Best Design Destinations in Old Oakland

Sometimes inspiration for the next design project or blog post can be found right outside the door. So we at CasaSugar decided to challenge ourselves by kicking off a new recurring feature that focuses on just that. With iPhones in hand, we'll be Instagram-ing our way through different San Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods, snapping photos, tweeting our finds, and posting our favorite shots in our new series, Design Field Trip. Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook pages to see which San Francisco neighborhood we'll hit up next, or follow us on Instagram to check out all of our field-trip finds under the hashtag #designfieldtrip.

Last week, Elka and I traveled across the Bay to explore Old Oakland's popuphood. The brainchild of Sarah Filley and Alfonso Dominguez, popuphood launched in September 2011, using the historically rich but under populated neighborhood of Old Oakland as its guinea pig. Offering small businesses six months of free rent with the goal of having them sign long-term leases, popuphood is slowly filling up vacant storefronts, transforming this sleepy nook into a happening retail destination. Equipped with our iPhones, we knocked off two popuphood stores on our list and even had time to taste some of the neighborhood's culinary delights. Keep reading to see what we discovered during part one of our design field trip in Old Oakland!