In continuing a look at the most innovative new developments in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, our last stop is at Fruitvale Village in Oakland, and one of the most meaningful success stories.

The local latino community in Fruitvale felt the parking lot adjacent to the neighborhood’s ‘BART’ light rail station (the East Bay’s 4th busiest) had a better fate than a parking garage as was originally planned in 1991.  The savior?  The nonprofit community-based real estate development

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Great retail entertainment districts not only provide a strong sense of place, as Bay Street Emeryville does (profiled yesterday), but must-visit restaurants and stores as well, which it does not.

Berkeley’s 4th Street does on both counts.

While not as spatially dramatic as its neighbor (Bay Street), 4th Street has become known as an artistic, creative and increasingly chic main street of about 130 businesses.  Transformed from an industrial district to an artist community to what is now

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It’s now a common evolutional trend where retail is merging with entertainment.  In fact, downtown needs to in order to survive, as the economy moves from a goods/services economy to an experience economy.

There are three essential components to ‘cooltown-certified’ retail entertainment districts:  great placemaking and unique venues, both of which become destinations unto themselves, and a good supply of attainable housing.  Of course, other factors like tenant mix, location, etc. are

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Other than the prolific amount of loft-type housing going on in Oakland’s Jack London Square (profiled yesterday), you know it’s a place to invest in once that funky, independent coffeehouse opens, the one that qualifies as a third place.  In Jack London Square, it’s the World Ground Cafe, and in fact the only indie coffeehouse in the neighborhood.

The East Bay’s signature alternative weekly, the East Bay Express, determined that World Ground is the best place to sip coffee in the area, with

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If you’re an entrepreneur, artist and/or associated with the creative class in the SF Bay Area, you may want to check out the neighborhood surrounding the Jack London Square waterfront.  The area has already attracted a number of architects, consultants and media-related firms.

Oakland’s Mayor Jerry Brown and former presidential candidate was a pioneer in helping transform what was a dormant, underutilized industrial district (much of it centered on produce) into an emerging hip destination.

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Over the holiday break I revisited the San Francisco Bay Area to see what its cities had built to attract creatives and entrepreneurs in the eight years since I last lived there.

Here’s my basic assessment based on what’s under construction - the East Bay will have the greatest population gain in this group by far, San Francisco will continue to attract them as well albeit at a much slower pace, and the West Bay/Peninsula - the heart of Silicon Valley - will continue to become a community for

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In keeping up with our impromptu focus on media & resources this week, one must-see site for a cooltown/creative class point of view of four European cities is this informative, dynamic website at coolcapitals.com.

I’m not aware of any website that better communicates the creative, progressive highlights of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Vienna and Zurich, using animation, sounds, imagery and descriptions of only the most relevant restaurants, lounges, stores and events.  It provides an overall

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As you may know, the target audience for cooltowns can be classified as the creative class, early adopters, cultural creatives, entrepreneurs, bohemians, progressives, influencers… an alternative to the mainstream.  Utne Magazine is the quintessential alternative publication, and thus it’s worth noting that their 2005 Independent Press Award for newsletters goes to New Urban News, the leading publication for developing walkable communities, a major component of cooltowns.

Utne’s description

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You know how you can count on your friends to tell you about, say, this great new affordable restaurant, or a must-go sale, or a free concert with a favorite band…?  Well, if your city isn’t lucky enough to have a Buffalo Rising, then you should check out Daily Candy if you live in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, London, LA, SF, NY or DC.  Think of it as a daily ‘experience tipster’ for the creative class.

In Washington DC, the very last daily ‘tips’ were:
- A new eco-friendly store, the first of

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What happens when you cross car sharing with a shopping cart?

The people at MIT have an answer that poses such a question - the city car... and it’s set to be built as a prototype by GM.

Stackable like a shopping cart to save space, the electric two-seat city car is designed for pedestrian-oriented communities (ie cities) that suffer from single (or double) occupancy vehicle congestion and a dearth of parking.  With independent wheels, it ‘drives like a computer chair’, thus making parallel

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