The mark of a neighborhood to watch - the cool indie coffeehouse

Other than the prolific amount of loft-type housing going on in Oakland's Jack London Square (profiled yesterday), you know it's a place to invest in once that funky, independent coffeehouse opens, the one that qualifies as a third place. In Jack London Square, it's the World Ground Cafe, and in fact the only indie coffeehouse in the neighborhood.

The East Bay's signature alternative weekly, the East Bay Express, determined that World Ground is the best place to sip coffee in the area, with poetry readings and live music providing that warm and fuzzy feeling of third place for its patrons new and old. Yep, it's that kind of place that can turn a neighborhood.