In 1996, the city of Oakland renamed its portion of East 14th Street as International Boulevard to acknowledge the cultural diversity of the route, and to address the stigma of the segment being seen as a high-crime area.

Immediately northwest of Fruitvale are many businesses long owned locally by East and Southeast Asian residents.

[2] An award-winning short film about underage prostitution, International Boulevard: A Documentary,[3] covers the issue of Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) in Oakland, and on a national level.

[4] According to the Alameda County government, CalTrans, and the Oakland Department of Transportation, speeding is a significant problem on the road.

[5] A 2002 study found that International Boulevard had the most pedestrian collisions (both in total and per mile) of any street in Oakland.