Gotta luv "Old Oakland", and all it has to offer!! It's not very big, but there's a lot packed into a small area. I used to always find myself down here on a Friday night which usually started at the now closed Air Lounge, and went from bar to bar from there. Surprisingly, parking is pretty good down here, and there are plenty of bars, clubs and restaurants all within walking distance. You can even walk to Chinatown and Jack London Square if you really want to. One of the few places in Oakland that hasn't changed too much for a long time, but the changes that did occur are good ones. Big Ups to Old Oakland!! read more

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It's a known fact that I spend most of my time in the Rockridge District. But, that's simply because I work in that area. Way before I worked in Rockridge, I would spend the majority of my time between Old Oakland and Uptown. Nowadays, I don't get out to Old City as much as I used to. But when I do make it out to this side, it always reminds me of how I need to spend more time here. Old City is filled with so much rich history. After all, it was the "original" downtown area back in the 1860's. What I love most about this area (other than the many dining establishments of course) is the architecture. Many of the buildings have been restored, however you can still spot some of the most gorgeous original Victorian style buildings as you walk down the streets. I love coming to Swan's Market and feasting at the many restaurants that they have. My favorite wine bar (District) is located right in the heart of this area! Cute little Mom and pop shops can be found in this area along the way. Some of the town's oldest businesses have been operating here for years. So many adorable vintage boutique hotels around. Sometimes, I just want to take pictures of them all! The people here are so friendly and the crowd is super diverse. It's like a breath of fresh air. Old Oakland is also just a hop and a skip away from Chinatown, Jack London Square, and the financial district. They are constantly opening new businesses in this part of town now because let's face it; this is the "new" Old Oakland. Completely underrated and overlooked, but that's okay because this area is slowly starting to build a great reputation. I've seen some great businesses come and go over the years, but that's just how it goes sometimes. I know people call it "Old Oakland", but this District is the "New Oakland" in my eyes. It's a new spin on the older part of the city that still encompasses what this area used to be back in the day. I've got so much love for Old Oakland! Always have and I always will. And that, ladies and gents, will never change. read more

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It has many of my favorites spots to hang out on a Friday or Saturday night. A nice little spot with food and clubs. There is plenty of street parking plus a parking lot. Parliament is here as well as District. If you are feeling more laid back vibe you can go to Liege. Besides these bars you can get some good food. The sausage place or Ms. Ollies. There is a also a food court with a bunch of individual eaters. Lots to do here and there is shopping too. If you are killing time or want a good place for Happy Hour swing on through. read more

Old Oakland - Local Flavor Near Me

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Old Oakland is a historic district that is located on the northwest side of Broadway between the City Center complex. Broadway, 880 and Jefferson St. It was the original downtown Oakland in the late 1800s. The most notable street is 9th Street between Broadway and Washington, known as "Victorian Row". The street consisted of rehabilitated and restored beautiful Victorian buildings that are not occupied by offices and retail. The Swan's Market is probably the heart of Old Oakland. It houses 10 eateries and a dozen businesses. Order your food from one of the eateries and take a seat in the open dining area. It is a busy and popular destination gathering spot in the area. There are several eateries on Washington, including Ratto's deli, an institution. Even Blue Bottle has opened up on Victoria Row. On Fridays, a Farmer's market open from 7am - 2pm stretches down 9th St from Broadway to Clay St and 8th St to 10th St. Old Oakland is a unique district that's worth checking out. read more

