Living in Oakland, seeing our town as a tourist destination isn’t always easy. The disturbing reports of crime and government dysfunction have many residents on edge.
A case can be made for visiting Oakland, though, which is what the city’s marketing arm did last week with its IMPACT 510 event. The statistics released by Visit Oakland show the total tourism economic impact for 2023 was $817 million.While the spending wasn’t broken down by venue, folks here know our assets: the Oakland Zoo, Chabot Space & Science Center, the Oakland Museum, Children’s Fairyland, Jack London Square and its waterfront attractions; Lakes Merritt, Temescal and part of Lake Chabot; and our many regional parks — to name a few.
That the newly renamed San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport is well run and has seen impressive growth also helps. In January 2024, alone, stats showed 839,381 passengers went through the gates.
Tourism is essential to Oakland, and the Visit Oakland staff is working hard to promote the many selling points of our multicultural town, including its 19 miles of coastline, rolling hills, great art and exceptional restaurants.
Festival recap: Speaking of Oakland attractions, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension in the Oakland hills is known as one of the world’s most exquisite examples of a modern Byzantine Church. The church held its 52nd annual Oakland Greek Festival over this past weekend, and tasty reviews are coming in for three-day event.
The 2,000 pounds of lamb were seasoned and cooked to perfection, and the sweet custard-filled bougatsa pastries were a nice addition to the desert menu. The fan favorite was once again the gyro, the pita bread stuffed with spicy grilled beef or lamb and tomatoes, onions and home-made tzatziki (yogurt sauce). Some 1,500 volunteers serve an estimated 6,000 gyros during the festival, which typically gets about 20,000 visitors.
Around town: The owners of Café 15 (cafefifteen.com) are still struggling to open in the former Noah’s Bagels location at 2060 Antioch Court in the Oakland hills’ Montclair Village business district.
The family-owned catering company has run up against ventilation problems and other issues in remodeling the space that’s been vacant since the pandemic. In the meantime, they continue to operate their Café 15 kitchen with catering contracts and home delivery of meals cooked by chef Nina Corona.
Outdoor entertainment: The sounds of summer will come Saturday from the Lake Merritt bandshell with the first in a series of concerts and community picnics. SambaFunk! with King Theo, Jazz Mafia and the Oakland School for the Arts Jazz Combo will play in Lakeside Park from 1 to 4 p.m. It’s part of the Love Our Lake program featuring free concerts and events that can be seen on visitoakland.com/loveourlake.
Also, a free, open-air circus is coming to two Oakland parks next month. Circus Bella will host its hilarious, high-flying one-ring Circus in the Parks event at 5:30 p.m. June 5 in DeFremery Park and at 6 p.m. July 11 in Lincoln Square Park.
The San Francisco-based performing arts nonprofit Circus Bella has been reviving the tradition of the homegrown circus for 17 years. Find out more online at circusbella.org.
Ginny Prior can be followed on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com. Email her at ginnyprior@hotmail.com.
