Goodbye For Now Oakland!

In a couple weeks I will be departing for Europe to begin my next big adventure, pursuing a Masters degree there. These last five years in Oakland have been wonderful, and I thank all of you who followed me and commented on my posts and met up to have some grand ol times together.

As I will no longer be in the area, I would be happy to hand over development of this blog if anyone is interested in carrying on the torch! Please email me at grahamhollandpatterson@gmail.com if interested.

I started a new blog to document my upcoming adventures, and would love to have you follow it. You can find it HERE and subscribe by inputting your email on the right hand side.

Till next time Oakland - keep safe and continue being awesome.

Cheers,

Graham Patterson

WikiLocal Highlights Oakland

The organization LocalWiki has decided to make Oakland one of its example cities by putting resources into supporting the continued complication of useful local information. Definitely check it out HERE and if you see something that is missing - add it!

Should be a fun craft-i-licious experience!!!

Date: Sunday, May 12th
Time: 11 AM – 5 PM
Location: Pavilion Building, 98 Broadway, Jack London Square
FREE to Enter

!!Pretty Penny Anniversary Party!!

Join in for free food and drinks and beautiful people dressed in the dope-est threads. Lots of great information on the invite, so I will let it talk for itself! HERE

Kickstarter Launch Party :: HUB Oakland

The new HUB Oakland is launching their Kickstarter project on April 8th at 6pm. Join them for "beats, bites and pours" as you learn more about what the HUB community will bring to our community. Cool group of people in SF and Berkeley - of course we are going to make it even better ;) RSVP HERE

1423 Broadway in Oakland

4th of July

Three months from now is 4th of July - a long time, yes, but it's never too early to get down with a crowd-funded amazing party with free beer and BBQ happening right in your favorite city! Check out the campaign and throw $10 at it. You will only be charged if it "tilts", and hits the $600 goal. Hope to see you there!

Check out the Alameda Vintage Fashion Fair this weekend. Over 100 vendors with clothes that you're not gonna find anywhere else. Add some Tiki music and food and drinks and it sounds like a beautiful weekend. 

My Friend's Say They Are Moving To Oakland... (Stolen from Broke Ass Stuart)

See Full Article HERE

My friends say they are moving to Oakland because San Francisco has let them down. The douchebags are winning. Divis is clogged with Google buses. Valencia is drowning in shmancy new restaurants. North Beach is full of knuckleheads. Mark Zuckerberg bought a house in the Mission. The artists are leaving. The city is gentrifying.

My friends say they’re moving to Oakland because the rent is cheaper. The landlords aren’t looking for ways to kick you out. You won’t have to have six roommates. You won’t get outbid for a room by some dot-com fuckface. You won’t have to be a mildly well-known writer just to get invited to interview for an affordable room. When you break up with your girlfriend, you won’t have to keep living with her for two months since neither of you can afford to move out. They say they’re moving to Oakland because it’s the town that could, not the city that already did.

My friends say they’re moving to Oakland because there’s more space. They extol the many merits of Lake Merritt. They’re moving because there’s room to park your car. There are parks in the hills from which you can see stars. They’d rather see the view of San Francisco from afar. My friends say they’re moving because they can have a backyard. You can have a vegetable garden and chickens and dogs and potbellied pigs. Actually, one of my friends doesn't know if she can have a potbellied pig. But she really wants one.

Rockridge Valentine's Jazz Stroll

Musicians, street food, and discounts make for a perfect lead up to Valentine's day in Rockridge this Friday.

See HERE for more details

Fiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnaaaallllyyyyyyyyyyyy The Parkway Opens Saturday.

I have announced this before, but this time it's for real - The Parkway is back! They are launching this Saturday with three fantastic 2012 films, Looper, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Pitch Perfect. Everything is $6, they have a lot of fantastic and fun things in the works including tweaks to their menu which already has me drooling.... bottom line? Don't go because I need a seat for me Me ME!

Shop Like the Local You Are :: Holiday Edition

Just when you think Oaklandish has reached their maximum coolness, they raise the bar and blow you away once again. The most recent occurrence was yesterday when they announced Plaid Friday, i.e. Oakland's local business version of Black Friday. Straight from Oaklandish: (Specific Deals Here)

Bonus: The New Parish is hosting a Food Social event on Black Friday, so after you are done with your shopping head over and grab some delicious bites and a free beer!

East Bay + Bikes + Celebration = Biketopia

This Friday the East Bay Bike Coalition is transforming the Pavilion at Jack London Square into a Biketopian city of the future. Socialize with friends, enjoy a tasty brew or delicious food from Miss Pearl’s, browse their silent auction, enjoy good music, complimentary bla bla bla bla bla..... too many great things to mention!

