Downtown Oakland

Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California; roughly bounded by 6th Street or the Oakland Estuary on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lake Merritt on the east.

The Downtown area is sometimes expanded to refer to the industrial and residential Jack London Square and Jack London warehouse district areas, the Lakeside Apartments District a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lake Merritt, the Civic Center district, Oakland's Chinatown, and the south end of Oakland's Broadway Auto Row an area along Broadway which has historically been used by car dealers and other automotive service businesses. While many consider these areas outside of downtown proper, they are generally considered more geographically proximate to Downtown Oakland than to East Oakland, North Oakland or to West Oakland and are thus sometimes associated with Downtown Oakland.

In January 2009, urban rioting occurred downtown and in the Lakeside Apartments District following BART Police officer Johannes Mehserle's shooting of Oscar Grant III on January 1, 2009.

In mid-2009, Oakland's city council revised zoning and building height regulations in downtown and the greater central business district.