Showing 1-21 of 21 results
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Camron-Stanford House
In the late 19th century, Lake Merritt was lined with fine homes, only one of which remains: the 1876 Camron-Stanford House . You can take a tour on the second and third Wednesday ( to ) and on the third Sunday ( to ) each month. But the best aspect of the house is really its wonderful lakeside setting and the hint it gives of how Oakland looked in its Victorian heyday, which can be admired from the sidewalk.
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Cathedral Building
North of the center, where Telegraph Ave angles off Broadway, stands the 1913 flatiron Cathedral Building .
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Chabot Space & Science Center
Opened in 2000, the Chabot Space & Science Center is a science and technology center in the Oakland Hills, with loads of exhibits on subjects such as space travel and eclipses. The center's open Friday and Saturday evenings for planetarium shows and - check it out - free viewing through a 20in refractor telescope (weather permitting).
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Children's Fairyland
Lakeside Park, at the northern end of the lake, includes Children's Fairyland, which dates from 1950 and has charming fairy tale-themed rides and displays to delight kids and parents alike.
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Chinatown
East of Broadway, Chinatown centers on Franklin and Webster Sts, as it has since the 1870s. It's also home to Vietnamese, Korean, Cambodian and other Asian cultures and might better be called Asiatown, since its many residents hail from every corner of the Far East. It's much smaller than the San Francisco version but nevertheless bustles with commerce.
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City Center
The pedestrianized City Center, between Broadway and Clay St, 12th and 14th Sts, forms the heart of downtown Oakland, which is full of historic buildings and a growing number of colorful local businesses.
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Ebony Museum
The Ebony Museum, a dense collection in a ramshackle Victorian house, exhibits African and African American art and antiquities. Head upstairs for a chilling perusal of the museum's Black Degradation Art collection.
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Farmers Market
The waterfront where writer and adventurer Jack London once raised hell now bears his name. It's hardly a roughshod district anymore, but a tourist-oriented shopping mall dotted with chain restaurants, chain stores and cute little gift shops. The waterfront location is lovely, though, and for that reason it's worth a stroll - especially on Sunday, when a weekly farmers market takes over. Catch a ferry from San Francisco and you'll land just paces away.
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Fox Oakland Theatre
Downtown Oakland has plenty of buildings adorned with art nouveau or art deco details; unfortunately, many stand empty and in need of care, especially the further you get from the City Center. One particular jewel is the 1928 Fox Oakland Theatre , once the largest cinema west of Chicago; it's currently closed but plans are afoot to reopen it as a live entertainment venue and to house the Oakland School of the Arts on other parts of the building.
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I Magnin Building
Downtown Oakland has plenty of buildings adorned with art nouveau or art deco details; the stellar I Magnin Building is an art deco beaut, gracefully clad in green terra cotta tiling.
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International Boulevard
Formerly known as E 14th St and once a neglected part of town, International Blvd is now a great place to stroll on a Sunday afternoon. Latino and Asian immigrants have turned it into a 3-mile carnival of food and festivities. You'll find an impressive fleet of excellent taco trucks parked along Fruitvale Ave or at the corner of High St and International Blvd. The Bay Area's best pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) joints are just blocks away.
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Lake Merritt
Lake Merritt is an urban jewel and a popular place to stroll or go running (a 3.5-mile track circles the lake). Once a tidal marsh teeming with waterfowl, it became a lake in 1869 with the damming of an arm of the Oakland Estuary. The following year, the state legislature designated Lake Merritt a wildlife refuge, the first in the USA. The lake still supports migratory waterfowl, and it's still connected to the estuary via a culvert, so its 155 acres are saltwater.
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Mountain View Cemetery
At the end of Piedmont Ave, Mountain View Cemetery is perhaps the most serene and lovely man-made landscape in all the East Bay. Designed by Frederic Law Olmstead, the man who designed New York City's Central Park, it's great for walking and the views are stupendous.
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Museum of Children's Art
This museum, also known as MOCHA, is a combination children's art gallery, and children's art class, where your kids can create their own masterpieces. Not surprisingly, it's a very popular venue for children's birthdays. A lively farmers market takes place every Friday morning outside the museum, making this a particularly good time to visit.
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Oakland Museum
Near the southern end of the lake is the Oakland Museum, which has rotating exhibitions on artistic as well as scientific themes, not to mention three worthwhile permanent galleries. These are dedicated to the state's diverse ecology; its history, from its native past to the suburban present; and California art, from lavish 19th-century landscapes to edgy contemporary works. The Lake Merritt BART station is a block away.
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Oakland's Imperial Walkers
The huge container cranes hovering threateningly above the Oakland docks are said to have inspired the Imperial Walkers that George Lucas dreamed up for The Empire Strikes Back .
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Old Oakland
Old Oakland, along Washington St between 8th and 10th Sts, is lined with historic buildings dating from the 1860s to the 1880s. The buildings have been restored and some restaurants and hotels have opened up here.
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Paramount Theatre
The Paramount Theatre is a restored 1931 art deco masterpiece. Tours (around US$1 ) are given at on the first and third Saturdays of the month.
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Piedmont Ave
North of downtown Oakland, Broadway becomes a lengthy strip of car dealerships called Broadway Auto Row. Just past that is Piedmont Ave, wall-to-wall antique stores, coffeehouses, fine restaurants and an art cinema. At the end of Piedmont Ave, Mountain View Cemetery is perhaps the most serene and lovely man-made landscape in all the East Bay.
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USS Potomac
The 50m (165ft) USS Potomac was once Franklin D Roosevelt's presidential yacht; he fondly referred to it as the 'floating White House'. It's now moored by the ferry dock and is open for dockside tours. Two-hour history cruises are also held several times a month from April to October; call for reservations.
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Yukon cabin
A replica of Jack London's Yukon cabin stands in an awkward spot near a parking lot at the eastern end of the square. It's supposedly built from the timbers of a cabin London lived in during the Yukon gold rush, though many of the original materials had to be replaced during reconstruction. Another worthwhile stop, adjacent to the old cabin, is Heinhold's First & Last Chance Saloon.
Showing 1-21 of 21 results
