There are many ways to explore Emeryville, that diamond of a city squished between Oakland and Berkeley. You could drive, take a bus or bike the Bay Trail … or ride the free Emery Go-Round. It’s a shuttle service, funded mostly by local businesses, that takes you to every worthwhile nook of the city – from the windswept marina and upscale shopping zone to the antediluvian warehouses hiding fine art and Asian antiques.
The gold-and-blue shuttles (go Warriors!) run day and evening through the “Rottenest City on the Pacific Coast,” which retains some Prohibition-era edginess but mostly is as pleasant as Mayberry. There are tinted windows, black faux-leather seats, Prince and the Eagles playing on the radio – it’s like a party bus, without the chilled bottles of Champagne. But there is fine wine at the end of the ride, thanks to a new artisanal bottle shop, plus many other fresh attractions to explore in 2024.
The Go-Round has two routes, Hollis and Shellmound/Powell. For this day trip, we’ll stay on the Hollis line, starting at the hub at Oakland’s MacArthur BART. There will be plenty of noshing spots in Emeryville, but if you’re hungry now, head around the corner to La Dolce Vita. Owner Tegsti Woldemichael hails from Eritrea and studied pastry in Italy, and her deli and bakery produces some of the best Italian sandwiches and pastries in the East Bay. (Go-Round Stop #1: MacArthur BART)
Woldemichael’s pastry case is loaded with pistachio cannoli, rich tiramisu, custard-cream puffs and breakfast treats. Don’t leave without ordering an Italian sandwich, made with daily-baked focaccia and imported cheeses and meats.
A couple stops down the street is the obligatory Pixar headquarters photo op. The campus is closed to the public, but you can see a sculpture of the iconic Pixar lamp and a “Finding Nemo” seagull perched on a building ledge. In December, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers installed a marker here noting that Pixar, like Netscape, Adobe and Atari, was only made possible thanks to the development of the “Warnock algorithm, Gouraud shading, the Catmull-Rom spline and the Blinn-Phong reflection model.” (Go-Round Stop #3: Pixar)
Emeryville has a new green space for playing outdoors at Huchiun Park. Dedicated in October, the park commemorates the ancestral land of the native Ohlone people and what once was the largest of more than 400 sacred burial shellmounds. The huge lawn is perfect for picnicking, and there’s a basketball court, a playground and a mirrored maze guaranteed to suck children in with its infinite multiverses. (Go-Round Stop #4: Hollis Street at 45th Street)
If it’s more exercise you’re after, the popular Eastbay Badminton Association is just steps away. A nondescript building harbors eight Olympic-standard courts devoted to whacking the shuttlecock – just listen for the energetic cries and exhalations and follow your way through the side door. The club has affordable rates for the public (including happy-hour specials on Mondays) and offers coaching for those who want to pick up the sport.
By now, you’ll probably realize Emeryville specializes in barely labeled warehouses concealing unique, thriving enterprises. The Zentner Collection, open by appointment only, is a stockhouse of Asian art and antiques spread across several cavernous rooms in a former window-manufacturing company. Run by the same family for three generations, it’s a prime place to pick up stylish home décor – carved-wood cabinets, intricate folding screens, vintage birdcages – or perhaps a two-ton stone deity to oversee your garden. (Go-Round Stop #6: Stanford Avenue at Horton Street)
Next door, you’ll find Jered Nelson of Jered’s Pottery spinning clay among shelves of delicate, vibrantly colored plates and bowls. If you like high-end dining, chances are you’ve eaten off some of his creations: Nelson has provided tableware to Chez Panisse, Michael Mina, Rich Table, the Claremont Hotel and restaurants as far away as Kyoto and Sydney.
Nelson has hand-thrown almost half a million vessels in his time as a potter — the equivalent of 600 tons of clay. He mixes his own clay using calcium deposits from an exposed lake bed near the Mojave Desert and porcelain with kaolin from the Sierra Mountain range. The pottery is gorgeous and sustainable, fired in electric kilns instead of gas. And Nelson’s workshop lineup includes pottery classes and an “Unchained Melody: Valentine’s Workshop” for couples inspired by that messy love scene from the movie “Ghost.”
A rainbow of Japanophilia is up the road at Kimono My House, a toy shop that’s been around since 1980. All the denizens of the manga, anime and Japanese film worlds are here as figurines, posters and T-shirts. There’s even a Pikachu video arcade cabinet that seats two from San Francisco’s old Playland Japan. Proprietor Susan Horn — the first person in the U.S. to get merchandising rights for “Akira” — is so well known in Japanese fandom circles, she has a credit on the 1989 kaiju flick, “Godzilla Vs. Biollante.” (Go-Round Stop #9: Hollis Street at 64th Street)
For a bite, you can head to Public Market Emeryville, where the food-court options range from Peruvian street food and Caribbean home cooking to cashew-based ice cream. But it’s worth venturing a little farther to check out the Bay Street Emeryville shopping mall, which this year debuted two restaurants with Michelin cred.
Flores is a hyperlocal Mexican eatery whose San Francisco counterpart has a Bib Gourmand award. Here, you can chow down on quesadillas de hongos, braised chicken leg in mole negro and ono ceviche, while sipping artfully crafted cocktails. Across the way is Pippal, an Indian restaurant whose Bib-Gourmand sister, Rooh, draws throngs in San Francisco and Palo Alto. The kitchen explores India’s vast landscape in one ambitious menu, featuring dishes like fig and green banana kebabs with chili achar and Kerala Dungeness crab masala.
The Trophy Room “speakeasy” is connected to Tipsy Putt, an indoor mini-golf course with a full bar and sports on the flat screens, so you can order a Harvest Martini or Dead Sea Mule before sinking a hole-in-one.
Another boozy option is the decade-old Prizefighter, which just debuted an intriguing bottle shop. Dylan O’Brien, who runs the place, focuses on producers who follow ethical farming and employment practices. He’s compiled a trove of local wines and artisanal spirits — including agave-based tipples like tequila, mezcal and sotol — that will make your home bar the envy of your peers. (Go-Round Stop #10: Hollis Street at 65th Street)
Hankering for dessert? The TCHO Chocolate factory sits at the end of the Go-Round line, just over the Berkeley border, offering ethically sourced cacao and wild chocolate creations, like blackberry bars based on the diet of black bears and chocolate that mimics the hoppy burst of an IPA. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the company offers tours ($15) of its production floor. Walking among machines that pour and shape luscious chocolate and then getting to taste the final product – there’s no sweeter way to end a pretty sweet Go-Round tour of Emeryville.
IF YOU GO:
Huchiun Park: 4311 Hubbard St., Emeryville
Eastbay Badminton Association: 4230 Hubbard St.; eastbaybadminton.com
The Zentner Collection: 5757 Horton St.; zentnercollection.com
Jered’s Pottery: 5743 A Horton St.; jeredspottery.com
Kimono My House: 1455 64th St.; facebook.com/KimonoMyHouseToys
Tipsy Putt East Bay: 5690 Bay St.; tipsyputt.com/tipsy-putt-east-bay
Flores: 5614 Bay St., Suite 244; floressf.com
Pippal: 5614 Bay St., Suite 235; eatatpippal.com
Prizefighter Bottle Shop: 1320 67th St.; prizefighterbottleshop.com
TCHO Chocolate: 3100 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley; tcho.com
Emery Go-Round: Find more information about this free shuttle at https://emerygoround.com.
Source: www.mercurynews.com