Five Great Places to Quietly Sit

I am an insanely social creature who spent my professional career hanging out with 150 kids a day for 36 years, with a daily part-time job talking to dozens of customers looking to buy books. I run a theater company and for about two months per production I rehearse and perform typically alongside 15 other actors. We do three or four shows a year in front of lovely audiences numbering 50 to 150. But some days the last thing I want is to have any sort of interaction with another person. Yes, I can be found at nearly every known coffee shop in town, reading, writing, and planning plays, but sometimes even the other sipping denizens are too much and what I really need is to go Thoreau and seek solitude. So I have my favorite spots where I can sit, stare at the flora and fauna, and let nature “ease my troubles” (thank you, Van Morrison). Below are five great places to quietly sit. I offer these hoping to help others who need nature and nurture, and trusting that if you see me there, you’ll leave me the heck alone.

1. Bench Along the Water Down the Little Path Near the Little Library on Eastshore Drive

As a reader I frequent bookstores, the library, and thrift stores in search of a good story. I also love looking into the many adorable Little Free Libraries found all over town. I’m charmed by the architecture of each tiny building and rejoice when I find a book housed therein. That’s how I found the wonderful memorial bench along the shore off of Eastshore Drive. With or without a new novel in hand, pushing my bike, I walk the short walk that opens onto some of the water that surrounds us. And then I sit on a worn bench placed to remember Brandon Sorensen. The area is home to lots of ice plants, now and then a curious duck, probably fish swimming or maybe watching me, and me. The bench is comfortable and the place is quiet, so much so that you can hear the tiny slaps the tide makes against the rocks. I’ve seen others at this spot, but there’s an unwritten and unspoken rule that this space is meant for one inhabitant at a time, so if I’m there the next visitor comes back later, and likewise I’ll wander back if someone got there ahead of me. There’s evidence sometimes that teens in twos or trios have been there, but mostly it’s just this author in what Wallace Stegner called an “angle of repose.”

2. Bench on Path Around Bay Farm Near the Harbor Bay Club

I’m an older person, having passed the age that matches the maximum speed limit on multilane highways in California, so I’m grateful for the thoughtful folks who create places to sit. One of my favorites is the wooden slatted bench just off the path that goes around Bay Farm, located by the Harbor Bay Club. And while it’s not as secluded as the one near Eastshore, it does have something special about it—the view. When I plop down after taking off my helmet and enjoying a good sigh, the show begins. From my seat I can see a wide swath of the estuary and all the action opposite on Island Drive. Often there is a bird show. Flocks of flying acrobats swoop and bank through the air, reflecting the sun on their feathers, and making me grin. Sometimes there’s something in the water, a boat, piece of driftwood, or a person up to their knees doing I don’t know what. Happily disrupting the view are folks like me traveling along the path. Some ride bikes, or walk, or push strollers, or rollerblade along, many giving a wave or saying hello as they go left to right or right to left. I don’t stay long, don’t need to really, happiness comes quickly, and then off I go on my bike, looking for mischief.

3. Cement Porch in the Alley Behind the Big Tree Behind Tomatina

When we were quarantined I roamed about often on Park Street looking to support the local restaurants by getting take-out lunch. I’d order from behind the plastic shields, get my sack of food, and seek a place to sit and eat. One of my favorites was the large cement porch for the old brick building behind Tomatina. It was the right height to lean my bicycle, roomy enough for me to sit and spread my picnic, and nearby there was an incredibly beautiful gigantic redwood tree. Often I am tree-blind, not noticing the magnificent twisty ones at Chochenyo Park, or the palm trees by upper Washington, or the stunning redwood near the 200 building on the campus of Encinal High School. That tree is cousin to my lunchmate in the alley, stretching high into the sky, and with what’s got to be the best bark ever. Like Academy Award-winning tree bark, the Nobel laureate for bark, all thick and groovy and oddly soft to the touch. While I often felt lonely at that spot on those COVID-ruled days, I was thankful for the sitting, and my quiet special vertical pal.

4. Picnic Tables in Between the Bathroom and the Tennis Wall at Washington Park

There are lots of parks in Alameda. We have an entire Parks and Recreation Department whose job it is to oversee them. All of those parks have paths guiding you to things to do at those specific parks. You can nap on the grass at Leydecker . Do cartwheels at Tillman. Stand on the stage at Rittler and recite sonnets. And pretty much swing on swings everywhere, but for sure at Lincoln Park by the cool climbing structure. At lower Washington Park you can hit a tennis ball against the wall, either waiting for a court, or working on your game, and when you’re done you can sit in the shade, sip from your reusable environmentally conscious water bottle, and let the breeze cool you. The locale I’m referring to is the picnic tables in between the bathrooms and the wall. It’s a bit more secluded than the seating area near the place where you place your racket to queue for a court. Or the bleachers around the corner where daily you can watch a pretty good game of doubles. What makes the secluded spot most terrific is the shade. There are trees nearby and they have branches and leaves that make shade which can help the breeze cool your sweaty body. So I sit there, and you can too.

5. The Healing Garden

The Healing Garden used to be a parking lot where, years ago, they held the farmer’s market that now happens on Tuesdays and Saturdays on Haight Avenue off of Webster Street . During quarantine the space became a place to eat outdoors, with wooden tables and benches, along with tall round tops and stools. For lunch or dinner you could—and still can—get tacos at Calafia, a sandwich from Domenico’s , or a bag of chips and a soda from Discount City, and sit and dine. Then from the sadness of George Floyd’s death came the wall of murals separating the sides of the space and making it into an art gallery. The second iteration of murals can be seen there now, courtesy of several very talented people and the folks at the West End Arts District . And there’s a stage where you can see musicians perform, dancers dance, and the Foodbank Players do their plays. Most days, you can enjoy the serenity of the space pretty much all on your own. Some friendly locals regularly hang out there, the crows do squawk often, and traffic traffics along the street, but between the walls it is a rectangle of calm and beauty. It is not bucolic in the traditional sense, yet when I’ve been there, on a day of fog or sunshine, it feels separate and solo and asphalt pretty.

And you, fellow sit-izens of a similar age. Or you, youngsters looking for a place to flirt. In a town of 76,000 people within the larger Bay Area of 7.7 million peeps, where do you escape the noise for quiet, seeking hum versus hubbub?

Gene Kahane is the founder of the Foodbank Players , a lifelong teacher, and former Poet Laureate for the City of Alameda. Reach him at gene@alamedapost.com . His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Gene-Kahane .

The post Five Great Places to Quietly Sit appeared first on Alameda Post .