Pardee Home Museum

"Great home museum but the true highlight was the afternoon tea and the lovely ladies who served us and gave us the right amount of sass!"

"We had a wonderful three-course afternoon tea in the Pardee Home Museum's garden, followed by an informative tour of the home itself. For a garden tea, consider bringing a jacket, as Oakland weather can be unpredictable. The food was tasty and lovingly prepared - even garnished with fresh flowers!"

"Fun experience! Thanks for the amazing tea ladies!"

"Parse Family Museum was like a time capsule with incredible detailing and collections inside. Our work group was able to secure a private garden afternoon tea with 3 courses of goodies and all the english breakfast tea you could ask for. The women there were lovely and patient with us and even gave us each a thank you gift to take home. Following the tea and treats we took the tour which lasted a little over an hour sharing the homes history across 3 floors of unique treasures and facts. There is plenty parking both free and paid on both ends of the street just not directly out front. The ease of access as you come across the overpass made it all the better to get too! Definitely a place I will return to with family."

"TL; DR: Great place to experience a tea party (by group reservation only). Interesting Victorian home museum in which to learn about local history, including that it was home to the first fulltime CA governor. House is chilly in cold months so wear layers, but the dinning room has a space heater during tea. Don't forget to bring cash for the donation box, it'd be appreciated :) --- I visited here with a group for tea service. The entire thing from the set up, baking, and serving was beautifully orchestrated by friendly museum volunteers who delighted us with a lovely spread of tasty tea and baked goods in the historic home's dinning room. Tea parties are the home museum's main source of income and a great place to celebrate special occasions or just have an outing with a group of friends. The service is hosted by reservation for groups only. There's a minimum number of attendees required. In the winter the max number of tea guests per party is limited to 12 (the size of the dinning room table). In warm weather, the max is closer to 40 people and its hosted in the patio. Check their website for info. Our visit was concluded with a docent led tour of the house covering the story of the 3 generations of Pardees who lived there. The family was influential in politics, and was also active in medicine. The house is filled with thousands of family artifacts and collections, including some artwork by the talented Mrs. Pardee. There's definitely plenty to see and learn here. For the sake of time, our tour didn't include a view of the room with old toys and human specimens (remember that least one Pardee was a physician). If you're curious, you could request a view from the docent. I actually was not aware of this room at all until a fellow tour goer asked about it."