Valdez Street Vibes
Valdez Street between 23rd and 24th Streets
Oakland
Feb. 10, 2024
I was surprised that, even if I was only there a short while, I caught it. I caught the vibe.
The other day, I was chatting at a local bar with a friend who grew up in New York with a dream of “California cool.” “I don’t know if you know this, but that’s the vibe it gives out to everyone who doesn’t live there. It just seemed so cool.”
Funnily enough, that’s how I think of New York City and all its unique and diverse boroughs. Growing up in Northern California, I always envisioned Manhattan as home to the most cinematic idylls of my imagined East Coast youth, filled with larger-than-life personalities and childhood summers splashing around under open fire hydrants, mixing it up in the streets and on the subways, a world away from my suburban childhood. Even if it exists only in the movies, my dream childhood nostalgia centers around something that feels like a neighborhood party.
I found something like that at Valdez Street Vibes last Saturday. The free outdoor party is scheduled for the second and fourth Saturday of every month on Valdez Street in downtown Oakland, between 23rd and 24th Street, a stone’s throw from Lake Merritt. And even though it was only half-trying this weekend, what with competing events (Lunar New Year, Super Bowl parties) and the chilly air as the sun went down, there was still a party to be had, a vibe to be caught.
“People were a little distracted today,” Kayla, a vendor selling crochet animals, told me. “Everyone is gearing up for other parties, or leaving early because the sun is setting. But I’m still excited to keep coming.”
A jazz band had just performed. Teenagers were playing basketball at the hoop set up on one end of the street. Diners sat at the outdoor tables from the restaurants lining the block.
Though it wasn’t as lively in the waning afternoon, the atmosphere felt fun, community-oriented, and laidback. It was a vibe, a fitting one to capture the true spirit of Oakland and counteract some false narratives that people have. In my mind, it felt like a neighborhood get-together revealing the true soul of the city, a place where you could meet up with friends and family, feel safe, have unadulterated, clean fun.
Without competing events, I expect Valdez block parties to get livelier in coming months. “It helps promote the local community, encourages families and locals to come hang out,” added Kayla. “It’s good for the city of Oakland.”
Just then, a little boy ran in looping, wide circles around his dad, up and down the block now mostly empty of adults, laughing at nothing but the simple joy of being a kid running in the street. He included me in his widening orbit, unselfconsciously welcoming me to the party.
I liked being immediately accepted into the tribe of youth. It felt freeing and nostalgic. I was tempted to play, but instead, I walked down the street, away from the good vibes, to grab something to eat. Even if it was chilly and more low-key on this particular Saturday, it felt like any treasured day in the summers of my youth.
