.Letters from our Editor

People go to the East to reinvent themselves; they come West to be themselves. And nowhere else can someone do that with more freedom of expression than in the East Bay. From the campus to the curb, it’s in our DNA to be true to one’s self and vision. But it doesn’t stop there—we share it: The walls of our galleries and museums are lined with area art; our venues and stages thunder with local voices; and our streets are an ever-evolving canvas of murals and more.

With apologies to Mr. Tony Bennett—sure he may have left his heart in San Francisco—but anyone who’s been in Oakland for more than two beats leaves a bit of their soul there. That goes for the greater East Bay, from (alphabetically) Alameda, Albany and Berkeley all the way to Union City—under the right conditions, something spiritual happens to you here that changes you. Moments, even small ones, can feel epochal to one’s own personal timeline.

The East Bay has long been the epicenter of the gourmet universe. From Alice Waters introducing the Bay Area to the farm-to-table concept nearly 50 years ago to Alfred Peet kicking off the American coffee revolution from a Berkeley storefront—it seems that everyone in the East Bay has always had a prescient palate.