Jennifer

The State Capitol is a really beautiful building, even to someone like me who worked on Capitol Hill in DC. Stars mark the walls of the capitol where the building was struck by Union bombardment. A great history stop for anyone into the Civil War, or Southern history.

Our neighborhood just about did somersaults after this place opened in an empty storefront. Cheap, tasty food and revolving special dishes. We eat here at least once a week, and it is very popular with pretty much everyone. Even the cops eat here!

Adams Point is not quite a place you “visit”, but it is a neighborhood in which one may consider living. I have been living here for four years, and have alternately enjoyed and hated it.

It’s beautiful as a neighborhood which borders the lake and the lakeside park. Many streets are lined with the trees originally planted from subdivisions in the early 1900’s, so the streets are shady and lovely during the summer, spring and fall.

On the downside, it is a very dense neighborhood, mostly apartment buildings circa 1960’s. As a consequence, the parking stinks, there are alot of cars coming and going (and the resultant honking, vrooming, exhaust, etc.), and you often feel like you’re living on top of hundreds of other people. Also, since the neighborhood is relatively free of alot of severe crimes, the police presence is inadequate, therefore the neighborhood tends to suffer from petty crimes and periodic waves of theft (and associated batteries, etc.).

For the most part, though, it’s a safe, nice neighborhood.

The Oakland History Room is a fabulous and interesting resource, covering all aspects of Oakland (also Greater Bay Area, San Francisco, and California) history. The place to go for general interest in Oakland, landmarks, genealogy, or general local history.

A friend of ours was playing a show. The crowd was totally random, but the regulars at the bar were very friendly and the bartender was very nice. I was a little scared of it when we walked up, but I would totally go back.

I don’t personally care for the place, but there’s a highly regarded skatepark there that my husband and his friends love to go to.

I took the gondola ride at night, and it was a very intimate, very special (kind of spooky) and very memorable experience. The calls the gondoliers make (to avoid crashing into each other) come bouncing across the water through the streets and alleyways, and there’s something interesting about looking up into the lit windows from the dark water. Also, the turn out into the loud, brilliantly lit Grand Canal from the dark, narrow alleys is something burned upon my brain until the day I die.

Beware the beignet’s evil collusion of scalding hot dough and lung-clouding powdered sugar!

The whole place is just so cozy and warm. Makes you want to snuggle into some piles of surveillance video and take a long, drug-induced slumber while the agents build a terrorism case against you.

One of the best gay neighborhoods outside of San Francisco.