'Neath the Oaks

It frustrates me that the most anybody seems to know about Oakland are lurid crime stories. Yet, when I lived across the Bay in San Francisco, I too was as ignorantly dismissive of the metropolis I knew only as a sequence of BART stops. Within days of moving to Oakland, though, I became its champion. Now, if I move anywhere, it's not back to gray, congested, overpriced San Francisco.

What's here besides failed urban renewal projects and freeways?

Well, there's the Paramount Theatre, for one. To borrow a relevant title, it has some of the best remaining seats, as one of the last of a dozen or so movie palaces that once enlivened downtown Oakland.

The main lobby of the Paramount Theatre

Ever want to see a historic building without cringing at the sight of insensitive remodeling? Then come to the Paramount's Saturday morning tours, and revel in the cut glass, metal leaf, ebony veneer, incised plaster, and the other luxury materials ordinary people used to have in their surroundings.

A light fixture on the mezzanine

A melodic heat register

After the Paramount tour, go to your local multiplex to notice the unfavorable comparison with genuine movie palace magnificence. Be sure to revisit the Paramount when the Movie Classics showings resume.

Some details of the lobby décor