Scotia Ave, Chabot Park

We live on this street and are really enjoying this remote part of the Oakland Hills. It is so pretty up here and the isolation is a welcome reprieve from our busy days in Oakland proper. It feels incredibly safe and we live immediately across the street from the best hiking, bay views and mountain biking in the area. We can literally walk to Lake Chabot in 15 minutes. If we walk across the street and up a hill we are a 5minute walk from seeing the sunset over Mt. Tam. We have friendly deer in our yard all the time, which the kids really enjoy.

There are certainly drawbacks which mainly include isolation and limited sense of community. There are no shops or restaurants within walking distance and most are within 15minutes drive. There are many children in the neighborhood but we never see them and our kids have not found any playmates. Most people send their kids to private schools or work most of the day and the kids don't get outside.

We drive our kids into Oakland for school since the local school does not have a great reputation, which is a shame because it is quite diverse and located in such a serene environment. We also have to couple all these trips with our grocery shopping because there are NO shops around. I think many people shop in San Leandro, but our travels take us into Oakland proper so we skip the San Leandro scene, which I find a little depressing anyway.