San Francisco - Alison Bing [198]
Jack London Square (www.jacklondonsquare.com; Broadway; 51 AC Transit) bears the name of the writer who raised hell on the waterfront. The sanitized marina strip feels like an outdoor mall with many vacant storefronts and not many people, but it’s a good jumping-off point. Here you can catch a ferry to San Francisco, down a pint at lopsided Heinold’s First & Last Chance Saloon, wander downtown along Broadway, or visit Yoshi’s for sushi and top-class jazz. For organic produce, artisan breads, fresh flowers and tasty free samples, check out the Oakland farmers market ( 10am-2pm Sun). Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s official yacht, the Potomac (Floating White House; 510-627-1215; www.usspotomac.org), is usually moored beside the ferry landing and is definitely worth a look.
Oakland’s Chinatown (downtown Oakland, immediately east of Broadway; Oakland City Center) is much smaller than its San Francisco sister, but bustles with commerce. English is infrequent and tourists few. Oaklanders argue that its Chinese restaurants are more authentic than those in San Francisco’s Chinatown. We’d prefer to take this argument on a case-by-case basis; otherwise it’s a draw.
The Oakland Museum of California ( 510-238-2200; www.museumca.org; 1000 Oak St; adult/child/senior & student $8/free/5, 2nd Sun of month admission free; 10am-5pm Wed-Sat, noon-5pm Sun, 10am-9pm 1st Fri of month; Lake Merritt) has excellent permanent collections on California history, regional natural sciences and works by local artists, including fine prints by Californian photographers Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange. As of this writing, the museum was rebuilding and had scheduled to close until spring 2010, then potentially again in 2012. Call ahead.
International Boulevard (14th St east of Lake Merritt; 82 AC Transit) is a three-mile carnival of Vietnamese and Mexican businesses. You’ll find the best taco trucks along Fruitvale Ave or at the corner of High St and International Blvd. The Bay Area’s best pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) joints are just blocks away.
Oakland’s visual centerpiece, Lake Merritt (along Lakeside Dr; Lake Merritt) is a gorgeous place to stroll, jog or lollygag on a sunny day. Once a tidal marsh teeming with waterfowl, it became a lake in 1869 with the damming of an arm of the Oakland estuary. It still supports migratory birds and remains connected to the estuary, but its 155 acres are briny and unfit for swimming. You’ll spot hundreds of Canada geese (and their droppings) along a 3.5-mile perimeter path. You can also rent boats (see below). Those crew teams whipping past? They’re the Lake Merritt Rowing Club.
In oak-shaded Lakeside Park, on Lake Merritt’s eastern shore, Children’s Fairyland ( 510-452-2259; www.fairyland.org; Grand & Bellevue Aves; admission $7; 10am-4pm daily summer, Wed-Sun spring & fall, Fri-Sun winter; 12 AC Transit; 19th St) was apparently Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disneyland. Through adult eyes, it has a weirdly dilapidated charm; little kids love it. The boating center ( 510-238-2196; 568 Bellevue Ave in Lakeside Park; boats per hr $8-15; 10:30am-4pm daily summer, 10:30am-4:30pm Sat & Sun winter, hr vary spring & fall; 12 AC Transit) lets you sail or paddle beneath Oakland’s downtown towers. At night, the lake is ringed with little lights, the kind you see decorating Christmas-tree lots.
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FOUR OAKLAND-BERKELEY ‘HOODS TO EXPLORE
Piedmont Ave – in Oakland, between 51st and Broadway. This is where the locals shop. Key-makers, cobblers, cafes, tea houses, yoga studios – not boutique-y, but lots of one-of-a-kind shops. Not as upscale as Rockridge.
Rockridge – College Ave connects Oakland and Berkeley; the 6300-block marks the line. The Berkeley side