Fernside, Alameda

Fernside sits at the far east end of the main island, with the Fruitvale and High Street bridges leading across to Oakland. Alameda has no official neighborhood map, so its edges vary from one description to the next. Fernside Boulevard carries the neighborhood's name, and the land sits about 13 feet above sea level.

At a glance: In the 12 months through September 2026, the median sale price of a single-family home in Fernside was $1,587,500, across 42 sales. Homes sold for about 119.4% of their list price, and the middle sale took 12 days on the market.

Subdivision began in 1925, led by developer Fred T. Wood and his partner J. J. Mulvany, who planned a group of luxury homes on the old estate land. The main street, Gibbons Drive, was named for Emilie Cohen's family, and Northwood and Southwood cross it. Building the subdivision meant cutting many of the estate's old trees, though a few survivors remain, and a small grassy triangle at Central and Versailles Avenues marks where the subdivision began.

Much of Fernside was built on the old estate land from the mid-1920s on, which makes it newer than the Victorian blocks elsewhere on the East End.

What should you look for in a Fernside home? A home that is close to 100 years old comes with old-home issues, so read the inspection reports carefully. Over the decades, different owners cared for their homes to different extents, so condition can vary a lot from one house to the next on the same street. Ask about past remodels, too, since unpermitted work turns up in older homes, and it's worth knowing what was done with a permit and what wasn't.

Fernside sits close to the rest of the East End, including Lincoln Park on High Street, and downtown Alameda's Park Street district is a short drive or bike ride west. The shoreline of the island's south side, with Crown Memorial State Beach and Crab Cove, is a longer ride across town. Across the High Street and Fruitvale bridges, Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood is minutes away.

Alameda is in the East Bay regional private sewer lateral program, and a sale needs a compliance certificate or a time extension certificate from EBMUD before escrow closes. Who takes it on is negotiable between the seller and the buyer. My Alameda home selling page explains the steps.

Homeowners move on for all kinds of reasons including (but not limited to): upsizing to a second or third home, divorce, relocating for work, or the passing of a family member.

Tanja Odzak is a Top East Bay Realtor with eXp Realty, helping buyers and sellers in Alameda and across the East Bay. Fernside is a residential neighborhood at the eastern end of Alameda Island, near the Fruitvale and High Street bridges. It was built on the grounds of a famous 19th-century estate, and it is known for an unusual concentration of 1920s and 1930s Storybook-era homes. Lincoln Middle School is on Fernside Boulevard. The MLS has no single area name for Fernside, so in the home prices below, Fernside means the homes inside the Fernside boundary we use for our own Fernside home search.