East Bay New Year’s Eve Guide | 2011

Like New York, Paris, London and other world class cities, San Francisco will be packed with revelers on New Year’s Eve.

So why not look to the East Bay in Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley for alternatives where the crowds aren’t so thick and the cabs are more plentiful, but the spirit of fun remains true?

Kiss off 2010 and embrace 2011 in at one of these East Bay locations, from concerts to ethnic celebrations and dancing.

Your East Bay Area New Year’s Eve Events:
December 31, 2010 

Pacific Pinball Museum “Free Play” New Year’s Eve | Alameda
6pm to 2am
For New Years Eve they’ll switch all of the machines on free play (no quarters needed!) from 6pm until 2am. Free champagne at midnight, hats and noisemakers and all new tunes on their three new jukeboxes playing your requests. Special prizes for mini high score tournaments and family friendly fun for all! Lots of free flipper finger food, punch and $3 beer and wine at our no host bar. All the pinball you can play.
Cost: $25/person All money benefits the non profit museum, a 501 c 3.

Have a Proggy New Year with Innerspace | Berkeley
8pm to 1am
Jupiter Pub will be ringing in 2011 with a great band right out of Oakland and a Jup-favorite this past year, Innerspace. Rain or shine, Jup will be doin it up with party favors, champagne toasts, special dinner menu, and a great night of music!
Cost: $10

Potluck and Taoist Midnight Celebration | Oakland
8pm to 1am
The Taoism Center in Oakland hosts their annual New Years Eve potluck dinner and midnight meditation to help you find the stillness within as we move into the new year. At 8:00 pm, there’s a Potluck Dinner. At 11:00 pm we start the meditation into the New Year 2010 with Dr. Alex Feng.
Cost: FREE

Hubba Hubba New Year’s Eve Bash | Oakland
9 pm to 1 am
The Uptown throws its New Year’s Eve Bash in style with the sexy dancers and hip rockers. The evening’s entertainment includes: The Hubba Hubba Revue burlesque show girls dressed in very little. And the Hi-Rhythm Hustlers rockabilly boy band dressed to the nines. Plus the hosts offer a FREE champagne toast when clocks strikes twelve.
Cost: $15

4 Bands for 5 Bucks at Eli’s Mile High Club | Oakland
7:30 pm to 2 am
Eli’s Mile High Club, the art gallery & dive bar is giving you 4 punk rock ‘n roll bands for a measly 5 bucks. Cheap drinks plus these guys:  Lecherous Gaze, a rock band from Oakland that’s influenced by “All guitar based rock music that isn’t weak.” Hooray For Everything, a local post-punk trio with a girl singer and a lot of spunk. Plus Special Guests Purple Mountain Majesties & Sweet Nothing.
Cost: $5

Electronica/Dub New Year’s Eve Concert | Berkeley
9 pm to 1:30 am
Ring in the New Year with local Bay Area artists. Opening tonight’s concert is Fleeting Trance from 9pm-10:30pm. Playing into the New Year is San Francisco based, electronica/dub duo Foreign Cinema, along with David Han of Astral, from 11pm-1am.
Cost: $8-$12 – Starry Plough is vague about the cover charge

Annual New Year’s Eve Balkan Bash | Berkeley
8 pm to 12:30 am
New Year’s Eve at Ashkenaz is traditionally an all-night affair of Balkan music and dance hosted by Édessa, in honor of the late Ashkenaz founder David Nadel and the music he first featured at his world dance club. This year’s event includes the Balkan folk music of Édessa, Brass Menažeri’s wild brass band approach, and Joe Finn & Leslie Bonnett’s Scandinavian and Cajun music, with some musical surprises promised by all.
Cost: $20

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra | Berkeley
8 pm
Celebrate the New Year with two soloists from the lower end of our sonic spectrum. 17-year cello sensation, Nathan Chan, and our principal bass player, Michel Taddei, get their chances in front of the orchestra. Plus lyric soprano Anja Strauss as the most beautiful “ugly duckling” you’ve ever seen
Cost: FREE but reserve your tickets here.

East Bay Transportation Guide for New Years Eve

Free Taxi Rides Home
December 31, 2010 | 10pm to 4am

Revelers in Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco can get free cab rides home from 10pm to 4am within the city limits up to a $35 fare thanks to the Safe and Sober Free Cab Ride Home program from Berg Injury Lawyers. Nearly 500 free cab rides are paid for through this program each year. Full Details

AAA Tipsy Tow: Free Car Tow Home
December 31, 2010 | 6pm to 6am

AAA’s Tipsy Tow Program offers a free tow for drinking drivers in Northern California – members and non-members – from 6pm on New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2010) until 6am the next morning, in Northern California, Nevada and Utah. Full Details

BART: No special fares for New Years Eve 12/31/10, but there will be extended service until 3am. The best tip we can give is to buy your round trip ticket in advance to avoid a line on the way home.

“Skip Stop” Schedule at Embarcadero & Montgomery
To help ease overcrowding due to the New Year’s Eve fireworks show at Pier 14, some trains will not stop at either Embarcadero or Montgomery Street stations during peak hours.

• Pittsburg/Bay Point and Richmond trains will not stop at Embarcadero Station until 1:40am – Use Montgomery Station instead
• Dublin/Pleasanton and Fremont trains will not stop at Montgomery Street Station until 1:26am – Use Embarcadero Station

Last Trains from Embarcadero:

• To Dublin/Pleasanton & Richmond at 3:18 a.m. – Full Service
• To Pittsburgh/Bay Point & Fremont at 3:26 a.m. (no trains at Embarcadero from midnight to 1:40am – use Montomgery instead)
• To Millbrae at 3:32 a.m.
• To SFO at 4:02 a.m.

Last Trains from Montgomery Street Station:

• To Dublin/Pleasanton & Richmond at 3:15 a.m. (no trains at Montgomery from 12:06am to 1:26am – use Embarcadero instead)
• To Pittsburgh/Baypoint & Fremont at 3:23 a.m. – Full Service
• To Millbrae at 3:33 a.m.
• To SFO at 4:04 a.m.

New Years Eve BART details
Full New Years Eve BART schedule (pdf)

– AC Transit offers no special fares for New Years Eve.