Found this piece of public art walking through the city…read more It's located in a small plaza on Mission street between 2 buildings, right next to the Moonrise art. It's pretty tall, and it looks like a bunch of people connected together!!

One of my favorite sculptures anywhere. Modularity, colors, pixel art, repetition, clean lines,…read moremetal craftwork... such concepts and more stack up in this Jonathan Borofsky piece. I'm glad it's accessible outdoors in such a groomed location. Humans among humans.

I used to live in this neighborhood when I lived in Oakland!!…read more The main strip is on Park Boulevard, which has a few restaurants, a cleaners, and a market. This neighborhood is down the hill from Montclair, and it is rather hilly. Definitely more houses here than apartments, and this is one of nicer neighborhoods in Oakland to live in if you don't want all the hustle and bustle!!

Love my neighborhood. Cozy and authentic with some of the most down to earth and delicious…read morerestaurants around: Bellanico, Park Burger, Marzano, Paulista Brazilian Restaurant and Taproom, and Park Sushi to name my favorites. Diverse and inclusive, a real bay area gem. Shhhh... don't tell San Francisco.

Maybe you love it, maybe you don't. The beauty of real art is it should elicit an emotion, and…read moreyeah, it does. The San Francisco Arts Commission made 'Sea Change' happen in 1995 to mark the newly spiffed up South Waterfront. Mark di Suvero, a Chinese born American, constructed Sea Change out of 10 tons of metal. The top spins in the wind. The sculpture sits in the tiny South Beach Park near Pier 40. At 70-feet tall, you can't miss it.

A fun self-guided tour of some of the mainstay restaurants in North Berkeley, and all for a good…read morecause. I had not heard of this annual event prior to this year, but I am already looking forward to next year's. For $25, you get to try samples and snacks from 21 of Berkeley's restaurants and business. Unfortunately, some of the business ran out items (or did not offer them at all), but in the end it was still worth it. All proceeds go t the Berkeley Lions Community Fund, so it is for a good cause. There is no tour guide or formal tour group. You get a booklet with certificates for samples from each participating business (as well as some extra coupons) and you then decide on your plan of attack. You will run into fellow participants along the way. Having a few friends with you not only makes it more fun, but it can also prove handy, as while some wait in line at a popular spot, others can go the the neighboring business for a quick snack. You only have 3 hours, so you need to be efficient. The quality, quantity, and availability of the samples varied, so these are my thoughts for all stops! 1. Sol y Luna Taqueria: one of the best stops! a nice taco piled high with plenty of meat on a home-pressed tortilla. I had not been here before, but will definitely come back! You could also sit down inside and enjoy some cucumber water if you needed to rehydrate. 2. Bistro Liason: another good stop. Salmon souffle with a cognac and cream sauce. Tasty. 3. Oggi: disappointingly, only a skimpy strip of focaccia garlic bread. Both before and after the name change, it seems generous portions are just not their thing. 4. Firehouse North Gallery: definitely the strangest stop, considering they were not letting people into the business and there was only a sign reading 'No Kambucha Here' (yes it was misspelled) to greet us on the door. 5. Foxglove Boutique: they were serving a refreshing carbonated wine drink. Cute store. 6. Taste of the Himalayas: a mini buffet of naan, chana masala, and very tasty pakora. It was great. I felt a little bad for the people paying for dinner that day... 7. YogaKula Healing Arts Center: they ran out of apple cider, but I got a coupon for a free pilates class, so not bad. 8. Poulet: a tasty piece of lemon chilli chicken. We sat inside for another water break. 9. Philz Coffee: they were serving coffee accompanied by live singing and guitar. 10. Barney's: a ridiculously generous portion of their delicious curly fries. This was definitely when the tour got serious and when we started to get full. 11. The Local Butcher Shop: a nice plate of ham, pork rillette on toasty, and pickled fennel and carrots. Very Nice. 12. Gregoire: The wait was long, as their 'surprise dessert' was coming out in increments. The apple turnover-like surprise was hot and tasty, eventually. 13. Dara Thai/Lao Cuisine: two lettuce leaves stuffed with a gingery salad and something else. Refreshing! 14. Cha-Am: a friendly greeting and a generous portion of their tasty tofu pad thai. 15. M. Lowe & Co. Jewelers: they ran out of chocolate, but they had plenty of wine... 16. Mint Leaf: they ran out of samosas. Boo, it would have hit the spot. 17. Alegio Chocolate: a taste of their 73.5 percent chocolate. 18. Kirala 2: a plate with a fried croquette, a shrimp mini shumai, and a california roll piece. Not bad. 19. Lush Gelato: a full scoop of any flavor! I tried the balsamic mascarpone, which I found pretty good. 20. Soop: a generous serving of their red lentil soup. I will definitely come back for some soup to go. I love having soup for dinner. 21. A Priori: cute store and a chocolate-dipped pretzel. No complaints here! 22. Peet's Coffee and Tea: a second cup of coffee and some nice coupons. 23. La Fable: they were a little disorganized and ran out of their pastry. We got a piece of toast with some truffle butter. Just like Chester's it seems they are a bit understaffed. 24. Saul's Deli: a tasty, yet smallish portion of their pastrami. As mentioned before, it was fun and totally worth more than the $25 it cost. Check it out!

