 to 20 years ago.

“It did go through a period where a lot of business left and it got pretty isolated,” he said. “Now there’s an advent of new businesses and younger people.”

He added that there’s been a recent turnover in housing — and a lot of younger couples and families are moving into the neighborhood.

But as new businesses like Peet’s and La Farine come in, residents say they want to make sure that they continue supporting the existing shops, including Cafe Diem, which sells fair trade coffee, and Southern Cafe, a popular soul food joint.

Part of Dang’s blog includes interviews with local business owners and people active in the neighborhood. She has featured people like the owner of Wayland’s Meat Market, a family-owned butcher shop that has been in the district for 40 years.

But as upscaling begins, some businesses have felt the brunt of increased rent.

Last year, a neighborhood flower shop, “A Little Rose,” which had been in the neighborhood for more than a decade, left because of increased rent.

At the end of this month, the Dimond district is also expecting a dedicated walking Oakland police officer, something the district has not had for four years. At various times in the past four years, the Dimond has shared a walking officer with other districts.

As the police force has been stretched thin, many crimes in hills and foothill areas like the Dimond — which rarely witness homicides (though there were one or two in the vicinity last year) — are ignored. Most crimes are car thefts, burglaries, robberies and assaults.

But residents realize one walking officer, there during the day time, isn’t going to solve all the neighborhood’s crime problems.

Some have resorted to neighborhood efforts.

On the first of every month, a group of residents holds a peace vigil on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard. It’s been going on for two years now. As violence has escalated abroad in Iraq and close to home in Oakland, residents felt the need to express their desire for peace.

“It’s more of a positive group,” said Ruth Villasenor, co-owner of Paws & Claws, who helps organize the vigils. “We’re just trying to put out peace and love in the community.”

Dang, who has two giant schnauzers, East and West, said canine companions are a good way to deter crime.

She said that once one dog in the neighborhood starts barking, others do, too, alerting the people in the neighborhood. There is a history for dog-lovers in the Dimond — Hopalong and Smiley Dog rescue groups both originated from the district, according to Villasenor.

“I have a positive feeling about this area turning around well,” Dang said. “It’s not an overnight thing, but we’re making such great strides. People are getting together and are focused on a single mission, to make the Dimond business district a safe and friendly environment.”

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Contact staff writer Momo Chang at mchang@angnewspapers.com.}