Idea #34: give a tour.

I am plotting my course for a weekend getaway to Oaktown in November and realizing just how short 72 hours really is. Maybe I shouldn't sleep? At any rate, if you long-distance readers (do I even have any long-distance readers?) ever find yourself with just 72 hours in Oaktown, here is what I would recommend, some of which is coincidentally probably what I will be doing.

FOOD

• Spettro. Spettro Spettro Spettro. People. I cannot emphasize this enough. Casual friendly atmosphere, reasonable prices, no corkage fee, free wine while you wait for a table, a lovely walk around the "lake" beckoning after your indulgent meal... Their "booberry" salad is to die for, the potato rosemary rolls have never done me wrong and all the vegetarian options are wonderful. I have been there at least 20 times but have never tried the peanut butter pizza. I think this upcoming trip warrants an experiment (sans bacon, of course)... and definitely a t-shirt.
• Asmara. The veggie combo and injera have filled me up, quite happily, on many an occasion, and for just a few bucks.
• Trattoria la Siciliana. OK, technically this is Berkeley but it's close enough to Oaktown. Really solid, fairly inexpensive Italian food best eaten sitting around a table with ten friends, family style, drinking the house wine. This is where I first tried squid ink and didn't die. This is where I went for my pre-pre-marathon carb load. Cash only and there's always a line - so it helps if you bring your friends who know the owner. ;)
• Barney's. Give me a popeye or sunshine tofu burger and half an order of curly fries and I am a happy, happy girl.
• Cato's. Excellent beer selection, decent pub food (mmmmmm, catatoes...), live music within walking distance of my old abode. I never checked out the music but it was always comforting to know it was there if I wanted it. And there's a new gelato place up the street for a good post-drinking sugar fix.
  

Gasp and swoon, there's no pizza on this list!! Yeah, yeah - go to Zachary's or Little Star or Lanesplitter or Zante. You won't be sorry. But if you want to try some new eats, check out one of the ones above.

ENTERTAINMENT

• The Parkway. My first, and forever my favorite, picture pub pizza joint. Best memory was the Buffy "Once More with Feeling" singalong. Second best memory was Snakes on a Plane. (Thanks for both of those, Connie!) So many other favorite memories... I also got exposed to a wonderful band called Rosin Coven at the Parkway on the same night I got a black construction paper heart which I still have to this day. Hell, even Moulin Rouge was tolerable with beer, couches and pizza. My only regret is not seeing the Rocky Horror Picture Show... hmm, I smell a November plan.
  
• Redwood Regional Park. Wonderful hikes, breathtaking views, and a mere 10 minute drive from my old abode. Now how much would you pay... (Did I mention free admission?)
• The Rose Garden. I was supposed to scatter Riley's ashes here but never did. It's a beautiful rose garden chock full of as many varieties as you could ever imagine that changes drastically by the season. All this was just a 5 minute walk from my old abode. Yeah, I'll be visiting that again.
  
• The Piedmont. Best local indie movie theater in Oakland. I can't even begin to imagine how many hours I spent here.
  
• The Fillmore. OK, technically not Oakland but you're soooooo close to the legendary palace of fine live music. Check it out, already! Worth the price of admission no matter who is playing, and you get an apple afterward.
  

SHOPPING/RELAXATION

• Greetings. Best quirky gift shop. I have probably spent hundreds of dollars here in my ten years in Oakland, and I truly believe I could totally sell my cards to this place, if I were to ever sell my cards.
• Nathan + Co. Also on Piedmont Ave, near the excellent carribean restaurant that didn't make the cut but should have. Second best quirky gift shop. I could totally sell those forest plates I gave someone as a gift to this place, if I were to ever make forest plates. Which I probably won't ever make. So thank goodness for Nathan + Co.
• Piedmont Springs. Best massages ever, even my selective friend thinks so. I've also been waxed here and it was painless and redeeming. I cannot vouch for the hot springs but I hear they are damn fine as well.
• Piedmont Grocery. My favorite non-chain local grocery store. It might not compare to Berkeley Bowl in terms of scale and quantity of product, but the produce is good, the wine guy knows his stuff and the olive bar is amazing.
  
• Amoeba Music. Again, technically not Oakland but you're so damn close. Just go. And then explore the Telegraph street fair. Freaks, geeks and artists will all find something, guaranteed.
  

So there you have it. See, Oakland is really not the scary, Raider loving, gangster prevailing, pepper-spray-requiring town you might have heard about. (Well, parts of it are but this is true of any major metropolitan city. I mean, hello, have you seen The Wire? NO? OMG what is WRONG with you??)

Oakland is a great place to live, and to work, and I miss it quite a bit. I'm curious, what would you locals add as a "must see"?