signs in Chinatown
CC SA-BY Our Oakland
You can usually tell you are in Oakland by the color and design of the street signs. This is a handy way to know when you are leaving the wonderful confines of home.
Nearly all Oakland street signs are green with an oak on them. Older signs don't have the oak tree, but all of them (with a few minor exceptions) are Mixed Case (as opposed to Piedmont's ALL CAPS signs). There are a few special locations that have blue and white and no oak tree. In Oakland's Chinatown, the standard signs are supplemented by smaller signs in Chinese (Q: is this Mandarin or Cantonese or ?)
See also Gold Star Streets, which had special street signs.
Nearby Cities
Neighboring towns/cities have different street signs, colors and fonts.
Berkeley street signs are brown, unless they are designated bicycle boulevards, in which case they are purple
Courtesy of NAParish and Flickr
Emeryville street signs are blue, unless they are designated bicycle boulevards, in which case they are purple.
CC SA-BY Our Oakland
Piedmont street signs are green, with no oak tree, and in ALL CAPS.
CC SA-BY Our Oakland
San Leandro street signs are green with cherries on them.
CC SA-BY Our Oakland
Alameda street signs are green, mixed case, but a different font.
CC SA-BY Our Oakland
More Photos
El Centro Ave & Park Blvd, Glenview, Lower Hills
(Courtesy HiMYSYeD; CC-A)
Evergreen Lane and Evergreen Path
(in Oakland, despite Berkeley zip code)
(Courtesy of NAParish; CC BY-SA 2.0 
Where Fruitvale Ave ends and Wrenn St begins
(Courtesy HiMYSYeD; CC-A) 
Mountain Blvd
(Courtesy HiMYSYeD; CC-A) 
Shop the Dimond Banner & Fruitvale Ave sign
(Courtesy HiMYSYeD; CC-A)
older Oakland sign
CC SA-BY Our Oakland
much older sign at Mills College
CC SA-BY Our Oakland
Links and References
- Our Oakland comparison of these signs, including pictures
