As Oaklandside reported, the texts started on April 17. Neighbors who'd been mourning the closure of The Lodge since late January were suddenly typing back and forth: the deer heads are back. The taxidermy that regulars associate with the bar's Tahoe-cabin feel had survived a change of ownership, and within weeks the fireplace was lit again and the burgers were back on the menu, this time priced between six and twelve dollars.
That reopening is one thread in a busier year than Piedmont Avenue usually gets credit for. This stretch between Pleasant Valley Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard has a reputation, deserved for most of the last two decades, as a strip with nearly nothing vacant. In 2026 that reputation got tested twice, by two closures that would have made a slower commercial corridor nervous. New restaurant plans also surfaced on the avenue this year. The pattern that emerges once you line the year up says something more specific about this half mile than any generic "here's what's new" roundup will tell you: on Piedmont Avenue, an empty storefront isn't a symptom, it's an invitation.
Two Closures, New Restaurant Plans
Earlier this year, breakfast spot The Crepe Pan closed its doors at 4184 Piedmont. Around the same time, the space that had housed Pomella at 3770 Piedmont went dark. On most commercial streets in the East Bay, two closures within months of each other read as a warning sign. On Piedmont Avenue, the closures also made two storefronts available to prospective operators.
That's the detail easy to miss if you only track what opened this year and skip what closed. The story isn't survival. It's the interest that can follow turnover. A corridor known for near-zero vacancy can draw prospective operators when a storefront opens, even before a new tenant is confirmed.
What Chris Cashin and Kris Gordon Refused to Change
The Lodge's return is the clearest example of that appetite, and also the most instructive, because the new owners made a specific bet about what the neighborhood actually wanted.
When Lexi Filipello announced she was closing the bar at the end of January, the reaction from regulars was closer to grief than the usual shrug that greets a small business closure. New owners Chris Cashin and Kris Gordon took over within weeks and had the bar back open by April 17, keeping the interior almost entirely intact: the taxidermy, the big fireplace, the wood accents that made the place feel more like a cabin than a corner bar. What they changed was the menu, building it around an all day breakfast sandwich, a Chicago style hot dog, and a grilled cheese upgraded with white cheddar and brie, all priced to bring in families as well as the old regulars. They've also said they want to keep the restaurant popup tradition Filipello had built into the space, rather than close that door along with the ownership change.
That's a specific kind of bet. Cashin and Gordon didn't buy a location and reinvent it. They bought a following and preserved the parts of the experience that following was attached to, then updated the parts that needed updating to reach more of the neighborhood. It's the opposite of what usually happens when a beloved dive changes hands. Nobody sanded off the character to make room for something more marketable. They kept the deer heads because the deer heads were the point.
Ajae's Piedmont Avenue Prospect
A separate restaurant plan also surfaced this year. In June, SFist reported that restaurateur Min Park, known for Itria in San Francisco and Yeobo, Darling in Menlo Park, is teaming up with chef Brian Shin on a Korean comfort food concept called Ajae, aiming for a late 2026 opening somewhere on Piedmont Avenue. Shin trained at Benu and the former In Situ at SFMOMA under chef Corey Lee, credentials that put him in the same lineage as two of the Bay Area's most talked about recent Oakland debuts: James Yeun Leong Parry's Happy Crane and Alan Hsu's Sun Moon Studio, which earned a Michelin star and the Chronicle's pick for best new restaurant in 2024.
The exact address remains unconfirmed, so the plan cannot yet be tied to either former restaurant space.
Established Businesses Along Piedmont Avenue
None of this churn works without something steadier underneath it, and Piedmont Avenue has more of that than most Oakland commercial strips can claim. Fentons Creamery has been serving ice cream near the top of the avenue since the 1890s and picked up a national audience after a cameo in Pixar's Up. The Piedmont Theatre, built in 1917, is still the oldest operating movie house in Oakland, running a mix of indie and limited release films on two screens. Commis, chef James Syhabout's tasting menu restaurant, held the title of Oakland's only Michelin starred restaurant for years before Sun Moon Studio joined it. Cato's Ale House keeps the sports-bar-with-craft-beer crowd anchored a few doors down, and Dr. Comics and Mr. Games has been running its board game rental program and stocking graphic novels for more than 25 years.
These established businesses give the avenue a steady presence alongside its restaurant turnover. The Lodge reopened by April 17 amid that existing commercial mix. Ajae is planned for the same avenue, where a century old ice cream parlor and a Michelin starred tasting menu already coexist a few blocks apart, alongside businesses at different price points.
That's the piece a simple "openings and closings" list misses. The anchors are part of the avenue's story alongside its restaurant openings and closures.
What This Means If You Live Here
If you're the kind of Piedmont Avenue resident who already has an opinion about where to get a burger versus where to save for a special occasion, the practical takeaway is simple: watch for Ajae's opening later this year, and don't assume every dark storefront on the avenue means something bad. This corridor fills gaps faster than most, and the reason is the same reason you moved to this stretch of North Oakland in the first place. It has enough draw, from a century old creamery to a Michelin star, that operators keep lining up for a shot at the next opening, even when the last tenant didn't make it.
That kind of demand for a small commercial footprint tends to show up eventually in what people are willing to pay to live within walking distance of it. If you've been curious what a stretch this in-demand does for the value of a home nearby, Annie Tegner tracks these shifts across North Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville as closely as she tracks who's opening next on Piedmont Avenue. If you want a clearer picture of where your own property stands in a market this active, you can get a free East Bay home valuation any time you're ready to talk.
