Don't get us wrong: We hella love Oakland, in all its urban, slightly dangerous, Brooklyn-in-the-90s sort of glory. But excuse us if we chuckle a little finding it on a list of places around the world to visit this year, sandwiched between London and Tokyo, in today's New York Times. They cite the three-year-old Fox Theater and the burgeoning food and bar scene—specifically Commis, Hawker Fare, and Daniel Patterson's Plum, Plum Bar, and Haven—as signs that Oakland is finally coming into its own, at least in the eyes of NYT-reading tourists.

There still isn't really a hotel one would want to stay in in Oakland ... and those pockets of promise, especially around the Uptown district, are still flanked by truly desolate streets we would never send our out-of-town relatives walking down by themselves. (We should note that GQ's Alan Richman, in singing the praises of Commis earlier this year, still managed to feel vaguely threatened on tony Piedmont Avenue.)

But yes, there is cool-ish stuff going on over there —you hear about the pop-up 'hood?—and we think the the Brooklyn-in-the-90s description is apt.

[NYT]