For years, going on decades, Old Oakland has been like a movie set of a cool urban shopping street, with fine old brick buildings, a ready supply of walk-ons (the Friday farmers’ market offers a Felliniesque parade of faces), and great natural light. What it lacked, though, was a steady cast of actors and any actual stores. (Oakland has long had a department store scarcity: I. Magnin declared bankruptcy in the early ’90s, leaving only Sears at Broadway and 19th.) As a young couple living in Uptown, Alfonso Dominguez and Johnelle Mancha used to ride their bikes along the sidewalks of Washington and Ninth Streets and peek inside the empty storefronts, imagining the possibilities. The quaint Old Oakland Historic District, despite its obvious promise, had seen little action since the opening of the Transcontinental Railroad and grand hotels in the mid-1800s. Why, they fumed, was the area so dead? Why did they have to cross the bridge every time they got a craving to window-shop on a hip street?
Now, thanks in large part to this style-obsessed couple—they’re both design-school grads with impeccable taste—the neighborhood may be on its way to finally staging that movie. Though still only half-developed, in the past year Old Oakland has suddenly become a place where people can feed a variety of desires—to shop for clothing, to eat a fine meal, to sit and read the New Yorker or the Sporting Green outdoors with a bowl of cappuccino—all at once. Besides the four enterprises Dominguez and Mancha are involved in, other new stores and restaurants are opening regularly: Ajuda Day Spa, Air Lounge, Verse (with streetwise sneakers and graphic tees), Levende East, and, by the end of the year, the women’s clothing store Sistren. Says Martin Durante, 81, whose family’s international market, G.B. Ratto’s, has been the neighborhood’s one consistent draw since before the Depression, “Old Oakland is cooking again.” Mancha even likes to imagine this becoming a down-to-earth version of Berkeley’s exceedingly popular Fourth Street, with a bakery, a gelato shop, additional clothing boutiques, and more.
The change was actually jump-started two years ago by Dominguez’s mother, Gloria, when—working side by side with Dominguez and Mancha—she opened the modern and inviting Mexican restaurant Tamarindo on Eighth Street. In retrospect, the move was risky beyond reason. “Other restaurants had come and failed,” Mancha says. “The neighborhood wasn’t there yet. But we’d already fallen in love with this place, so there was no going back.”
As Gloria’s food earned rave reviews (including in this magazine), the customers did go back, and the next step was obvious: give people something to do between meals. First Mancha and her mother opened Mignonne , a cottagelike space they stock with French antiques and accessories alongside modern and reworked vintage furniture. Then the couple opened Drift , an industrial space that features of-the-moment denims ranging from the established (think Paperdenim&cloth) to lesser-known Australian and Japanese labels. (Durante recently bought a pair of jeans there.) Finally, this July, Dominguez and fellow Cal Poly alum Sean Matthews unveiled Fiveten Studio, a gallery (which doubles as a design studio) that showcases modern pieces that might easily fit inside the many lofts under construction down the street, like geometric room dividers and installations woven with horsehair.
High hopes for Old Oakland have been dashed before. After the Storek brothers restored most of the condemned properties in the 1970s, everything looked great until business after business died. But Elena Voiron, Durante’s daughter, who now runs Ratto’s, says this time the promise is real. “There are so many more people who work and live here now. I think all of those businesses would thrive today.” Mancha is even less circumspect. “When people catch the ‘it’ vibe, they want to come here and build something, too.”
Tamarindo: 468 8th st., 510-444-1944, tamarindoantojeria.com
Mignonne: 1000 Jefferson St., 510-444-5288, mignonnedecor.com
Drift: 815 Washington St., 510-444-8815, driftdenim.com
FiveTen Studio: 831 Broadway, 510-451-9900, fivetenstudio.com
Browse-worthy
While Old Oakland is getting in on the act, Rockridge’s College Avenue remains pretty much the city’s center for fashionable retail.
August: This avant-garde boutique, for both men and women, satisfies a craving for premium European denim, as well as clothing by Edun, Rogan, Martin Margiela, Vena Cava, and Band of Outsiders. It also carries some ravishing jewelry, including necklaces by Oakland-based Morgania Moore.
5410 College Ave., 510-652-2711, augustshop.com
Form Vintage Modern: A favorite among furniture aficionados, family-owned Form specializes in vintage Danish decor and contemporary American design. Furnish a mod maison with pieces by Tonelli, Alessi, Modernica, and Vancouver-based Bombast.
5330 College Ave., 510-420-1950, formvintagemodern.com
Twenty-Two: Chic footwear and handbags sketched by Oakland-based owners Alexandra and Chris Silverman are brought to life by Italian craftsmen for this elegant little shop.
5856 College Ave., 510-594-2201, twentytwoshoes.com
Iniam: This decidedly airy, mood-lifting space is devoted to designer threads by 3.1 Phillip Lim, Theory, Vince, James Perse, Twinkle, and others. Newer additions include shoes by Tory Burch and baubles by up-and-coming ila&i jewelry.
5902 College Ave., 510-597-1558, iniam.com
Scout Home Hardware: Five minutes from College Avenue, in Temescal, this far-from-ordinary hardware store offers vintage home furnishings, including lighting, textiles, antiques, and accessories.
5026 Telegraph Ave., 510-547-2688, scouthardware.com