Village Pizza has a large and tasty menu. The food's not bad, either.

I had fettucine with big fat chunks of mushroom in a light garlic and herb sauce; Chad had the stand-by spaghetti and meatball, something I never, ever order, but wished I had this time because his was even better than mine.

It's worth noting that they also have freshly-shredded parmesan, something that's unfortunately uncommon at the trattorias we can afford.

We walked it off afterwards.

There's a varied nightlife on Park that we'd been unaware of. The slick lounge kids and older aficionados hang out at Kelly's, where they've got live jazz.

There was some crazy zydeco booming from the upstairs of the Eagles hall on Alameda Ave.

Across the street, the boy scouts were hanging out under the evil eye of the Masonic Temple.

It was pretty spook by there, so we skedaddled.

I thought a neon sign for a business that keeps regular business hours was a little weird.

Ole's has a great breakfast; people are usually lined up down the street when we go, but the place has two large dining rooms, so you're in pretty quick.

We stopped to admire the big fat fish in the Vietnamese restaurant. Chad said a little old man peeked out from behind the corner, but I didn't see him. I think Chad may have imagined it.

Fort Knox has my one of my favorite neons.

It's just so sassy.

We've been thinking about getting a new rug.

But the Oriental rug shop was closed.

Chad thought this guy was way scarier than the Masons.

We came back for lunch the following day. (next: our evening tour continues to Oakland)