My favorite view of Oakland...

Every time I drive down Juliet Street in the heart of "deep" South Oakland, I marvel at the view.

The gi-normous (I know, I know... very technical term) Cathedral of Learning rising up out of what can only be described as city slums.  Pictures don't do it justice at all.  (If you're ever in South Oakland, drive down Ward Street, turn right onto Frazier, and then another right onto Juliet to experience the real thing.)

South Oakland is a funny place.  As a student, I hardly thought twice about living in those run down houses and apartments.  But now when I look back on it, all I can think is, "I can't believe that my parents let me live here!"  Or better yet, "I can't believe that thousands of parents let their thousands of students live here." 

South Oakland makes the list of the 42 neighborhoods throughout the country that are considered to be "student ghettos."  I honestly can't think of a better phrase to describe it.  It's definitely ghetto-tastic.

And yet South Oakland is one of those places that most Pitt students will probably always hold near and dear to their hearts.  I bet every single Pitt alum has at least one fond memory of walking down the dark and dirty street that is Atwood.  Or going to a party on Bouquet, or perhaps Meyran, or any of the other overcrowded streets lined with single family homes converted to house half a dozen or more college students.  Some of remember what used to be called Cumpies.  A some of us still frequent our favorite college bar, Hemingway's.

Most people look back on their college years with fondest.  But not many have the unique opportunity to work so close their alma mater.  I drive down Forbes Avenue every day, and I continue to marvel at how fast the face of Oakland changes from week to week.

There will be one more post later this week with some other great photos of Oakland that I took this past weekend at the water walk.  I'm going to see if I do anything fancy with Photoshop to jazz them up a bit!