Links

Blogs

• Oakland Daily Photo
  "Discovering there really is a there there." This photoblog isn't always updated daily, but there are some great photos of Oakland. Many of them in and around our Adams Point/Grand Lake neighborhood.

• The Inadvertent Gardener
  Genie ended up in Oakland after a stint in Iowa City, just a few dozen miles west of Moline on I-80. She brought a love of gardening to the mediterranean climate here in the Bay Area. Her blog is very enjoyable -- she's a great writer.

• Oaktown Art
  From the Oaktown Art About page: "I live in Oakland. I love Oakland. [...] This city is full of artists doing amazing things. And what’s fantastic, is how much of it can been seen without spending a dime. You simply have to look around."

• Fragmentary Evidence
  Dave is a good writer, a committed bicyclist and has broad interests. If, like me, you are new to all that the Oakland blogosphere has to offer and haven't visited Fragmentary Evidence before, spend some time cruising through his archives. Well worth the time spent.

• Our Oakland
  This site has something that I love - pictures of old signs. Lots of pictures of old signs. I love old signs, and it's nice that someone else loves them too. It also has some interesting articles about other things in Oakland. But those signs...

• Living in the O
  There’s one entry posted every day or so and the story may be a detailed analysis of a public meeting or a listing of upcoming public event (typically of a political nature) or even a review of the new produce market that opened in the Temescal neighborhood.

• City Homestead
  CIty Homestead is a great blog. Thorough, well written, and informative. This is what I think a blog should be, and what I hope Back To Oakland becomes.

News and Politics

• Oakland Local
  A non-profit news site.

• EastBay Times
  Website for Oakland's Newspaper.

• S.F. Gate
  This is The Chronicle's online edition, inexplicably named S.F. Gate. It would be like the New York Times calling their online site "On the Hudson" or something like that. I'm sure it makes sense to someone.

• Oakland North
  This is a site produced by the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

• New York Times Bay Area Blog
  The New York Times is now publishing a Bay Area Edition of the paper (as opposed to distributing their National edition in the Bay Area). This blog features content that from that edition as well as links to other Bay Area bloggers and such. (Stopped posting in 2010.)

Food

• Bakesale Betty
  Our friend Carolyn sent Justin and me here the first time a couple of years ago. Fantastic sandwich. The ironing board tables are fun. Anna and I went with Carolyn and another friend Ellen when we visited last summer. The four of us split two sandwiches and a piece of strawberry shortcake. A great meal. Eating at Betty's introduced me to the new Temescal neighborhood, and I hope to explore the area with a vengeance when I get back to town. There have been some serious changes in the 51st/Telegraph area since we left town 15 years ago.

• Mama's Royal Cafe
  This is a classic, quirky Oakland cafe. Food is great. Ambiance is rich. Odd location but close enough for us to walk over for breakfast on a nice day. We like to cook breakfast at home, but if we need to get away and have breakfast out, this is a good alternative. The pear/cardamom pancakes I had last time we at there were very tasty.

• Fenton's Creamery
  This is the real life ice cream parlor that's featured at the end of the Pixar movie *_Up._* The original that we frequented as Oakland youngsters burned down several years ago and was replaced by the current, trendier version. Servings are ginourmous. It's virtually impossible to eat a Sundae before it melts. (My dad used to refer to eating said Sundae without allowing it to drip to the plate below "The Challenge.) I ate at Fentons with my parents the night Justin was born. If you go, try the Black and Tan, a family favorite.

• Zachary's Pizza
  This may be a primary reason for moving back to Oakland. Zachary's pizza is the best I've ever tasted. I say this tasted pies at some of New York's better pizza joints and at some famous Chicago institutions. I've eaten some pretty darned good pizza, but this is by far the best. Go there. Eat the pizza. Be happy.

• Cato's Ale House
  This beer pub is located in the home of the old New Sunshine Pizza Baking Company. Sunshine was the favorite pizza destination for the Hurty family in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They made a salad with long shaved strips of some sort of dry jack cheese, sunflower seeds, and a delicious dressing. Pizza was very testy, too. They also served Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray tonic, a celery flavored soda. But I digress. Check out Cato's Ale House.

• East Bay Brew Pubs
  This link is here to remind me to visit these brewpubs. I've already been to a couple (when we lived here before), but I need to see how things have changed in the past decade. Not on the list are a couple of Beer joints that are not actually breweries that I like. See other links to those here in the food section. (Yep, I'm calling beer food.)

Neighborhood Shops

• Cycle Sports
  I've made a few stops into Cycle Sports since arriving in town. They have a reputation for being a top notch bike store, and from what I can tell by looking, it's true. That alone, however, would not earn them a link on ye olde blogge. They are also super nice guys. I needed a couple of screws to attach a rack on the back of one of our bikes and one of the bike mechanics stopped what he was doing, dug a large tray of screws from under the counter, picked out a couple and said "You need screws with this kind of thread. Help yourself to what ever you can find in here." They are nice, and that, my friends, gets them a nice link here. Go there and buy bike stuff.

Culture

• Woodminster Amphitheater
  This outdoor amphitheater is a product of FDR's Works Progress Administration. Behind the stage is a waterfall and cascade that rolls down the hillside of Joaquin Miller Park. During the summer our friends Harriet and Jim and their sons put on a season of Broadway musicals. Anna and I have done several Woodminster shows over the years. Justin and I were in a production of Shenandoah together (playing brothers!). If you go, bring a picnic and eat in the park before the show. Bring a blanket and jacket -- summer nights in the Oakland hills can get pretty chilly.

• Fairyland
  This children's storybook themed park is said to have been inspirational to Walt Disney before he opened Disneyland. Anna worked at Fairyland and I participated in some activities there when I was courting her. We both recorded voices for puppet characters for shows presented in the park's puppet theatre. Our dear friend Lewis Mahlmann was the puppeteer, and at one time we lived in the same apartment building as Lewis off Park Blvd. Fairyland is just about a block from our new apartment and we expect to visit very soon after getting settled.