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Location of Rockridge in the City of Oakland.

Rockridge is a neighborhood and district in Oakland, California. Rockridge is generally defined as the area east of Telegraph Avenue, south of the Berkeley city limits, west of the Oakland hills and north of the intersection of Pleasant Valley Avenue/51^st Street and Broadway. Some residential portions of the neighborhood resemble a typical East Coast or Midwest upscale neighborhood, and consist mainly of relatively large homes built between the 1920s and the 1950s, although some homes date even earlier to 1909-1912. Other portions of the neighborhood consist of small bungalows and cottages that are popular for their quintessential California charm and character. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Rockridge's homes "represent some of the most coveted real estate in the Bay Area."

The main street of Rockridge is College Avenue, bounded by the California College of Arts and Crafts on the southern end and the U.C. Berkeley Campus on the northern end. The College Avenue strip running through Rockridge is home to over 80 restaurants, cafes and upscale retail stores, including several bookstores specializing in used and rare books. Several of these restaurants have achieved national and international reputations for excellence in fine dining.

Dreyer's Ice Cream maintains its international corporate headquarters in Rockridge on College Avenue, and operates its only retail ice cream parlor on the premises where it relies on residents of Rockridge to test new flavors and products. The Rockridge Library is one of the most visited establishments in the neighborhood and is home to an extensive collection of children's books and audio/visual materials.

Rockridge is often mentioned in tourist guidebooks.

Rockridge has been the subject of several academic and government studies regarding the integration of public transportation and residential neighborhoods. The Rockridge BART station has been cited as the model of weaving retail, commercial and residential interests into a workable neighborhood. The area around the Rockridge BART provides transportation by train, bus, and casual carpool to all Bay Area airports, downtowns, and entertainment districts, while surrounded by open air markets, cafes, bars, shopping, and homes. The Rockridge BART station is located in the center of Rockridge, where College Avenue and Highway 24 cross. AC Transit bus lines 7, 51 and 59 serve the center of the neighborhood, while line E runs along Claremont Avenue and lines 12, 40/40L, CB, and V run along its edges.

The BART Board study of commute times in 2003 cited door-to-door commute times from Rockridge to San Francisco's downtown financial district of only 23 minutes, faster than commuting from the majority of San Francisco's neighborhoods to their own downtown.^{[citation needed]} Commute times to downtown Oakland averaged only 12 minutes.

Rockridge residents are very involved in their neighborhood political, educational and cultural life, and Rockridge boasts no fewer than 11 community organizations. The Rockridge News is published monthly and hand delivered to every residents' home. Chabot Elementary School in Rockridge consistently scores a perfect "10" in statewide assessments, and the Chabot PTA offers extensive after-school programs including language immersion classes and arts and music classes.

Rockridge is named for the outcroppings of rock at the northern end of the long shutter ridge formed by the Hayward Fault which encloses the linear valley in which the Montclair district of Oakland is situated. An example of this rock can be seen at an abandoned quarry adjacent to the Rockridge Shopping Center on Pleasant Valley Road. This quarry was operated well into the 1950s and is now used as a reservoir for the Claremont Country Club. Prior to the construction of the shopping center in the late 1960s, the Broadway side of the shopping center had a used car lot. Additionally, Pleasant Valley Ave. did not cross over the hill to Piedmont Ave. Instead, there was a short street called "McAdams". Mather St. which intersects Broadway near Oakland Technical High school formed the continuation of what is now the downhill side of Pleasant Valley Ave.

Like many neighborhoods, Rockridge has had its "ups and downs". Prior to the completion of Highway 24 in 1964, Miles Ave. and several other streets were laid out differently. Residents living in the area at the time (once known as "Little Italy" because of a large number of Italian immigrants) saw the decline of the neighborhood into the 1970s, due in part to the separation of the neighborhood caused by the freeway. In the mid to late 1970s, some storefronts on College Avenue were boarded up. However, due to the fortunate success of a number of new businesses, who together formed a "critical mass" of commercial attraction, Rockridge began to thrive again. These three concerns were Rockridge Antiques, a furniture store, Such A Business, a children's toy and clothing store, and The Edible Complex, a bagel and dessert restaurant. All three were popular and profitable within months of their openings, and served as anchors for a rebirth of the Rockridge commercial district.^{[citation needed]}

Perhaps acknowledging the decline in the local population, in 1979, the Oakland School Board made the decision to close and demolish Rockridge Elementary School, located on Broadway Terrace, due to the sharp decline in enrollment (less than 150 students) and fears for the earthquake safety of the original schoolhouse, a 2-story building built in 1923. Today, few remember the school which was replaced by another non-elementary school around 1982. The original auditorium was torn down in the 1950s, and the current one (still in use) was constructed in 1959.

It may be surprising that into the 1950s, electric trolley trains ran along College Avenue, following what is now AC Transit bus route 51. Older residents remember that if you drove behind one, you were guaranteed to be late to your appointment, since the trolleys moved slowly and the narrow street did not allow for passing.

Additionally, as late as 1959, railroad tracks ran along Shafter Avenue, crossed College Ave. near where the Rockridge BART station is now and ran along the corridor of what is now state Highway 13 (the portion after Ashby Ave.), through Montclair Village and over into Contra Costa County. Film footage of this route has been broadcast over local PBS TV station KQED in a 1990s documentary on the development of the East Bay.^{[citation needed]}

College Ave in Rockridge.

• Rockridge Crime & Safety
• Rockridge Community Planning Council
• Rockridge Interactive Map - Oakland Convention and Visitors Bureau.
• Rockridge District Association
• Oakland City Councilmember Jane Brunner, who represents Rockridge
• Rockridge, Oakland, California is at coordinates 37°50′41″N 122°15′06″W / 37.84457, -122.25162Coordinates: 37°50′41″N 122°15′06″W / 37.84457, -122.25162