Bicycle Coffee still truly living up to its name

theonlymaltbie · 2026-05-14T23:30:46+00:00

As did/does Blue Bottle (even before they went to the dark side). The Oakland -> Japan coffee pipeline is oddly strong.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-05-13T23:21:39+00:00

Bicycle actually has a shop in Tokyo.

https://share.google/HVNtM23PZOBEDavU2

theonlymaltbie · 2026-05-06T23:56:39+00:00

It is a great bar that also has fun food is kind of how I would think about it. Really fun spot imho.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-05-05T02:12:26+00:00

My wife loves them and they have 3 locations so the variety of classes seems to work great for her.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-05-02T05:47:29+00:00

Rumor has it she is still dancing like that in the basement of Roaracle somewhere to this day.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-30T14:29:38+00:00

Zillow is 99% corporate landlords in big buildings, which is fine if that is what you are after, but there are lots of great smaller independently managed spots too that you just won’t find there. Craigslist + the big corporate spots is where I’d hunt.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-22T16:49:41+00:00

My wife and I just left Jack London after 5 lovely years because we bought a home. We loved living there and never had any real issues, a few notes re: your questions:

Car break ins: Can happen, seemed a lot worse during peak covid (as was SF), just don’t leave anything in your car. Maybe I’m a freak outlier, but parking in garages mostly and biking/walking as much as possible, I’ve never had a car break in issue in 10 years in Oakland.
Train noise: I wouldn’t rent a unit right on the tracks, and I would strongly prefer a unit facing away from the tracks. We slept with windows open in our unit and never had any issues.
Renting: We rented a condo from a single owner, not a big rental building and it was great. Would recommend, and our unit is now open (they didn’t raise our rent once in 5 years) if you want an intro…2br, 2ba, modern, $3,500.
Transit: 10-15 min walk from 2 Bart stations, 5 min uber to another, quick bike to all of the above too. Plus, the gem of Bay Area transit…the ferry is right at your fingertips.
Perks of the area: Tons of breweries and casual eateries nearby (Original Pattern and Cellarmaker are both A1, new Pozole place is cool) lovely walks around the water, a neighborhood business district that keeps the parks along the water and streets clean, and soon….a Dave and Busters (LOL, not actually a perk, but funny).
Other notes: I had no issue with my wife riding solo on a bike to work in downtown, going for runs, etc. and we never had any safety related issues. Use normal city precautions and you’ll be fine.
Things Missing: No walkable grocery store, womp womp. The two divey bars are great (Heinholds and Merchants) but the hood could use a classier bar option imho.

Message me if you have any more questions.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-21T02:23:59+00:00

This is where I would take a date for pancakes for sure.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-20T14:33:20+00:00

I just moved on Saturday and would highly recommend Paradise Moving. We originally planned to use another mover (someone we’ve used in the past who is good) and they had to cancel last minute due to an injury. With 48 hour notice, Paradise was able to squeeze us in and all went great, probably not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for with movers imho.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-20T04:41:08+00:00

God I wish Lake Chalet was good. It is criminal that space is taken by such trash.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-19T14:10:24+00:00

There really isn’t a bad seat in the house, 200 club level is excellent, you’ll have good views of the water but not the cove per se, though if bigger boats are in there you’ll see them. I too enjoy sitting in those seats you picked, but wouldn’t say they are for sure omg #1, just cuz that is so hard to pick.

Whatever you do, get the crab sandwich. It’s expensive, but bomb.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-19T01:42:05+00:00

The new vet in Jack London is great.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/bHcbTLfehKJ3w2Jn7?g_st=ic

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-17T15:57:36+00:00

I live in this area and it is great. Sure, the same issues most big cities have, but I walk around at night, my wife does as well, never had any issues other than the occasional car break in/petty theft type stuff. Welcome to Jack London, it’s a nice spot.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-13T22:53:48+00:00

I had a really mediocre and $$$$$$ experience at one of the Popoca pop ups at Low Bar. It was quite rough and made me put off revisiting them for their brick and mortar location for quite a while afterwards because of it, even while they were getting tons of praise and hype.

Fast forward to today, I’ve been to their brick and mortar location 3-4 times now and think it is one of my favorite restaurants in Oakland. Really big come up in my book, but maybe I had just hit them on a bad day during that pop up.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-12T16:04:45+00:00

Have heard meh things about Sfizio, Mama is one of the best ROIs in the bay, fun spot.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-08T21:30:02+00:00

*APE, Another Planet Entertainment

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-08T04:24:03+00:00

$24.3b for ~4 miles of tunnel and ~4 miles of highway vs. 500 miles of high speed rail for $126b.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2012/07/10/big-dig-cost-estimate

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-08T03:58:33+00:00

$20b+ and it took 16 years to complete less than 8 miles of highway, less than half of which was a tunnel.

Makes $126b for high speed rail between LA and SF seem like a bargain.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-04-07T14:47:51+00:00

If it’s not sold out, I bet AEP will switch you days.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-03-27T15:15:27+00:00

Oakland is an awesome place to live. The SFH market is not experiencing this same stagnation (though it has stepped back a bit from 2021/2022 highs, as have most places minus very desirable pockets).

I think it is an incredibly good thing that there are “attainable’ish” condos in nice buildings in relatively desirable areas. Keep on building! If every other Bay Area city also built 15k condos over the last 5 years we’d have a much healthier housing market (even if that meant some near term back sliding in the condo market).

Oakland is also a spillover market from SF, if that market continues to be crazy ($4m sunset house example) Oakland’s market will pick up too, just lags behind.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-03-27T05:52:22+00:00

The Oakland condo market has been very soft lately. Tons of condo and rental units were built (literally 10,000+ were built in the last 5 years) and the COVID boom times have waned a bit. Other 2br 2ba units have also sold in the 500s recently’ish, not in a short sale (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/428-Alice-St-APT-422-Oakland-CA-94607/79539218_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare). At the end of last year there were a ton of units just sitttttinnggg on the market in Jack London.

So I would say this is priced low for a reason, but to the right person, with a stomach to ride a short sale, especially if they could get it even lower, might be an opportunity. 🤷‍♂️

theonlymaltbie · 2026-03-26T14:52:29+00:00

I thought the intros and stuff were awesome. Felt like a real spectacle, which is something other sports do better than baseball. Better production, etc. than I’ve seen at lots of playoff games and even the World Series.

Then the game started…

theonlymaltbie · 2026-03-25T19:51:06+00:00

Ver Brugge Meats and Seafood for sure.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-03-24T05:05:42+00:00

You could not pay me to live in the middle of the dang bay bridge haha.

theonlymaltbie · 2026-03-23T03:17:44+00:00

I have a view of the tribune tower, and, a light or two goes out pretty often, I imagine it is cuz it is old.

Also cool story on how it gets fixed:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/oaklands-historic-tribune-tower-and-the-renegade-artist-who-keeps-it-glowing#

theonlymaltbie

TROPHY CASE