The “Oak-ness Monster” has been spotted in Lake Merritt since the 1940s. It’s described as your standard Loch Ness-style creature with humps, spikes, and a long tongue. The best spot to catch a peek of the mega-beast is from docks at the Lake Chalet restaurant.

Mountain View Cemetery stretches for 226 acres in the hills above Oakland and has one of the best views of the San Francisco Bay in town. Other than the hundreds of historical graves and spooky mausoleums, it’s not that different from your local neighborhood park. On any given day, you’ll find Oakland residents jogging, walking their dogs, and just hanging out. Note: Do ensure you make your way out by dusk. The last thing you want to do is get locked behind the gates of a 150-year-old graveyard overnight.

Children’s Fairyland has been on the shores of Lake Merritt since 1950. During an age when the few “kiddie parks” in the country consisted of pony rides and snack stands, the park’s creator went BIG with elaborate fairytale sets, farm animals, and live entertainment. Walt Disney visited on its opening and incorporated some ideas for Disneyland, which opened five years later.

An unidentified Oakland man who wanted to brighten up his neighborhood painted thousands of gnomes, mushrooms, other fanciful creatures, and teensy gnome-sized doors on small wooden blocks, which he then posted at sidewalk-level (gnome-height) around the city. After a brief battle with Pacific Gas & Electric, who wanted them evicted from utility poles, the gnomes were allowed to stay.

An artifact of the Key Route streetcar lines in Oakland, staircases were built all over the East Bay to transport pedestrians quickly up the city’s hillier areas, connecting different neighborhoods and streets. Urban hikers have documented and explored many of the remaining “secret staircases,” where you can now catch views of the city and the bay or climb past famous local landmarks.