Oakland's Nightlife Resurgence Continues

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Round Midnight: the Oasis crew

The recent Uptown Unveiled event cast a spotlight on the revitalized Oakland nightlife scene, which is really beginning to come into its own after years of playing second fiddle to SF. As it stands now, there's a solid strip of venues in and around Broadway and Telegraph from Levende East to Luka's where you can get your club on, without worrying about hyphy cats doing donuts in front of the street and/or fights, with new spots (like 2022, the Den, and Somar) seemingly opening every day.

That resurgence should continue with Oasis nightclub (home of the ever-popular Lion Rock reggae night) reopening as early as next week. According to club employees, new floors have been installed, code violations have been fixed, and new nights (including a salsa night) are being planned. Sometime in August, the former Pat's on 15th and Franklin will become the Layover, a venue owned by my good friend, Prozack Turner (who many might know as one-third of Bay Area hip-hop favorites Foreign Legion). And yet another new venue is reportedly in the works at the site of the former Sweet Jimmie's, owned by Michael O'Connor (The Independent/Justice League). If this keeps up, not only will Oaktown folk not have a need to travel across the Bay Bridge, but SF folks might just come to Oakland more often.