Comments on: Today in West Oakland

By: m

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:32:15 +0000

^and as kpj says above…

By: m

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:30:13 +0000

The one with the dogs is indeed on shattuck near 55th as you say in your comment Dave.

By: ruth gutmann

ruth gutmann — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:17:18 +0000

Deserted is the right word for that photo — and quite a few earlier ones — with the Battery sign. But what I like about the picture is the sunlight on the building. There is also, quite faint, a shadow on it, looking like a tree. But where would that tree be? Perhaps it is a bush and the shadow is out of proportion.

Now I don’t know whether to credit you or that amazing digital camera. But I think it’s you.

By: dc

dc — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:21:32 +0000

kpj: To be honest, I couldn’t remember exactly where I had taken the 2nd and 3rd photos. I know that the first photo is at San Pablo and 29th, and I spent most of my time in West Oakland that day, so I used West Oakland in the headline. I would have guessed that the 2nd and 3rd were probably taken somewhere in the 30′s near MLK or Market, but you may well be right that those garage doors are on 55th closer to Shattuck or Telegraph, because I did make a side trip up to big Long’s on my ride home. If so, then it’s definitely North Oakland (more specifically Idora Park? Bushrod? Temescal? I don’t know the exact “borders” of these neighborhoods). Thanks for the correction—I should pay closer attention to the locations of the stuff I take pictures of!

By: kpj

kpj — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:56:49 +0000

Love the photos but, for the record, I don’t know that the house with the dogs is really in “West Oakland,” — isn’t it on 55th between Shattuck and Telegraph? Solidly North Oakland, IMHO.

By: dc

dc — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:13:23 +0000

It’s amazing—and depressing—how much of Oakland looks blighted and semi-deserted like that.

By: eric

eric — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:56:13 +0000

That sure is bleak. Nevertheless, the shot with the flag is better for many reasons, not least because the “BATTERY” sign looks like it says “LOTTERY”–and so on. But I do like the amazing EMPTINESS of the first, bleaker one.

By: dc

dc — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:00:10 +0000

That first photo gave me fits. I tried several different vantage points, but I still couldn’t work in everything I wanted—the shot above omits the bleak streetscape that the “Dream Big” billboard hovers over. That juxtaposition is what first prompted me to take a picture, but then I noticed the American flag and I decided to make it more central. Here’s one of the earlier efforts:

By: eric

eric — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:52:14 +0000

As usual, your photos make the world into a mysterious place, full of floating signs and symbols. Does that old ivy-covered sign say “LOTTERY”? Is that door the entrance to #875 or #873? And where’s the other door? And why the bright yellow dentals? And what are those dogs guarding so colorfully? Are the psychos in the van? Is the van about to smash through the non-gothic window so that the psychos can make off with the gothic window? What is that gothic window doing in there anyway?

All I feel certain of is that I’d take the $2M in cash.