REVIEWER #18 Ok. So let me just admit that Oakland is not my favorite place to come to but its only because people give it a bad name that what it really is. Ranked as the 5th most desirable destination to visit this year in The New York Times, Oakland is buzzing with art, culture and cuisine unique to America's most diverse populace. The 8th largest city in California and 3rd largest city in San Francisco Bay Area this city comes with tons of transportation and lovely attractions. Downtown Oakland- Is known for their night life and is usually the place to be during the 1st Friday of each month. Nightlife includes: dive bars, dance clubs, modern lounges and jazz bars. They are also known for the Oakland A's, Oakland Raiders and Golden State Warriors. Beautiful parks and recreations are also in this lovely city, such as: ~Joaquin Miller Park ~Lake Merritt ~Mosswood Park School & Colleges: ~Oakland's three largest public high schools are: ~ Oakland High School ~Oakland Technical High School ~ Skyline High School. There are several private high schools including the secular The College Preparatory School and Head-Royce School, and the Catholic Bishop O'Dowd High School, Holy Names High School and St. Elizabeth High School Colleges and universities include: ~Laney College ~Merritt College ~Holy Names University (formerly Holy Names College) ~Mills College Overall, Oakland is a great city with many places to visit. It's a must come to city to explore if you are in the Bay Area. REVIEW 170/196 read more

Old Oakland - Local Flavor Near Me

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"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) with side notes by Tina Tamale R. Old Oakland, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 1. History 2. Shops 3. Food 4. Entertainment I love thee to the depth and breadth and height of the lovingly restored Victorian buildings and the new old world charm My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight with shopping at quaint boutiques like Mignonne, Bartertown Framing, The Shoe Spot and Verse For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's meal with food shopping at Swan's Marketplace & the Old Oakland Farmers Market Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light for lunch and dinner options at La Borinquena, Kai's, Ratto's, Tamarindo & Levende East I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise in the sound of music at Air Lounge & the Home Grown Blues series in art at Caffe 817 & Cockadoodle Cafe in film at the Old Oakland Outdoor Cinema I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith at Old St. Mary's Church, the site of my baptism as an infant & of my father's funeral last year at the parks, Jefferson Square & Layfayette Square I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death the place where I live, work & play the "New" Old Oakland http://oldoaklandneighbors.org My Yelp List of these places http://www.yelp.com/list_details?list_id=TPhxIXeZiMRfOrTNVBYN6Q read more

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Old oaktown has been overshadowed by it's younger uptown cousin in the past few years in the draw of patrons to it's businesses before only ratto's, pacific brewing, cockadoodle cafe, tamarindo antojoria, la borinquerna/tina tamale, and the farmers market drew people in. now cosecha, ollie's, rosamunde sausage, periscope cellars, district, liege, air, the trappist, el gusano, and desco et al. have created more interest/foot traffic. read more

Great place to come for drinks, lunch and dinner. Lots of choices! Unique and delicious restaurants. The streets are definitely cleaner than SF. You can usually find parking on the street, and there are parking lots and garages if you want. read more

Old Oakland - Happy Holidays on Victorian Row - Local Flavor Near Me

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CHARMING ARCHITECTURE, EXCELLENT RESTAURANTS This New Yorker exiled to San Francisco prides himself in his knowing of and all about the hyper-speed revival of Oakland. But I have found myself completely blown away over Old Oakland. A bit of background: four decades ago, during my first return to the Bay Area, I was a just-out-of-my-teens musician who scored his first "daytime job" in Downtown Oakland. In 1977, white flight had utterly decimated Downtown, and what is now "Old Oakland" was an outright ghetto. Jump ahead to the early 2000s, "Old Oakland" was a restored beauty without a date to the ball, and the only suitors it had consisted mainly of forlorn and somewhat dubious "non-profits." Evidently, or so I have read, somebody's brilliant reconfiguration of one of the neighborhood's market centres into a food court collection of upscale, cooler-than-Brooklyn eateries providing superbly rendered cuisine from various parts of the world proved the game changer. That is what I've read. What I actually experienced December 1st, 2017, my first exploration of Old Oakland, blew me away: I had dinner at the tiny but hyper-technique-driven Delage, a meal of amazing Japanese-French fusion-cum-Omakase. Well, as Oakland is a culinary powerhouse, so, ho-hum, Delage is yet another simply outstanding Oakland restaurant. And in true Oakland style, it disguises itself as a cool and "casual" eatery--albeit with a millennialist mission to answer decisively Jimi Hendrix's arch rhetorical question," Are You Experienced?" Well, after Delage, "Uhh-yeaahuh." Takeaway: "Wot an effin' amazing dinner. Euyup. It's def Oakland, amiright?" But the walk-through of the neighborhood provided the point of departure, as it immersed me in a fusion of colourful Victorian architecture, engaging, witty boutiques, international markets, a trove of raffish, atmospheric bars, restaurants, cafes, and upscale food courts. Notably, Oakland's vaunted urban, urbane diversity in all of its startling beauty and low-key but "woke" sophistication filled them all. How could I have previously missed any of this? In the parlance of the day: "W...T...F?" So, move over cooler-than-Gawd Uptown, Portlandia-by-the-Bay Rockridge, style princess Piedmont Ave, Hipster Planet Temescal,Awakening Lakeshore, Bougie-"Be-Seeing-You" Montclair Village ("Wait! What IS that giant, snarling, white weather balloon, why is it following ME?! And why does everybody say, 'Be seeing you??'"), old slipper-comfortable liberal Glenview, Dreamer Fruitvale,Rebounding Laurel, and Striver-Row-by-the-Bay West Oakland: Old Oakland is, well, already "THERE." read more

