Overview
Emeryville is a small city on the San Francisco Bay that acts as a gateway to the East Bay from San Francisco. It exists at the edges of Berkeley and Oakland, and at the intersection of three major freeways: I-80, I-580, and I-880.
The 1990s and 2000s were a period of aggressive re-development for Emeryville, with industrial factories and warehouses replaced by modern retail and residential uses. Emeryville (population 13,000 in 2020) is now the go-to spot in the Berkeley/Oakland area for shopping at big-box chains like IKEA or Best Buy.
The city is also known for tech companies, such as Pixar studios. The city is featured in some small way in almost every Pixar film, such as on a map with actual street names in the film The Incredibles or a "Greetings from Emeryville" postcard at the dentist's office in Finding Nemo.
3 sights · 2 things to do · 6 places to eat · 2 bars & cafés · 4 places to stay
Updated from Wikivoyage on 1 October 2026 · Something wrong or missing? Improve it on Wikivoyage
Best things about Emeryville
Emeryville Marina
The bayside park circling the marina has stunning views of San Francisco and the greater bay. You can see all three of the bay's main bridges from here: the Bay Bridge to the south, the Golden Gate Bridge to the west, an…
Pixar Animation Studios
There are no public tours offered of the Pixar studios; to get in you will need to know someone who works there and arrange a visitor entry badge in advance. Without it, all you can do is take a picture of the sign and t…
Shellmound Memorial
The Bay Street mall, now Emeryville's nicest shopping area, was once the site of a prehistoric shellmound, or midden, a mound of shells and other food waste left by the area's indigenous inhabitants in generations past. …
Oaks Card Club
Back in the roaring '20s, Emeryville was notorious as a place of vice; its speakeasies, racetracks, card rooms, and brothels made it "the rottenest city on the Pacific Coast". A federal raid in 1932 even found hundreds o…
Trivium Games
"Ghost Patrol" paranormal-themed escape room, which was rated the best escape room in California in 2022. Recommended for 4–8 players, book in advance, plan for about two hours. Wheelchair-accessible.
Plan your trip
Best time to visit & weather
Most comfortable: Mar–Nov. Summer highs reach about 76°F; winter lows dip to about 43°F. Wettest: Dec and Feb. (climate data from nearby Berkeley)
Blue bars: average daily high and low (°F). Purple columns: average monthly rain and melted snow (inches).
Getting there
- From you: to see whether to drive or fly, and how long it takes.
- OAK Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, Oakland — 9 mi away (major hub). Directions
- SFO San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco — 16 mi away (major hub). Directions
Oakland International Airport (OAK) is the obvious choice, but San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will also do. From the airports, see rail section on BART.
Full “Get in” guide ↓Budget & where to stay
- Typical meal: about $15 per person at listed restaurants.
See the Sleep guide ↓ for places to stay.
Sample 1-day itinerary
Day 1
- Morning Emeryville Marina, Shellmound Memorial, Pixar Animation Studios
- Lunch Mumu Hot Pot
- Afternoon Oaks Card Club, Trivium Games
- Dinner Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe
- Evening Cafe Rack
Stops are grouped by area so each day needs little backtracking. Check opening hours before you go.
Food for you
The cheapest meal in Emeryville is probably at IKEA, where the "Swedish bistro" located near the main checkout aisles (not to be confused with the "Swedish restaurant" in the middle of the store) offers hot dogs, nuggets, pizza, and pretzels for less than $2 each, including vegetarian and vegan options. They won't win a Michelin star, but for the price point they're surprisingly good.
Other budget options include fast food chains and grocery stores, but if you have the funds for something more distinctive, read on. And don't forget to check out the great dining scenes in Berkeley and Oakland too.
Cuisine (tap to filter)
What to ask about, for your diet
Diet labels come from each listing's description and cuisine; “likely” means the cuisine usually has good choices, not a promise. Check with the restaurant. Open the food finder
Photos
Map
Every listing with a location. Tap a pin for its Google Maps link.
Get in
By plane
Oakland International Airport (OAK) is the obvious choice, but San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will also do. From the airports, see rail section on BART.
By train
- BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is the regional rail service which will connect you to San Francisco, Oakland, and other cities in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, there is no BART station in Emeryville; rather, simply get off BART at MacArthur station in Oakland and take the free Emery Go-Round shuttles, which leave from right outside the station. If you get off at MacArthur at night, it is wise to be aware of your surroundings (as it is in many urban areas at night).
- Routes stopping at this station:
Go Emeryville station
Emeryville is home to the Bay Area's major Amtrak station, which is located just east of the Public Market. Amtrak buses run between Emeryville station and San Francisco via the Bay Bridge.
- California Zephyr operates daily between Emeryville and Chicago via Sacramento, Reno, Denver, and Salt Lake City.
- Coast Starlight operates daily between Seattle and Los Angeles. Stops include Tacoma, Lacey, Centralia, Kelso, Vancouver, WA, Portland, Salem, Albany, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Dunsmuir, Redding, Chico, Sacramento, Davis, Martinez, Oakland, San Jose, Salinas, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Van Nuys, and Burbank.
