Next to Chinatown is Old Oakland, with old-world markets and a farmer’s market Fridays from 8am-2pm. Among the Victorians on tree-lined streets, Ratto and Company International Market and Cafe, a fourth generation Oakland institution, is an excellent place to pick up a picnic or other gourmet food items. Further south, on 9th near the corner of Broadway, is the Pro Arts Gallery. Now through June 17th you can check out the East Bay Open Studios 2001 exhibition, set up specially for the open studios tour. The idea here is that you visit the gallery, view an exemplary work of each of the artists, noting your preferences, and get studio locations to set up your custom tour of the

studios when they open June 9th-10th and 16th-17th. You can check out the Pro Arts Open Studios on-line Gallery at www.proartsgallery.org. Throughout the rest of the year, the gallery is open Wednesday 

through Sunday from 11-5. Further east, near the convention center, is the Pacific Coast Brewing Company at 906 Washington. If you like beer, you’ll want to taste the brewery’s hardy wares. Pacific Coast Brewing restored its own 1876-era brick building, complete with an outdoor beer garden shaded by trellised hops. Ask about the beer tasters club or the Fourth of July Barbecue. Also, on Clay between 10th and 11th is Le Cheval, a very popular, Vietnamese restaurant with great, fresh food, notably the imperial rolls.

3. Biking the Embarcadero to Fruitvale and Ford Street

The Embarcadero provides the on-street bike route along the estuary between Jack London Square and Park Street. It winds you past maritime businesses, artist’s studios, and local waterfront restaurants that are off the beaten path. While Jack London Square and Embarcadero Cove are fun to visit for their waterfront spirit and historic merit, it is the points between that are the essence of the estuary. Jack London Square and Embarcadero Cove each saw some of the East Bay’s earliest maritime activity, with Jack London Square built on top of the pilings of Oakland’s first wharf of 1852; and Embarcadero Cove built near pioneer-gold-rush settlement-turned-lumbertown of Brooklyn, with its old Embarcadero de San Antonio of similar vintage. And here, Quinn’s Lighthouse is the actual lighthouse that, in 1903, sat at the entrance to the estuary. But destinations aside, the Embarcadero cruise is as much a parade of all that is authentic about the estuary, with its rusty, but not forgotten boatyards and factories turned housing for the cradle of the nation’s largest per capita artist population. Around the Embarcadero are unique places like Fruitvale, or the Fifth Avenue Marina where artist and tattoo studios make the estuary waterfront cultural scene so vivid.

The Pro Arts East Bay Open Studios is one very convenient way to learn about the art that comes out of this area. You can pick your own itinerary at the Pro Arts Gallery downtown, and you can check out the Pro Arts 2001 East Bay Open Studios on-line Gallery at www.proartsgallery.org. Or, cruise

the Embarcadero stopping at your choice of open studios and waterfront watering holes along the way. Aside from the open studios tour, most of the people that visit the artists’ studios are familiar with the work, seriously interested in learning about it, or know they want to buy. If you have an interest, you can contact the artist and usually set up an appointment.

CONTINUE

Tucker’s Ice Cream-1349 Park Street-(510)522-4960

St. George Spirits- Main Street-(510)769-1601

Luciano’s- 2319 Santa Clara-(510)523-3300

Aroma’s- 2337 Blanding-(510)337-0333

Chevy’s- Mariners Square-(510)521-3768

Lake Merritt

Oakland Museum of California-10th and Oak Streets- (510)238-3842

Alice Arts Center-1428 Alice Street-(510)238-7219

Cameron Stanford Home-1418 Lakeside Drive-(510)763-9218)

Madison’s at the Lake Merritt Hotel-1800 Madison Street-(510)832-2300

Children’s Fairyland-corner of Grand and Bellevue-(510)238-6876

Lake Merritt Wildlife and Rotary Nature Center-on Bellevue-(510)238-3739

Lakeside Park Garden Center-on Bellevue-(510)238-3208

Gondola Servizio and Lake Merritt Boating Center-on Bellevue- (510)663-6033

Arizmendi-3265 Lakeshore-(510)268-8849