Oakland

Places

Some places that I’ve been to.

• The Crucible (map)

  How would you describe this place? A place to learn industrial art? They’ve got classes like welding, woodworking, and blacksmithing, but also things like firebreathing.

  I’ve taken a fire eating/fire breathing class here and also a TIG welding class. Learning to do fire breathing was super fun, and I should make a page on that. Learning to do TIG welding was tough, and I suck at it and I definitely should have taken MIG welding instead.

  Fun place, but I’ll say you probably don’t want to park your car around here. One of the guys doing the TIG welding class had his car battery stolen out of his truck during class.

• The Kon-Tiki (map)

  A tiki bar. They’ve got shared fish bowl drinks, a couple of which are literally on fire.

• Original Pattern Brewing Company (map)

  A brewery. They have decent beer and food.

• Drake’s Dealership (map)

  Another brewery with pretty good beer.

• Seoul Gom Tang (map)

  Has Korean soups.

• Jaguar Karaoke (map)

  Pretty casual karaoke place. Had decent rates and seems to let you bring your own food and drinks in.

• Fenton’s Creamery (map)

  Pretty well known (and good) ice cream place.

• Koreana (map)

  Korean supermarket.
• Cafe Van Kleef (1621 Telegraph, https://cafevankleef.com/)

  Fun dive bar vibe. Greyhounds are $10.

• Kona Club (4401 Piedmont)

  Casual tiki bar with affordable cocktails (~$12 in 2026). They have a pool table. TV playing campy stuff.

• Modigliani Cafe (3208/3210 Grand Ave) has really good sandwiches

  We checked in out in May 2026 because it’s cash only (which means it has to be good, otherwise they wouldn’t survive). The guy there asked if it was our first time and when we said yes, he said we were about to be pretty happy. I forgot if I got a cuban or pastrami, but it was really good. Sandwiches were $15, and they came with chips and chocolate. Also coffee is self-serve and complimentary. They also have really cool artwork on the wall. Really recommend it.

  Also, they have an ATM there if you don’t carry cash (which you absolutely should). Their cash-only sign was like “We don’t keep the cash here overnight, so don’t waste your time!”. After walking past that, we thought “Huh.” then walked back and tried it out.

Miscellaneous notes

• There’s a lot of Ethiopian food on Telegraph. I need to write down some names of some places.