Paramount Lights

Sometimes it's not about the food at all, just about delight. The best $5 bargain in the Bay area is a ticket to see a classic film at the Paramount movie palace in Oakland. Ignore every scary thing you've ever heard or read about Oakland (it's mostly TV news hype and BS anyway) and go. The Paramount is a delight from start to finish.

The restored Art Deco theater is simply over-the-top gorgeous. The organ concert alone is worth the price of admission. Then, there's the Deco-Win game, delightfully kitschy, not to mention a cartoon and a newsreel, as we always enjoyed in back in the day. As if that were not enough, there's a full-length, big screen, classic movie to enjoy.

We saw "Singing in the Rain" recently and loved it all over again - "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon" are coming up. You just gotta go.