Downtown

Downtown acts as the central business hub of all of Oakland. It has many of the qualities that an average-sized city has to offer while adding a spice of Oakland’s grungy reputation. However, with its proximity to Lake Merritt and its neighboring Lakeside community, Downtown Oakland has much to be thankful for.

The district is one of the busiest in the city and for good reason. It is saturated with a mixed assortment of apartment buildings, retail stores, towering office buildings and a cluster of smaller mixed-use historic buildings. On weekends, the neighborhood is buzzing with trendy nightlife and hungry restaurant goers. New clubs and bars have also been sprouting up in recent years attracting diverse crowds from different parts of the city.

For those commuting to work, the neighborhood is served by two bart stations,12th Street and 19th Street. Otherwise, commuters can hop on Interstate 980, which conveniently skirts the district’s southern border. Parking is typical of a busy downtown community, with street parking being a crapshoot and parking garages filling up before morning work hours.

Like most Oakland neighborhoods, the area hosts a large African American community, many of whom loiter the streets during the day. Crime is always something to look out for in the neighborhood, with public disturbance, petty crime and assaults fostering much public concern.

So let’s just cut to the chase. Here are the top 5 places to go for drinks/food/dancing in Downtown Oakland:

5. There is a good selection of international food. One of my personal favorites is Vos Vietnamese Restaurant. It has a wonderful décor with a long bar and both seating at intimate tables (perfect for dates) and balcony seating perched above. They also have live piano, though I have never been there when it is in use.

4. Rio California, a great Brazilian food place. Just across the street from Preservation Park in a converted Victorian, the warm interior is perfect for lunch when it gets a pretty good crowd from the local businesses

3. Club 21, a gay dance club that caters to Latinos. If you are straight, you might prefer Penelope’s a pretty good bar—almost with a dive feel to it—except for the rule that says that you can’t be a dive bar and serve mimosas.

2. The Layover is a very swanky, chabby chic type of a joint, with at touch of Turkish coffee house thrown in for good measure. It is really a lounge where you can get great mixed drinks and mingle till you tingle—whatever that means. Enjoy.

1. A place that knows how to make comfort food classy and healthy is Spice Monkey. It also has a very cool décor with high front windows and a tile staircase that really gives you a Mediterranean feel.