College Ave, Rockridge

Anyone who knows me knows how I love College Avenue. I’ve talked fondly of the stretch that you find in Berkeley and I’ve talked about how much I love Rockridge too. So what could be better than College Ave in Rockridge. And the answer is, not much!

Whether it is having brunch, meeting friends for drinks, getting some good eats to bring home, shopping for clothes or browsing books, this stretch of College from Claremont to Broadway has you covered. In fact, there is hardly enough time to do justice to all of the cool little joints there are here on College. And that is just what is here currently. If you have been coming back to College Ave for years on end like I have you probably now have a mental map not only of the current establishments but of all the memories you have of the places that used to be here.

But I will resist the pull of nostalgia and try to stick to what there is on College Avenue now. So let’s start with eats. Here are just a handful of restaurants you will find here: the Claremont Diner; Barney’s Burgers, the Crepevine, and Zachary’s Pizza of course; A Cote, a French place; Flavors of India, Wood Tavern and Rikyu, a sushi place.

You can also find some pretty good watering holes as well such as Barclay’s, McNally’s, George & Walts, and of course, the Graduate (which apparently is a mandatory bar name for every college town). I want to give a special shout out to the Conga Room, which has a Tiki bar decor and a good corps of loyal regulars that make sure it is always well attended and has a cool vibe.

And as far as places to shop for cool women’s clothes, you can go to Iniam, Fit, Chic, Crush or Bella Vita to just name a few. And if you’re just looking for a good book, be sure to try Diesel or Pegasus Books.

Does all this make you want to live here?

Well, first you should consider what it costs to rent here: a one bedroom around here will run you around $1500 and a two-bedroom around twice that much.

Of course you can’t beat it for the commute. College has its own BART station, which makes it a great spot for commuters--just in case you can’t get enough food and fun living here.

Put simply, College Avenue in Rockridge is just as great as it is in Berkeley. One of the best lanes in the world imo.

Oakland still has a rap for being a sketchy town - which is, in some ways, accurate - but this is the place where you want to live. College Avenue, and Rockridge in general, feels more Berkeley than Oakland and has a much safer reputation.

The street lives up to its name in amenities alone. Among other things, there is a yoga studio, a Crepevine, a taqueria, and an insane amount of cafes, pubs, and other restaurants. The other huge convenience factor here is the Rockridge BART station, which allows you public transportation to anywhere in the Bay Area. They even have free parking on weekends, and $1/day parking on weekdays. I've left my car here overnight and felt completely safe doing so.

Rent is a bit more expensive here than other parts of Oakland, but overall, totally worth it.

I love getting fresh ingredients to make things at home. I especially like finding unique ingredients. Hapuku Fish Shop is one of those great places to shop for fresh and unique food. They have the usual plus live crabs, sushi and other shell fish. There are so many fish to choose from for new dishes to make. They also have some fresh cooked foods available. There is also the Pearl Oyster Bar & Restaurant if you do not want to cook but want a great night out on seafood.