Henry J Kaiser Convention Center

I agree with Noah A., the amount of broken glass that litters this parking lot can cause heart palpitations. Late last year, I remember walking back to my car one afternoon and seeing a Toyota RAV4 with broken windows on the passenger side. As for the «transients,» a couple of months ago, the City of Oakland fenced off the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center and they are no longer there. (I’m not trying to draw a correlation between the two; I’m just commenting on the substance of his review and providing updates.)
A note of my own, do not ignore the green and white signs at both entrances of this parking lot:
1) 5-​Hour Limit: 8 AM to 12 AM
2) No Parking: 12 AM to 5 AM
It’s a $ 73 fine for the first one… don’t know about the second, but I’m not going to be the one to experiment and find that out. :)
I have always been able to find parking here, no matter what time of day, or what day of the week. I’ve gone at around 8:30 AM, 12 noon, 5 PM, etc. It’s probably the best place to park if you’re heading to Laney, the Lake Merritt BART station, parts of Chinatown and even Downtown (it’s not that far of a walk, really), the lake, Off-​the-​Grid on Friday nights at the OMCA, etc. I honestly don’t think parking in this lot makes your car any more of a target than it would be in any other area, but as Levar Burton used to put it on Reading Rainbow… don’t take my word for it.

Wow, this place is scary. Transients and trash all over. Lots of broken car glass all over the parking lot. Avoid parking near here at all cost, especially outside day light hours.

Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center was the de facto place to hold events in oaktown B.C. (before coliseum). even after the coliseum was built, many high schools still held their graduations here.
Decades ago, i remember coming here for traffic squad ceremonies and disney shows. when i was able to drive myself, i never came back here. parking just sucks here.

One of the major problems with this facility is that it is home to lots of homeless people who sleep on the porches in the back of the building facing east. They litter, defacate, urinate, and have sex and are there every day of the year. It is scarey and since the homeless have helped the community lock its underground passageways, we get to walk by this blight every single day, plus taking our lives in our hands. It is pitiful…

Ya’ll need to go up stairs to the event facilities. There is a king kong size ballroom and another event room that overlooks the lake. beautiful architecture inside ballroom like some nice art deco shit. the ballroom can accomodate at least 5 – 600 people. good size kitchen, large spacious stage, huge, huge dancefloor. go up the double stairway, still in the grand ballroom and there is like (if memory serves me correctly) 2 bar areas one on each end with seating in between. hella cool!
the other room room is post art deco modern, very nice. one level. generous kitchen and dancefloor. costs can be prohibitive. You have to get insurance. dont let the «oakland Auditorium and theater fool ya!» what you see on the outside aint whats going on upstairs. Entrance is on the theatre side. its a very nice elegant, venue if you have the $$$$$!

Saw green day here over a decade ago, and weezer a few years later. Green Day held up better over the years

i wish the city of oakland would donate this valuable piece of real estate to me so i could find some better usage for the spot that’s pretty much just left closed and vacant except for the occasional event…
the outside steps to the various doors that lead in to the building is mostly used for shelter for the homeless…
but as this is owned by the city of oakland, they’re not paying any taxes to keep this building there so it doesn’t cost them anything…
it’s a pity that this place isn’t being used for something productive to make the city of oakland a more beautiful place…
that’s what i think every day when i pass by this big structure…
so what do you say city of oakland? could i take over and get it rezoned? :)

Oakland’s version of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium — huge, bad sound, very squashed in with everyone. The only good part is that the neighborhood is not as shitty as the BGCA.
I’ve only been to 1 show here — it was Weezer, on 9÷12÷01, so that’s why I remember it — we didn’t know if the show would go on. The best part of the show was the Cal Straw Hat band showing up and playing Weezer songs before the show.
After that, everyone became really grumpy when the opener Cold performed — anyone who wanted to see Weezer was bored by shitty metal and was already feeling aggro because of the crazy stuff that had gone on on 9/​11, so all the teenagers there started to push everyone all over. My friend and I almost literally got knocked down and crushed several times. Needless to say, by the time Weezer came on, I was losing my patience and just wanted to be done. Have never been back.

The outside of this place just looks like any ordinary building in Downtown Oakland. I didn’t know how huge it really was once I got inside. I’d say it’s almost like the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco only a little smaller. It’s a decent location for live bands… it’s just a shame Ticketmaster charges so much for concerts or I’d come here more often.