Key Route Inn

The Oakland Ballet Company is a non-profit ballet company based in Oakland, California. OBC was founded in 1965 by Ronn Guidi, an Oakland native, and gained international recognition through its historical reconstructions of ballets from the legendary Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev; the mounting of classic works of Americana; and the creation of innovative contemporary choreography.Guidi founded Oakland Ballet Company on the same the principles that inspired the legendary dance troupe of Ballets Russes. Formed in Paris in the early 20th century under impresario Sergei Diaghilev, the Ballets Russes went on to redefine the art of ballet. Guidi studied under Raoul Pausé for many years, himself a former student of Ballets Russes dancer and choreographer Adolf Bolm, and thus inherited the Ballet Russes tradition of fusing classical training with unrestrained choreographic possibilities. Noted revivals by Oakland Ballet include works by renowned choreographers Kurt Jooss, Michel Fokine, Charles Weidman, and Antony Tudor and the first re-staging of works by Bronislava Nijinska in the United States. Championing American masterpieces as well, Oakland Ballet has presented Eugene Loring's "Billy the Kid", Ruthanna Boris's "Cakewalk", and Agnes de Mille's "Fall River Legend". Along with Guidi's own repertoire of choreography, Oakland Ballet has produced celebrated works by local choreographers such as Val Caniparoli, Carlos Carvajal, Margaret Jenkins, Alonzo King, Michael Lowe, Robert Moses, and Amy Seiwert, among others. In 2000, Oakland Ballet ushered in a new era with a new Artist Director, celebrated Dance Theatre of Harlem dancer, Karen Brown. Brown brought a renewed focus to the production of ballets by local and contemporary choreographers while continuing the company’s commitment to performing great classical works. In 2007 OBC celebrated the return of founding Artistic Director, Ronn Guidi. Mr. Guidi retired for the final time in 2008 and Oakland Ballet continued to present productions under the direction of guest Artistic Directors through the spring of 2010. In 2010, the company welcomed internationally acclaimed choreographer and director Graham Lustig as Artistic Director. Lustig’s career as a dancer, artistic director, and choreographer parallels OBC’s tradition of presenting historically vibrant work while championing new choreography. Under Lustig’s leadership, the Oakland Ballet has rekindled its commitment to serving the local community by producing ballet that is vibrant in its artistic vision and draws on the Bay Area’s great talent. Oakland Ballet’s longtime collaboration with Michael Morgan, Music Director and Conductor of Oakland East Bay Symphony, continues to be a hallmark of the annual performance of Graham Lustig’s "The Nutcracker" at the Paramount Theatre. Since his appointment as Artistic Director of Oakland Ballet Company in 2010, Lustig has presented five seasons of his Nutcracker and three spring repertory productions, Forwards! (2011), Diaghilev Imagery (2013), and Oakland-esque (2014), with a focus on commissioned works by esteemed Bay Area choreographers. Lustig’s ballet Infinitum was included in the West Wave Dance Festival (2011) and he initiated Oakland Ballet Company’s annual summer Ballet Boot Camp, a two-week dance and choreography workshop now in its fifth year, as well as ongoing ballet training opportunities at The Academy at Oakland Ballet Company. Lustig also been instrumental in reviving Oakland Ballet’s role in arts education in the East Bay, establishing OBC’s current “Discover Dance” community outreach program.

The Paramount Theatre is a 3,040-seat Art Deco concert hall located at 2025 Broadway in Downtown Oakland. When it was built in 1931, it was the largest multi-purpose theater on the West Coast, seating 3,476. Today, the Paramount is the home of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Oakland Ballet. It regularly plays host to R&B, jazz, blues, pop, rock, gospel, classical music, as well as ballets, plays, stand-up comedy, lecture series, special events, and screenings of classic movies from Hollywood's Golden Era.

Mary’s First and Last Chance (c. 1948 – 1956) was a lesbian and gay bar located at 2278 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, California, U.S.. It was once the focus of the 1950s California Supreme Court lawsuit Vallerga v. Dept. Alcoholic Bev. Control, when the bar challenged a state law for the right to serve gay patrons and won in 1959.The bar was opened in c. 1948 by Mary Azar, and her brother-in-law, Albert L. Vallerga. Mary’s First and Last Chance liquor license suspended several times and ultimately revoked in 1956 based on a discriminatory 1955 California state law, and after undercover officers posed as patrons. In December 1959, the court sided with Azar and Vallerga and reversed the revocation, and in a historic decision, the 1955 law was declared unconstitutional.

The I. Magnin Building is a former I. Magnin department store in Oakland, California located at 2001 Broadway. It was built in 1931 and designed by architecture firm Weeks and Day. It housed the upscale department store until it closed in 1995. The building's green terra-cotta facade and art deco ornamentation make it a prominent landmark and a local visitor attraction in the Uptown neighborhood.The building's interior was completely renovated in 2000, and it now houses retail and office businesses. It had more than 92% occupancy as of 2013. In 2016, Athen B Gallery arranged for Jet Martinez to paint a mural on the windowless rear wall of the building. Martinez painted lilies inspired by Mexican folk art.

Creative Growth Art Center is a nonprofit arts organization, based in Oakland, California, that provides studios, supplies, and gallery space to artists with developmental, mental, and physical disabilities. It is one of the oldest and largest art center for people with disabilities in the world. It is currently located at 355 24th Street in Oakland, California.

