The story behind our Piedmont listing…

From SFGate:  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ontheblock/detail?blogid=58&entry_id=47728

New Piedmont Avenue listing comes with a backstory

It looks innocent enough: a newly listed home which comes with some nice features — an elegant bay window and original fireplace, for instance. It’s been spruced up for sale with the requisite painting and staging, has a $699,000 price-tag and is in a good location.

A home with a past.

But beneath this benign facade lurks a whiff of notoriety. For the 3-bedroom home at 4444 Moraga Ave in Oakland made headlines last summer when it was discovered to be the site of a not insignificant marijuana-growing operation.

A minor fire at the property led authorities to unearth about 100 marijuana plants inside the home, which was being rented by a couple who were subsequently arrested.

“Who knew?” asked Moraga Avenue resident Jacqueline Shea Dinkin at the time. “It’s like ‘Weeds,’ the TV show,” she said, referring to the Showtime program about marijuana cultivation in the suburbs.

But don’t let a little shady history put you off. This is in fact an attractive, nay upstanding, neighborhood — in the Piedmont Avenue area of Oakland which, to my mind at least, is underrated and to be recommended. Homes here list for a median price of $400K, Mountain View cemetery is a beautiful park, and the shops and restaurants on Piedmont Avenue itself are superb. Cafe Trieste just moved in, for goodness sake, what more proof do you need?

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ontheblock/detail?blogid=58&entry_id=47728#ixzz0RVDjMnSE