More info here: Biketopia

When: Friday, November 16, 5:30-9:30 PM
Where: Jack London Pavilion, One Broadway, Oakland 

Patchwork Indie Craft Festival :: Nov 18th!

Check out the Patchwork craft festival on Sunday which will be featuring music, food, crafts, and hopefully some rays of sun as well. If you wanna make a day of it, I highly suggest getting brunch at BocaNova, where you can catch some live tunes and get your champagne glow started ;)

Life Sized Mouse Trap at Peralta Junction - Too Cool

I went to the life size mouse trap this weekend at Peralta Junction – have you checked it out yet?? It was a really fantastic; one of those experiences where you look around and smile and think – damn I love my city ;)!

And the Mouse Trap is just one of a million cool things going on at the Peralta Junction. You will also find events like brunches, movie nights, music, poetry - always surrounded by a good mix of carnies doing their thing! Check it out now.... all will be packed up and moved November 30th.

Dia De Los Muertos and First Friday! +Bonus

Click Flyer for More Info

Want to celebrate a different culture's take on All Saint's Day (Halloween)? Then check out the North Oakland Dia De Los Muertos festival on Thursday from 5 - 7:30. Join in one of two processions at 5pm or arrive at Dover Park at 6pm for a ceremony, altar celebration, and Mexican hot chocolat - yummy! And if you are feeling creative, paint your face!

Where:

• Northern Procession starts at Driver Park on Genoa & Adeline
• Southern Procession starts at McGregor Park: 52nd & MLK across from the Children's Hospital.
• Both processions end at Dover Park: Dover Street at 57th

++++++Bonus++++++

Dia De Los Muertos at Linden Street Brewery!

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And then of course this Friday is Art Murmur. Obviously first you're going to want to check out these cool galleries -ONE- -TWO- and of course Oaklandish, but after things start to wind down, what's there to do?

Usually I head to an awesome Oakland bar, but as Murmur has grown exponentially, so too has the time it takes to get a bartenders attention! So I would recommend this..... Walk over to Base6* Gallery at 696 26th St. (West Oakland) and pay ten bucks to hang out with super cool art peeps and keep the party going till.....wait for it...... 4am! That should assure that you get your dancing shoes nice and dirty, which after all is the sign of a good night out. 

Hope to see you there ;)!

The Parkway!

I have been really slow on the blog front and my hopefully valid excuse is that I have been studying for the GRE and doing grad school apps and all that fun stuff. That means it is even more essential to follow me on twitter, so you get updates when something really great comes up that I don't see listed enough other places. Such as the opening block party that is being thrown by the Parkway on Wednesday!

If you are new to Oakland or if you've been living under a rock - The Parkway was an amazing Oakland institution; a theater that showed super cheap movies which you could watch while sitting in couches and eating pizza and drinking beer. It shut down a couple years ago and there was lots of drama, and bla bla bla - the bottom line though is they are reopening on 24th between Broadway and Telegraph and that is awesome news for Oakland peeps.

HERE is the info on Wed. Officially they open on Nov 30th. Word.

Oakland Underground Film Festival

A couple years ago I tried to track down the featured screening of the Oakland Underground Film Festival. It was supposed to be in an abandoned building on the Alameda Army base. Turns out it was too underground for me apparently because after going to where I was directed and walking around for almost half an hour - I still couldn't find it!

This year thankfully their venues are a bit more obvious, but the films they are screening continue the tradition of being super cool and undergroundy. 

See HERE for more details. And if you see a guy wandering the streets close by, pull em in! It's probably me, lost again ;)!

Help Numi Celebrate Their New Foundation (It'll be fun....)

Numi is having a FREE Foundation launch party in Oakland on 10/5 in conjunction with Numi Tea's 13th anniversary and it should be sweeeeet- music, drinks, photo booth, costumers, silent auction, and great company. All you gotta do is RSVP. Hopefully they will have some Coconut Pu-erh on hand... so so good!

Fund This Project: Farley's Parklet

An example, click on the picture for more!

There is a really great new site called Things We Start, which in the realm of crowd-funding, helps you spend your limited mula supporting local projects. I took a look at some of the Oakland possibilities today, and there was one that stood out - Farley's Parklet. At the time of writing they are about 2/3rds of the way toward their goal of $5000. Help push them over the edge!

Check It - Oaklandish Regatta at Lake Merritt

Oaklandish never fails to provide tight events in our beautiful Oakland. This weekend is no exception. Check out the Regatta, where you can boat around the lake, drink super cheap sangria and beer, and picnic with your friends - all while blasting some locally streamed tunes from the lakeside DJ stand. More info HERE.