2025 has just begun and my heart aches as fires rage in LA. It is an ominous start to an undoubtedly challenging new year, but Oakland Yard has made me ever more certain that community is the way through even the most difficult times.

Community is a word that gets thrown around a lot and the imprecision can hollow out the meaning. But community is central to our lives, and when I think about what it means to us at Oakland Yard, I start with our customers. You come in day after day, not just to buy a bottle but often to bring stories or evidence of your latest culinary feats, the news of your lives, or to have a glass and a chat before you go. I also think about our team, each person who makes Oakland Yard not only a site of transaction but also connection. I think about the group of artists and craftspeople who have helped us mark so many occasions with our signature outdoor market party, celebrating the long summer days, the first warmth of spring, and our anniversary. I think about the other business owners and workers on the block– Oscar and Jake, guitar-man Johnny, Emma and Irene at States Coffee, the Marquee stylists and the Moran Brothers, Steve and the punks at 1-2-3-4 Go, Dax and his barbershop crew. I think of the winemakers, distributors, and delivery people dropping cases week after week. I also think of the other small business owners across Oakland and the East Bay who think about community like we do: interconnected circles of relationships who come together to give and receive support.

We all, in bigger and smaller ways, tend to this place– 420 40th Street, Temescal, Oakland, the Bay Area, California– and that connects us to each other. In this spirit, I’m excited to help launch the Third Space Collective, a nascent mutual aid effort to fortify community-rooted small business owners, and I invite you to support the participating businesses who exemplify these values.

In the weeks and months ahead, Oakland Yard will be here for you, come what may, and I will be hosting the winter series Welcome Wednesdays: soup, bread, wine, and welcome. Come be nourished, feel connected to the people you share this place with, and help tend to the spirit of our community.

But first, TONIGHT...THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS: Wines of Southern France - Taste 3 reds from the Languedoc-Roussillon or 3 whites from Provence and the Rhône valley.
2023 Domaine de Roquefort Petit Salé de Villeneuve
2023 Anne Pichon Sauvage Vermentino
2022 Domaine la Cabotte Colline Côtes du Rhone Blanc
2023 Domaine Rimbert Chant de Marjolaine
2019 Les Clos Perdus Année Rouge
2020 Domaine de Majas Côtes Catalanes Rouge
Flights $15 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm

SATURDAY 1/11: OREGON WINE FLIGHTS -
Taste a white, a light ‘orange’ wine, and two reds from the Willamette, Bear Creek, and Applegate Valleys.
2023 Cameron Giuliano White Blend
2022 Kelley Fox Nerthus Skin-Macerated White
2023 Ayres Vineyard Ribbon Ridge Gamay
2022 Twill Cellars Syrah
Flights $18 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm!

Yours,
Julia