Oakland's character grew richer as the city did. The young Jack London prowled its waterfront before he ever wrote a word, and the wharves where he loafed are now Jack London Square. In the 1920s and '30s the city raised two of the finest movie palaces in the West — the Fox Oakland of 1928 and the great Art Deco Paramount of 1931, all gilt and neon. And in 1950, on the shore of Lake Merritt, Oakland opened Children's Fairyland, a storybook park that has enchanted generations of Bay Area kids. The Town had become a place of theaters, parks, and waterfront stories.
Today Oakland is the anchor of the East Bay — a city of hills and harbor looking across the water at San Francisco. Its port pioneered container shipping in 1962 and remains one of the busiest in the country, and its neighborhoods carry the city's real life: Rockridge and Temescal with their storefronts and cafes, the Fruitvale district and Chinatown with some of the best food in California, Montclair up in the wooded hills. It is a city of neighborhoods, food, murals, and art, proudly diverse and proud of its table. Through every chapter, Oakland has been a crossroads — the western end of the line, where the continent meets the bay.
Why People Visit Oakland
Visitors come to Oakland for a Bay Area city with its own strong character: a wild lake at its center, redwood groves in the hills, a historic waterfront, and one of the most celebrated food scenes in California. The museums and Jack London Square sit minutes from the lake, and San Francisco is a quick trip across the bay. Equal parts oak-grove heritage and creative energy, Oakland rewards anyone drawn to the heart of the East Bay.
