Montclair District Offers Charm and Choice in the East Bay
Situated in the Oakland hills surrounding Highway 13 (the Warren Freeway), the Montclair district starts at Highway 24 in the west and runs eastward to Joaquin Miller.
There is a clear neighborhood feel to the area, particularly along its main shopping areas, such as Moraga Avenue and Park Boulevard. But that neighborhood feeling’ is not necessarily defined by the architecture.
“It’s a potpourri of homes,” explains Chuck Corwin, a realtor who specializes in the Montclair district, and himself a long-time resident of the area. “It’s not really a we have this type’ or we have that type’. It’s eclectic. You have some homes from the turn of the 20th century, while others are ultra-modern and less than one year old. You have quite a few homes in what we call the traditional contemporary, from the 1960s, with walls of glass on one side, to take advantage of the view, and open-beamed ceilings. There are also homes from the 1940s and 1950s.”
Corwin notes that a few of the homes and other buildings tell the tale of the area’s past. “The Montclair district was originally a hunting area for the San Francisco elite. It was quite a long journey for them, as there were no freeways going up into the hills, so they felt they had really gotten away from it all. As a result, there were a number of hunting lodges built in the 1920s, some of which are still in use. They are tucked into the woods, here and there, and really add to the charm of the area.” Some of the old hunting lodges are now public buildings, such as the Oakland Library branch and the former Moraga fire station.
With the natural beauty and easy freeway access, some homes in the area have a multi-million dollar price tag. For those with a more modest budget, however, homes closer to the area’s shopping districts are readily available in the $600,000 and up range. Corwin advises, for home buyers with more modest means, to “avoid the ultra-modern and ultra-contemporary. Those are the homes most likely to go for $1 million and above.”
“The group of residents is really a mix,” Corwin explains. “There is a median group of older people in their sixties and seventies, but in the last ten years, there has also been a large influx of younger families, with children.” (Excellent schools, public and private, are another reason potential buyers flock to the area.)
For Corwin, like many other residents, the area’s accessibility is key. “I have friends who live in San Francisco, and we occasionally meet to go to the theater. I’ve been told that I can get to the theater, in San Francisco, faster than they can.” With easy access to Highway 13 and Highway 24, travel is easy. “It takes me about 18 minutes to get to San Francisco in non-rush-hour traffic,” he explains.
In addition to the ease of transportation, Corwin says the area has the “ideal climate. It is cooler than Contra Costa County in the summer, and warmer than Contra Costa and Marin in the winter.”
Not surprisingly, the pull the Montclair district has tends to keep residents in the area, even as their lives grow and change. Such is the case with Andy Bonchonsky and his wife, Lisa. When Andy first came to the area, in 1989, he was arriving in the Bay Area to be the women’s soccer coach at UC Berkeley. “I drove up via Highway 13, and I just remember saying to myself, Wow, I’d really like to live up there in the hills.'”
Then single, Bonchonsky rented a room in the area. Later, he met his wife and they purchased their home. “It’s green. I love the outdoorsy feel.”
Although taken with the natural beauty, the quick freeway access also helped. “When I first moved here, I had been living in LA. Down there, it just seemed like you drove everywhere. When I got here, I didn’t want to have to drive a lot,” he says, explaining that the close shopping districts and easy freeway access made the area even more attractive.
Now married and a father of two young children, with a different job, Bonchonsky says it was easy to stay in the area. The central location made a job switch easier, and the area is a nice place to raise children. “We’ve looked around, and we both still like the area,” he explains.
