Era Art Bar and Lounge

Save your $4 and skip the Bay Bridge commute. East Bay residents are finally getting the chance to party in their own 'hood. The Oakland nightlife scene is stepping up, with help from new uptown venues like Era Art Bar, which opened in February 2010.

The stylish crowd that fills the 5,000-square-foot space on a Friday night is out for a good time in a place with a bit more ambience than the local dive bar. Here, wooden pillars, arched ceilings and a painted concrete floor lend an artistic vibe to the lower level, where you’ll find a 35-foot-long steel and concrete bar, dance floor, gallery space and leather sofa lounge seating.

The deejay spins everything from The Roots to Michael Jackson. The decorative wings on the wall are made from wood-chip feathers, and the handblown lamps illuminating the bar resemble giant industrial lightbulbs. A Clint Eastwood movie plays silently on two flat-screen TVs, opposite the month’s contemporary art collection.

Upstairs, a chandelier made from a series of colorful bulbs leads you to the second-story cocktail lounge, with a smaller bar, hardwood floors and an abstract, wall-sized painting of a baby surfing in a vast red ocean. The room’s antique chairs create intimate seating areas, where separate groups can gather over specialty cocktails.

Era is its own entity, much like a work of art. The contrasts between old and new come together, and the eclectic mix of reclaimed wood, old Western, and modern edge creates its own homogeneity, defining, in a sense, an era of its own.

The bar and lounge makes a great addition to the Art Murmur strip. And not insignificantly, the drinks here are made with organic fruit, house-made syrups and bitters, and Bay Area brewed wine.

HelloSanFrancisco Tip: Time your entrance – the cover charge doesn’t apply until 10 p.m. Also, call ahead for upstairs seating reservations.

- by Renee M. Rutledge, San Francisco Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Renee M. Rutledge

Renee M. Rutledge currently writes articles on local travel and culture for Red Tricycle, Parents' Press, Oakland Magazine, and Alameda Magazine.