.Best Place to Watch Small Planes and Blimps

Behind the Otis Spunkmeyer Field

There used to be a superlative place for lounging around to watch small
planes, blimps, and helicopters coming and going. It was the lobby of
the historic art deco hotel at 9536 Earhart Drive on the edge of
Oakland Airport’s North Field. Amelia Earhart stayed there several
times, including the nights before taking off from Oakland on her two
ill-fated attempts to circumvent the world. Unfortunately, after years
of being open to the public, the old hotel is locked and virtually
unused, the front littered with tossed newspapers decaying in their
plastic bags. Until somebody reopens the lobby, there’s an outdoor
alternative. When wind patterns are right and the airport is using
runway #15, you can take a blanket and a picnic to watch small
airplanes landing or taking off close overhead. And when a blimp is in
town, it lifts and lands majestically from and onto the grassy area in
front of you. The location is behind the Otis Spunkmeyer Soccer Fields
on Harbor Bay Parkway, Ample parking is available.

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