"From time to time, we'll be bringing back beloved Attraros dishes as special features at Pintoh, so a little piece of Attraros lives on." That line came from a note taped in the window of Attraros Thai Eatery at 542 9th St., Suite B, when the restaurant closed in February after two years in the Swan's Market building. Its owners, Akara Sutraromluck and Pim Soithong, still run Pintoh Thai in Oakland. So even the closing notice made a point of where the food would go next.

That note sets the pattern for Old Oakland in 2026. Almost every opening on these few blocks this year moved into a room that already held a restaurant. Several were handed from one operator to the next on purpose. The streets around Ninth and Washington haven't added new storefronts. They've been reassigning the ones they have.

A suite in Swan's Market, refilled within months

Four months after the Attraros note went up, Aung Myanmar opened in the same building. Oaklandside lists its address as 542B 9th Street. It soft-opened June 12 and held a grand opening June 17. It's an offshoot of Aung Burma in Concord and Aung MayLiKa in Benicia. The menu covers the Burmese staples: tea leaf salad, garlic noodles, coconut curry chicken noodle soup and samosas.

The two suite listings, "542 9th St., Suite B" and "542B 9th Street," line up. No coverage has described a direct handoff, though. What's on the record is that the Swan's Market building lost a regional Thai kitchen in February and gained a Burmese one by June.

Around them, the market's older tenants are still on its merchant roster. Swan's Market calls Taylor's Sausage its oldest tenant, at 907 Washington St. La Guerrera's Kitchen shares that address. In 2025, Oaklandside reported that its owners had expanded into a seafood cevichería. In this building, a new tenant joins a lineup that turns over slowly.

A sushi counter handed between friends

The cleanest handoff of the year happened across the walkway at 536 Ninth St. Delage, the omakase restaurant that Chikara Ono opened in 2016, reopened Sept. 16 under chef Kyle Itani. Oaklandside describes Ono as Itani's friend. Ono is spending more time in Japan and passed the restaurant on. Itani is known for Yonsei Handrolls, Itani Ramen, Itani Sushi and Hopscotch. He brought in Jeremias Jimenez, his collaborator from Itani Sushi, to lead the sushi program.

The room didn't get bigger. Delage still seats three dining room tables and 10 people at the sushi bar. Dinner is a $140 eight-course omakase alongside an à la carte menu, and there's also a lunch menu with à la carte and set options, plus takeout. After ten years under its founder, the name, the address and the size all carried over. The chef is what changed.

Washington Street's corners, recast by people already on the block

The Washington Street openings follow the same pattern. The team behind Xingones turned the restaurant's original Old Oakland corner at 736 Washington St. into El Barrio, a sports bar. They gave the space a facelift and opened Tuesday, June 30, in time for the final weeks of the World Cup. The menu is wings, tacos, burritos and drinks. The operators already knew this corner because they had run it before.

A block up, Sushi A opened at 817 Washington St. in the former Caffe 817 space, serving nigiri, special rolls and bowls, including chirashi. Its next-door neighbor is Ratto's at 821 Washington. SFGATE traces the family business back to 1897. That makes the newest counter on the block and one of its oldest neighbors about 129 years apart.

Here's how the year's changes line up by address:

The one room that couldn't be passed along as it was

The last row is the exception, and it shows why handoffs work where they do. Horn Barbecue at 464 Eighth St. closed this summer, and Matt Horn's spokesperson confirmed it to the San Francisco Chronicle. The stated reason was physical: "without the ability to smoke meats on-site, the location could no longer deliver the experience that defined Horn Barbecue." The restaurant had received a 2026 Bib Gourmand from Michelin in June, about two months before Oaklandside reported the closure on Aug. 7.

A sushi counter, a corner bar and a noodle kitchen can move into an existing room without changing what the room is. A barbecue restaurant depends on its smoker, and without one the concept didn't work at this address. As of Nosh's coverage, nothing had been named for the space.

Old Oakland names showing up elsewhere

The succession runs outward too. People connected to Old Oakland have been opening in other parts of town this year.

Sarah Kirnon ran Miss Ollie's in Old Oakland for a decade. On Friday, Oct. 2, she started a month-long Caribbean-inspired pop-up called Holders House at Gold Palm, the Uptown bar in the Oakland Floral Depot Building at 1900 Telegraph Ave. It's open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday and on some Fox Theater show nights. Gold Palm had closed in early June. Co-owner Daniel Gahr told Nosh he hopes it will return to nightly service "in some capacity beyond October." For now, the run is October only.

Reem Assil's bakery was once a vendor at the Old Oakland farmers market. It held its grand opening at 85 Webster St. in Jack London Square on June 26, in the former Miette location, with a team of worker-owners. That's another existing room taken over by a cook the district already knew.

The calendar that keeps the blocks busy

Restaurants come and go, but the district's weekly and monthly events keep going. The Old Oakland Farmers' Market runs every Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., year-round and rain or shine, at Ninth Street and Broadway. The state's certified-market registry lists it at 499 Ninth Street. Urban Village Farmers' Markets' 2026 calendar shows two Friday closures for the rest of the year, Nov. 27 and Dec. 25.

This month, a resident can cover the market, the new kitchens and the evening events in one day:

1. Friday, Oct. 23, morning. Visit the farmers market at Ninth and Broadway.
2. Midday. Delage has a lunch menu with à la carte and set options. Aung Myanmar is in the same building.
3. 5 to 8 p.m. The final Old Oakland Summer Stroll of 2026 fills the blocks around 9th and Washington. Shops and restaurants set up on the sidewalks alongside neighborhood arts groups. Chapter 510, the youth writing and publishing center at 546 9th St., will be open with youth-written books and its community wishing well.

The street outside is also starting to change, slowly. The City of Oakland's 9th Street Corridor project, which includes Old Oakland, is in its design and engagement phase. The project team has one more pop-up on its list, at Lincoln Summer Nights on Oct. 8 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The proposals include traffic calming, pedestrian-scramble crossings, curb-ramp upgrades, flexible space at the sidewalk edge and a new bike facility. The City's timeline puts construction in 2028 to 2030. Until then, the curb outside Swan's Market stays as it is.

Ground-floor turnover like this shapes how mixed-use buildings near Ninth and Washington are leased and valued. If you own one, or are thinking about buying one, Elic Suazo can go through recent tenant changes and what they mean for your property with you. Schedule a consultation to explore your East Bay options.