North Berkeley's A Donkey & Goat Winery prides to be one of the few regional wineries producing delicious brews with eco-friendly manufacturing techniques. It uses only sustainably cultivated grapes grown in vineyards of Mendocino Ridge, Anderson Valley and Sierra Nevada, among other wine-producing regions of the country. Owners Jared and Tracey learnt the art of fine wine making in France and imply the age-old methods to churn out ambrosial beverages for their loyal patrons.
Founded in the year 1939, the Golden Gate Yacht Club has been a constant dwelling for all those interested in water sports. Since its inception, the place has become a home for ORACLE Racing. Golden Gate Yacht Club or GGYC as the club is also called, organizes several cruise trips and also offers leisure sailing. The club also has meeting or banquet halls on its premises, overlooking the beautiful waters where the members can conduct meetings and conferences. They also organize several boat parties and functions regularly.
Located in Novato, this beautiful winery hosts oenophiles from surrounding cities. The family-operated winery comprises of an expansive tasting room and an outdoor patio to indulge in leisurely wine-drinking. A visit to the Trek Winery will allow you to taste any five of their acclaimed wines for a small sum. Thereafter, you can pick from their splendid wine collection to take a bottle home.
If you like wine tasting but want to try something new, head over to Takara Sake USA near the Fourth Street Shopping District. Don't be fooled by Takara's looks, although the outside appears quite industrial, the tasting room is pleasant, airy, and elegant. Try a flight of sake and learn about the brewing and production of this flavorful, Japanese brew by peering through a factory window, viewing an informative movie, or exploring Takara's very own sake museum exhibiting antique sake-making tools. Don't like sake? Lucky for you, Takara also sells plum wines, shochu, cooking sake, malt beverages, Japanese vodka, and of course, souvenirs.
The New Parkway rose from Oakland's desire to get a speakeasy-style theater back after the beloved original Parkway Theater closed. After several years and tons of donations, the New Parkway was born. The theater is devoted to showing second-run and independent and new classic movies at much lower than average prices, and once inside you can order food, wine and beer to be delivered to you in the theater. And they aren't your average theaters, either! One theater is set up like a big dining room with wooden tables and chairs with a balcony full of cushy couches, while the other is a hodge-podge of old couches, armchairs and coffee tables, arranged on the floor to resemble entire living room sets. Select menu items can be ordered from inside the theater during the movie.
It's Haight-Ashbury, so what better music to be wafting in the air as you sip the house-made brews than the Grateful Dead? Remodeling has made the setting less psychedelic, and though there is an ebullient mural on the wall, the sound system will always take you back to the Summer of Love. That sets a mellow mood for the huge sandwiches, plates of sausages, bowls of hearty soup, and tempting finger foods such as french fries and onion rings. The service from the wait staff is friendly and the atmosphere is always 1967.