Oakland city guide: what to see plus the best bars, hotels and restaurants

The city across the bay has shed its inferiority complex and offers plenty of reasons to visit. In fact, you can now skip San Francisco altogether, and fly to Oakland direct from the UK

Oakland is changing fast. Once known merely as San Francisco’s rough-and-tough neighbour – the birthplace of the Black Panther movement and home of the Hell’s Angels – it is rapidly becoming the most fashionable place in northern California. Those who can’t afford the tech-boom prices across the Bay are making their home in the city and, greeted by an array of new restaurants and bars, a thriving arts scene, and a strong sense of energy and community. Gertrude Stein might have said about her childhood hometown that “There is no there there”, but, these days, Oakland’s residents and visitors are more likely to shout “Come here here!”