Tango in SF/Oakland

[bastet]

Two new threads from me in under a month...surely the moon will rise in the west now...

Now here's my question(s):

It looks like I may be in Oakland (near Lake Merritt) for a conference in August and I don't know anything about Tango events in the area except for the alternative milonga at Cellspace (already on my radar) across the Bay.

Is there anyone from the area who has any info they might be able to pass on?

Is transportation across the Bay easy to find to go to a milonga? (Is it disastrously expensive?)

Are there any milongas/drop-in classes on the Oakland side that would be easy to reach?

What are the best milongas in the area? (And for my purposes, best is going to mean friendly to out of town people.)

[Lilly_of_the_valley]

Two new threads from me in under a month...surely the moon will rise in the west now...

Now here's my question(s):

It looks like I may be in Oakland (near Lake Merritt) for a conference in August and I don't know anything about Tango events in the area except for the alternative milonga at Cellspace (already on my radar) across the Bay.

Is there anyone from the area who has any info they might be able to pass on?

Is transportation across the Bay easy to find to go to a milonga? (Is it disastrously expensive?)

Are there any milongas/drop-in classes on the Oakland side that would be easy to reach?

What are the best milongas in the area? (And for my purposes, best is going to mean friendly to out of town people.)

Bastet, lookie here. Set it on "East Bay": http://tangomango.org/index.php

Great teachers in the area, drop-in classes:
David and Mariana, their web site:http://www.davidymariana.info/

Romina and Marcelo:
http://www.rominamarcelo.com/tango.html

Felipe Martinez y Rosa: http://tangonnection.blogspot.com/

And of course, Homer Ladas y Cristina:http://www.organictangosf.info/

Great place to practice and take drop-in lessons twice a week; go to an all-nighter milonga once a month in Berkeley: The Beat: http://users.lmi.net/thebeat/tango.htm

Sorry, I know nothing about public transit.

If you have any questions about specific milongas or anything, don't hesitate, will be happy if could help.

[Lilly_of_the_valley]

Oh, and in San Francisco itself the friendly to out-of-towners milongas would be, in my opinion:

Cellspace on Wednesdays

La Pista or Verdi on Thursdays (tricky, as one or the other might get deserted due to additional circumstances, and it's hard to predict which one)

Diamond Heights milonga, last Friday of the month

The Late Shift milonga at Sheril Burke dance center AKA Metronome, on Saturdays

Cocomo on Sundays (not every Sunday, might get better or worse depending of who's hosting/DJ-ing that night).

[bastet]

thanks for the info.

Looks like all the nights are covered for milongas!

Now I just need to figure out about the public transport. I won't have a car at this conference, but I will have at least one free day so I'll need to figure out how I can get across the Bay and in the local area.

[Lilly_of_the_valley]

thanks for the info.

Looks like all the nights are covered for milongas!

Now I just need to figure out about the public transport. I won't have a car at this conference, but I will have at least one free day so I'll need to figure out how I can get across the Bay and in the local area.

Bastet, all the teachers I mentioned reside in the East Bay and go to SF regularly for tango-related functions. Perhaps, you could contact them in advance on a transportation question?

I know there exists a Yahoo group of SF Bay Area people looking for carpools to/from milongas. I suggest you write any Cellspace/ SFTX volunteers whose emails are mentioned on the web sites, and they will redirect you.

Sometimes I see visitors getting to a milonga without a pre-arranged ride back, but there is always somebody giving them a lift after!

[Zhena]

Now I just need to figure out about the public transport. I won't have a car at this conference, but I will have at least one free day so I'll need to figure out how I can get across the Bay and in the local area.

Try http://transit.511.org/.

[bastet]

thanks for the info!