Driving through Oakland on a Sunday afternoon was incredibly quiet. I planned my trip this way on purpose. I wanted to be able to see the city’s bones, stripped down, raw, grit. I had no destination in the GPS—just the map of my current location on the screen with the Strava app running in the background to track my route so I could connect the location data points with the images.
Oakland transported me back 10 years to some of the cities I started documenting that were going through change and gentrification*. Gazing up and down the streets downtown I had flashbacks to Asbury Park and Camden. Except Oakland was an unimaginable extreme. It was the most broken. I kept wondering what happened here. Why or how did they allow it to get this far gone.
Earlier in the week, a coworker mentioned that Oakland has a ton of street art and he gave me a short list of neighborhoods and streets to check out. Most of the city is a monotone of concrete. Grey, white, and taupe all blur together. Then you begin to see the color peek through. Rich, saturated murals and complex patterns explode through the dull walls. The flat surfaces of the buildings become massive canvases for modern art. Focusing on the street art was like seeing with new eyes and I just wanted to keep looking for more.
Special thanks to Scott Holtog for the points of interest, Ellen O’Reilly for joining the adventure later in the day, and Tim Bramlette for the warnings, you had to know I would still go anyway to see it for myself.
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I made my way down Mandela Parkway into West Oakland. Mandela Parkway runs north to south, 2-lanes in each direction, with a grassy park dividing them. It was originally a freeway until an earthquake caused it to collapse. Instead of building the freeway again, the city completely redesigned it to flow naturally into the neighborhood and added a park. At every cross street, I slowed up to look west towards the water. I was looking for an abandoned train station that featured some well-known artists’ work. Instead of the train station, I caught a glimpse of a rainbow of colors—blue, red, yellow gradients—whoa what’s that?! I circled the block to see what it was and discovered a massive warehouse spanning almost a full square block. It was wrapped in a gorgeous mural that mimicked the train yard and the iconic cranes overlooking the bay. Painted in the distance was the abandoned train station! Images of freight trains blended into a cargo ship, above it the words “Oakland is”
The further west I went, the more I noticed a shift in the designs—more free, spontaneous, and wild—and a disregard for the surfaces. I found an entire house and even a delivery truck plastered with graffiti. Yet the more art-like murals still weaved throughout. I liked the balance and contrast created between the two.
This was my favorite neighborhood in Oakland. Mainly because my friends Ellen and Robb live here, but I really loved the cottages (just my size!) with their colorful gardens and fruit trees, the main drag, and the vibe. First impression: fun, friendly, and laid back living. The street art was a hodgepodge that had a great sense of blending one piece to the next.
Ellen O’s street sleuthing did the trick for finding this fantastic treasure.
Exploring by way of art showed me the things that make Oakland truly special and beautiful. The murals and graffiti are just as dynamic as the physical landscape with styles evolving and shifting from one neighborhood to the next. It brought me to tears, broke my heart, and had me awe struck seconds later. Oakland is in the most exciting time of its life. What does it want to be? What will it hold onto to remain authentic? Will artists take the lead? Who wants to be a part of it? I know I would—in a bungalow in Temescal with a garden and a lemon tree in the front yard.
People are afraid of Oakland. Dangerous yes, but not just in the way of crime statistics. Oakland is on the verge of shocking everyone, striking down every stigma, and defining itself, guns blazing. It’s the underdog and I always root for the underdog.
San Francisco is over-rated. Oakland all the way.
© 2026 Kimberly Maroon
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