Category — grocery

Though April’s bucolic weather turned out to be just a tease of summer, the Oakland Museum kicks off spring in the DTO with their annual California Wildflower Show, this weekend. For those willing to brave the drizzle, today offers First Friday events, in addition to the nationally-lauded Art Murmur. From Uptown art posters to a new Saturday brunch spot, here’s what you need to plan your downtown night and day.

Poster Art Party at the Den

Oakland’s newest and prettiest music venue is hosting an exhibit of contemporary concert posters by artists Lil’ Tuffy and Jason Munn, who have designed posters for The White Stripes, Thievery Corporation, and Beck, among others.

1807 Telegraph Ave, all evening.

RAW in Uptown

The Uptown Apartments’ unfinished retail space once again hosts an art exhibit and mixer for First Friday, featuring seven artists, primarily working on paper.

1951 Telegraph, 6 – 9p

HOME at Fiveten Studio

Six local artists explore the concept of “home” in different media.

831 Broadway, 6p – 9p

Notorious at the Paramount

Oakland’s other Art Deco jewel presents Alfred Hitchock’s Notorious. A classic movie in a beautiful venue for only $5, and the theater opens early for cocktails at the two bars.

2025 Broadway, doors at 7p, movie at 8p

Filmnight 1.0 at Swarm Gallery

A collaboration with Mills College, Swarm Gallery presents “the first in a series of monthly screenings of experimental, documentary, short, feature-lenth and animated film, video and all formats in between, curated by filmmakers and film enthusiasts from the Bay Area and beyond.” Tonight’s offerings include digital media by Amanda Bailey, Brian Caraway, Stephanie Cooper, Loke Davis, Grace Rosario Perkins, Steuart Pittman, Annie Vought, Doug Williams and Andrew Witrak.

560 2nd St (at Clay), 7:30p

Dancing Under the Stars at Jack London Square

Jack London Square kicks of its summer programming of outdoor dancing led by an instructor from the Linden Street Dance Studio. Tonight will feature salsa dancing, and prix fixe menus at Cocina Poblana, Miss Pearl’s Jam House, Scott’s Seafood, Il Pescatore,  Kincaids, and Hahn’s Hibachi.

8:30p, bottom of Broadway (by the palm tree forest)

Saturday Brunch at La B

La Borinquena Mexicatessen debuts its brunch menu in celebration of “America’s Cinco de Mayo holiday,” in the words of Tina Tamale. Mimosas, sangria, cerveza, huevos, botanas and the full menu (tamales!) will be served in the generously-defined morning, with a mariachi trio performing at noon.

La Borinquena, 582 7th St at Jefferson, 10a to 3p Saturday May 2

After all the excitement downtown about DeLauer’s staying open, the Chronicle and Tribune report that it has been sold. The new owners are excited to receive government assistance, but their aim does not appear to be to maintain the business as a twenty-four-hour newsstand, according to the Trib.

The new owners said they intend to convert the newsstand at 1310 Broadway into a coffee cafe. “We’ll have Internet wireless, the whole thing.” (DeLauer’s clerk and new partner Fasil) Lemma said… The biggest change will be to end DeLauer’s 24-hour operation. “I used to work graveyard and downtown Oakland is very tough after midnight,” Lemma said. “We think that closing from midnight to 5 a.m. will reduce the crime problem.”

As I explained before, downtown residents disagree with the idea that closing DeLauer’s at night will “reduce the crime problem.” To the contrary, it would make crime much worse without a late-night presence near the all-night bus and taxi stands, and a BART station that operates until after 1am. So now the question is, why should city subsidies and community groups help DeLauer’s, at 13th and Broadway, become just another coffeeshop, when Peet’s, Tully’s and the Awaken Cafe are all within a block?

There’s more than a little jubilation around downtown since century-old DeLauer’s Super Newsstand, open twenty-four hours on Broadway between 13th and 14th, will be spared the axe. This might be surprising to many who don’t see the value of a newsstand or the value of an all-night mid-downtown gathering place, which BART patrons often find sketchy. The benefit downtowners see in DeLauer’s is that precisely because it’s a well-lit gathering place, it contributes to a safe environment at night.

13th and Broadway is a major transit hub. DeLauer’s light and street presence provide a needed active space between the BART station, bus stops, and taxi stand: the “eyes on the street.” While the folks who create and inhabit this space are not exactly Jerry Brown’s dream downtowners, there are fewer medical and criminal emergencies at DeLauer’s than at Burger King across 13th, which hosts an ambulance weekly. On balance, DeLauer’s makes a tremendous contribution to downtown safety, and whatever criminal activity it may attract is generally of the victimless sort. With a dark, closed store at night (assuming DeLauer’s space isn’t abandoned, torn down, or subject to years of construction, all of which would be even worse), the center of the DTO would be much more grim.

There’s no fundamental market reason why DeLauer’s Super Newsstand couldn’t continue. Obviously there is no longer a need for many newsstands across the city, and Cody’s recently threw in the towel. But DeLauer’s has a huge potential customer base and can make a lot of revenue on the printed page, even as fewer people make trips to Berkeley to buy books. DeLauer’s has always done a good job catering to the local crowd, with the Economist usually getting prominent placement, and romantic titles like Milk in My Coffee share counter side shelf space with Iceberg Slim and mainstream mystery novels. There really should be somewhere in downtown Oakland to buy soda, sandwiches or cigarettes in the middle of the night. A rough transition from the retiring management team and a heavy debt load, not decreased demand, is the newsstand’s real problem.

I’ve also heard many downtowners express their hopes for construction of the office building at 11th and Broadway, which would fill in a very large hole, an entire block face of empty lot and abandoned building. A UC Berkeley / CalTrans project is currently studying pedestrian traffic at 12th and Broadway, and preliminary results indicate the pedestrian crossings equal car crossings (about 6.9m annual trips). Acknowledging this area’s importance, AC Transit is reportedly planning to help DeLauer’s out with rent in exchange for hosting a transit kiosk. Downtowners ♥ DeLauer’s because people who use Broadway throughout the day understand that a continuous, pedestrian-oriented retail strip improves their experience and their safety. Now if only Rockridgers would figure that out. 

NovoMetro.com today posted an excellent grocery-shopping guide for downtown. It focused on Chinatown’s markets, which are concentrated around eight and ninth streets between Broadway and Webster, immediately across from Old Oakland. Old Oakland also has more mainstream grocery shopping options, as well as often-ample parking. Is the lower DTO a gourmet destination, as NovoMetro food writer Kevin Cook suggests? There’s certainly adequate grocery shopping, despite what downtown naysayers claim.