1st St, Livermore

I never thought I would walk away saying "Livermore is awesome," but 1st Street definitely surprised me in a pleasant way. It was packed enough on a Wednesday night that I had to find parking on a random side street, and has all the makings of a standard Bay Area downtown scene. The nightlife might not be quite as wild as San Francisco or even some of its East Bay neighbors like Oakland or Berkeley, but there is a nice stretch of bars and restaurants.

The First Street Alehouse is the best of the bunch, with rotating beers on tap as well as a strong cast of regulars.

Parking is a bit messy but not impossible to find, and traffic is to be expected - busy, but not congested like some of the other downtowns on the Peninsula. This strip actually almost makes me want to live in Livermore.