Looking for cool/bohemian/interesting Bay Area neighborhoods (San Jose, Oakland: theatre, live)

[allcity]

I'm a greater Bay native, and am writing a travel guide of sorts to the region. I came across this forum (I was also into urban studies for a while and love cities, so I'm glad I did) and thought I'd ask the same thing I've asked before on travel forums - I've got a list of neighborhoods and cities I like, and am going to be featuring them in the guide. Using these as a base, can anyone suggest any more in the greater Bay that I might be interested in checking out?

Telegraph, Berkeley
Piedmont Ave, Oakland
Point Richmond
Bolinas
Sebastopol
Japantown, San Jose
Santa Cruz
Inner Richmond, Inner Sunset, Mission, Chinatown, Haight; SF

I've got a few more but I'm blanking. My to do list includes Lakeshore, Oakland; 4th Street, Berkeley; Bodega Bay and a few other spots.

I'm focusing on arts districts, vibrant ethnic neighborhoods, that kind of thing - a little danger is ok, but not too much. Also looking for things to do in the metro area, but that's a whole other can of worms...

Any suggestion welcome - done a lot of research, but there seems to be some wisdom here. Thanks,

Rylan

[allcity]

Just found Jingletown in a thread in this forum - that's one I definitely have to check out.

[allcity]

Also, does anyone know West End Village in San Rafael?

[jade408]

Go to Uptown in Oakland, and see if you can catch the Art Deco tour. Or just go on a first Friday Art Murmur or weekly Saturday Stroll.

Also try Temescal. Solano Ave in Berkeley/Albany. Downtown Livermore is pretty interesting actually.

Fruitvale District and Chinatown in Oakland. "Koreatown" in Oakland is below Temescal.

If you start south in Telegraph in Oakland, and end in Berkeley, you'll go through "Koreatown" "Little Ethiopia," the mini Middle Eastern strip with mosques, middle eastern shops and butchers. The whole street has stuff going on.

[Nineties Flava]

Jingletown is definitely an area worth checking out. While the neighborhood itself doesn't have any main business corridor, it's right next to the Fruitvale & International corridor and the Park Street corridor in Alameda. It's also next to BART. The neighborhood has a very sizeable arts scene... one of the more interesting businesses in Jingletown is the Institute of Mosaic Art, which has a full gallery of mosaic art and they offer classes on how to do it. You can see a variety of their pieces throughout the neighborhood. Here's some of them:





Here's the website for Jingletown's arts community:

Jingletown Arts and Business Community | Art on the Edge of Oakland California

[Trappedincalifornia]

Oakland is edgy, not not Piedmont Ave, which is older and more established. Try just east of Lake Merritt Or West Oakland. Emeryville too.

[mayorhaggar]

Add Grand Lake and Rockridge in Oakland to your list, also Elmwood in Berkeley.

[allcity]

Thanks for the responses! Definitely into checking out these suggestions; I'm especially interesting by the DT Livermore suggestion; that ties in nicely with some other things I have to do in the Lower East Bay, and I'd never heard that before.

Been to and didn't like Rockridge; too posh. And East and West Oakland might be a little too 'edgy' for me, trapped. But thanks again y'all

[robicha]

I realize this thread is old and the guide is probably made, but if you're interested in updating it, a HUGE spot to hang in downtown San Jose is the South First Arts District, centered on South First Street between San Carlos and Reed Streets. There are a number of great galleries on the strip (Anno Domini, Institute of Contemporary Art, MACLA, Zero1 Garage, et. al.), two independent small theatre companies (The Stage, and City Lights), as well as a number of bars and cafes (Caffe Frascatti, Cafe Stritch) that have live music and open mics. Stritch specializes in stellar jazz shows, free on Sunday, covers for big hitters on Fri/Sat. There's also a climbing gym/art gallery and a number of nightclubs. San Jose has been doing "South First Fridays" since before the days of Art Murmur in Oakland, which seems to have effectively monopolized attendance over all other first friday events in the Bay. The Zero1 festival (a first friday) every summer closes off the whole street for art/DIY vendors, a concert stage, interactive art installations, video art wall projections (with acrobats!), local coffee roasters, and all kinds of costumed performance art going on, a general bohemian wonderland, and the street really starts to feel like Art Murmur used to. Few people outside the South Bay really know of this, since Oakland takes most of the hype these days.

[Ruth4Truth]

Too bad it's an old thread. Sounded like a fun project. I wonder how it turned out.