Arial view of the Lake Merritt, Oakland area
Moving to a new area is always a bit scary and involves a lot of work to get settled. What things are there to do? What restaurants are nearby? What sorts of community involvement are available? I went through this exercise after moving to the Lake Merritt area of Oakland, a very nice area that has lots of diverse things to see and do. I found it useful to spend time searching Google about my new neighborhood and making link list of useful resources. If you’re new to any area, I recommend doing the same and if you’re new to this area , here’s my list of resource links I hope are useful.
(P.S. Lake Merritt is not actually a freshwater lake, it’s a natural salt water tidal lagoon connected to the Oakland / Alameda Estuary)
- http://www.onceuponatime-happilyeverafter.com/ : A cool public art project that includes a great 5 hour audio walking tour around Lake Merritt you can download.
- http://www.bart.gov/stations/lake/index.aspx : There’s a handy BART subway station nearby ready to whisk you around the Bay Area. San Francisco is only 2 stops away.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Merritt : An interesting history of the area via Wikipedia.
- http://www.lakemerrittinstitute.org/ : A group that helps to maintain and clean the lake area.
- http://gardensatlakemerritt.org/ : There’s a nice public garden area inside the park.
- http://fairyland.org/ : A children’s theme park.
- http://www.renaissancerialto.com/ : The local movie theatre- a beautiful old building that shows 1st run and specialty films.
- http://www.splashpad.org/ : Site for the nearby park that has a nice informative newsletter you can sign up for.
- http://museumca.org/ : A most excellent museum with art, history, and travelling exhibits related to California.
- http://www.sfgate.com/neighborhoods/eb/grand/ : Some info about Grand Lake and the nearby businesses.
- http://www.meetup.com/ : Social groups in the area spanning every interest you can imagine.
