One business owner says the name NOBE may be young, and new, and fresh, but the old name is just fine. Residents we spoke to say they'd like the area to remain the Golden Gate District of North Oakland.
Rosa Emilia Warder has lived in a house in North Oakland near 60th and Adeline for thirty years, "This is a long-standing North Oakland community that is being swallowed up by real estate agents."
She does not like the idea that real estate agents and brokers are selling her neighborhood as NOBE. She says it's a plan to sanitize an area of Oakland to boost home prices and gentrify the area.
"It really feels like were kinda in a pong right now in this game of real estate prices and people wanting to think of Oakland as only the bad things they see, the shootings," Warder said.
Five shootings in Oakland on Saturday that left one person dead, does nothing for Oakland's identity as a destination.
Real estate brokers like Daniel Winkler say the name change just reflects the revitalization of this area of the city -- new restaurants, easy access to transportation and old sturdy homes are things that are attracting new families.
Scott and Laurel Paz moved from San Francisco to 59th and Genoa, "There's reasonable shopping around, there is good stuff," Scott said. "Lots of kids in the neighborhood, lots of people walking their dogs, it's nice." Nice or not, Laurel admits she does not venture out at night.
Winkler likes the name NOBE. He's selling a new home on 64th St. in Emeryville for $849,000. It's a block away from the Oakland Border, "I didn't really think of it as a name change, sort of it as the creation of a district or giving it an identity."
The area has been known as the Golden Gate District or just North Oakland to residents for years.
Caleigh Schrey, partner in the James and the Giant Cupcake shop on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, isn't sure about the new name, "I don't think that it really needs to change. I think the neighborhood can grow and the name can stay the same."
There are many residents who say they're willing to fight this name change and there's no telling how long this name will stick around.
