Hood Wars Part I: Fruitvale vs. The Mission

Fruitvale (Oakland) vs. The Mission (San Francisco)

Both have a deep-rooted Latin culture and some of the best Mexican food in the Bay yet nightly, the Mission teems with bar-hopping hipsters while Fruitvale’s residents settle in at home with their families, their partners or their goldfish. The fact that both are thriving due to an influx of new businesses and development makes them similar enough for some comparison.

I interviewed two thirty-somethings - an attorney who has lived in a two bedroom house (that she owns) in Fruitvale since 2003 and my friend Gene, a Market Coordinator for a large insurance company and DJ, who has lived in a large apartment on Valencia (in the Mission) since 1999. I’ve also done a little of my own research, including many nights of drunken debauchery in the Mission and getting my grub on in various Fruitvale taquerias.

Results:
Neighbor hotness: Mission
Likelihood of getting jacked: Probably Fruitvale
Likelihood of getting swagger jacked: Mission
Kid friendliness: Fruitvale
Getting around: Mission
Cool stuff to do: Mission
Likelihood that all your neighbors are just like you: Mission
Price: Fruitvale

click the link below for play-by-play action…

Neighbor Hotness: Mission.
Gene and Courtney both said that you can find hotties at their neighborhood grocery stores, although the guys at the Farmer Joe’s in Fruitvale tend to be with their kids. On the other hand, hipsters don’t really do it for Gene. Courtney says that the childless hot guys in Fruitvale tend to be gay. It would be a toss up but I’ll cast my vote with the Mission, since, um, the fact that I’ve dated three people who lived in the Mission has to count for something.

Likelihood of getting jacked: Probably Fruitvale.
Gene and Courtney said they feel safe in their neighborhoods. Gene’s never been jacked in the Mission although Courtney’s house was broken into. When that happened, one of her neighbors called the police and they caught two of the guys that did it. Some of her other neighbors came by afterwards to give her their phone numbers. They both said that they see lots of car window glass in the streets.

Likelihood of getting swagger jacked: Mission
The Mission is home to a plethora of popular restaurants and drinking establishments and a gaggle of hipsters that care more about being cool than they’d care to admit. In Fruitvale, overalls are all the rage with the stroller set. The Fruitvale folks who care about such things mostly get their cool on somewhere else.

Kid friendliness: Fruitvale
When I asked Gene whether the Mission was kid-friendly his response was, “people do it.” Nuff said. Courtney says that Fruitvale is teeming with kids although she doesn’t recommend you take your kids to the local parks.

Getting around: Mission
San Francisco has the mack daddy of all transit systems [though it’s never on time] and it adequately serves San Francisco’s compact neighborhoods. Fruitvale has a fancy mixed-use BART station (Courtney works in San Francisco) and busses that run throughout so it’s definitely more transit orientated than, say, Pleasanton; but you’ll probably have to walk a lot longer, wait longer for a bus and maybe even hop into a car to get to where you want to go.

Cool stuff to do: Mission
When I asked her about cool stuff to do in Fruitvale, Courtney said, “you can go to Rockridge.” She couldn’t think of anything “cool” to do in her hood although she loves some of the neighborhood restaurants (i.e. Mi Lupita, El Taco Zamorano and The Full House). Gene says you can go to: Phone Booth, El Rio, Knockout, Maverick, Range, Medjool’s roof, Dover, Front Porch, Precitia Eyes, Carnaval… Fruitvale gets an honorable mention in this category for having the biggest Dia De Los Muertos festival in the country.

Likelihood that all your neighbors are just like you: Mission
Fruitvale is extremely diverse with a large Latin community and relatively large numbers of Asian and African American residents. There’s even some White people sprinkled in there. In the Mission, the diversity is mitigated by the fact that it’s sort of segregated - the older, predominantly Latino families south of Mission St.., hipsters to the north.

Price: Fruitvale
Duh! If you had $400,000 you could by this three bedroom house in Fruitvale.
Or, you could buy this one bedroom TIC in the Mission

Bottom line: People who like diversity, backyards, good Mexican food and want square footage without having to move to Concord might prefer Fruitvale. If you want to be in the middle of all the action, have a ten minute commute to the FiDi and don’t mind living with a bunch of people or in a small TIC; the Mission might be for you.

2671 Bryant Street [Home San Francisco]
Mission Image [flickr user fredsharples]