The East Bay Express has an interesting article this week about a plan to build a Ferry Building-style food emporium at Jack London Square called Harvest Hall. I've been hearing whispers about the plan for years, but like many things in Oakland, whispers are still all there is. The author suggests that the plan might be nothing more than a smokescreen to allow developers to take over the area at cut-rate prices, but I'm not entirely convinced. Some of the evidence is compelling, however.
As much as I'd love to see the Harvest Hall idea take off, the plan has plenty of flaws. For one, I seriously doubt that the neighborhood can support artisinal producers in the way that San Francisco's Ferry Building has. Frankly, I don't even think the Ferry Building would have succeeded in another SF neighborhood. The Ferry Building's location onthe Embarcadero, the nexus of virtually every form of transit in the city, spitting distance to the Financial District and its proximity to touristy never-never lands ensures a constant stream of visitors and locals from SF and other Bay Area cities.
Jack London, on the other hand, is 12 long, depressing blocks from BART, and being on the other side of downtown from the rest of Oakland and the entire East Bay, it's not exactly a friendly destination for drivers or bus riders either. The only convenient transportation is the ferry... which originates at the SF Ferry Building. No one would ever pass up the SF Ferry Building in order to come shop in Oakland. Plus riding the ferry is about $7 a pop, one-way.
I don't have terribly high hopes, but I certainly hope they can make it work. If anything, it's clear that something needs to change at Jack London Square. As much as I've tried to love it over the years, I never could. Despite the killer waterfront location, I (and most others, judging by the ghosttown-sized crowds) never really liked the collection of chains and shitty over-priced restaurants. It always feels kind of manufactured and fake. Kind of like Disneyland, but in a bad way where it's dirty and people are rude and there's nothing interesting to do, look at, or buy.
