We all know the East Bay is a glorious place to live. It offers sun, great restaurants, beautiful hikes and plenty of diversity. There's a lot to be thankful for.

 

But there's always something new to explore, which is why Red Oak Realty queried its 21 employees for their favorite East Bay spots and activities to help celebrate the gratitude we all have for living here. You just may learn of a new East Bay adventure!

 

Founded over four decades ago in the East Bay, Red Oak Realty remains exclusively focused on its home, core market. Our leadership, staff and agents all live here, from Richmond in the north to San Leandro in the south, so we know some of the best it has to offer, which we share here. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Kae Sato, one of Red Oak's great office managers, loves watching the sun set over Marin, the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay from Berkeley's Cesar Chavez Park, 90 acres of glorious park that juts out into the Bay just west of where University meets I-80. In addition to stunning views, the park features a large off-leash dog area, lots of shoreline trails, an open-water swim area and more.

 

 

Grizzly Peak at sunset.

 

At the opposite height extreme and almost due east, Grizzly Peak offers stunning views of the whole Bay Area including Berkeley's forested Claremont and Strawberry canyons from its perch along iconic Grizzly Peak Boulevard, which tracks the west ridge of the Berkeley Hills.

 

 

Regional parks span the East Bay's entire ridgeline, from Tilden in the north to Chabot in the soutch. Source: Google.

 

Kae also raves about Berkeley's Tokyo Fish Market, a family-run business at the intersection of Gilman and San Pablo Avenue that sells local seafood and fresh Japanese ingredients. The over-50-year-old market sells over 100 varieties of fish and has over 100 kinds of Japanese crackers (arare and senbei) on its shelves.

 

 

Original Tokyo Fish Market building. Credit: Tokyo Fish Market

 

"There's no need to take the trek to Japantown in San Francisco or San Jose for Japanese groceries," Kae says.

 

Red Oak Realty agent success supervisor Chris Yi loves the East Bay's many options to get in the water. On hot summer days, she takes her kids to the Splash Park in El Cerrito's Swim Center and to the swim lagoon at Cull Canyon park at the far southeast of the Inner East Bay, near Castro Valley.

 

Other appealing swim spots include Tilden Park's Lake Anza and Temescal Park's Lake Temescal. There are many others to discover!

 

 

Lake Anza sparkling in the sun.

 

 

Fox Theater, Oakland. Photographed by Christian Klugmann

 

With so many dynamic, creative residents, the East Bay has some amazing creative activities such as The Berkeley Adventure Playground where kids of all ages can build anything from junk and wooden pieces. The Oakland Museum of California Art near downtown Oakland on the shores of Lake Merritt offers great exhibits on California contemporary art and cultural and natural history. Pro tip -- check out its lively Friday Nights (held every Friday night), which feature food trucks, live music and dancing and exhibits that stay open later.

 

 

The Oakland Museum of California. Photographed by Christian Klugmann

 

Other notable cultural centers include Oakland's Fox Theater and three great sites for plays -- Berkeley Rep, Berkeley Playhouse, Cal Shakes.

 

Red Oak Realty's marketing coordinator Rebecca Lazar likes visiting Oakland's diverse Jack London Square. The city's only publicly accessible mixed-use waterfront area features billiards-and-gaming space Plank among other restaurants and bars. The site of the future Oakland Athletics baseball stadium, the area also features ferry access to San Francisco and other Bay Area locations.

 

 

Jack London Square. Credit: Tony Webster/Flickr.

 

Red Oak agent success supervisor Katie Hall appreciates the East Bay's vast diversity, "where," she says, "people are celebrated and accepted for their differences."

 

Berkeley's cozy Fourth Street Shopping district offers a diverse shopping and dining experience, with everything from the Apple Store and Sur la Table to Kiehl's and the great cafe Bette's Oceanview Diner. Red Oak Realty marketing coordinator Dani Ramirez likes strolling down 4th Street in all seasons; in the winter when the streets are strewn with lights for a great date night, the spring and summer when a pleasant breeze blows and in the fall when the leaves dance in circles.

 

Overall, Dani appreciates the slower living vibe the area cultivates. We'll bet you do (will), too.

 

 

Enjoy the weather with a full belly at Bette's. Credit: Bette's Oceanview Diner.

 

The East Bay has many great places to appreciate the diversity and vibrancy the Bay has to offer, especially its wonderful people and dogs. These include summer evenings around Oakland's great Lake Merritt, Berkeley's Kensington Circle, El Cerrito's Plaza and the numerous farmer's markets located up and down the area.

 

 

Expansive Lake Merritt. Source: lakemerritt.org.

 

The East Bay has so many great restaurants. Red Oak senior marketing coordinator Karen Garner calls out a few of her Berkeley favorites: Cheese Board Pizza, sushi spot Akemi, Vietnamese-French tapas spot Vanessa’s Bistro, Thai spot Sweet Basil and California food staple Rivoli.

 

 

Cheese Board Pizza Collective. Photographed by Christian Klugmann

 

Red Oak office manager Caressa Bashful also shared some of her favorite eateries: San Leandro's Taqueria Los Pericos, Alameda's Monkey King brewpub and Oakland's BBQ joint Everett and Jones.

 

One of the East Bay's underrated features is the easy access it provides to some of California's great locales such as Marin County's Stinson Beach and the Marin Headlands, Napa and Sonoma wine country, Tomales Bay and Lake Tahoe and other pockets of the northern Sierra Nevada mountains.

 

We end with perhaps one of the East Bay's most glorious experiences, a hike up Claremont Canyon's Panoramic Trail. Starting at one of Peet's Coffee's first locations, you hike straight up the Berkeley Hills on the trail, glimpsing ever-changing views of Berkeley and the wide Bay below before cresting the ridge. The short, sweet (and tough) 1.3-mile hike, with blow-your-eyeballs views, is perhaps the East Bay's quintessential spot to bask in gratitude for living here.

 

 

The breathtaking Panoramic Trail.

 

Have a great Thanksgiving! If you have any questions about these or other East Bay gems or want to get great local real estate advice, reach out to us here.