The Alley Piano Bar & Restaurant

oakland’s last-remaining piano bar and quite possibly among my favorite discoveries of the past decade. opened in 1933, the alley’s saloon-esque walls are plastered floor to ceiling with roughly 9,000 business cards and playbills. i went on a thursday night, and the place was packed in with what seemed like locals taking turns at pouring their hearts out to frank sinatra and songs of the sort. new york new nork was followed by oakland (a 1960s patriotic tune i’d never heard before). if i lived in the bay i’d be here weekly.