The Southwest Berkeley area is lookin’ good, having experienced a surge of upgrades at the Dwight Way/San Pablo Avenue intersection with:

• The opening of Lalime’s Sea Salt
• Evening jazz performances at Caffe Trieste
• Fun shops like Juniper Tree, Twister’s Vintage (retro clothing) and Mignonne Decor, where Johnelle Mancha puts a new twist on found furniture that one cannot resist

Residents are showing their pride by renovating and improving their properties and real estate values are on the upswing.

Add to that a splash of Emeryville development:

• Café Aquarius with a great bakery
• Enoteca E22 with live music and wine tasting on Friday afternoons
• Townhouse Bar & Grill
• Bucci’s Restaurant
• Cocina Poblana
• Plus attractive loft developments bringing in an active, urban population

And voila, you have the makings of a “hip” residential area.

Occupants of 1415 Alcatraz Avenue, one of McGuire Oakland Office’s recent listings, are already reaping the advantage of living in an innovative, very cool complex in this developing and vibrant scene.

To add to their great living space, the Actual Café has just opened at the corner of San Pablo and Alcatraz. Described by owners as a “not the usual wi-fi shack,” this is a place where folks meet eat and drink and contribute to their community’s sustainability. If that isn’t enough, around the corner on Sacramento Street, Casa Vino serves up fine wines and home-cooked dishes.

I know people who live in Rockridge and travel down to San Pablo to the new Berkeley Bowl West located at 9th and Heinz across from Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley (the French American School of Berkeley) to do their shopping.

Berkeley Bowl image courtesy of gojanelin

The neighborhood is also close to upscale shopping at both Bay Street in Emeryville – which includes West Elm and Ikea, so you can furnish your new place in style – and 4th Street in Berkeley, with legendary shops and yummy food at Betty’s Oceanview Diner, Café Rouge and Dona Tomas’ Tacubaya.

Tacubaya image provided by On My Plate

(Also see Oakland Magazine’s interview with 8 top chefs, 3 of which are represented in this area.)

Close to freeways, Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations and bikeable to UC Berkeley campus, Southwest Berkeley is not to be overlooked!