Oakland

So --- my weekend was full of Oakland. Friday night, we tried to go to the Parkway Speakeasy in Oakland to catch one of their last showings before the full shut down on Sunday. Unfortunately, many others had the same plan in mind - we were unable to watch "Let The Right One In". Instead, we meandered the streets of Oakland specifically the Grand Lake Area looking for random bars. We stopped by 'the Alley' a dive piano bar filled with business cards, dark lighting and a mixed crowd. You could say 'the Alley' is fun for its piano in the back with a couple of mics sprouting out on the side. People would go up and sing classics like "Wouldn't It Be Lovely" and countless other jams I sure didn't know.

Anyways, on Friday night, our dear friend L told us about a development of new David Baker designed lofts (Pacific Canary Lofts) that were built in West Oakland -- starting prices around the $250K. On Saturday, exciting the highway and taking the back way into the development wasn't so bad. What awaited us were handsome lofts - some of which sold for $300-350K with grand views of the Oakland Port, light flooding in, and a floor plan that was so beautifully opened up and exposed. What had been promised to us on the tour was the continuing development of other new residential buildings which potentially had retail spaces to follow...Haha, Phil and I had knowing glances...little did we know what awaited us outside of the proper entrance was West Oakland. Enough said, I don't think we will be considering.

Later that night, while watching the local news - we discovered the gun down of the 4 police officers occurance on the other side of town in East Oakland.