Rockridge

Yesterday we visited Rockridge. It was actually the first time that I had ever been there. I didn't even know that it existed. My first impressions were that it seemed almost impossible for it to be part of Oakland. It was a lot different than what we are used to seeing in East Oakland. The biggest difference was the shops. There was alot of little boutiques and small stores that I had never heard about before and alot of them were pretty expensive. It was also obvious to see that the restaurants were different. Alot of the restaurants looked expensive and were really nice from the inside. They had all their tables set up with glasses and plates and stuff. They just looked really fancy compared to what we see here in East Oakland.

We actually had lunch in a mexican restaurant called Las Palmas. It was interesting to see that we were the only hispanics in the restaurant and the line was pretty long. When it comes to the actual taste of the food, I would say that it was different from what I'm used to. Being Mexican myself, I've tasted Mexican food from several different places and this restaurant wasn't all that good. I'ts hard to point out what exactly was missing but it just didn't taste right. It surprised me to hear, when we interviewed people, that Las Palmas was actually alot of peoples favorite restaurant becuase I actually didn't really like it.


Walking around Rockridge, I definitely felt out of place. I didnt feel like I blended in very well because everyone around there is moslty White. You migth see a couple of African Americans, Asians and other minorities but even they don't look like the people that you would normally see in East Oakland.

I think it's actually kinda cool that Oakland has places like this and it's important for poeple to know about it so that their negative perception of Oakland is changed. Not all parts of Oakland are as bad as people believe them to be.