Montclair, CA

Montclair (also known as the Montclair District or Montclair Village) is a neighborhood of Oakland, California. Montclair is located in the hills east of Piedmont in a valley formed by the Hayward Fault. Although there is no formal definition of the neighborhood, the general boundaries are Highway 24 to the north, Highway 13 to the west, Skyline Boulevard to the east, and Joaquin Miller Road to the south. The center of the neighborhood is a compact shopping district known as Montclair Village, which is located next to Highway 13 in the bottom of the valley. It lies at an elevation of 892 feet (272 m). The hills of Montclair are heavily forested, and generally characterized by winding streets and large single-family houses. The neighborhood includes several of the highest ranked public schools in Oakland - Montclair Elementary, Thornhill Elementary, Joaquin Miller Elementary, and Montera Middle School.
Prior to modern development, Montclair was geographically demarcated by two creek valleys, one on the northeast and one on the southwest, that both run mostly east to west from the top of the Oakland Hills down to the Hayward Fault rift and beyond.
On the northwest, the upper reaches of Temescal Creek run down Thornhill Drive and Pinehaven Road. The creek remains visible above ground in the upper sections along Thornhill and Pinehaven. The creek has two branches that join at the intersection of Thornhill and Pinehaven. From this confluence the creek flows down the south side of Thornhill until Thornhill Elementary School were it then undergrounds and flows down the remainder of Thornhilll and then down Mountain Blvd. to Broadway Terrace, before draining into Lake Temescal.