After traveling to San Francisco, It has come to my attention that there are cool indie neighborhoods that are tuck under the blankets. So, I drove my car over the bridge and arrived into a city with old well-maintained theaters, lakes and breathtaking sceneries. The city greeted me with spaces, ice-creams and awesome thrift finds. This is the East bay, made of Oakland, Berkeley University and a few small cities. The first thing I noticed in the city is that “the city smelled high”, however you want to interpret that. Contrary to that, every street light is equipped with speed camera which kinda reminded me of the crazy Singapore. The locals here said that “this is the way of how the city make money, it’s just much easier to send a bill than to arrest someone on the streets”. I laughed.
Thank Rebakah Mcnall, A & B Creative for showing me around your great city. I can’t wait to see the creation for the Lab event!
1) Fenton’s Creamy
This ice-cream place has been opened for more than a century! The Sundae there are enormous, topped with the traditional whipped cream and cherry. When you dig deeper, you are in for a delicious surprise. We made a great choice by sharing a Sundae. Personally, I don’t like it that they have new decor. I want to go back to the era of B&W photos that hangs on their wall now, of kids having a huge smile across his face eating that delicious ice-cream.
http://www.fentonscreamery.com
2) Blue Bottle Coffee
I’m not a crazy fan of coffee but this is definitely a neat little store. The cafe is a small square room compared to the huge warehouse that roast their coffee beans next to it. There is also a tasting room for speciality coffee, go check it out when you are there.
http://www.bluebottlecoffee.com
3) Kaiser Centre Mall
In the middle of downtown Oakland with all the craziness happening around, a hidden garden was create to let employees relax and enjoy the sun during the lunch break. Kaiser Centre Mall looks like just another bank but inside, you can find old B&W photos of old Oakland and this hidden retreat.
Click here for the guide. Continue reading →
Hello everyone, this is Rani Hoover. I do not know where to start the story. Rani has the biggest heart, a great cook, make an awesome fireplace, drive a black jeep, wears leather boots and plans lovely weddings. We meet each other for the first time and she brought me lunch, Crabs!! I had the pleasure of meeting Rani’s friend who are all super cool, wine makers and photographers. Thank you Rani for all the warmth, knowledge, food and the awesome tour of the Valley.
