Visiting in Castro Valley/San Francisco (Oakland, El Granada: high school, to live in, restaurants)

[Honey Pie]

I will be going out to Calif the end of May to see my family and attend a convention in San Francisco. I will be staying in Castro Valley and wondered if anyone knows anything about Castro Valley and the cheapest places to shop and what good restraurants are there? I am a real bargain shopper and thrift stores are great. I used to live in El Granada many years ago. Any suggestions on thrift stores in San Francisco, places that are not to difficult to find.
Also I am planning on flying in to the Oakland Airport. My sister will pick me up...or.. how far away is the Bart station from the airport? I could take Bart to Castro Valley. Is it safe to walk there during the afternoon?
I'd appreciate any information you could give me......Honey Pie

[lennywenny]

I live in Castro Valley, so I can tell you some basic things. There aren't really a ton of places to shop in Castro Valley, we have no malls, department stores, and a small amount of chain stores. We have a small shopping center called The Village on the boulevard- which is where most everything in town is. We do, however, have a TON of fast food! We have just about every pizza joint (pizza hut, etc), burger place (McDonalds, Burger King), and a ton of other things, most of which are all on the boulevard. We don't have a ton of little private restaurants, but we do have like Baker's Square, Rigatoni's, and places like that. However, one of my favorite places to eat is Chipotle. They have DELICIOUS mexican food. Castro Valley is definately safe to walk around in during the afternoon. It's a fairly safe place- we're rarely on the news, and not a ton happens here, and most of it is at the high school (as strange as that sounds).