Tamarack is a collectively run bar and restaurant of which I have been a member-owner since 2016. The project began with a group of people who met during the student movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2009, and who also participated in Occupy Oakland together in 2011. The initial concept behind the project was to create and maintain a space which could continue to provide opportunities for connection and community building in the moments of quiet which fall between the eruptions of social movements. The space we rented had been empty for almost 10 years when we signed the lease, and had been quickly and cheaply converted to offices. We tore it down to the framing, dug out the foundation to put in new plumbing, and rebuilt everything. The construction process took the better part of four years, during which we continued to hold monthly community dinners at collective members’ homes or other community spaces in Oakland. We see the communal act of eating, drinking, and being together as a foundation for growing friendships and building the world of our dreams.
Tamarack opened to the public in February 2019 and currently offers dinner service four nights per week, with 2-3 public events per week. We also have a completely free circulating lending library upstairs. Please come see us! Find out more on the website here.
