Meyran blends houses with small businesses

Tucked between Atwood and Semple streets, Meyran Avenue is lined predominantly with student… Tucked between Atwood and Semple streets, Meyran Avenue is lined predominantly with student houses and apartments.

The broken, red Solo cups and crushed Natural Light cans found sporadically along the cracked sidewalks attest to Meyran’s role in the house party scene.

“I love living here with my friends,” Meyran resident Kate Shirilla said, a first-year Oakland renter.

“It seems like there’s always a lot going on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights,” Shirilla said, mentioning that she often can see or hear the herds of party-goers on these evenings.

For the over-21 crowd, Meyran is home to only one bar.

The Pittsburgh Cafe, located at 226 Meyran Ave., is a converted stone house where Oakland residents can grab a burger by day and party by night. It also includes a front patio that hosts diners and partiers during warmer months.

Other businesses include the New Oakland Tailor, located next to the Pittsburgh Cafe, as well as STA Travel, S’T Nail Design and The Natural Choice Barber Shop between Forbes and Fifth avenues.

“It’s a good location,” senior Lee Oswald said about her Meyran home, noting its proximity to campus.

Shirilla also said she liked her house’s location, and she only has to cross the alley behind her home to get to all of the Atwood Street restaurants.

But Meyran’s bustle and party reputation greatly contrast with the mood of the damaged homes located at the top of the 300 block.

Construction crews are currently working on rebuilding and making repairs to 305, 307 and 309 Meyran Ave. In July, a fire destroyed the 307 Meyran home, killed a male resident and damaged the adjacent properties.

The incident, however, had the positive effect of making students more safety-conscious.

“Walking past the burned-down house every day has definitely made me more concerned about house fires,” Shirilla said.

Come what may, life on Meyran continues.

With couches propped on its porches and with the random pairs of sneakers slung over drooping telephone wires, Meyran Avenue embodies that unique South Oakland charm.

“I’d actually say Meyran’s the cleanest of the streets,” Oswald said.