Oakland: The Other City by the Bay

Oakland's downtown is on the mend. Spend some time between Jack London Square and 14th Street along Broadway. There's some great architecture here and a real sense of hope and progress. Unfortunately, that optimism is less apparent just up Broadway at 19th Street or so. The Paramount Theatre, which is in this area, is still worth the trip. It's an Art Deco shrine and a great place to hear the symphony, see a classic movie, or hear a blues legend play (depending on the night).

Quick Tips:

Spend some time along Lake Merritt, a saltwater lake just east of downtown. You can rent canoes and kayaks here or just stroll or bike along the path. To get there, walk or drive east along Grand Ave. from Broadway.

Best Way To Get Around:

Oakland is a much more car-friendly city than SF. Traffic is generally lighter and parking is more readily available and less expensive. BART is still a great option for many areas of the city.

Barney's is right in my neighborhood, so I've come to know it pretty well. They've been voted the best burger several times by the East Bay Express (the local free weekly), and they have good fries too. I happen not to be a beef-eater, but I've come to love Barney's turkey burgers, especially anything with their hickory barbecue sauce. They also offer veggie burgers. Try to avoid Friday and Saturday nights when the place is packed and you'll most likely have to wait 15 to 20 minutes or more, unless, of course, you like crowded. Barney's will run you a bit more than Burger King or McDonald's, but the quality more than justifies it. Sit back with an Anchor Steam beer and enjoy.

Named for the famed writer, Jack London Square is a collection of restaurants, shops, and night spots right on the Bay. Visit Yoshi's for a fusion of Japanese cuisine and live jazz, or take in a movie at Jack London Cinema. Other dining options include El Torito and Scott's Seafood Restaurant. Don't forget to stop by Jack London's cabin. Brought to Oakland in 1970, London lived here in 1897 while gold prospecting in the Yukon. If SF accommodations are a bit too pricey, you might look into this area. It's still on the Bay and very accessible to SF. BART runs to 12th street, a quick cab ride or ten minute walk from the Square. Unfortunately, as of this writing, BART only runs until about 12:30 at night, a situation yours truly has been very vocal about remedying.

The Morcom Amphitheater of Roses, a tiny wilderness cradling hundreds of roses and frequented by the caretaker's friendly cats, is just off Grand Avenue on Jean Street. Named for Fred N. Morcom, mayor of Oakland from 1931 - 1933, hundreds of roses in almost every color imaginable encircle the amphitheater. Stroll along the reflection pool past the pavillion with its Spanish tile. Or, bring a book and take a vacation from your vacation. You might even hear a rooster crow (really!). You'll probably forget that you're in a city of more than 370,000. I've spent hours here, reading and writing, with only the occassional sound of a bus to remind me that I'm in the city.

On Broadway, just down from the 19th Street BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) station is the Paramount Theatre. Built in 1931, the theatre is a shrine to Art Deco, and, depending on the night, a great place to hear the Oakland East Bay Symphony, see a classic movie, or listen to a blues legend wail away. If you attend a performance at the Paramount, don't be surprised when you notice both tuxedoes and blue jeans in the same room. This is just part of the West Coast lifestyle. During intermission, you can rub elbows with all kinds downstairs at the bar. The Paramount is one of the great buildings of the East Bay. To get a better idea of what the Paramount offers, you can tour it the first and third Saturdays of every month for $1, or go to www.paramounttheatre.com. The web site has a number of excellent photographs of both the exterior and interior.

Bordering Oakland is Berkeley, a bibliophile's paradise. As a university town and famed home to '60s radicals (and a few holdouts), you might expect Berkeley to have an abundance of books. And it does. Within only a few blocks, you can find Moe's, Cody's, Shakespeare and Co., Half Price Books, and a number of other bookstores. Moe's and Cody's both have excellent fiction, nonfiction, and poetry selections. Cody's carries a number of local, national, and international literary journals. Many of these stores have sections for subjects the chain stores couldn't dream of (history of science, for example). Telegraph Avenue is often enjoyable for its street merchants and musicians, though it can get a little tacky and cartoonish. Case in point, the tarot readers and rice writers (they'll actually write your name on a grain of rice). Still, Telegraph Avenue is filled with great bars, cafes, and hangouts. And, it hasn't yet become a grotesque cartoon of itself the way San Francisco's Haight has.