Category Archives: restaurants & bars

The Layover – a hip new spot

So my friend invited me to The Layover the other night. Have you been there?

It’s a pretty new joint in downtown Oakland… they opened a little over 3 months ago on October 9th in the old spot occupied by Pat’s, Franklin Street between 15th and 17th. Look for the neon green martini glass…

downtown oakland, the layover, layover bar in oakland

We went on a Tuesday night, which is comedy night… live stand-up comedy, followed by live music… no cover charge. Did you catch that? No cover charge. How cool is that?!

the layover, layover bar, layover bar in oakland

We saw 5 comedians, each with about a 15 minute set, and I can honestly say that four of them were quite hilarious. The emcee for the evening mentioned that the comedians are all students, and that The Layover is their training ground to try out new material.

The room was packed, which doesn’t take much, as this little club only holds 49 peeps. It’s an intimate vibe, further accentuated by the plush living room decor. Beautifully re-upholstered vintage pieces in warm velvety colors… one of the owners, RaeAnne Turner, is responsible for the fabulous seamstress-ing.

And what’s even cooler is that all of these gorgeous pieces are for sale! It’s a neat concept. They stock the house with sweet vintagey finds… including not only tables, chairs, & couches, but also light fixtures, pillows, and more… you take ’em home (if inspired and the price is right). That way they’re consistently restocking the venue with new interesting pieces. Keepin’ it fresh ya’ll!

In addition to the furniture for sale, the space functions as an art gallery too… with an associated gallery next door. They had a pretty eclectic mix of stuff up… one of a kind artist-modified light fixtures, small scale paintings, mixed media pieces, and the gorgeous collaged canvases of Daniel Healey featured in blankspace’s This Is Not My Beautiful Life show.

tuesday night comedy night, comedy at the layover, the layover bar

The last shot below was taken after the comedians wrapped up and the musicians were gearing up to get started with the live music. Don’t let the empty chairs fool you… everyone was just at the bar refilling their glasses!

I wish we could have stayed to see the band… Tuesday nights feature something of a “house” band with a rotating cast from Rogue Wave, Crown City Rockers, Persephone’s Bees, Bright Eyes, & more. Man, that sounds awesome! But it was a school night and I needed to get to bed…. waaahh.

RaeAnne’s husband, Zachary (aka Prozack) Turner, is in charge of the musical program at The Layover… selecting DJ’s and live bands, and it looks like he’s got a pretty astounding line-up. Even the house music playing Tuesday night while the band was setting up was super groovy. Can’t wait to check out the Friday night Sure Shot Soul Review (featuring DJ MTM spinning soul, funk, disco, and afrobeat)… again, no cover.

There’s a great article in the East Bay Express: Oakland’s New Layover that highlights more of Zachary’s musical background, as well as the contributions of his other business partners, Tim Martinez & wife Christie Vaughn, in the creation of The Layover.

layover bar in oakland, the layover, interior of the layover

The Layover is located just two blocks from the 19th Street BArt station, the Fox & Paramount Theaters, and a nice little collection of local restaurants: Pho 84, Spice Monkey Cafe, Awaken Cafe‎, and a whole lot more… do check it out!

The Trappist

So I spent like two hours of my supposed-to-be-a-day-of-rest Sunday working on setting up the stupid Facebook Fan Badge that you see off to the right hand side of this column. You would think it would be so simple… in this age of technology and social networking and applications capable of hand-holding with each other. And it should be so simple. But NOooooo!

Apparently the WordPress text widget only accepts straight HTML and not the Javascript programming incorporated into the Facebook Fan Badge. And if that’s all Greek to you, then you can understand my frustration as well. I needed a 12 year old to program this for me! But instead, I struggled with building the little HTML widget myself… wasting precious time, and literally driving myself to drink.

So please, if you’re a Facebook-er, make it worth my while and click on that stupid button and be my fan on Facebook. sigh.