- The Capitol Corridor operates 11-12 round trips daily between Sacramento and Oakland with some trains running south to San Jose.
- Gold Runner operates 4 round trips daily between Bakersfield, Stockton and Oakland, with a stop in Emeryville.
By bus
In addition to the Emery Go-Round mentioned above, AC Transit buses serve Emeryville from Oakland, Berkeley, and other parts of the East Bay, and the F bus even comes across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco's Salesforce Transit Center.
By car
From San Francisco, take I-80 East and exit on Powell St. From points East, take I-80 West and exit on Powell St.
The complex freeway intersections just to the south of Emeryville are referred to as the Maze for good reason. Here are some tips to help your confusion:
- Be aware that when traveling through Berkeley and Emeryville, I-80 west travels on the same road as I-580 east and vice versa.
- When traveling from I-880 north onto I-80 east, you cannot exit at Powell. Instead merge right furiously and exit at Ashby/Shellmound. Take the Shellmound fork and right at Shellmound. Go straight and you'll see the Public Market and the rest of Emeryville shortly.
By bike or foot
Emeryville is on the San Francisco Bay Trail, a mixed-use bicycle/pedestrian path that follows the edge of the bay. It's also easy to walk here from nearby parts of Oakland and Berkeley; one city blends into the next so much that most locals don't know where the official border is.
Get around
For a city that has built its success on freeways and malls, Emeryville is surprisingly pedestrian-friendly. Sidewalks are usually available and the Bay Street Mall is quite pleasant to walk through. Distances are not that large: at a brisk pace you can walk from one end of town to the other in under an hour. It is also a good place for biking, with plentiful bike lanes and some standalone bike paths.
Nonetheless, it's a city that's primarily oriented towards cars. If you're driving, expect traffic delays if you want to go anywhere near Ikea or the Bay St. Mall.
Frequent and useful bus service is provided by the free Emery Go-Round and the local provider AC Transit. Transit trip planning is available online.
The Emery Go-Round is a free bus service that connects businesses and shopping areas in Emeryville with the MacArthur BART station. There are two lines: the Hollis line, which goes from the BART station up Hollis Street and up into the corner of nearby Berkeley; and the Shellmound/Powell line, which serves the city's major malls, the Public Market, and the marina. Both lines go close to the Amtrak station. They run Monday–Friday every 15 minutes from 6AM to about 9PM, and the Shellmound/Powell line also has reduced service on weekends (every 20 minutes 8AM–9PM on Saturdays and every 20 minutes 9AM–6PM on Sundays).
AC Transit buses are not free, so for getting around Emeryville they may not be your first choice, but they are useful for getting to Oakland and Berkeley.
See
Emeryville is an interesting mix of old warehouses, manufacturing plants, and houses and new development in the form of shopping malls and live-work lofts.
See Emeryville Marina
The bayside park circling the marina has stunning views of San Francisco and the greater bay. You can see all three of the bay's main bridges from here: the Bay Bridge to the south, the Golden Gate Bridge to the west, and the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge to the northwest. Also lots of birds, including pelicans, egrets, ducks, hawks, shorebirds, and yellowthroats.
See Pixar Animation Studios
There are no public tours offered of the Pixar studios; to get in you will need to know someone who works there and arrange a visitor entry badge in advance. Without it, all you can do is take a picture of the sign and try to spot the statues of the iconic ball and lamp through the fence. But if you are able to obtain access, the campus is impressive. Steve Jobs oversaw much of the early design, going so far as to hand-select brick colors for the main building and insisting that bathrooms be placed far enough away from offices to force employees to walk through the building to create random connections with others. Animators are given great freedom with their cubicles, and some have built elaborate huts, tiki structures, or other individualized creations for their workspaces. The newer building, built by Steve Jobs, hides a lounge within its fireplace that pays homage to Jimmy Claxton, the first black athlete to play in an organized baseball league. Beyond these hidden gems, visitors will appreciate the company store, vast amounts of Pixar memorabilia, numerous screening rooms, and company cafeteria.
See Shellmound Memorial
The Bay Street mall, now Emeryville's nicest shopping area, was once the site of a prehistoric shellmound, or midden, a mound of shells and other food waste left by the area's indigenous inhabitants in generations past. People lived at the site from about 2,800 years ago to 600 years ago, leaving behind the shells and other artifacts as well as a cemetery. In the 20th century the mound was leveled and paved over, and in the process hundreds of bodies were exhumed; some of them were reburied and others were brought to the Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley. Though modern Bay Street shows little sign of the archeological site that still lies beneath it, there is an interesting outdoor memorial consisting of a large sculpture that evokes the ancient shellmound, two big stone doorways, and a series of informational panels about the area's history and native Ohlone culture.
