First I noticed the old, attractive building, then I noticed the business name starting with X .  And then I thought of ABC Wednesday .  ...

The season's bounty is evident at the local farmer's markets.  We're lucky enought to have several every week in Oakland.  It ...

  This one is from the archives.  It's found in East Oakland and is, I think, a product of the Community Rejuvenation Project.  It...

During last Fall's Black Cowboy Parade music came on and everyone jumped up to dance the Wobble.  This was new to me but not to dozens...

Drat!  Missed the performance of this group during last Sunday's Love our Lake Day.  Bad timing on my part.  Love their charro outfits...

This mural decorates the side of a barber shop on San Pablo Avenue in the Golden Gate district.  A cyclone fence made it hard to get a goo...

No, your eyes are not deceiving you.  There is indeed a gondola for hire on the lake.  In fact, there are now two of them.  Business mus...

Here's another activity seen at Love our Lake Day.  I never learned what this activity is called.  Participants, usually young men, si...

The first entertainment we ran into at the Love our Lake Day was this Afro-Puerto Rican dance troupe at the lake's pergola.  The dance...

Sunday was Love Our Lake Day celebrating the (almost) completion of the renovation of the Lake Merritt area thanks to citizens' suppor...

This striking mural was painted on an African Caribbean food market in the downtown area.  The lettering spells the names of the artists: ...

Spotted just off San Pablo Avenue in the Golden Gate district.

Meet Lenny San Jose who serenaded the crowds that showed up for the reopening of the Oakland Museum's Natural History gallery.  Sorry,...

On Friday the Oakland Museum reopened their newly designed natural history gallery.   As part of the celebration there were human butterfl...

Behind the California Hotel in West Oakland are portraits on a fence.  The fence itself protects a pop up community garden.  Mother Wright...

All along the estuary you'll find remnants of docks and piers that have fallen into disuse.  Time and weather take their toll.  For mo...

Spotted at a recent American Steel Studios open house.

With the fair weather comes the impulse, desire, need to plant a vegetable garden.   High on everyone's list is tomatoes because home ...

A farmer's market opens every Sunday in the local DMV parking lot.  Much to my surprise, a creek flows through much of this property b...

This vegan restaurant on the Oakland-Emeryville border has this unusual mural as part of their advertising.  It always makes me think of I...

The white building with the smoke stack was originally the Great Western Power Company , a steam generation plant in the 20s.  The operati...

You may or may not know that Oakland was the terminus for the transcontinental railroad after the gold spike was driven.  The Southern Pac...

Remember the octopus mural on the apartment building?  This one is around the corner.  Lots to look at here.  Sadly, I couldn't fi...

Recently Oakland created a temporary sculpture display in the Uptown area.  This giant flower is by Karen Cusolito who runs the American S...

The American Steel studios held an open house this past Saturday.  This little boy found a piece he could sit in and move some of th...

This clever creature is one of two that greet you as you enter the American Steel studios.  I am always amazed at the creative impulse tha...

This is part of a mural sequence at the entrance to the American Steel artist collective in West Oakland.  They held an open house yester...

We seem to have lots of old vintage signs in Oakland.  This one is for a flower shop that has been in business in this location for more ...

People's Grocery located in West Oakland is dedicated to bringing wholesome food to the local community where grocery stores are typic...

Oakland has a multitude of Victorian houses that survived the 1906 earthquake.  This lovely Queen Ann with fish scale shingles is on Ivy H...

The tools of a wood sculptor who was presenting a demonstration at the Oakland Museum.  Visit City Daily Photo's monthly theme day li...

Sometime in the last couple of years or so, these colorful crosswalks have appeared in the Fruitvale district.  You can't mistake wher...

This mural was commissioned by several businesses and is a collaboration between six street artists.  I'm not sure I get the connectio...

This line of palm trees on Ivy Hill is all that remains of Arbor Villa, a mansion built in the 1890s by Francis Marion “Borax” Smith.   Sm...

This building, with its ornate pediments, graces 15th Street in downtown Oakland.  Interestingly, I have not been able to discover what OT...

This vintage sign is on 14th Street.  Amazingly, Ideal is still in business at its original site.  The iron gate signifies "closed on...

Found off Mandela Parkway at about 26th Street, this new mural is a collaboration between Ernest Doty, Skinner, and Griffin One.  Doty...

After a brief interlude of rain, we're back to sunny days with an occasional fluffy cloud.  We need the rain, so our fair weather is a...

Spotted at an artists' enclave in West Oakland.  Made me laugh. Out of town again for several days.

I have no idea what this is about but I admire the graphic design.  It appears to be a collaboration between two artists but I found no si...

Community gardens are found in many neighborhoods in Oakland.  This one is on the Oakland-Emeryville (think Pixar) border and features scu...

The annual Qingming Festival was observed at Mt. View Cemetery this week.  In Chinese culture it is the day of remembrance of the ancestor...

Many of our schools have murals, typically painted by students.  This one adorns a wall of McClymonds High School in West Oakland. If yo...

We've had a dry winter but it hasn't stopped the wild flowers from blooming.  Golden poppies are the state flower and can be found...

California redwood trees ( Sequoia sempervirens) are some of the longest lived plants on the planet.  This tree fell in a local storm in t...

This mural is found at Foothill and 26th Avenue.  It was done by José Velásquez in 2001 and was sponsored by several community organizatio...

Today is also Theme Day in the CDP community.  Thought another shot from last week's running festival would fit the bill.  After al...

All along the Running Festival marathon route citizens were out to cheer on the runners.  As the course turned on to International Blvd...