The Alley-Oakland

Located on Grand Avenue, The Alley has a neon sign with a cat on it above the door.  I'd been to The Alley before but Tom had not.  The Alley's claim to fame is that it's a piano bar.  The venerable Rod Dibble plays the piano and anyone who would like to sing, stands by the piano and is given the microphone.  In addition to the singing, the inside of the bar looks like an alley and there are business cards stapled, taped and pressed into the walls.  A word of advice about the singing: most of the people who chose to sing have great voices, so you won't hear any drunken renditions of "Saturday Night Fever" and they have a steady stream of regular singers.