Thank You, New York Times, for Giving Oakland a Little Long Overdue Respect!

Update, Sunday, 1/15: The New York Times today reported on the Great Wall of Oakland, against which, on the first Friday of each month at Art Murmur, videos from around the world are projected. Photo by Sarah Rice for Bay Citizen

Hard to believe. This place where I live, a far cry from the wretched stereotyping it routinely gets (much of it from self-infatuated Bagdad Across the Bay), made Number 5 on The New York Times "The 45 Places to Go in 2012" -- No, not just the U.S. They are talking the world.

Only two other CA places made the list, one, San Diego, the other NOT that city over there where I was berthed, ha ha ha!

To live here is to watch on the morning news the reporting of murders and rapes and pedestrian accidents and assaults -- ALL OVER THE BAY AREA. Yesterday, for examples, two older ladies were beat up, one fighting for her life, in the lovely Sunset District of S.F. Crime in S.F.? Sorry to burst your Bagdad bubble, yes, Dorothy.

Here is what rolled off the Times seven days ago:


"New restaurants and bars beckon amid the grit.
Tensions have cooled since violence erupted at the recent Occupy Oakland protests, but the city’s revitalized night-life scene has continued to smolder.

The historic Fox Theater reopened in 2009 and quickly cemented its status as one of the Bay Area’s top music venues, drawing acts like Wilco and the Decemberists. Meanwhile, the city’s ever more sophisticated restaurants are now being joined by upscale cocktail bars, turning once-gritty Oakland into an increasingly appealing place to be after dark. James Syhabout, the chef who earned Oakland its first (and only) Michelin star two years ago at Commis, followed up in May with the instant-hit Hawker Fare, a casual spot serving Asian street food. Big-name San Francisco chefs are now joining him. Daniel Patterson (of two-Michelin-star Coi) opened the restaurant Plum in late 2010 and an adjacent cocktail bar later, and another restaurant, called Haven, in the recently renovated Jack London Square last month. INGRID K. WILLIAMS"

But, why didn't they mention me? Or my lovely 1-bedroom rental two blocks from one of the best neighborhoods you could find anywhere on the planet, Pidemont Avenue?

So take that, Frisco! And may your little cable cars climb all the way over the stars.

My pic parade continues ...






The Showbiz David world headquarters in Oakland, the town itself termed "so rad and real" by one local artist quoted in the Times Sunday piece.

1.13.12