The “Lower Bottoms,” also known as the “Prescott” neighborhood, is a specific part of West Oakland, a historically Black neighborhood in Oakland. Seventh Street, or the 7th Street Corridor, runs through the Lower Bottoms and was once a hotspot for artists, scholars, and activists. West Oakland was considered a “Harlem of the West” because of its vibrant jazz and blues scene. Artistic greats like Tina Turner, Lou Rawls, Maya Angelou, and B.B King, among others, came to West Oakland.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the various government agencies used eminent domain to take land from residents and businesses to build the Main Post Office on 7th Street and the West Oakland BART Station. The elevated tracks and freeways split the neighborhood and displaced many Black residents to other parts of West Oakland, including the Acorn towers and other housing projects.
Today, the Lower Bottoms has been impacted by decades of gentrification, over-policing, underfunding, and the ever-growing issue of homelessness.
I asked residents in the Lower Bottoms, “How do you imagine West Oakland looked before the BART Station and Post Office were built?”
Dunenka Saleh
“A Black Mecca”
Dunenka Saleh, Lower Bottoms
Skipper Reed
“Land, dirt, more houses and Less Industrialization. There used to be a Church’s Chicken down here.”
Skipper Reed, Lower Bottoms
DeAngelo “D Nok” Lemmons
“Good beautiful thriving black neighborhood. A lot of people don’t know it was a lot of people over here. Asian people, Latino population, working class people. The Black folks were a little more televised. It was a thriving Black community. Still is today.”
DeAngelo “D Nok” Lemmons, Lower Bottoms
How do you imagine West Oakland looked before the BART Station and the Post Office were built?
Lowell park was houses.. Acorn was dirt… you like to know more ask me 66 years of West Oakland California. BPP history David Hilliard chief of staff Son I am..
THE STREETS ALL RAN EAST/WEST AND LEAD TO DOWNYOWN OAKLAND..THE STREETS WERE ALL TREE LINED..THE ONLY PROJECTS WERE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FREEWAY..THE LOWER BOTTOM IS PRETTY MUCM THE SAME..BUT 7TH STREET WAS ALL HOMES..ON BOTH SIDES..ALL THE WAY TO DOWNTOWN..THE STREETS WERE STILL MADE OF DIRT..BUT LOTS OF TREES COVERED THE HOMES AND YHE STREETS..THERE WAS NO “ACORNS”..NO “MCDONALDS” OR MALL…THE STREETS RAN OVER “980” STRAIGHT INTO DOWNTOWN OAKLAND..FROM 7TH STREET ALL THE WAY UP TO 16TH STRRET…ALL THE STREETS WERE TRREE LINED..BUT STRRETS ON THE LOWER STREETS (7TH THROUGH 10TH) WERE DIRT STREETS, BUT HAD LOTS OF TREES SUPPLYING AMPLE SHADE