Oakland Columbarian
by deisnor
5 months ago
4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland CA
Description:
Via Oakland.com
Tel. 510.654.0123
Host to a challenging series of simultaneous 20th-century music performances every year, the labyrinthine, echoing halls of the Oakland Columbarium house thousands of little glassed-in shelves from floor to cavernous ceiling. Each shelf holds a little bronze urn or book-shaped canister, and each of these in turn holds the ashen remains of family members gone to that great human-heaven in the sky. The Columbarium, with its many mosaic tiled fountains, rounds of gardened greenery and sandy stonework arches, is arguably one of the most serene and lovely places in the Bay Area to wander alone. It's not bad for a daytime date, either--that is, if you're both fans of Harold and Maude. (TB)