2 Mar
The smell of the Oaktown Spice Shop is intoxicating. The service is warm, personal, and individualized: kind of like having a personal spice butler. There’s a lovely view of the lake from in there. Keep your eye out for the Lake Merritt Monster while your spice butler is preparing your selection of paprikas from around the globe.
17 Apr
I am back and so is Kwik Way! Risen from the grease-fire ashes of the former 99 cent burger drive in is a tastier, healthier, and shockingly still affordable Kwik Way reboot. I hear the beef is grass fed, I can tell you the veggie burger is pretty tasty, the fries are crisp, and the milk shakes are made fresh.
Welcome back!
3 Nov
A nice place to drop in while you’re strolling down Grand Avenue, Walden Pond is clean, well-lit, and has an awesome collection of new and used fiction, non-fiction (including a lot of radical politics and history) and photo books. An above-average kids book selection too. The people who work here really, really know books. Like one time I came in and said, “I’m looking for this kinda old novel about the railway industry in California…” and the guy was all, “Frank Norris’ The Octopus?” and went on to bust out a long anecdote about an actor from the film adaptation of one of Norris’ other California novels, McTeague.
19 Oct
The Lake Merritt Boating Center:
(Photo courtesy http://www.oaklandnet.com)
Sailboats, pedal boats, row boats, all at fairly reasonable prices. They’ll tell you not to, but it is physically possible to pedal over to the Lake Chalet, tie up to their dock, and order a lemonade at the bar.
Oakland Love 