Jingletown

Jingletown
Neighborhood of Oakland
Jingletown
Coordinates: 37°46′21.4″N122°13′56.1″W / 37.772611°N 122.232250°W / 37.772611; -122.232250
Country	United States
State	California
County	Alameda
City	Oakland
Neighborhood	Fruitvale
Elevation	49 ft (15 m)
ZIP code	94601
Website	jingletown.org

Jingletown is a pocket arts community in Oakland, California, adjacent to the Oakland Estuary, and about two miles southeast of Lake Merritt. It is bounded by the Coast Guard Island Bridge and Fruitvale Bridges, which connect Oakland to the City of Alameda. It is part of the area called Fruitvale (formerly, Brays and Fruit Vale) in East Oakland. Many working artists live in converted lofts that are common in the area. ^[1]

History

Originally it was part of an area called San Antonio, Oakland, California. The settlement that became San Antonio began in 1851 when James Buskirk Larue bought land from Peralta, west of San Antonio Creek. The site was west of Clinton. Larue built a store and wharf, and a community grew up around them. ^[2] The San Francisco and Oakland Railroad built a station at San Antonio. When the Central Pacific Railroad took over the line in 1870, the name changed to Brooklyn. ^[3] When the Southern Pacific Railroad took over the line in 1883, the name changed to East Oakland.

Clinton and San Antonio joined in 1856 to form a new town called Brooklyn, ^[4] named after a ship that brought Mormon settlers to California in 1846. Brooklyn joined with nearby Lynn to incorporate in 1870 under the name Brooklyn. In 1872, Brooklyn voters approved their city's annexation by Oakland. ^[4]

The name Fruitvale (originally Fruit Vale) comes from the fruit orchards (largely apricot and cherry) that dominated the area in the late 19th century. ^{[5] [6]} After the 1906 earthquake, the onslaught of refugees from San Francisco caused a population boom, ^[7] and the unincorporated neighborhood was annexed into the City of Oakland by 1909. ^[8]

Jingletown's name originates from a habit of nearby mill workers, largely males of Azorean Portuguese background, who would jingle the coins from a week's work in their pockets as they walked to display their prosperity. ^{[9] [10]} In the late 1950s and 1960s many of the Portuguese families began moving out of Jingletown—and Chicano and Latino families, many displaced from West Oakland by urban renewal, began moving to Jingletown. ^[8]

Jingletown was deeply involved in the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. A Chicano Moratorium protest against the Vietnam war on July 26, 1970 was organized in Jingletown by Chicano radicals. ^[11]

Jingletown since 1974

In 1974, Jingletown faced the dangers of urban renewal, and the community was almost destroyed. Jingletown was rezoned from industrial to residential in response to fears that the community would be displaced by a proposed Del Monte cannery expansion. ^[12] Chicano, Black and Portuguese activists organized to stop the demolition of Jingletown, and advocated for the rezoning. As the '70s ended, Jingletown was going through tough times. The neighborhood became notorious for gangs and drug dealing, which increased in the 1980s and 90s with the crack epidemic and gang era. Today, Latinos still make up half of Jingletown's population but are in danger of displacement by gentrification. ^[13] In 1998, the neighborhood began a massive redevelopment, becoming home to an award-winning affordable housing project that has helped to revitalize the community. ^[14]

Jingletown is one of the fastest growing arts districts in the San Francisco Bay area. An organization called the Jingletown Arts & Business Community (JABC) is the main representative of the art community.

See also

• San Francisco Bay Area portal

• Fruitvale, Oakland, California
• San Antonio, Oakland, California

References

1. "Converted Warehouses Lifeblood Of Oakland Art Scene". CBS San Francisco. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
2. Hubert Howe Bancroft (1888). History of California. 1884-90. History Company. pp. 478–.
3. The Bay of San Francisco: The Metropolis of the Pacific Coast and Its Suburban Cities : a History. Lewis Publishing Company. 1892. pp. 386–.
4. California Highway Patrolman. California Association of Highway Patrolmen. 1956.
5. Michael Maly (2008). Beyond Segregation: Multiracial And Multiethnic Neighborhoods. Temple University Press. pp. 165–. ISBN   978-1-59213-136-5.
6. William A. Shutkin (24 August 2001). The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. MIT Press. pp. 168–. ISBN   978-0-262-26458-7.
7. Louise Chawla (13 May 2016). Growing Up in an Urbanizing World. Routledge. pp. 187–. ISBN   978-1-134-90113-5.
8. Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny (January 2007). An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area. Gibbs Smith. pp. 2–. ISBN   978-1-58685-432-4.
9. Wolfgang F. E. Preiser; David P. Varady; Francis P. Russell (1994). Future Visions of Urban Public Housing: An International Forum, November 17-20, 1994, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA : Proceedings. College of Design, University of Cincinnati.
10. Robert Lowe; Barbara Miner (1 May 1996). Selling Out Our Schools: Vouchers, Markets, and the Future of Public Education. Rethinking Schools. ISBN   978-0-942961-19-5.
11. Christine Marín (1977). A Spokesman of the Mexican American Movement: Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales and the Fight for Chicano Liberation, 1966-1972. R and E Research Associates. ISBN   9780882474236.
12. Laura Jerrard (1997). Fruitvale Bay Trail Park: A Feasibility Study and Design Proposal ; Prepared for The Trust for Public Land. University of California, Berkeley.
13. The Last Chicano: A Mexican American Experience Manuel Ruben Delgado
14. "Featured Housing Projects: Jingletown". State of California, Department of Housing and Community Development. Archived from the original on 2007-06-24. Retrieved 2007-06-25.