Presented at the 2026 Annual Meeting by Joe Johnston Board Secretary
After reviewing an aerial photograph, it looks like this block was mostly occupied by single-family homes prior to the construction of the 3 apartment buildings on this block. Only 3 of these homes survive today. The elderly owner of 2045 Pleasant Valley told me that there was a pipe factory where 288 Whitmore is today.
In the 1970s, the city of Oakland mandated apartment buildings have at least 1 parking space per unit. Oakland has dropped a requirement to for new apartment buildings to have any parking spaces. Developers have chosen to include one parking space for 2 units. A parking space no longer comes with an apartment. This is a separate transaction. This is called “unbundling.”
James Casale was the developer. He came to Oakland as a child with his family from Cleveland Ohio. He ran 5 bars with his brother Ralph then decided to switch careers to sell real estate in the Sierra foothills. He had 7 children. His obituary is online.
The 1st building to be constructed was 250 Whitmore @ 1973. 2005 Pleasant Valley and 288 Whitmore followed @ 1976. You may have noted am “A” or “B” attached to your address if you live in R2 or R3 because R2 was the 2nd increment, 288 was the 3rd. 250 being the 1st has no suffix. In the beginning our buildings were referred to as RI, RII, or RIII but now R1, R2 and R3 is more common.
250 Whitmore was designed by a civil engineer Hugh M O’Neil. R2 & R3 had the same architect, Gene W Lam. One of Lam’s features was the wide horizontal bar across the balcony. He designed another apartment building at 269 Hanover St (near Lake Merritt) with this feature.
The Rockridge Manor apartments were converted to condos beginning in 1979 and ending in 1985. This was part of a nationwide trend in the 1970s to convert apartments. In 1980 Studios went on the market at $43k, 1 bedrooms from $46K to $65K & 2 bedrooms from $72K to $95K. It was intended to be an adult community with no children above the age of 2 permitted to live here. There are at least 3 owners who were renters before the conversion.
The developers were surprised that 6 months after the conversion, half the owners were renting their units.
Whitmore St used to be a 2-way street. In 1984, The HOA petitioned the city to make it a one-way street which they did.
At 293 Whitmore there was a cinema, Rockridge Showcase West. Residents here complained of parking problems and noise when movies were shown. That cinema closed a long time ago and the building has been converted into apartments.
RockRidge Manor 