Kurt's Informal 99% Invisible Oakland Tour (Note: most of this can be walked fairly easily, and it starts at the City Center subway exit. I also recommend getting an escooter, if you want!). I wrote out a version of this in a reddit comment when someone asked recently about visiting Oakland, but figured I'd polish it up a bit.

Start at our old office location is downtown, right across from Modern Coffee. It's dark red brick with a black metal fire escape. I had my desk in a room that was right next to the fire escape, which I sometimes climbed out on for fun, and from which I took a photo that later was used as source material for the first two-page spread of The 99% Invisible City (a shot of utility codes on the street). So for folks curious where we are/what we're talking about in Exploring the 99pi City (and the book), start there!

To the left of the upstairs entry, you'll see those hostile architecture knobs I mention in the episode, in front of a first-floor restaurant (unless it has a new tenant). Next to Modern Coffee (our go-to coffee place when we worked there!) is the Tribune Tower featured in Tube Benders. It's a beautiful building at any time of day, but at night you can see the neon light up, which is rather magical. High up on brick buildings around this area you can see those steel retention bolt/plate systems we talk about, too.

Around that same intersection are some speed cushions (or there were, at least, a few years ago -- they tore up a lot of the street around here, which, fun fact: is why there were so many utility codes in the area when I took the photo). You can also look northeast from that area to see the microwave relay towers on the top of a building a few blocks up (also visible from the park two blocks away).

If you're looking for the 'full 99pi experience' (beyond episodes), or just hungry, we used to get lunch weekly at Marhaba nearby (you may recall us mentioning Pakistani buffet in older episodes!). There's even a back room that few people realize is there, but is (or at least: was) open -- made for a great lunch meeting place. They got to the point of expecting us weekly, and bringing us fresh naan and other goodies. Super nice folks, and good food!

If you're looking for something fun a few blocks away: there's Chinatown to the south, which has a really cool 'scramble intersection' (i.e. all-direction walking). I actually have a t-shirt with the stylized crosswalk patterning on it. I'm pretty sure that shirt was designed/sold by Oaklandish, but it may be discontinued now. I digress!

A bit to the west from there is Swan's Market, where we also used to eat -- there are a bunch of different food options, bars, etc... and there was, last I checked, an outdoor market on Fridays, too. I'm getting a little of the 99pi track here, but the old brick buildings around here are quite lovely. Alright, back to 99pi:

The Oakland Buddha from He's Still Neutral is a bit farther away around 11th Ave and E 19th St. When I went there for the episode, I spotted another Buddha about a block and a half away, so might be worth looking around! Note: like the Tribune Tower, this is nifty by day, but lights up at night if you're around in the evening!

I think the closest Ghost Lanes may be up in Berkeley, or at least farther north in Oakland.

Deep into the western part of San Francisco, you can find Sutro Baths, talked about in Young Ruin. Also, way farther out, across the Bay and north (quite a bit of a drive) there's the Bay Model we visited on our retreat. We did a show called America's Last Top Model about a similar but outdoor model of the Mississippi River. If you search our website, you'll find other stories about different parts of the Bay Area, of course, too.

P.S. I also like the abandoned 16th Street Station in West Oakland, but there's no 99pi connection to it ;)