Your Courageous Life

Alameda, CA

I have a bit of an obsession with Alameda. I’ve pretty much been ecstatic about living here since I moved into my first apartment, a terrifically big studio apartment with utilities included and the old-style radiator heat that got things all nice and steamy warm. Born and raised in the Midwest, there are certain things that this gal just never has gotten used to in the San Francisco Bay Area, and one of them is having trouble finding parking on a street where I live. Alameda is the only place I’ve ever lived where parking is free and abundant, even on street sweeping days. There’s really not any crime, yet it’s not suburban.

Ole’s Waffle Shop. (Andy is in the lower left corner, holding a latte).

It’s got this “little old town” feel to it, with a box mart shopping center conveniently tucked away on the edge of things for those times when there’s no getting around it–you need a Safeway, or a Kohl’s, or whatever. It only takes five minutes to get anywhere. Rents are lower than anywhere else in the Bay Area and it’s only 20 minutes to get into San Francisco (and there are multiple options–car, transbay bus, parking at BART and taking public transit in, or the ferry). I do my running along the beachfront, where, on a clear day, the Bay Bridge and the City of San Francisco unfold themselves from the midst, a faraway hustle and bustle.

Outside the Bonniere Bakery, Alameda, CA.

On Sunday mornings, things are so quiet that one can hear their own footsteps. It is my favorite time to talk a walk.

But beyond anything else, I love how friendly everyone is. I love how my Peeps at Peet’s (as I call them) know my name and drink. I love how there is a Starbucks across the street from Peet’s (gee, guess which one was there first, and which one moved in just to be a corporate a**hole?) and how, when patrons from either place are crossing the street and happening in the opposite direction of the other, we arch eyebrows at one another’s cups but still smile and keep moving along. On this little island it is not uncommon to run into friends, start talking, and then realize you’ve finished half of your latte. There are good restaurants, a promenade of Queen Anne victorians (head down Grand Street to see them, and make a right onto Clinton Ave to see more), and–dare I say it? dare I “throw down” in such an aggressive way?–the BEST freaking library, ever. (P.S. It warms my heart that there is always a crowd of people waiting for the library to open each morning. As long as there is a crowd of people waiting to get into the library–a whole big two-story pile of books–the world cannot be in too bad of shape).

View from my front porch

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 6:00 am |