In the before times (and by that I mean before my friend had kids and we could fuck-off for an entire day together), said friend and I would pick a day in December, pick a neighborhood, and spend it holiday shopping and drinking. It was glorious, AND productive! Have a drink. Buy a gift. Have a drink. Get another gift. You get it!

Fireside Lounge For those who aren’t familiar with the tiny appendage attached like a tenacious little barnacle to the lower side of Oakland known as Alameda….that’s what it is.  You reach it and escape it vis a vis one of two means, a tunnel on one end, and a bridge