San Francisco’s Neighbor: The Oakland Berkeley East Bay Author’s Note: This article “San Francisco’s Neighbor: The Oakland Berkeley East Bay” is also a chapter in my travel guidebook/ebook Northern California Travel: The Best Options. That book is available in English as a book/ebook and also as an ebook in Chinese. Parallel coverage on Northern California occurs in my latest travel guidebook/ebook Northern California History Travel Adventures: 35 Suggested Trips. All my travel guidebooks/ebooks on California can be seen on myAmazon Author Page. By Lee Foster East across San Francisco Bay from the grand tourism capital of San Francisco stretches her sunnier neighbor, the Oakland Berkeley East Bay. Those of us who live in the East Bay area are quite content to let San Francisco carry the heavy burdens of tourism fame. We enjoy the many amenities and good life of the less pretentious East Bay, which we also delight in sharing with visitors. Oakland, the Brawny Port City Oakland, a brawny port city, and one of the largest container freight ports on the West Coast, is home to the salt-of-the-earth laborer and the rapping, streetwise citizen. However, Oakland also has large numbers of resident artists and writers because it is one of the few places in the Bay Area where people in the arts can survive financially. The East Bay, especially Oakland, also includes one of the largest U.S. concentrations of immigrants from diverse Asian and Pacific Island regions. Berkeley, the Cerebral Counterpart Neighboring Berkeley is the intellectual and liberal political mecca of Northern California, home of the University of California Berkeley, the state’s most prestigious public university. Berkeley is Oakland’s cerebral counterpart, whether the revolution is 1960s politics or contemporary cuisine. An observer might think of Berkeley as the whiz kid scholar and trendy culinary explorer. It is no accident that some observers call the city Berserkeley, shaking their heads over Berkeley’s apparent need to proclaim its own foreign policy or to take other eccentric actions. The city has one of the most-used libraries in the state, but you have to check out your books yourself because the librarians don’t want to get carpel tunnel. Berkeley is an easy target to bash. East Bay Regional Parks in the Oakland Berkeley East Bay Rising above Oakland and Berkeley are the East Bay hills, which include 53,300 acres set aside for recreational use as part of the East Bay Regional Parks District. It is easy to steal away from the urban area to Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills, epitome of these public spaces. Few walks exceed the pleasure of a stroll on the spine of the hills at Inspiration Point in Tilden Park. Oakland’s Accessible Airport OAK is AOK When locals want to travel far, far, away, they use the relatively less-congested Oakland Airport, a few miles south of downtown Oakland along the Bay. This is one of the easiest airports to use in the Bay Area and is actually quite close to San Francisco, only a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train ride away. Those who live in the East Bay make heavy use of the convenient BART trains to get around the area and into San Francisco. Those who drive into San Francisco cross on the Bay Bridge, which was completed in 1936, the same year as the Golden Gate Bridge. The Golden Gate was always be seen as the more beautiful sister of the two bridges, until the Bay Bridge received a 2012 facelift with a dynamic new eastern span and signature tower. This elegant new tower became logo-worthy for the Golden State Warriors, the pro-basketball team, which wisely avoided a city reference in its title. The Bay Bridge is definitely the workhorse of the two bridges, when one considers the number of cars that cross per day. Oakland’s Waterfront Origins The city of Oakland grew up along the bay waterfront, now Jack London Square, a multi-block area of shops and restaurants struggling for recognition, even as the namesake author did. Jack London is indeed the town’s favorite son and the main luminary around whom one could build a themed waterfront area. See a life-size sculpture of him at the waterfront in Jack London Square. Near the Square, you can view Jack London’s cabin, his Yukon abode from the winter of 1897-98. Next to the cabin, quench your thirst at Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon. Built in 1880, Heinold’s was a bunkhouse for the oyster fishermen. At Heinold’s, London acquired some of his self- made literary education. Inside this saloon, you’ll find Jack London photos and memorabilia. Booking.com Attractions at Jack London Square Popular attractions here include shopping at places like Cost Plus and dining at the fish restaurant, Scott’s. A Sunday Farmer’s Market draws large crowds looking for everything from heirloom apples to goat cheese. Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential yacht, theUSS Potomac, a National Historic Landmark, is permanently berthed at Jack London Square. The public can tour the 165-foot boat, a Coast Guard cutter that became the “floating White House,” and participate in yacht excursions out on the Bay. The Jack London Cinema features nine state-of-the-art theaters. A bright night spot in the Jack London area is the jazz club known as Yoshi’s, which also features Japanese dining. At Jack London Square, you can kayak in the estuary with equipment from California Canoe and Kayak or experience a loft or sailboat overnight with some Airbnb providers. Loft living is popular in the Jack London area. Two-time California governor Jerry Brown had a loft at 2nd and Harrison while he was mayor of Oakland. Dining Jack London Square Eve’s Waterfront Restaurant is an engaging option with an elevated estuary view in the Jack London Square area of Oakland. The restaurant, a couple of blocks south of the Square at 15 Embarcadero West, offers waterway views from both indoor and outdoor locations. Try the signature Maple Fennel Ribs as a dinner entrée. Alaska king crab legs are part of the weekend brunch. A Sunday brunch could be combined with a short walk along the waterfront to the nearby robust year-round Farmers Market at Jack London Square. Downtown Oakland From Jack London Square, you can walk up Broadway into downtown Oakland. A spirited civic group of volunteers sponsors free architectural walks around downtown Oakland each Saturday. At 9th Street, looking a block west to Washington Street, you’ll see renovation and restoration in progress. This “Old Oakland” restoration consists of shops and restaurants, supplementing the long-lived Ratto’s international market and restaurant, at 821 Washington, a kind of culinary mirror of the city. Around Old Oakland are new office and residential high-rise buildings that have changed the face of the downtown. Within the Old Oakland complex, next door to Rattos, is a contemporary restaurant named The District, 827 Washington, that suggests the liveliness of the area. The District has a friendly bar lounge casualness and an extensive wine and mixed drinks repertoire. What distinguishes The District is its elaborate small plates menu, with dishes such as seared scallops or Moroccan spiced lamb meatballs. These can be paired by the knowledgeable sommelier with specific suggested wines. Farther up Broadway, at 2025, is the Paramount Theatre, one of the loveliest and most lavishly gilded art deco movie palaces of the 1930s. Fans of Art Deco can participate in guided Saturday tours of the 3000-seat Paramount, which is now used for concerts, ballets, and various other performance events. Oakland’s Preservation Park West toward the 980 Freeway is another intriguing Oakland development, Preservation Park, located between 12th and 14th Streets. Preservation Park includes 16 Oakland Victorians, now gathered and restored, all housing non-profit organizations. Adjacent is the Pardee Home Museum, 672 11th, home of George Pardee, a former Oakland mayor and California governor. The house, built in 1868, was kept in the Pardee family until 1981. In that year the last spinster Pardee sister died, leaving intact all the family belongings, which included obsessive collections. In the mansion you see the objects gathered by three generations of Pardees. Guided tours occur on selected days. Asiatown and Lake Merritt East from Broadway, between 9th and 12th Streets, you can walk into a thriving Asiatown. It could be called a Chinatown, but there are also Koreans and Vietnamese. The morning scene is lively, with the selling of produce and wriggling fish. If you indulge in a dim sum lunch at Peony, 388 9th, you will see more insiders than outsiders. Asiatown is a pageant of family cohesiveness and thrifty concentration on getting and spending. Farther east, beyond Asiatown, is Lake Merritt, a saltwater lake in downtown Oakland. Lake Merritt is a 155-acre body of water and a popular recreation area. On the north shore of the lake lies one of the country’s oldest waterfowl refuges, founded in 1870. You can rent sailboats, rowboats, and canoes at the boathouse on the west shore. Many Oaklanders enjoy walking and jogging around the lake in the usually sunny weather. Two major pleasures at Lake Merritt are the Oakland Museum of California and the Lakeside Park and Garden Center. Oakland Museum of California and Lakeside Park The Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak Street, is a major cultural force in the Bay Area, known both for its permanent collections and its changing shows. The museum was one of the first to present whole environments, possibly “the American kitchen in the 1940s,” rather than static collections, such as seashells of the world.