"Piedmont" doesn't count as an answer because it's a separately incorporated city, that leads a San Marino-like existence surrounded entirely by Oakland.
And for that matter, where Oakland ends and Piedmont starts is impossible to determine by the looks of the neighborhoods, because the areas of Oakland that border Piedmont are just as swanky.
Montclair is the area of the Oakland hills that lies on both sides of Hwy. 13 that runs between I-580 to the south to a junction with Hwy. 24 to the north, close to the Caldecott Tunnel, which then leads east through the hills and over to area code 925 (Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Walnut Creek, etc.) also known as Contra Costa County.
In the 90s I had the pleasure of living on the lower side of Montclair very close to Piedmont (Harbord Avenue) and later on Skyline. The backyard of the house I shared on Skyline with my friend Larry, who owned the house, backed up to the trails of Redwood Park.
With all due respect to the trails of upper Bidwell Park in Chico where I live now, I prefer running the trails of the Oakland and Berkeley hills. They're shaded in many spots with redwoods. oaks, and eucalyptus, and the surface is mostly soft duff, compared with the hard lava of upper park.
A pretty "back door" to Moraga in Contra Costa County is to go up to Skyline Boulevard, and then take Pinehurst Road through the hamlet of Canyon and on to Moraga. Other than the fact that the railroad went through a nearly mile long tunnel in the Oakland hills, this route largely traces the route of the Sacramento Northern Railway.
THESE CONCRETE ABUTMENTS ON MOUNTAIN AVENUE ONCE SUPPORTED A RAILROAD BRIDGE. THE RAILROAD CEASED TO OPERATE IN 1958. A TRAIL RUNS EAST (LEFT IN THIS PICTURE) FROM MONTCLAIR VILLAGE TO SHEPHERD CANYON ROAD, CLOSE TO THE LOCATION WHERE THE WEST PORTAL OF THE TUNNEL ONCE WAS.
For marathon runners, Miles 5 through 10 which include Montclair are the toughest in the race as they are a nearly continous uphill slog.
Oakland Marathon neighborhood tour - navigational links:
Backward to: Lake Temescal
Forward to: Mormon Temple
Index
Introduction
Oakland Marathon website
East Bay Hills Project
(terrific website with historic photos of the railroad and highway development in the Oakland hills)
Montclair is a beautiful, very affluent, and somewhat diverse neighborhood (at least in contrast to its peer neighborhoods in San Francisco, Tiburon, Berkeley, and the town of Piedmont). The homes range from cozy (but pricey) cottages in bosky settings to large mid-century moderns of Redwood and glass, with a fair number of distinctive mansions and estates dating from the 1930s to the present ensconced in wooded settings. This is a lovely neighborhood for those who can afford it, and a nice place to walk and drive through for those who aspire, or at least admire, the bosky settings, ethnically diverse (if not class diverse) community, and the interesting architecture.
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