Ivy Hill - Oakland, CA Area Guide

During the 19th century, Ivy Hill housed some of Oakland's largest estates, notably Arbor Villa, the palatial mansion belonging to the discoverer of borax. You can see remnants of the neighborhood's high-class past in the palm trees that line some streets, imported by wealthy residents in the late 1800s.

Anyone interested in the area's history can visit the Oakland History Room in the Oakland Public Library's central location on 14th street.

For a summertime outing, nearby Lake Merritt hosts Love Our Lake Day, an annual celebration of Oakland's central body of water, featuring live music, vendors and lots of food.

Like so much of Oakland, Ivy Hill's dining scene caters to a diverse range of culinary cultures. Establishments line International Boulevard, a street whose eating options truly live up to its name, and you can also find clusters of restaurants along Park Boulevard. La Estrellita serves Ivy Hill with a homespun take on Mexican and Central American cuisine. Customers crave the shredded beef tacos, and everyone gets a serving of chips and spicy salsa verde.

If you seek more elegant fare, enjoy a night out at Portal Restaurant, a trendy beer garden where you can sip bottomless mimosas from a spacious outdoor patio. Go for the flat-iron steak for dinner, or enjoy a casual lunch with the specialty garbage bread stuffed with hearty meats. Top off your meal with a gourmet beer or a house cocktail such as souju lemonade. This trendy spot also whips up a fresh brunch earlier in the day, so be sure to stop by for some eggs Benedict or stuffed French toast.

Anyone looking a Filipino food fix has to visit Kainbigan. Folks unfamiliar with Filipino food shouldn't fret; the garlic noodles serve as a tasty entry point to the menu, and make sure to split some chicken lumpia as an appetizer. As a quieter, more residential neighborhood, Ivy Hill offers relatively few options for those looking for an energetic nightlife scene. Hit the billiards and draw legal graffiti on the chalkboard walls at the Parkway Lounge, nestled in the northwest corner of Ivy Hill. Or you can shake out a groove to the DJs spinning weekly at the Lakeside Lounge, located not far from Parkway Lounge. If you want to catch a live music performance, you may have to look farther downtown for larger venues like the Fox Theater.

Folks in Ivy Hill generally get around the neighborhood by foot. Though there may be a few decently steep grades, residents can quickly reach many neighborhood spots by walking. Factor in hard-to-find (albeit free) parking, and walking looks more attractive than driving. WalkScore.com gives the neighborhood a score of 77 for walkability, meaning that you can complete a great deal of day-to-day errands on foot.

Alameda County Transit (AC Transit for short) provides bus service for the neighborhood. AC Transit can take you to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) light rail, located nearby in downtown Oakland.

Hailing a cab from some of the larger boulevards should not pose too much of a challenge, but late-night riders or anyone in need of immediate transportation ought to call ahead. Uber also serves the area.

Some major streets in the neighborhood contain bike lanes, but many smaller, more narrow avenues barely squeeze in two lanes for cars. Cyclists should exercise caution when not using a designated bike lane.

Ivy Hill sports one park, the Bella Vista park, located in the northeast corner of the neighborhood. Residents with a green thumb love the community garden, which forms part of a larger program supported by the Oakland Parks & Recreation department. You can rent one of 10 plots for $30 annually. Bella Vista also provides basketball nets, perfect for games or just free throws, and a play structure for kids. The park is free to use and is dog friendly but doesn't contain an off-leash area. The Friends of Bella Vista Park community organization holds activities at the park all summer long, ranging from organized sports for kids to neighborhood-inclusive barbecues.

Ivy Hill costs less than the rest of the city of Oakland for day-to-day living expenses. However, rent for a one-bedroom apartments runs, on average, $1725 a month, which exceeds Oakland's average rent by about $50. Beer goes for about $4 for a pint, and gas prices average 22 percent higher than the rest of the nation.

While Ivy Hill mostly consists of residences, shoppers can find a handful of shops nestled along some of the larger boulevards. The neighborhood doesn't host any high-value shops — for those, shoppers take to nearby downtown Oakland — but features a number of smaller boutiques peddling an eclectic range of goods.

May Flowers serves Ivy Hill with an exotic selection of fresh floral bouquets and arrangements that make perfect gifts for any holiday, celebration, or "just because" occasion. Creative Framing sells, manufactures and repairs frames for paintings, photos, prints or any other sort of two-dimensional media and maintains an attached gallery that displays local artists' handiwork.

A Safeway about half a mile to the east meets most of the grocery needs of Ivy Hill residents, and the New Saigon Supermarket located just around the southern reaches of the neighborhood picks up any of Safeway's slack, selection-wise. The Oakland-Grand Lake Farmers Market gathers regional vendors and farmers in one location, providing residents with a swath of local businesses to support. This farmers market stays open all year long, every Saturday.