As a member of the Berkeley Lions Club, I'm so excited for the Annual Taste of North Berkeley every…read moreyear! A few members of the club work so hard to put on this fundaiser for the local community and they do great job highlighting the restaurants in North Berkeley. For under $30, you get a small taste of various goods up, down, and around the Shattuck. You get a lovely stroll on, get to sample almost all of the restaurants on the street, and finally get a good excuse to visit that store you've yet to step foot in. You even get a nice bag and wooden cooking spoon to go with your ticket to taste all of these restaurants! The 7th Annual one is coming up soon and tickets start selling on April 2, 2016! Tickets can be bought online or you can walk up if they aren't sold out yet!

After our indulgent snacks, we decided to walk off some of the food, so upon leaving the Ferry…read moreBuilding, I made an executive decision and had us walked toward the direction of Pier 39. Shortly after, we encountered lots of street vendors selling hot dogs which is something new (for me). I mean, one or two here and there, I get it. But there were like rows of 10 all selling the same thing--grilled hot dogs. Bizarro! (Edit: My friend reminded me that some of them were selling drinks and they have alcohol. Not judging and I'm not the prohibition police, but Wow, this just continues to surprise!) And then we saw a bunch of people gathered for a labor strike. So maybe they were there to feed them? By this point, my friend was looking for a public bathroom. We found one but it was locked so we continued on towards Pier 39. Mission to find a bathroom aside, it was a great day for a nice walk on this historic path that used to be where all the ships were docked back in the Wild, Wild West Days. A lot of San Francisco was built on top of sand dunes and crumbling rocks, so you can really feel the history here, but the actual walkway is very paved and even so no worries. I used to work nearby and saw some skeletons of buried ships when they had excavation done when a new building goes up, and usually they just document and leave the ship buried and built on top of it. It's pretty cool and definitely part of SF history. And if you don't want to walk or can't, there are a lot of what I would call peddling tuk tuk (pedicab) offering rides for a price. Or you can take the F street car that goes from Market Street all the way down to Pier 39.

As a local, I walk down here on a daily basis. I love doing my evening walks. Although I must admit…read moreit does it busy during "tourist season". It's a long haul but I think it's a beautiful way to see quite a lot of the city. I do have a difficult time dealing with bikes riding on the sidewalk instead of being on the designated bike lanes.

this mural is at the backside of a PG & E Substation. it's alongside the railroad tracks on…read moreEmbarcadero West turfin' is an Oakland-based dance from the 1990's. it alledgedly derives from "Taking up Room on the floor". the dance comes from many turfs...incorporates concepts of tutting, flexing, waving & animation. the mural shows 3 parts of turfin' creator: Creative shields aka Lower Bottoms Collective (incl. Timonthy B) -part of Oakland Mural Festival 2018

This mural on the side of a residential building highlights several themes/attractions once…read moreassociated with Oaktown aka Oakland. Tribune Tower/Oakland downtown Oakland Athletics (baseball) Exotic Fish chasing each other in a circle. Smiling blue tiger White clouds in blue skies Creators: @333Arts, @Mariott, @MrHanstyles, Gaij, A

the Oakland is the Center of the Beautiful World mural is on a corner directly across from Sugar…read moreShack, one side has the heading message. the other side has a mosaic drawing. ' a plaque reads: of the drawings: "Various images references the Earth, the United States, California & Oakland sit on top of a star chart divided into different colors radiating out from the centerl The mural celebrates the creativity and the people of Oakland. Fabricator: Miotto Mosaic Art Studios