Creative Growth Art Center

The First Presbyterian Church of Oakland is a historic church founded in 1853 in Oakland, California. It is a part of the Presbyterian Church (USA). First Presbyterian Church was the first Christian church in Oakland.

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 Key Route Inn was a major hotel in Oakland, California in the early decades of the 20th century. It was constructed by the Realty Syndicate of Francis "Borax" Smith and Frank C. Havens, a subsidiary of which was the Key Route transit system. The Inn opened on May 7, 1907, straddling what is now Grand Avenue along the west side of Broadway. President William Howard Taft and his party were guests in 1909. The building was a massive wood-framed structure with open timbering, in imitation of an old English style. One of its most remarkable features was a large archway and corridor through which the tracks of one of the Key Route's transbay lines passed. A Key Route stop in this corridor connected to the hotel's main lobby. The Key Route Inn suffered major fire damage on September 8, 1930. This, combined with the beginning of the Great Depression and the City of Oakland's desire to connect Grand Avenue with 22nd Street led to the Inn being fully demolished in April and May, 1932, only 25 years after it opened. The rail line continued, however, becoming the "B" transbay line upon the opening of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge railway. The rail line was replaced by the "B" bus route in April 1958, and was subsequently incorporated into the publicly owned AC Transit system; the modern line B route bypasses the location of the former hotel by nearly a mile.

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.

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.

Glen Echo Creek (also known as Cemetery Creek) is a creek that runs from the Oakland Hills to Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. Although most of it is underground, the creek does surface in several locations. It has two branches, the Rockridge Branch and the Broadway Branch.

Temple Sinai (officially the First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland) is a Reform synagogue located at 2808 Summit Street (28th and Webster Streets) in Oakland, California, United States. Founded in 1875, it is the oldest Jewish congregation in the East San Francisco Bay region.Its early members included Gertrude Stein and Judah Leon Magnes, who studied at Temple Sinai's Sabbath school, and Ray Frank, who taught them. Originally traditional, the temple reformed its beliefs and practices under the leadership of Rabbi Marcus Friedlander (1893–1915). By 1914, it had become a Classical Reform congregation. That year the current sanctuary was built: a Beaux-Arts structure designed by G. Albert Lansburgh, which is the oldest synagogue building in Oakland.The congregation weathered four major financial crises by 1934. From then until 2011, it was led by just three rabbis, William Stern (1934–1965), Samuel Broude (1966–1989), and Steven Chester (1989–2011).In 2006 Temple Sinai embarked on a $15 million capital campaign to construct an entirely new synagogue campus adjacent to its current sanctuary. Groundbreaking took place in October 2007, and by late 2009 the congregation had raised almost $12 million towards the construction. As of 2015, Temple Sinai had nearly 1,000 member families. The rabbis were Jacqueline Mates-Muchin and Yoni Regev, and the cantor was Ilene Keys. The synagogue has two emeritus rabbis, Samuel Broude (1924-2020) and Steven Chester.

East Bay Chinese School (EBCS, Chinese: 東灣中文學校; pinyin: Dōngwān zhōngwén xuéxiào), is a non-profit, Chinese heritage school located in Oakland, California. It offers classes in Standard Mandarin and Chinese culture. It began offering classes in 1981. The school's classes are held at Westlake Middle School. The school has grown from a student body of 26 in 1981 to over 450 students. Classes are held on Saturday mornings for 32 weeks during the school year. In 2007 the school began offering adult Mandarin classes for both beginning and intermediate learners. Its target group for this service is the members of interracial marriage families. In 2009 it offered 29 total Chinese language classes and 15 Chinese culture classes. In recent years there is a growing number of non-Chinese-heritage students attending the school, possibly due to rising Chinese influence in the global economy. To meet the needs of the school's diverse student body EBCS has implemented several initiatives to ensure the school continue to provide quality education. First, the school put more rigors around academic prerequisites and age requirements for new student enrollment. The intent was to ensure basic standards for all classes so teachers can focus on delivering a quality education. Also, the school requires all teachers to submit their lesson plans for the entire academic year so that progress can be tracked. The school also conducted a school-wide assessment (excluding kindergarten). The purpose of this test was to ensure standards were being met across all levels, and to identify students that need additional help. In 2009, the school adopted new textbooks and multimedia materials designed specifically for Chinese-as-second-language (CSL) learners. EBCS also is working with the Oakland Unified School District to start Chinese lessons in the classrooms and introducing the Chinese language and culture to the public school students.

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.

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 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.

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.