Last week, Whitney blogged about Ratto’s, a generations-old deli in the heart of Old Oakland. This week we’re going to stay in that area so that I can tell you about another absolute gem that is right next door: The Swan’s Market food court.
The main dining area is a large room that can seat approximately three hundred people. The perimeter of the food court features incredible food from a wide range of backgrounds: Cosecha Café for Mexican cuisine, AS B-Dama for Japanese cuisine, the Cook and Her Farmer for California Cuisine, and a desserts shop called Cupcakin’.
The whole atmosphere is communal and celebratory. Here is a place where both students just starting out and the Bay Area’s biggest influencers will come to dine. On my most recent visit I spotted Alice Waters enjoying some chips and salsa at Cosecha.
No doubt the best way to experience Swan’s Market is to go with a handful of friends. Upon snagging a table, everyone can then go on the culinary adventure of their choosing. Upon returning and loading the table with food, you all then get to play the best game of lunchroom bartering there ever was, exchanging some chips and guac for a sushi roll, a bit of achiote chicken for piece of Japanese fried chicken, and an oyster or two for a quesadilla slice.
To eat there is to get to be a part of a large and dynamic Oakland convening. The communal seating oftentimes leads to different groups of friends brushing shoulders at the same table. The first time I went to Swan’s Market, the table next to mine asked if I would like to take a fresh and untouched pot of udon noodle soup that they had ordered but apparently didn’t have room for!
The entire building – which contains restaurants, housing, nonprofits, and small retail offerings – has served as a gathering space since 1917. Back then it housed the Oakland Free Market. In 1924, entrepreneur Sherwood Swan bought the building and renamed it the 10th Street Market.
The marketplace thrived as central place for residents to come together. Starting in the late 60s and early 70s, however, the market suffered from massive Bart and freeway construction projects that effectively cut it off from the city.
The Market eventually closed in 1984. In 1994, the Oakland Redevelopment Agency put out a request for proposals to renovate the building, and Swan’s was purchased by the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation. After completion of the renovation work in 2000, Swan’s Market was listen on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today, Swan’s Market is a welcoming, diverse, and absolutely delicious place to enjoy food, either on your own or with some friends. We hope that you enjoy visiting there. Please do let us know what you think when you go!
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