The Nightcap: The dark, loud and loved Ruby Room

The Nightcap is a series that features a favorite Oakland drinking establishment every Friday afternoon. This week, it’s The Ruby Room, a dimly-lit rocker bar across the street from the downtown Oakland library. Owner Trevor Latham is also the president of the East Bay Rats, a West Oakland biker club, and is often found working the door at The Ruby as a bouncer.

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The Nightcap: Eli’s Mile High Club returns to rocking

The Nightcap is a series that features a favorite Oakland drinking establishment every Friday afternoon. Eli’s Mile High Club has a colorful history and was once a lively musical venue, but neighbor complaints kept it quiet for years. When new owners tried to revive it, they had to wait three years for a permit to host live shows. The music returned in January, and now there’s a tattoo shop above the bar as well.

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The Nightcap: The steady, no-frills, neighborly George Kaye’s

The Nightcap is a series that features a favorite Oakland drinking establishment every Friday afternoon. This week, it’s George Kaye’s. It first opened in 1934, right after Prohibition ended, serving drinks to neighborhood folks in the same small, wood-paneled room the bar occupies today. Much of Kaye’s has remained the same for decades, in fact, like the 1950’s cash register, the original icebox and bathroom doors, and the wood bar.

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The Nightcap: Partying with the owner at Kim’s Backyard

The Nightcap is a new series that will feature a favorite Oakland drinking establishment every Friday afternoon. This week, it’s Kim’s Backyard. Kim Okwa Janke opened up Kim’s Backyard, a bar on Telegraph at 24th Street, because she was retired and wanted to party. She insists it’s really as simple as that.

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The Nightcap: Hanging out at Room 389

Meet the next watering hole in our new bar series, The Nightcap: Room 389 opened last year on Grand Avenue near Lake Merritt, and its laid-back atmosphere and good music has helped its popularity steadily grow. The bar, says owner Benjamin Cukierman, is a place where neighbors “come hang out with their friends without having to yell over the music.”

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