Getaways: Spend the day at Oakland’s Lake Merritt

It’s Saturday morning, and Lake Merritt’s borders have become a promenade for joggers, walkers, seniors (some with canes, some sitting on benches). Couples stroll holding coffee cups, others hold hands. Some push babies in strollers.

Out on the lake’s islands, birds ruffle their feathers and stretch their wings. A kayaker rows near Lake Chalet Seafood Bar and Grill, where a gondola is tied up at the dock.

This Oakland lake, with a perimeter of more than three miles, is a site for endless discovery.

There’s Fairyland; lawn bowling; nature center; boat rentals; and a seven-acre collection of themed gardens that include bonsai, Mediterranean and community beds.

The lake has a long history, too. It’s the first wildlife refuge in North America and qualifies as a birder’s paradise.

One discovery leads to another. Impressive buildings overlook the lake, among them a beautiful courthouse, the Scottish Rite Temple, the Victorian Camron Stanford House and the garden atop the Kaiser building garage (which some say is the largest rooftop garden in the world).

And then there are the gondola rides.

When Sam Merritt was Oakland’s mayor in 1869, he dammed most of San Antonio Creek to enlarge this tidal lagoon and limit the tide flowing in from the Alameda Estuary, but he couldn’t have imagined gondolas on his public lake. One hundred and 30 years later, April Quinn and her husband Angelino Sandri, brought gondolas to the lake.

They met at Long Beach State University, married in 1997 and moved for a time to Venice, where they hatched a dream and opened a gondola company in the U.S. They ordered authentic gondolas to be shipped to the San Francisco Bay, where they hoped to start their business.

Sandri came to San Francisco but didn’t have time to navigate the city’s long approval process before the boats arrived. Fortunately, he discovered Lake Merritt and the enthusiastic owner of the Boat House. The successful Gondola Servizio began in 1999.

Sandri actually prefers Oakland’s warmer, sunnier climate and the lake’s twilight colors and ring of lights, which are perfect for gondola rides.

Years later, the pair moved their gondolas across the lake to the upscale Lake Chalet Seafood Bar and Grill and opened a gift shop as well. Quinn says the city and local developers now use gondola pictures in marketing brochures.

But back when the couple first arrived, the lakeside was shabby and the rivers and storm drains flowing into the lake carried in pollution.

In 2002, Sandri and Quinn helped promote the successful DD Bond measure that focused on Lake Merritt improvements.

Bond money and ongoing planning fueled a massive clean up of the lake and renewal of the parks and paths around its perimeter. This included Lakeside Park on the north shore where Fairyland, Oakland’s beloved storybook theme park, sits amid giant oak trees.

Built in 1950, Fairyland was the first ever U.S. amusement park for young children. Walt Disney used it as the inspiration for his Fantasy Land and hired away Fairyland’s first director and a puppeteer.

By 2004, Fairyland was sorely in need of renovation, and there was talk of tearing it down. The city decided instead that it was too near and dear to the hearts of Oaklanders and began its restoration. Today, 40 sets have been created that draw from children’s book characters such as Peter Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland, the Old Woman in a Shoe and Willie the Blue Whale. There are special gardens, farm animals, tunnels, slides, puppet shows and the Jolly Trolley.

CJ Hirschfield, Fairyland’s executive director, says the children who came years ago are now bringing grandchildren. Some still have original magic keys that unlock talking story boxes. The colorful flower chairs have become the place to bring children and grandchildren for photos.

Within walking distance of Fairyland sits the ultra modern Cathedral of Christ the Light. The glass outside looks like a helmet, open in the front and at the top. Some liken it to the Pope’s miter. Architect Craig Hartman, using computer assisted design, created this house of worship to convey light as a spiritual experience.

One remarkable feature is the humongous Omega window behind the altar. There light enters through aluminum panels with 94,000 tiny perforations ranging from 1/8 inch to 1 inch in diameter. It results in an image of Christ on the throne that replicates one from the cathedral at Chartres, France. The same image can be seen from Grand Avenue on nights when lights are turned on inside the cathedral. In fact, the entire cathedral glows through the glass.

This new mother church of the diocese of Alameda and Contra Costa counties sits close to the spot at the edge of Lake Merritt where more than 200 years ago a tiny Oakland diocese held its first mass.

Today, the city is actually reversing some of Sam Merritt’s accomplishments by widening the channel from the lake to the Oakland Alameda estuary. This will allow more tidewater into the lake to refresh the waters. And when that project is done, Sandri will be able to steer his gondolas all the way to Jack London Square.

Sandy Sims is a San Jose-based travel writer.