My friends and I met at The Trappist in downtown Oakland (8th Street @ Broadway). It’s a gorgeous bar housed in an 1870’s Victorian building, specializing in Trappist, Belgian, and other European fancy brews. Steeped in Euro-pub ambiance, the bar itself is as beautifully crafted as the beers they offer, each served at the correct temperature and in the properly shaped glass to allow one to fully experience the subtle & complex flavors.

the trappist, belgian beer bar, downtown oakland specialty bar

Trappist refers to the reformist order of Cistercian monks established in the 17th century at the La Trappe monastery in Northern France. The monks lived austere lives characterized by vows of stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience. The monasteries were required to be self-supporting, living off their own land, labor, & resources, and it was out of this commandment that monk-maintained breweries originated. (Wikipedia)

Today there are only 7 true Trappist breweries, owned and run by active Benedictine Abbeys: 6 in Belgium and 1 in The Netherlands. The Trappist carries beers by all seven: Achel, Chimay, Koningshoeven, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle, and Westvleteren, in addition to many specialty beers not easily found elsewhere. They currently maintain 25 beers on tap and have a rotating bottle stock of between 130 – 140 different brands. Wow!

the trappist brewery, trappist brewpub

Do you know those Stella Artois commercials you see before the previews start at the movies? The bartender takes such exquisite care with preparing the glass just so, pouring the beer ever so particularly, all in an effort to deliver the perfect glass of beer. That’s how they do it here. Not kidding. If you take your beer seriously, please check them out. You won’t be sorry.

the trappist, belgian beer pub,

A transforming stretch of Telegraph…

So I’ve been running back and forth between my place and the new Oakland Youth Center, in my endeavor to document the new mural that’s been developing all week.  REMINDER: Grand Opening Party this Thursday January 14th starting at 3pm onward with freestyle rap, dance cyphers, live painting, arts performances and more. Check it out at Telegraph & 28th Street! Here’s the blank wall that’s being transformed as I type…

blank wall for mural

Did you hear I’m making a movie?!? It’s true, it’s true.

And it’s extremely exciting because, at the risk of dating myself here, let’s just say I didn’t grow up with flip video cameras and kid-friendly computer applications like iMovie. Hell, I had a programmable typewriter in college. A typewriter!  You get my drift?

In any case, it’s been back and forth, back and forth between my little corner of West Oakland, called Ghosttown, and the neighboring corner of North Oakland called Pill Hill, where the Center is located. For those of you unfamiliar with these neighborhoods, they border the MacArthur Maze, Ghosttown just southwest, and Pill Hill just southeast. Here’s a map…

Wikipedia says Ghosttown is “known for its violence and blight.” Jeeezzz… they forgot to mention the drugs & prostitutes. It doesn’t say much about Pill Hill, but the area takes its name from the two huge medical centers found in its boundaries: Alta Bates Summit and Kaiser (which is currently undergoing a huge expansion), in addition to a growing number of alternative medicine practices (Oakland medical hub draws more alternative healers).

In my mind they both strike me as sort of no-man’s lands… and perhaps this is due to their inescapable proximity to the monstrosity of the maze. Here’s a shot under part of it…

macarthur maze, freeway underpass, under the maze

Feels oppressive, doesn’t it?

And what’s really disheartening to see are all the gorgeous Victorian’s immediately adjacent to this freeway. Here are a couple… This first one looks like a foreclosure (just one of hundreds, if not thousands, in Oakland) but what a beauty. It’s an interesting style that is not particularly common. C’mon you architect types… send me some info!

oakland victorian, adjacent to macarthur maze

The windows of this lovely look right out onto the freeway just across the street.

oakland victorian, macarthur maze

You can imagine the once thriving connected neighborhood that likely existed there before they plowed a freeway through the middle of it. I’d like to do more research on this. If anyone has any reading recommendations, please send them my way…

I really wanted this post to be about the Telegraph stretch of Pill Hill because so much is happening there right now… it’s literally undergoing a transformation.

But first a couple points of interest in its Ghosttown neighbor across the freeway…

I’ve already written about Ghosttown Farm and the mural across the street… May Peace Prevail on Earth. If you remember, I asked on my post for some assistance interpreting the god-like imagery, and sadly no knowlegable readers chimed in. But lucky for me, I crossed paths with the creative force behind the mural, Desi… who just so happens to be the leader of the Community Rejuvenation Project, now working out of the new Oakland Green Youth Media & Arts Center. Can you say small world?!? Desi explained that the four masks or faces represent gods of the four elements. Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. Now we know.