The Ordway Building (also known as One Kaiser Plaza) is a skyscraper located in downtown Oakland, California. The building lies close to Oakland's Lake Merritt and the tower contains 28 stories of office space. There are eight corner offices per floor, since the skyscraper has a H-shaped floor plan. Standing 123 m (404 ft), the tower is the tallest skyscraper in the city and the entire Bay Area outside of San Francisco. The Ordway Building's main tenant is Kaiser Permanente, which has used the building as its national headquarters since completion in 1970. As of 2009, Kaiser was leasing space on 21 floors. Kaiser announced on August 6, 2009 that it had signed a new nine-year lease with landlord CIM Group.

Kaiser Center, also called the Kaiser Building, is a 28-story office building located at 300 Lakeside Drive, adjacent to Lake Merritt, in downtown Oakland, California, designed by the architectural firm of Welton Becket & Associates of Los Angeles. The property is bounded by Lakeside Drive, which terminates and joins Harrison Street at the site, 20th-, 21st-, and Webster-streets. When completed in 1960, it was Oakland's tallest building, as well as the largest office tower west of the Rocky Mountains. A three-story office/retail building adjacent to the main tower was completed in 1963. Kaiser Center was the headquarters of Kaiser Industries, a Fortune 500 conglomerate that was headed by industrialist Edgar F. Kaiser at the time the building was constructed. The building's roof garden was designed by San Francisco-based landscape architecture firm, Theodore Osmundson & Associates, and was the first built in the United States after World War II. While legend has it that Henry J. Kaiser resided in a penthouse apartment on the 28th floor, by 1960 the elder Kaiser had turned over the Oakland-based company to his son, and pursued projects based in Honolulu. It is much more likely that his son Edgar, who was in charge of Kaiser industries and a major power broker in the Bay Area by the time the building was commissioned, was the person who occupied any residential apartments. According to a National Park Service study, Edgar commissioned the architecturally significant rooftop garden after the building had been designed, inspired by the gardens of Rockefeller Center in N.Y.The building is currently home to the headquarters of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), which in 2003 relocated from its former administration building atop the Lake Merritt station, due to earthquake concerns. In 2019 BART announced that it would leave the building in the Spring of 2021. Other tenants include the University of California Office of the President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, The Port Company, and California Bank & Trust. Global technical services company AECOM moved into the building in 2016.

The Fox Oakland Theatre is a 2,800-seat concert hall, a former movie theater, located at 1807 Telegraph Avenue in Downtown Oakland. It originally opened in 1928, running films until 1970. Designed by Weeks and Day, the theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was refurbished in the 2000s and reopened as a concert venue on February 5, 2009.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light, also called Oakland Cathedral, is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland in Oakland, California. It is the seat of the Bishop of Oakland. Christ the Light, the first cathedral built entirely in the 21st century, replaces the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales, irreparably damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989.The Cathedral of Christ the Light Complex, as a larger cathedral center, is composed of the cathedral church, the chancery office of the bishop's curia, a conference center, rectory (priests' residence), Order of Malta Northern California Health Clinic (which provides free diagnostic services to people without health insurance), and a mausoleum. The mausoleum features twelve crypts reserved for the bishops of Oakland and burial sites available to the members of the diocese for a comparable price to the other Catholic cemeteries in the diocese. The cathedral center also houses City Lights Cafe and the Cathedral Shop, as well as a public plaza and garden.The Cathedral of Christ the Light was designed by architect Craig W. Hartman, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The Catholic Cathedral Corporation of the East Bay, the incorporated owner of the cathedral, chose Webcor Builders as the general contractor of cathedral construction.Originally planned in 2000 under the direction of Bishop John Stephen Cummins and finally breaking ground on May 21, 2005, Christ the Light was consecrated and dedicated by Bishop Allen Henry Vigneron on September 25, 2008. On All Souls' Day November 2, the mausoleum was dedicated and the first Bishop of Oakland, Floyd Lawrence Begin, was reburied in one of its crypts. Located at 2121 Harrison Street in Oakland, the cathedral serves as the mother church of approximately 530,000 Catholics in the counties of Alameda and Contra Costa.

The Lake Merritt Plaza is a high-rise located in downtown Oakland, California, United States. It has 27 stories and stands at 371 ft (113 m) tall.The building, developed by Transpacific Development Co., is designed by architect Bill Valentine. In 2006, TDC sold it to Boston-based Beacon Capital Partners for $160 million. Divco West acquired the building in 2014.

19th Street Oakland station is an underground Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located under Broadway between 17th Street and 20th Street in the Uptown District of Oakland, California. It is a timed transfer point between northbound trains to Richmond and to Antioch. It is the busiest BART station in both Oakland and the East Bay, and the 5th busiest BART station overall, with a daily ridership of approximately 14,300 in February 2020.The station has three underground levels, with tracks on the second and third levels. It is served by the Richmond–Millbrae+SFO line, Berryessa/​North San José–Richmond line, and Antioch–SFO+Millbrae line, as well as by AC Transit buses on the surface at the Uptown Transit Center. The station opened in 1972 as part of the first section of BART. In 1980–1986, the KE Track project added the third track to the station. Changes during the 2010s included public art at one entrance, a new canopy at another entrance, and opening of a bike station. A modernization project, which began in 2019, includes new elevators and reopened public restrooms. Tempo bus rapid transit service began in 2020.

Oaksterdam University is self-recognized as the world's first cannabis college. Located in Oakland, CA, the educational facility was founded in November 2007 by medical marijuana activist Richard Lee to offer quality training for the cannabis industry, with a mission to "legitimize the business and work to change the law to make cannabis legal." Its main campus was formerly located in Downtown Oakland, Calif. On March 8, 2020, fire damaged the Oaksterdam campus at which time the brick and mortar location closed. Classes are currently held online only, both asynchronous and in real time. The university has graduated nearly 50,000 students from more than 40 countries.