April ushers in a busy spring on Lakeshore. We begin with the annual Easter Parade. Enjoy new events, giving back, amazing lunches, and brunches throughout the month. We should note that Starbucks Lakeshore closed, and the Lake Park Ave location is still open.
Easter Parade April 8 at 11 am
Join the Lakeshore Business Improvement District and the Lakeshore Baptist Church for the annual Easter parade and party on April 8th!
The parade will kick off from the Lakeshore Baptist green at 11 am and return after the parade for fun Easter-themed face painting, kids meals, and games!
Lakeshore has fun spring activities to enjoy before or after the spring holidays. Arizmendi has traditional hot cross buns for Easter and chocolate macaroons for Passover. Silver Moon Kids has great games, books, and clothing, including toy rabbits and carrots for Easter.
Seeking more activities for the family? Gymboree has classes and is a fabulous place for birthday parties for toddlers and young children. Silver Moon Kids sells new and used items and is a good place to bring kids’ items that are no longer needed; you can do some spring cleaning to sell the old items and buy new ones.
Events, Classes, and Anniversaries
Hipline has pop-ups coming up, including Outdoor Shimmy Pop Express, Release and Roll, Rest Well Yoga, Industry Pop for Caregivers and more. See Hipline’s schedule here for more information.
Caña is starting a first Friday jazz night on April 7th! The first show will be Daria Niles and friends. Happy hour is from 3-6 pm and the live music starts at 7 pm.
Arise Yoga celebrated its second anniversary on March 26th with a party with drinks, desserts, flowers, and more! Arise Yoga is a dedicated community member and has classes for all levels, including Yoga for beginners on Saturdays, April 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th, from 12:30-2:30pm.
Brunch, Lunch, and More
Looking for brunch? The Lakeshore Cafe and Shakewell are open with scrumptious meals for the whole family. Proposition Chicken has a variety of food for different preferences, including gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan items. Rico Rico Taco has al pastor, shrimp, carne asada, nopales, and more. Rico Rico Vegano on Rand Avenue has excellent vegan Mexican food. Lin Jia has delicious lunches or dinners.
Get a dessert at Colonial Donuts, frozen yogurt, Yogofina. Peet’s Coffee has a new line Matcha drinks, including Matcha Frappe, or a hot Matcha Latte, Vanilla Almond Matcha Latte (hot or over ice), or Iced Brown Sugar Matcha Oat Milk Latte with Jelly.
Giving Back
Rico Rico Taco is part of the Dining for Justice program. When you get a delicious taco, 1% of the revenue gets donated to the Community Kitchens free meal program.
Proposition Chicken gives 10% of their in-store profits on Mondays to different nonprofits. This month’s Oakland nonprofit recipient is No Immigrant, No Spice. The mission of No Immigrants, No Spice is to “shed light on the positive impact immigrants have in this country and on our collective culture.” Learn more about their important work (and the amazing contributions of immigrants) here. Check out their BBQ Without Borders on 5/13 at the Oakland Museum of California.
Starbucks Closed
Starbucks on Lakeshore Avenue closed this month (the Lake Park Ave location is still open). This makes the 12th current vacancy on Lakeshore Avenue. Our businesses are a vibrant and crucial part of our community, and need your support. Please continue to support our local businesses and the Lakeshore community; we look forward to more businesses joining and contributing to a thriving community soon.
New Director for the Lakeshore BID
I (Kira Pascoe) have been honored and privileged to be the Co-Director of the Lakeshore BID for the past 4 1/2 years. The Lakeshore businesses and community are dedicated and resilient. It has been an eventful, sometimes challenging, and almost always rewarding time for Lakeshore, Oakland, and the community. I am thrilled to introduce Racheal Knight Scott, who worked at Silver Lining Jewelry for ten years and will be the new Co-Director for the Lakeshore BID.