Oakland Urban Paths: walk and shop

Davidson Stairs

Saturday was the 2nd annual Oakland Urban Paths (OUP) walk and shop. Ten people (to say nothing of the dog) explored urban walkways between Lakeshore and Piedmont Avenue and back again.

We met at Mandana Plaza, a small park across from Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church. From there we headed up and over the hill to Grand Avenue, using some stairways that had been created to get people to and from the Key System trains. There are tons of urban paths and stairways around Oakland, but only some of them have signs. OUP is working with the city to make sure urban paths are signed, and stairs have proper handrails, but it's a long, slow process. OUP is also working with the city and neighborhoods to have people "adopt a spot" with different urban stairs and paths around Oakland.

After crossing Grand Avenue and up the hill, we walked to the Morcom Rose Garden. This Oakland gem, named after then Oakland mayor Frank Morcom, has been around since the 1930s, and has a dedicated group of volunteers that tends it along with city gardeners.

We then cut over to the end of Piedmont Avenue, across from the Chapel of the Chimes. Here we took a planned break for people to shop or get a snack. We reconvened and worked our way down to Oak Glen Park in the Glen Echo neighborhood. This little park is tucked away beneath I-580 between MacArthur and Piedmont Avenue. Across Harrison, up some stairs, across Oakland Avenue, and up more stairs took us into Adams Point. From there we crossed I-580 on a pedestrian overpass behind Lakeview Elementary, walked past the Grand Lake Theater, then up Lakeshore to return to our starting point.

Lots more pictures:


Google Map of our route.