Every museum has an educational mission, and this one is dedicated to California. You'll find rotating exhibitions on artistic and scientific themes, and permanent galleries dedicated to the state’s diverse ecology and history, as well as California art, from traditional landscapes to re-imagined cartography. Start your weekend here on a Friday night (after 5pm), when DJs, food trucks and free art workshops for kids make it a fun hangout.
Oakland Museum of California
Top choice in Oakland
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
12.05 MILES
When Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of New York's Central Park, gazed in 1865 upon the plot of land San Francisco Mayor Frank McCoppin wanted to turn…
10.26 MILES
Was it the fall of 1966 or the winter of ’67? As the Haight saying goes, if you can remember the Summer of Love, you probably weren’t here. The fog was…
7.86 MILES
If you look close today at the clinker-brick buildings lining these narrow backstreets, past the temple balconies jutting out over bakeries, acupuncture…
7.82 MILES
No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
7.56 MILES
When the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expanded in 2016, it was a mind-boggling feat that nearly tripled the institution's size to accommodate a…
7.78 MILES
If you want to really see San Francisco, head to Coit Tower, a 1933 art deco beaut designed by Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard that sits high up on…
11.74 MILES
Few cities boast a structure so iconic as the Golden Gate Bridge, commemorated in everything from films like The Maltese Falcon to not one but two emojis…
9.33 MILES
Welcome to San Francisco's sunny side, the land of street ball and Mayan-pyramid playgrounds, semiprofessional tanning and taco picnics. Although the…
Nearby Oakland attractions
1. Oakland Public Library, Asian Branch
0.45 MILES
This library is packed with books in Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese, plus locals playing Xiangqi (Chinese chess) and Mahjong. It's a nice spot…
0.53 MILES
An urban respite, Lake Merritt is a popular place to stroll or go running (a 3.5-mile paved path circles the lake), with bonsai and botanical gardens, a…
0.66 MILES
This small park doesn't have much draw on its own, but it forms the geographic heart of Oakland's Little Saigon neighborhood, and is an interesting spot…
0.68 MILES
This beautifully refurbished 1914 beaux-arts building is a downtown landmark. This was the first high-rise government building in the country, and when it…
0.69 MILES
This 10-acre kiddie attraction dates from 1950, and we're not sure if it's been overhauled since. We mean that as a compliment! Children's Fairyland, with…
0.69 MILES
Reconstructed in part using the logs from London's original cabin in the Yukon Territory of Canada, this historic wooden cabin allows visitors a peek…
0.75 MILES
The area where writer and adventurer Jack London once raised hell now bears his name. The pretty waterfront location is worth a stroll, especially when…
8. African American Museum & Library at Oakland
0.87 MILES
Part of the Oakland Public Library, the AAMLO consists of a non-circulating library with huge collections on African American history and culture in…