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I Left My Heart Near San FranciscoEast Bay: Oakland, Berkeley, VallejoBy Jerome RichardIf you’re going to San Francisco, you might consider flying into Oakland. San Francisco’s airport (SFO) was recently rated fourth worst in the country for delays, and the situation is expected to get worse. From the Oakland airport you can take the fast, efficient Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system and be in San Francisco in as little as fifteen minutes. The train is a short bus ride from the airport. Don’t be in a hurry, though. There is plenty to see and do in Oakland and the other East Bay cities. In part because San Francisco itself has become so expensive, many people who work there now live in the East Bay. Those cities are now developing their own sense of sophistication and place. Berkeley has always had it, but like San Francisco, it is spilling over to its neighbor. OaklandGertrude Stein, an unlikely native of Oakland, once complained that ”There is no there there.” Well, there is now. It’s the name of a sculpture in downtown Oakland. More important, it represents a new spirit in the city.
No one will mistake Oakland for Venice, but you can ride an authentic Italian gondola on the city’s salt water Lake Merritt, right in the heart of the city. The gondolas were built in Venice and the proprietors spent many years living there. Bring your own beverage and Gondola Servizio provides glasses, blankets, and a serenade. Evening cruises include candlelight. A deluxe package includes an antipasto picnic and for the wedding special the gondola is draped with special curtains and accessories. While you are in a nautical mood, there are two ships docked in Oakland that are worth visiting, a reminder that Oakland is a port. In fact, it is the fifth busiest container port in the United States. The USS Hornet is an aircraft carrier that was active in World War II and also in plucking returning Apollo astronauts from the Pacific. Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1991, she is now docked in Alameda, adjoining Oakland, where the Navy used to have an important air station. Visitors can see how an aircraft carrier works, complete with planes. You can even experience something of the thrill of combat in the flight simulator. There is also a special exhibit on the Apollo missions. How would you like to take a cruise on a presidential yacht? The USS Potomac, President Roosevelt’s yacht, is docked at Jack London Square and is available for either dockside tours or actual cruises around the bay. The ship is a converted Coast Guard cutter. FDR spent much time on it during his presidency. After his death, the Potomac was sold and in 1980 was seized in San Francisco Bay where it was engaged in drug smuggling. It was soon rescued and restored. Jack London Square is a pleasant little waterfront area of specialty shops, restaurants, and a small hotel. Jack London (The Call of the Wild, White Fang, etc.) spent many hours at Heinold’s Saloon in the Square. Most notable is Yoshi’s Japanese restaurant and world class jazz house. Nationally prominent jazz artists perform here, and the food is highly regarded. The San Francisco-Oakland ferry docks at Jack London Square. The best way to see any city is on foot, and Oakland makes it easy with a series of free guided walking tours. The first Tuesday of every month there is a tour of the city’s impressive City Hall which was constructed from 1911-1914 and recently retrofitted to withstand earthquakes. Also see the great city plaza in front of it with the Jack London tree, and the architecturally interesting buildings around it, including the Tribune Tower. Don’t miss the magnificent atrium inside the Rotunda Building, once Kahn’s Department Store. Other walking tours include Chinatown (not as tourist oriented as Chinatown in San Francisco, but home to authentic herbalist shops and Asian groceries); the historic business district; Jack London Square and waterfront; and Preservation Park where a group of Victorian homes have been preserved and restored and set around an 1890s style bandstand and garden. A very special tour is conducted by the Black Panthers, the militant civil rights organization of the 1960s and later. Oakland was their headquarters. This bus tour takes you around to various sites that were important to their movement in the past. The sites themselves are not much to look at—the homes of former prominent Black Panther officers, the scenes of a couple of shootouts, the place where they had a food bank—but the commentary, often by Black Panther leader David Hilliard, provides a fascinating glimpse into the civil rights movement, what it accomplished and what is still to be done. Oakland also boasts an outstanding museum of California art, history, and ecology, as well as major league baseball, basketball, and football teams. BerkeleyImmediately north of Oakland lies the University town of Berkeley. The University of California campus is the dominant feature here. Stroll the vast campus, use the enormous Bancroft library, and attend any of the many lectures and performances always taking place. Here too you get a reminiscence of The Sixties with a Free Speech Movement Café, a Cesar Chavez Student Building, and posters and exhibitions of political events of that time as well as current issues.
The Berkeley Repertory Theatre opened a new facility for the 2001 season, giving it two performance facilities. Addison Street, which runs in front of the theaters, is being refitted with a series of art panels and poems embedded in the sidewalk, giving new meaning to the phrase “Watch your step.” Berkeley is also home to one of the country’s most famous restaurants, Chez Panisse, originator of “California cuisine” which is noted for its use of fresh and often organic ingredients. Other outstanding restaurants include Spenger’s Fish grotto, Skates-on-the-Bay, and Rivoli. Don’t miss the new Fourth Street shopping district, an area of boutique stores. Vallejo
FOR MORE INFORMATION:BART: www.bart.gov Oakland Convention & Visitors Bureau: 475 Fourteenth St., suite 120, Oakland, CA 94612. Phone: (510) 839-9000. www.oaklandcvb.com Gondola Servizio: 568 Bellevue Ave., Oakland, CA 94610. Phone: (510) 663.6603. www.gondolaservizio.com USS Hornet: P.O. Box 460, Alameda, CA 94501. Phone: (510) 521-8448. www.uss-hornet.org USS Potomac: P.O. Box 2064, Oakland, CA 94604. Phone: (510) 627-1502. www.usspotomac.org Jack London Square: 70 Washington St., suite 205, Oakland, CA 94607. www.jacklondonsquare.com Walking Tours: 24-hour information: (510) 238-3234. Black Panther Tours: Phone: (510) 986-0660. www.blackpanthertours.com Berkeley Convention & Visitors Bureau: 2015 Center St., Berkeley, CA 94704. Phone: 1-800-847-4823. Berkeley Repertory Theatre: Phone: (510) 845-4700 or 1-888-427-8849. www.berkeleyrep.org Vallejo Convention & Visitors Bureau: 495 Mare Island Way, Vallejo, CA 94590. Phone: 1-800-4-VALLEJO. www.visitvallejo.com Six Flags Marine World: Phone: (707) 643-6722. www.sixflags.com Jelly Belly Candy Co.: One Jelly Belly Lane, Fairfield, CA 94533. Phone: (707- 428-2838. www.jellybelly.com Mare Island: 328 Seawind Dr., Vallejo, CA 94590. Phone: (707) 557-1538. Baylink Ferry: Phone: (707) 64-FERRY. www.baylinkferry.com Photos: J. Richard © J. Richard |
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One of the better downtown revitalizations is taking
place in Oakland where visionary former governor and presidential candidate Jerry Brown is
mayor. The city
Of particular interest is the Berkeley Municipal
Rose Garden, built as a WPA project in the 1930s. Peak bloom time for
the 2,500 rose bushes is, appropriately
If you continue north on I-80 you cross the place where
the Sacramento River empties into San Pablo Bay and you are in Vallejo,
gateway to the Napa Valley wine country. It is also home to Six Flags
Marine World which combines an amusement park with an oceanarium
featuring dolphins and an Orca whale, and an animal park. The Jelly Belly
Candy Company in nearby Fairfield challenges visitors to name a flavor
they don’t produce. Tours are available. The Mare Island Naval Shipyard,
now closed, is the oldest and was once the largest on the west coast. You
can tour it. Of special interest is the chapel with its Tiffany
stained-glass windows. The Baylink Ferry will take you from Vallejo
to San Francisco.