I just spent about an hour at the Occupy Oakland General Strike today near Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland. It was a beautiful day as thousands turned out to peacefully express their various political and economic views. Most were calling for some kind of economic reforms — greater taxes on the rich, curbing…
Category: SF Bay Area
Arbor Cafe: Straight Up Coffee and a Smile in Temescal
One of my "must haves" for a neighborhood is being able to go out and get decent coffee. It's one of the snobbiest things about me that I'll admit. Luckily, I have lots of great options nearby, including the tiny but potent Sub Rosa on 40th, the too popular Remedy Cafe on Telegraph, and the Mixing Bowl a couple…
The Oakland Museum of California: The Best Bay Area Museum You Never Heard Of
Today I managed a first, too-short visit to the Oakland Museum of California, a science, art and history museum dedicated to "telling the story of California." It was a quiet Wednesday afternoon, so I had much of the museum to myself, which was really nice for a first visit. The museum is divided into 3…
Amazing Metal Sculptures in West Oakland!
My sister and I were randomly driving around West Oakland, looking for the onramp to the freeway, when we encountered some truly stunning metal artwork in two different spots. The first was Alliance Recycling on Peralta Street (Google map) , which features several really neat metal sculptures on their storefront. This junk metal C3PO is…
Catch Teatro Zinzanni’s newest and last(?) show “On the Air” by December 31
A couple of weeks ago, Miss Jeskat and I had the pleasure of watching Teatro Zinzanni, a long-running cabaret / circus dinner show in San Francisco. For those that don't know, for many years, Teatro Zinzanni has been putting on lavish three-hour shows complete with singing, magic, trapeze, juggling and more. It's very much an…
What I Saw in Oakland on a Friday Night
On Friday night, I did a little bike ride from my pad down Telegraph and then back up Broadway in Oakland. Here's what I saw: A street festival with food trucks, artwork for sale, and a burlesque show later An open air R&B concert with a bunch of teens doing a Michael Jackson medley A…
Exploring Oakland’s Telegraph Avenue
I've been very charmed by Telegraph Avenue, which is very near my new apartment in Oakland. Just walking around between 38th and 45th Streets, I am discovering all sorts of neat little stores, cafes, and sites. It's a very multicultural street, with Ethiopian and Korean being the dominant ethnicities represented. This block for example has…
FreePlay Dance Crew in the Castro… and my wardrobe malfunction
I had a blast dancing with my FreePlay Dance Crew this weekend at the Castro Street Fair. It was a huge event with thousands of people milling about, so definitely performance anxiety was high for a lot of us. And we had a ton of new material to work through in our 40 minute set….
Oakland Living: Fancy Coffee, Korean Noodles, and a Confused Cat
This weekend I moved into my new one bedroom apartment in Oakland in the lovely Temescal neighborhood. It's a great and cheap pad with a good size living room, full kitchen and bath that would have cost at least $500 more in SF. It's very conveniently located, just a few minutes walk from a BART…
Getting Steampunky at the Handcar Regatta
My friend Jeskat and I headed off yesterday to catch the Great Handcar Regatta in Santa Rosa, California. Centered around a race on old railroad tracks of a crazy assortment of human-powered vehicles, the Handcar Regatta has grown over the past four years into a huge festival of steampunk-inspired fashion, vehicles, artwork and more.