Jaunted - oakland

Allegiant Air's Big News? Oakland.

kjb — 2012-01-27T13:04:35-05:00

We were all in a tizzy to hear what Allegiant Air had in store for us this week, as they were teasing some news on their Facebook page. It wasn’t exactly like waiting for Santa to arrive, but we kind of thought they would finally reveal some new details about their plans for Hawaii. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case—we’ll continue to wait—but they did announce information on their plans for another pretty decent location.

Allegiant Air is ready to boost service to and from the Bay Area of California, as they now have Oakland on their radar. Folks looking for some cheap options in the East Bay will probably welcome the addition, and the airport is only a traffic-filled bridge away from the rest of the area’s residents. Allegiant has named Oakland their newest focus city, so that means like seven new nonstop options for everyone from Raiders fans to MC Hammer.

Eat Some Cartoon Ice Cream at Fenton's in Oakland

kjb — 2011-02-04T15:05:40-05:00

It’s Academy Award season, but we usually are too busy watching awful television shows like Real Housewives of Somewhere to get out and see classy stuff like Black Swan. Even if we don’t have time for true cinema, we usually make sure we see all the nominated cartoons, so we were pretty excited when Disney’s Up took home that little statue last year for best animated film.

Sure it’s make believe, but at the end of the picture the two heroes of the film were enjoying some down time over an ice cream cone at Fenton’s. Luckily for everyone, Fenton’s Creamery isn’t a made up place, and we had the chance to swing by for a scoop and a sit not too long ago at the original Oakland location.

Southwest Airlines Kicks Kevin Smith Off a Flight For Being Too Fat

cmb — 2010-02-15T08:31:05-05:00

Director Kevin Smith (Mallrats, Clerks, Cop Out) has a warning for fellow fatties, "IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR".

Smith was asked to get off a flight from Oakland to Burbank, CA on Saturday for being a security risk, aka too fat. True to form, Smith Tweeted the entire escapade, explaining:

I flew out in one seat, but right after issuing me a standby ticket, Oakland Southwest attendant Suzanne (wouldn't give last name) told me Captain Leysath deemed me a 'safety risk.' Again: I'm way fat... But I'm not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I'm seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who'd already I.d.ed me as Silent Bob.

Zachary's Pizza In Oakland Tastes Like Life Has Just Begun

juliana — 2009-11-09T16:59:24-05:00

Last month we mentioned that Oakland was one of Five Cities With a Bad Rap that really deserved another chance. Aside from visiting the land that shaped MC Hammer, we urged you to check out some of the city's noteworthy neighborhoods and restaurants including the Pican restaurant with its gourmet take on Southern comfort food.

But another reason to hit up Oakland is for Zachary's Deep Dish Pizza on pedestrian-friendly College Avenue.

Now we know deep dish pizza is best left to the Chicago folk and we're not trying to tread on their territory here but Zachary's is Chicago-style deep dish (they call it "stuffed") and its founders Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel came from Wisconsin and Chicago, where they learned the art of the deep dish.

And indeed Zachary's is deep. And thick. With perfectly roasted tomatoes and plenty of cheese and whatever topping your gluttonous heart desires. Above, witness the perfection that is a large stuffed pizza with pepperoni and garlic.

Five Cities With a Bad Rap: Oakland, 2 Legit 2 Quit

Chanize — 2009-10-23T14:53:37-05:00

Some locales can’t seem to shake their less-than-sparkling reputations despite efforts to lock away the skeletons of yesterday. We’ve decided to highlight five of these Bad Rap Cities that are making moves to shed their grimy and gritty images in hopes of becoming more tourist-friendly. Maybe, just maybe, after reading this series you'll be willing to take a chance on them. Enjoy.

Bad Rap City: OaklandWhy Go?
Despite what you may have heard, Oakland isn’t a head-to-toe gang-riddled Dodge City. In fact, the word out now is that many parts are super chill and exemplify the real California state-of-mind, more so than high-energy San Francisco, less than 30 minutes away across the bay. True there’s evidence of poverty and homelessness on major streets like Broadway, but you’ll find that element in any Big City, U.S.A.

Here, blue and white-collar professionals live side-by-side, with more blending of races than ever before. There have been plenty of renovations in the city, especially in tourist-friendly Jack London Square (JLS) and the Oakland CVB’s website is a wealth of info on all that’s new in the city.

Another plus? It’s often cheaper to fly into Oakland than SFO thanks to Southwest and JetBlue (psst..there are rumblings of Ryan Air joining the low-cost carrier mix). Besides, how can you not visit the city that brought us MC Hammer? C'mon, you know you liked him, too.

Air Asia X To Debut Raiders Plane In California Today

kjb — 2009-09-14T13:24:14-05:00

Despite the return of professional football, we did not have a good weekend. Our favorite team blew it, and apparently fantasy football is not our forte. There’s always next weekend, so we’ll get over it, and for now we’ll focus our football attention towards Air Asia X and their snazzy Oakland Raiders plane. Seeing a big airplane in NFL livery is pretty cool, especially since we’re still secretly hoping that the low cost carrier will announce a plan to serve the US.

We saw the new plane sticking its tail out from the hangar over the summer, but today it’s flying into Oakland to celebrate the start of the season. After all, the Raiders are playing tonight, so the timing is perfect. However, if you head to the team’s website, you’ll see that tonight’s game is being promoted side by side with ads for Hawaiian Airlines. Maybe team officials didn’t get the memo that another airline has honored them with a custom plane.

Air Asia X's Oakland Raiders Plane Will Make Its Debut on September 14

juliana — 2009-06-26T13:44:56-05:00

Thanks to a lead from a tipster a few months back we heard that Air Asia X was readying one of its planes with an Oakland Raiders logo which led us to think that the no-frills airline would be starting service at OAK soon. But it turned out that it's just a sponsorship.

We got an official release from the Air Asia X folk about the Raiders plane, an Airbus A340 which will be called "Xcellence" as nod to the team's motto "Commitment to Excellence." While the plane will be flown into Oakland on September 14 for the Oakland Raider's kick-off game (for Monday Night Football), there are no plans in place yet for U.S. Air Asia service.

Still, Air Asia will be hosting a 1,000 FREE SEATS online contest in which students will be chosen at random for the opportunity to win free tickets to a Raiders home game. You can visit AirAsia.com or Raiders.com for more info on the contest.

In the meantime, if Air Asia does start U.S. service soon we have a feeling that they wouldn't mind kicking it off in Oakland first.

[Photo: Andrew/Airliners.Net]