WHEN MY FRIEND Jerry said he was taking me somewhere special, I was ecstatic. Big Sur? Manhattan? The south of France? "Hayward," he said. "My hometown." Reluctantly I met him at a downtown San Francisco BART station, little suspecting that the next 34 minutes of pub trans would bring me to a new favorite destination for those get-me-out-of-the-city-now! days.

"No Room for Racism," the sign at the city limits proudly touts, and indeed, Hayward has a liberal-small-town character that can leave even a hardcore urbanite feeling warm and fuzzy in her discount Kenneth Cole shoes. While other Bay Area towns blessed with adorable brick-facade buildings usually fill them with pricey boutiques and restaurants to match, in Hayward there's cheap fun to be had and interesting things going on – just ignore the Albertson's Mall lurking in the backdrop.

The place to start your explorations is on B Street, just outside the BART station. Inside the stunning glass city hall (777 B St., 510-583-4000), the John O'Lague Galleria features stained glass, ceramic sculpture, and collage worthy of any big-city museum, minus the annoying people roaming around with headphones on. Up the block you can get soups, salads, pastries, fountain drinks, heating pads, mouthwash, and a pack of Nicorette gum at the Medicine Chest Pharmacy (925 B St., 510-538-7102), which serves up ice-cream sodas while you wait for your Ritalin. Snag one of the two booths or cozy up to the counter and enjoy whatever's spinning on the Coronado jukebox.

Across the street in Newman Park, four tables with built-in chessboards are pleasantly surrounded by shrubs. Thank the Rotary Club for that before ducking into nearby collective Hayward Faire Antiques (926 B St., 510-537-7823), whose two cluttered floors are packed, holding the promise of a 1960s poodle radio, an antique birdhouse, or a 1976 Happy Days board game. A few doors up, the Incurable Collector (944 B St., 510-733-5122) has fewer tchotchkes. For yet more antiquing, head to Just around the Corner Antiques (22626 Main, 510-247-9477), identifiable by its handwritten "This Is No Longer a Bar" sign.

Because shopping is hungry work and an ice-cream soda sugar high only lasts so long, consider popping into Gary's Donuts and Sandwiches (990 B St., 510-886-2380), picking up a copy of the Daily Review, and settling in with a 55¢ doughnut on one of the pink stools – very Twin Peaks if doughnuts were cherry pie and David Lynch knew about Hayward. Through the window of Gary's you'll see the Green Shutter Hotel building, which takes up a full block of B and Main and houses the appropriately named Book Shop (1007 B St., 510-538-3943), whose proprietor, Hank Maschal, has been called the "Lawrence Ferlinghetti of Hayward." The store is well stocked with new and used titles and is the place to get paperback Westerns – speaking of which, just a lasso away at El Tapatio Western Wear (1028 B St., 510-538-2200), hundreds of hats line the walls, just waiting for an urban head to ride home on.

Those in town on a Saturday will find the year-round Hayward Farmers Market (9 a.m.-1 p.m., Main between A and B Streets), with its nice selection of veggies, fresh-squeezed juice, and homemade whoopie pies ($1), the best ones this side of the bay. Those with a taste for the past should move up a letter to C Street and pay a visit to the Hayward Area Historical Society Museum (22701 Main, 510-581-0223), which houses local memorabilia and currently features the work of longtime Hayward resident and naturalist W. Otto Emerson (exhibition runs through June 12). A few feet away, in case you're feeling snackish again, Casper's (951 C St., no phone) has been serving up hot dogs since 1934 (since 1948 in its current location), and even a vegetarian would love the retro architecture.

If you've had your fill of downtown but aren't quite ready to venture back to the urban jungle, take a 15-minute walk to the Japanese Gardens (22373 N. Third St., 510-581-6700), where you'll find impeccably maintained gardens, a koi pond, serene turtles sunning themselves on lily pads, and a monument to Hayward from its sister city, Funabashi. Lastly, as you prepare to face the return trip, duck into the Bottle and Book House (858 B St., 510-886-6625), located near the BART station and reminiscent of the old Harold's newsstand downtown on Geary Street. Browse the 16 meticulously organized sections full of periodicals and consider picking up a little reading for the short journey home.

If you go