Category — transit

Uptown’s long-awaited Era Art Bar opens today at 4:30pm. Created by the impresarios behind several Old Oakland spots including B Restaurant, Air Lounge, and Tamarindo, Era promises to be a uniquely styled club. Era boasts hand-crafted cocktails, carefully-chosen wines, two floors for lounging, top-flight DJs, and stunning interior design. See what the buzz is about at 19 Grand Ave.

Tonight the Fox Theater celebrates its anniversary of reopening as a live-performance venue with a party at the Den. Despite not having any dedicated parking, the Fox has sold out almost all of its shows and was the top Google search term in San Francisco in 2009. Joined by the New Parish at 18th and San Pablo, the Fox is establishing Uptown as a live-music destination, though there is a growing perception the Paramount is falling behind (a position disputed by a boardmember in a recent OakBook column).

Downtown’s good news is not just about bars and nightclubs. The DTO, or more specifically Uptown, has seen several new restaurants open this short new year. Though we’re still waiting for Bakesale Betty, True Burger has opened on the same block as the erstwhile bakery, and Hibiscus at 18th and San Pablo adds a sweetly Southern note to downtown dining in a handsome historic building with a focus on Creole foods and unique cocktails.

With the announcement of Barnes & Nobles’ closure in Jack London Square, some observers mourn the passing of yet another bookstore, while others see potential for destination retail to emerge in the prominent space. On the other side of downtown, the Broadway Specific Plan, meant to outline the transformation of Auto Row into a “lifestyle” shopping center, is seeing fierce criticism from both anti-development types led by the Oakland Heritage Alliance who are critical of the goals of the project, and from urbanists who are very uncomfortable with the huge amounts of parking called for in the study (more parking than retail, actually).

Today is of course the First Friday of February, and without rain, it’s likely tonight’s Art Murmur events will be crowded. Highlights include local cityscapes at Pro Arts Gallery, a multimedia exhibition by French artist Pierre Alain Clauzin at Hatch Gallery, and a retrospective of late graffiti artist Mike “Dream” Franciso at the New Parish. From Jack London Square to Midtown to Uptown, the DTO offers art and entertainment tonight for any budget, or no budget. See you at the hot dog stand on Telegraph!

It’s happening downtown, from waterfront events to new construction, to good decisions and bad decisions from City Hall.

Jack London Square, its first round of new construction almost complete, is set the liven up summer with a series of special events. Thursdays Palm Tree Plaza at the foot of Broadway will show nautically-themed films, with The OakBook hosting a trivia contest. Fridays the Linden Street Studio will teach dance classes (today is the waltz) under the stars, and restaurants are offering prix-fixe dinners. A hanging tile mural is being installed on the new Amtrak parking garage. And more opportunities are arising for the future: east of the square, the former Zazoo’s is for sale. It appears to be a $3.2m tear-down, potentially zoned for up to 120 residences, and no height limit.

It’s not all roses, though, for downtown’s waterfront: The Island reports the Port of Oakland is considering ending ferry service at Jack London Square. I find this very unlikely, since it would entail ending the Alameda Ferry as well, while the Water Emergency Transit Authority is attempting to expand ferry ridership and infrastructure.

On Wednesday the Planning Commission approved plans to renovate the former Sweet Jimmie’s on San Pablo and 17th, on the edge of Uptown near Old Oakland. The operator of SF’s Independent will create a smaller venue, a restaurant, and two clothing boutiques, and gussy up the façade. The building hosted Dave Chappelle’s surprise performance last month. Meanwhile, with no public hearings needed, nearby @17th is set to be the new location of the Bench and Bar.

Less awesome for downtown was the Planning Commission’s decision to grant The Shorenstein Corporation five years to resume construction on 601 12 St, which is now a gigantic hole. The lot is half a block from the partially shrink-wrapped CityWalk site. Old Oakland could endure nine years of construction as result of that decision, mitigated only by $50,000 worth of murals on a fence.

City Hall may be closed today, but there is good policy news as well. As the reader may know, on May 5 pedestrian advocates and downtown residents persuaded the City Council to use a prominent Uptown lot for public art instead of car parking. The approved motion, introduced by Councilmember Ignacio de la Fuente, directed Cultural Arts to incorporate the lot into its Uptown arts budget, but allowed the parking plan to move forward in two weeks if City Administrator Dan Lindheim determined an arts use is infeasible. It’s been two weeks, and Cultural Arts has presented several options to Mr. Lindheim, which have not been declared infeasible. So Uptown will not take a step backwards by reverting a prominent Telegraph Avenue lot, however temporarily, to car parking. Whatever Cultural Arts does with the lot, I’m confident it will enrich the neighborhood, complement the streetscape, and perhaps even give Playa-haters a chance to see large-scale sculpture. Uptown Unveiled debuts in June.