One other point of interest marked on the map is the old Calou Building. Do you know it?  It’s gorgeous.  Here’s a pic…

calou linen service, calou artist lofts, calou building in oakland

I don’t know what style of architecture it is, but it has some lovely brick work and a striking slate roof… you don’t see that too often anymore. I had hoped to do a whole post about this building, but Google and Wikipedia have really let me down here. After numerous searches I was unable to uncover anything about the history of the building itself or the linen company that was originally housed there. It’s listed as an Oakland Landmark in the Oakland Heritage Alliance’s compiled list, but it doesn’t even include the date built. This is probably the first time the web has really let me down. The only sites that turn up are realtor’s ads for lofts in the now converted building.  Not a great time to be selling real estate.  Especially in areas characterized by “blight and violence.”

Now let’s scoot back under the freeway to Pill Hill…

So there’s the new Oakland Green Youth Media & Arts Center… But there’s more!

The whole block between 29th and 30th streets has been razed to make way for a new residential development that’s slated to begin construction any day. Looks like it’s going to be big!

There’s a new family BBQ joint at 34th street called Phat Matt’s BBQ. Their motto is “So good it’ll make you want to slap yo momma!” I had a pulled pork sandwich there the other day and it was fabulous. Plus I love their back-story… husband and wife team, homemade sauces and rubs all developed without salt due to the dietary needs of Phat Matt’s wife. Check them out any day except Mondays.

phat matt's, phat matt's bbq, telegraph ave

Then there’s the new Oasis Food Market highlighted in last week’s East Bay Express article Neighborhood Comes Together Around New Market by Emilie Raguso.  It’s a great article full of information about this transforming neighborhood and the new identity that’s taking hold there… I’m going to excerpt from her article briefly:

“Oasis Food Market has it all: an unmatched supply of oils, grains, and canned goods; a mouth-watering eat-in deli offering soups from scratch, juicy shawarma, olives, feta, and a bevy of stuffed vegetables; fresh-baked breads and honeyed pastries handcrafted on site; and a full halal butcher shop complete with hanging carcasses in a chilled case. And, of course, there are fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, juices, and, somewhat less expectedly, a Western Union counter, post office boxes, household goods, traditional Arab clothing, water pipes, and flavored tobacco.

Stepping through the shop’s doors feels like stepping into another country. “

Oasis food market, oasis market on telegraph

halal butcher shop, oasis food market

olive counter, oasis food market

Oasis has a full bakery and in addition to baking their own breads and pitas, they produce a mind boggling variety of baklava desserts. I was eye-ing them while snapping a few photos and waiting for my chicken shawarma plate… the baker kindly offered samples for me to try while explaining they roll all their own filo dough out on-site… no frozen filo! All I can say is… delicious.

baklava, oasis food market

Farley’s East

So coffee is the new buzz in the East Bay… have you seen the cover story in this week’s East Bay Express:  Surfing Coffee’s “Third Wave” by Luke Tsai?  It focuses on the profusion of new coffee connoisseurs setting up shop in the East Bay… Local 123, Sub Rosa, Remedy, and Awaken Café.  To date I’ve been to Sub Rosa (fantastic tiny shop with gorgeous expresso drinks, located next door to Manifesto bike shop and 1234 Go Records on 40th Street) and the Remedy coffee cart serving Ritual Coffee on Telegraph near 44th, run by Todd Spitzer (I went before the cafe was open…it’s open now and is getting rave reviews on Yelp). More on these in future posts…

But today I went to a great spot, sadly not mentioned in the article… Farley’s East.

farley's, farley's east, farley's on grand

I’ve been a big fan of the original Farley‘s since back in the 90’s when I worked full time on Potrero Hill in San Francisco.  Farley’s had fantastic coffee and espresso drinks, an incredible magazine rack featuring unusual art and culture rags, rotating art exhibits, and wonderful eats including just about the best banana bread I’ve ever had.  It was my daily morning ritual.  Luckily, they’ve maintained the quality and the vibe in their East Bay transplant.

art magazines, farley's magazine rack

They’ve got the same great magazine selection, rotating art each month, wonderful food and drinks (today I had a brie/pear/cranberry/walnut panini on the most incredible bread… yum!), and a real spirit of community involvement (their motto is “community in a cup“). They feature a different non-profit each month… this month highlighting the good works of Oaklandish, including a fundraiser held for them in early December.

Please check them out… you won’t be sorry.