downtown oakland

I know that there are a lot of bad associations with Oakland: it doesn't have a great reputation and it's kind of dirty. It's also where I spent 6 years of my childhood growing up.

After leaving the city when I was 13, I'd only been back a handful of times and even then, it was usually just to go to A's games. When I found out that our Jenny and Johnny concert was in Oakland, I didn't realize the venue was in (relatively) the same neighborhood where I grew up. I didn't visit my childhood apartment, but it was weird walking around with eyes 9 years older.

Chelsey and I stayed pretty close to the venue and mostly only ventured in search of coffee shops. Walking around I noticed that the city had a lot of architectural charm from when it used to be a fairly wealthy area. I'd never really noticed anything like this before, but it was nice appreciating these little gems because more often than not, they're left forgotten.