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This is a strip/neighborhood/marketing creation in Oakland that has become something of a destination location. The official Old Oakland boundaries are tad artificial. It's a eight ish block section whose boundaries are Broadway, city center, 980 and 880. While the whole area-like many places in Oakland- is underground gentrification it goes without saying that the farther away one gets from the over/underpasses the better it looks. Lafayette Square currently is okay (ish) in the daytime, but under no circumstances should you drift by at night. Included in the area of old oakland is the ever amazing swans market . It's simply spectacular. What with lots of street and surface lot parking, decent affordable groceries nearby, a local brewery, tons of simply fantastic restaurants (including not one but two cajun places), a bookstore, several meat markets/butcher's, many public transportation options, a weekly farmers market along with the occasional street festival Old Oakland is indeed one of the up and coming new Oakland hep spots.(Including the aforementioned Lafayette Square . Sure it's sketch as all get out for now, but this neighborhood is rapidly changing.also some folks like the adventure of sketchy places.) Some good to great bars in there as well, if anyone's into that sort of thing. Oh, and yeah there's new condo's and apartments and stuff, if you want to live here. Totally worth it, not least for swan's market. read more

Old Oakland reminds me of the "revitalized" Shaw/U St/Cardozo section of DC. Except better Maybe OK - I love them the same but different. While U St is home to my beloved Busboys and Poets and the great funky (but slightly overpriced shops), Old Oakland has much cooler buildings, better shopping, and better food. And while Levende East and B are no Busboys or Mocha Hut - I'll take 'em. Plus as cool as Old Oakland is - it's not overhyped yet (thank God) so I can feel like I've found this great gem that no one knows about yet. Now - if we open a few more cool boutiques (that carry my size, please and cute house stuff) I will be in HEAVEN! Plus Old Oakland has Tina Tamale. What more is needed? read more

I believe this is now the up and coming 'new ' Oakland where I don't have to hide my purse, walk down the Oakland streets without looking in the eyes of people, stepping over the homeless and streets of trash. Nicer up and coming neighborhood, cleaner streets, no drunken homeless wandering around, better restaurants and parking garages for only $3 for 3 hours - score! Keep it up and the star ratings will increase! read more