The end of 2008 comes to a downtown packed with new restaurants, clubs, and parks in which to celebrate the New Year. BART will run until 3am, and offers an evening-long “Flash Pass” that can be purchased at the Lake Merritt station. Central Contra Costa County dwellers unfortunately just lost their all-night bus service, so New Year’s Eve may be their last chance to party all night in the DTO! Downtown New Year’s Eve parties include:

Reggaton Dance Party at Levende East, $20 (no cover with dinner). 825 Washington St.

Sugar and Gold and Damon and the Heathens at The Uptown. $10. 1928 Telegraph Ave.

Black Comedy Explosion at The Paramount. $40 – $75. 2025 Broadway.

Latin Beats and Go-Go Boys at The Bench and Bar. $25. 2111 Franklin St.

Funky New Year’s Eve at Luka’s. $20. 2221 Broadway.

For the more casual reveler, DTO nightclubs Ruby Room (132 14th St) and Radio Bar (435 13th St) will have champagne toasts and no cover charges. The Oasis (135 12th St), Air Lounge (492 9th St), and Cafe Van Kleef (1621 Telegraph Ave) probably have parties, but there’s no online info.

Happy New Year!

There’s no shortage of education material online about the center of the East Bay. This week’s highlights:

City Homestead presents a fascinating history of Oakland’s district and neighborhood names. Before the coming of the freeway, downtown extended to Market Street to the West and 27th to the North. Also, it seems that Broadway Auto Row has been called that since 1913.

Tobedeus points out the need for improved transit downtown, and proposes a downtown nightlife-serving bus with unique branding.

Becks takes photos showing the contrast between potential and reality that both inspires and frustrates Oaklanders: beautiful buildings marred with graffiti, and thriving streets littered with refuse. Also, apparently downtown’s councilmember is uninterested in preventing public urination and defecation.

Some restaurant / nightlife news: Trendily-named steam table on 14th, frozen yogurt coming to City Center, a secret bar in Old Oakland, and an Atlanta celebrity chef is moving to Uptown. No boobs, though.

If you click only one link today, make it this one: a 1948 video about pedestrian safety in Oakland. It’s amusing to recall a time when cars were new, intersections were uncontrolled, and people had little driving experience. Perhaps that’s more frightening than amusing.

If I were to update last month’s Uptown Excitement blog, I’d call it Uptown Explosion. Several restaurants announced openings in the greater Uptown area, generating attention from San Francisco to Westlake. The district may soon see a champagne bar, but still no taco trucks.

More than just the culinary arts are flourishing in Uptown. Partners from B Restaurant, Fiveten Studio, and Levende East are planning a multi-level dance club in the block of historic storefronts including 21 Grand, once home to Industrielle, a mattress dealer, and a military-themed bookstore. Meanwhile, an improv theater has found a home nearby, on Broadway.

Maybe I’ve been paying too much attention to BRT, TOD and LTEs, but it seems like car parking is an issue as Oakland becomes a bit more thriving. But not only cars need parking. Bicyclists are of course aware of the crippling lack of bike parking since meters were replaced by kiosks. For another modal perspective, the crew of the Zen Sakai document the hassle of parking a boat to get lunch at Jack London Square.

Saturday, City Councilmember-elect Rebecca Kaplan, Equality California’s Sean Sullivan, and other leaders (TBA) will address a gathering of Oaklanders at City Hall in opposition to Proposition 8. Tomorrow looks to be warm, and Frank Ogawa Plaza is a sunny spot on a nice day.

Lest I leave out the jewel of downtown, please enjoy this Zeppelin’s-eye view of Lake Merritt, and your DTO weekend.

A few choice articles about the DTO for your perusal:

A new skyscraper proposal seeks to anchor the skyline with a spiral tower between 19th and 20th on Broadway. That means there are now four proposals in the pipeline that would be the tallest buildings in town.

BART floats the idea of charging more to exit at certain crowded stations. No indication if the DTO’s stations may be mooted for this form of congestion pricing.

Council at-large candidates meet Monday in Jack London Square for a forum. Next Wednesday, Rebecca Kaplan opens her campaign HQ in Uptown, while Kerry Hamill will open her Uptown campaign office Friday.

Downtown’s two unfinished condo projects announce plans to reboot, and the Cathedral Building’s full-floor flats get some press.

Alameda’s Naval Air Base reuse plans appear to hinge on how to get folks from the West End of Alameda to downtown Oakland without clogging traffic too much. A Personal Rapid Transit system, like that tentatively proposed for the Oakland Army Base, has been suggested, but widely derided.

Cultural institutions plead for more business support, while the city does its best to make things uncomfortable for nightclubs.

I suggest some new ideas for the downtown zoning update. Besos on the street, anyone?

The City Council’s back next week and downtown will be on the agenda in some form or another. Enjoy the weekend!

Recently the fine men and women of Oakland’s Public Works Department painted over a “guerilla” crosswalk installed in May by frustrated activists in the Gold Coast neighborhood. One resident is turning to public art to aid the pedestrian-unfriendly intersection: below is his proposal, Pride Mural.

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.