Lately, I've been on a roll about Oakland because, frankly, I love my city.
San Francisco may have my heart, but Oakland has my soul, and that may well be the more important of the two.
Oakland is in the midst of a renaissance. I mean, why buy a $500K studio in the city, when you can get a great loft or even a house for that much in the East Bay, especially with BART as an option for transport? The truth is, I get downtown faster than my friends who live in the Avenues, or even Noe or Cole Valleys, sometimes.
Anyway, every time I'm driving through downtown on Broadway or Telegraph, I'm blown away by the Art Deco architecture that surrounds me; a few blocks east, and the fourth largest Chinatown in the country beckons; a few blocks west and Old Oakland beckons.
It's the latter that I write about this week on KQED -- go ahead, check it out. I hope you'll be inspired to spend a lazy afternoon in this charming enclave of the jewel of the East Bay.