Old Oakland, it was love at first sight. Bar none, Old Oakland is Oakland's best kept secret neighborhood by those who live here. There is community, history, transit, shopping, great food spots and all within a walkable distance. It very much reminds me of some of my old neighborhoods in Boston. I look at Old Oakland being like a little village tucked away inside the greater landscape of Oakland itself, and best of all, outsiders haven't a clue! My street has not, one, but two churches on it, out of which beautiful gospel music plays throughout the week. Lafayette Park sits as a happy meeting place for some homeless folks chit-chatting or a backdrop for cute little asian ladies doing their morning calisthenics together. Sure, parking is a struggle, but we of Old Oakland don't mind driving around at 8AM on Saturday, #^*@! to ourselves for not finding an un-metered spot the night before. We don't mind because this part of town is peaceful and yet totally alive at the same time. You feel safe like you do in the 'burbs (actually I feel more welcome here - someone actually offered to help me carry my groceries and I actually KNOW my neighbors names) without the obnoxiousness of living in the 'burbs (read: we're very low on snooty factor in Oakland). Old Oakland is classy, funky, elegant, smart, chic, real, down-to-earth, colorful, wonderful and one hell of a place to live. Every evening when I get off the freeway at 11th Street, I can honestly say, "It's good to be home." ( And shhh! Don't tell anyone in Lakeshore about this place or they'll move and drive up my rent! ;) read more

If you remember Oakland before it started to become hip (OK, it's always been a cool place, but I mean before the popularity surge it has now), it'll be in part due to Old Oakland. It has the orginal Trappist - still one of the highest rated beer places in the world(!), Siam Bay, and and oaksy/boulevard feel that you don't get in other parks of download. Sure, it's kind gritty, and there's bail bond places, and borders the not-so-great-but-slowly improving West Oakland, but it's coming along, and was here long before the uptown revival. Don't forget to check out the Friday Farmer's Market. read more

besides my bleloved fruitvale district i really love old oakland probably because of it's history being the birthplace of oakland i love the old buildings and some of the older homes in the area also many people don't know that old oakland was where most of the first mexican familys in oakland used to live back in the 20s 30s and 40s just ask tina tamale about her familys history in the neighborhood there are also a few buissneses that have been here for many years and are still going strong like la bouriquena 1944 mexicali rose 1927 and rattos 1889 also i like that the old swans and housewives market is still here, also if you need some good shoes check out gus shoe spot old oakland has gone trough it's good and bad times altough it's getting really gentrified i still like taking strolls trough old oakland see ya there ...... ps one thing i miss about old oakland is mi rancho they used to sell some bomb ass burritos and quesadillas..... read more

Old Oakland - Local Flavor Near Me

i tell my out of town friends that i hang out in Oakland, and they give me that flinching "why.. you might get shot!" kind of look. but they don't know about this revitalized district. brick lined sidewalks, beautiful lush and leafy trees, nice outdoor cafes and cool restaurants, BART and AC Transit accessible, occasional block parties.... visit once and you'll be hooked. read more

Gentrification is evil, but because of it I got to appreciate the beautiful architecture, leafy tree-lined streets filled with diversity, and wonderful restaurants. Oopsy. read more

Old Oakland, in terms of nightlife, is NOT at the corner of MLKjr and 14th. There are, however, fantastic art supplies at 15th and MLKjr at the store called 'Flax.' Check it out. read more

It's beautiful~ I'm so glad that at least some of old Oakland exsist. Among the towering modern business buildings is a little oasis of lovely Victorian architecture, sweet shops and good food. read more

Being a Native of Oakland, this is how I remember Oakland to be in the 70's and prior to the 90's and early 2000's. Oakland in general was always one of the most beautiful cities in Northern California, and frankly all over. The city in itself, is a well kept secret outside of the negativity it has gotten from the media over the years. Oakland originally, and still to date has always been the suburbs of San Francisco. read more

A great place to take a calm walk. Growing with various types of businesses, restaurants and boutiques. Definitely on the come up.

How can you NOT like this quaint little area filled with good eats and cool bars. If you are ever in the area for dinner stop by Le Cheval for good eats and pop over to Levende East for drinks. This place has it all. Cool vibe and great atmosphere. It doesn't fit the typical Oakland Stereotype...yes people there are good areas in Oakland that don't ever get mentioned in the news. The deli market here is great and offers different cuts of meat. Friday's this area becomes a farmer's market with good food stands. In addition, the summers also has the Block party which has good music and good drinks. Definitely worth giving it a look. read more