Public art
Walking or riding around Emeryville, you'll notice lots of odd stick-figure drawings on yellow metal boxes around town. The boxes are part of the traffic light system, but the stick figures are a project by local artist Seyed Alavi. According to the artist, the stick figures are inspired by the pedestrian walking signal, and each artwork is supposed to be read as a sign. On one street corner the figure is juggling heads; in another it's being zipped up (or unzipped?); on a third there are two figures on some sort of surreal elevator. There are two dozen of these whimsical and thought-provoking artworks scattered around town, collectively known as the "Signs of the Times", painted by Alavi together with local high school students.
In general Emeryville has quite a bit of public art, partly thanks to a local government program to support it and partly because artists moved into empty warehouses amid the city's deindustrialization. A map of artworks (not including the electricity boxes) is available online.
Do
Do Oaks Card Club (The Oaks)
Back in the roaring '20s, Emeryville was notorious as a place of vice; its speakeasies, racetracks, card rooms, and brothels made it "the rottenest city on the Pacific Coast". A federal raid in 1932 even found hundreds of gallons of illegal alcohol inside the police garage! Nowadays Emeryville has a more sterile reputation, but this card club for Texas Hold'em players dating back to the 1890s is still open, "the last vestige of Emeryville's gaming past" according to the local historical society.
Buy
Large chain stores are found in abundance in Emeryville. It seems the big-box chains that couldn't make it in Oakland or Berkeley, due to expensive real estate or city governments' preferences to support local businesses, ended up with branches here instead. In addition to the shopping centers below, there are a lot of home furnishing stores, most notably an IKEA at 4400 Shellmound St.
Shop Bay Street Emeryville
A large outdoor, "main street" style shopping center parallel to Shellmound past Christie that includes an AMC Movie Theater, Barnes & Noble, Tokyo Center, It'Sugar candy store, an Apple Store, and various clothing, accessories, and shoe stores at varying price ranges. Not for the superstitious, as it was built on an ancient Native American burial ground (see "Shellmound" above).
Shop Emeryville Bay Bridge Center
Several "big-box" retailers such as Home Depot, Michaels, Target, Nordstrom and others, is further down on 40th St., (actually the same street as Shellmound), near San Pablo Ave.
Shop Powell Street Plaza
Standard outdoor shopping center, has Marshalls, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Ross, Men's Wearhouse, J. Crew, Trader Joe's, and the Japanese dollar store Daiso.
Eat
The cheapest meal in Emeryville is probably at IKEA, where the "Swedish bistro" located near the main checkout aisles (not to be confused with the "Swedish restaurant" in the middle of the store) offers hot dogs, nuggets, pizza, and pretzels for less than $2 each, including vegetarian and vegan options. They won't win a Michelin star, but for the price point they're surprisingly good.
Other budget options include fast food chains and grocery stores, but if you have the funds for something more distinctive, read on. And don't forget to check out the great dining scenes in Berkeley and Oakland too.
Eat Emeryville Public Market
Twenty-five small ethnic restaurants under one roof. It's a great place to go if you can't agree on whether you want crêpes or curry. Mostly around the $10–20 range, which is pretty cheap for this area.
Eat Hong Kong East Ocean Seafood Restaurant
Chinese Dim Sum, decently priced, but absolutely killer view. The exact same restaurant as the popular upscale chain found in Hong Kong.
Eat Mumu Hot Pot
Authentic Chinese-style individual hot pot. Delicious options for vegetarians/vegans and meat-lovers.
Eat Trader Vic's
Delicious Polynesian food in a waterfront dining room, with a fun tiki bar where the Mai Tai was invented.
Eat Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe
A hip rock and roll joint serving good quality brunch dishes (the Southwestern omelette with grits is highly recommended), burgers, sandwiches, salads and daily specials.
Eat Arizmendi Bakery
A worker-owned bakery serving some of the best breads, pastries, and pizzas around.
Drink
Drink Cafe Rack
A billiard hall with full bar, foosball, free WiFi, multiple HD TVs, a kitchen serving traditional bar food, and a smoking lounge.
Drink The Prizefighter
Excellent drinks at fairly reasonable prices - if you want a whiskey sour with real egg white in it, this is your place. Food options are limited, but patrons can bring a pizza with them. The inside is loud, but heat lamps in the patio make it a comfortable area to gather.
Sleep
Emeryville actually features many of the most modern hotels in the Berkeley/Emeryville/Oakland region. Thus, you may choose to stay in Emeryville while actually spending your days in the other (more interesting) cities.
Stay safe
The large stores, the Public Market, and the Amtrak station are all safe areas. Broadly, Emeryville is about as safe as the areas of Oakland just to the east. Treat it with the same safety attitudes you would treat a large city like San Francisco.
Go next
- Berkeley - This neighboring city is famous for its quirkiness and liberal activism, and offers numerous interesting shops, restaurants, and nightlife spots for travelers.
- Oakland – Emeryville's neighbor to the east, with a plethora of dining and shopping options that tend to offer more local personality than Emeryville's major chains.
- San Francisco – the cultural and historic center of the Bay Area is right across the bridge and served by a direct bus from Emeryville.
Once you've explored these, the rest of the East Bay awaits.
Nearby
Berkeley
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Albany
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Oakland
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El Cerrito
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Alameda
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San Francisco
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