Jingletown
Jingletown is a pocket arts community adjacent to the Oakland Estuary, bounded by the Park Street 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. There are a large number of working artists living in the converted lofts that predominate in the area. It is located about two miles southeast of Lake Merritt.
The history of Jingletown begins with its name, originating 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. In the late 1950s and 1960s many of the Portuguese families began moving out of Jingletown and Chicano and Latino families, many who had relocated from West Oakland by urban renewal, began moving to Jingletown in significant numbers. Jingletown was also heavy in the Chicano Movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A militant Chicano organization called the Chicano Revolutionary Party had a Free Breakfast Program out of Mary Help of Christian Catholic Church; the Black Panthers had helped the CRP start this Free Breakfast Program. Also another organization that worked with youth in the community was Frente Liberacion del Pueblo. It worked with troubled Chicano and Black youth in Jingletown. The Chicano Moratorium protest against the Vietnam war was organized in Jingletown by Chicano radicals. In 1974 Jingletown was faced with the dangers of Urban renewal. The community was almost destroyed. Jingletown was re-zoned from industrial to residential after fears the community would be displaced by a proposed Del Monte cannery expansion. Chicano Black and Portuguese activists organized to stop the demolition of Jingletown and advocated for the re-zoning. As the 70s drew to a close, Jingletown became very notorious for gangs and drug dealings, especially in the 1980s and 90s with the crack epidemic and gang era. Today, Latinos still make up half of Jingletown's population but is in danger of being dispossessed by gentrification hidden as redevelopment. In 1998, the neighborhood began a massive redevelopment, becoming home to an award-winning affordable housing project that has helped to revitalize the community.
Jingletown is thriving as 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. In 2003 a building boom began in Jingletown, with several local developers building approximately 150 condos, lofts and townhomes on and near the Estuary waterfront, creating a new character to the area with its mix of new and old homes, commuters and residential artists. The neighborhood is also home to the Institute of Mosaic Art, and walking through the neighborhood, you can see many mosaics displayed on buildings sprinkled throughout the neighborhood. Jingletown is also the location of Green Day's JingleTown Recording.
Originally it was part of the area called San Antonio, Oakland, California. The settlement that became San Antonio began in 1851 when J.B. Larue squatted on Peralta's land west of San Antonio Creek . The site was west of Clinton. Larue built a store and wharf and the community grew up around them. 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 was changed to Brooklyn. When the Southern Pacific Railroad took over the line in 1883, the name was changed to East Oakland.
Clinton and San Antonio joined in 1856 to form a new town called Brooklyn named after the ship that had 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.
The name Fruitvale (originally Fruit Vale) comes from the many fruit orchards (largely apricot and cherry) which dominated the area in the late 19th century. After the 1906 earthquake, the onslaught of refugees from San Francisco caused a population boom, and the unincorporated neighborhood was annexed into the City of Oakland by 1909. (Note: This information is copied from Wikipedia as of 05/27/2014).
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