Dining & Diversions:
Downtown and Beyond
•Pizzaiolo is opening a second location downtown at 1912-14 Telegraph modeled after its hugely successful Temescal business.
•Donna Savitsky, owner of Flora, plans to open Xolo Café at 1916 Telegraph, which will be modeled after her popular taqueria Tacubayu on 4th Street in Berkeley.
•Lonnie Lee is moving her highly successful fine arts and jewelry gallery Vessel to 1744 Telegraph where she found the perfect retail condo in Andrew Brogs recently renovated four-story building, the Marquee Lofts.
•The Bench and Bar has outgrown its 6,000 sq. foot Uptown location on Franklin and is moving to a 10,000 sq. foot spot at 510 17th Street, allowing it to become one of the Bay Area's largest gay nightclubs. Due to strong demand, owner Charles Bisbee plans to open another gay nightclub at his 2111 Franklin location near Grand and Broadway.
•Town Hall of Oakland, a nightclub with live entertainment that will feature internationally known bands, is opening in an 8,000+ sq. foot space in the building formerly known as Sweet Jimmy's at 579 18th Street.
•Successful Bay Area chef Sarah Kirnon of San Francisco's critically acclaimed Front Porch will help open Hibiscus, which will offer Caribbean influenced food of her native Barbados at 1745 San Pablo Avenue.
•Jim Callahan recently purchased the old Cal Arts Building and is moving his business Piedmont Piano Company to the new and much larger location at 1728 San Pablo.
ore than 10,000 revelers poured into downtown Oakland on June 18 as the City and its two newest Community Benefit Districts launched the long-awaited Uptown Arts & Entertainment District. Every one of the district’s 50 restaurants, cafes, clubs and bars and its scores of galleries were packed to the rafters, reporting record foot traffic and sales generated by the largest evening event in downtown Oakland in more than four decades. The eclectic street fair capped a successful $120 million effort on the part of the Oakland Redevelopment Agency that leveraged a half billion dollars in private investment to revive the City’s once bustling retail center.
People of all ages and backgrounds from throughout Oakland and the Bay Area enjoyed 25 bands on four stages; free tours of the newly restored Fox Oakland Theater (built in 1928 and re-opened this February after being dormant for more than 35 years) and venerable Paramount Theater (built in 1931 and meticulously maintained); film screenings; poetry slam; skateboarding contest; art displays; mural painting; and the launch of “Luminous Oakland,” the City’s inventive public art program to illuminate the Uptown through projected art installations that play off the district’s landmark architecture and marquees of its two famous theaters.
The street fair showcased all of what makes Uptown one of the Bay Area’s hottest new destinations, including Forest City’s beautiful new 665-unit apartment complex; Oakland Ice Center now operated by the San Jose Sharks; Oakland School for the Arts; 25 new clubs and restaurants and the adjacent 20-gallery Art Murmur hot spot that draws upwards of 5,000 art lovers the first Friday of every month. Uptown is arguably the region’s hottest dining scene with several restaurants garnering regional and national acclaim, including Flora, Pican, Ozumo, Luka’s and Franklin Square Wine Bar.
H.C. Capwell, who got his start selling lace on the streets of downtown in the 1920’s and pioneered the Uptown District as Oakland’s new retail and entertainment center in the 1930’s, is probably smiling today knowing that despite a few ups and downs over the years, he had the right idea for Uptown all along!
