Rich,
There are actually lots of play around the bay area. The Mechanic's Institute is a very active club in SF, and Burlingame Chess Club meets every Thursday night for rate monthly tourney games. I agree, bayareachess.com is very confusing, but the dude who runs it is very likable and would let you know all you need to know. Most of the tourneys they run are in Santa Clara and San Jose. I am pretty sure the Fremont Chess club is also active.
Hope it helps.
M
Thanks Momadu!
Since posting this afternoon, I renewed the USCF membership that I'd let lapse over 8 years ago, and found some links to active clubs, including the one that I found here at chess.com that meets a mile from where I work. The contact e-mail was different, so I sent an e-mail, got a response, and am planning on attending their next meeting.
I'll probably lose the first 20 games I play OTB, it's been soooo long since I've played a game in person. 
It's so 3-D! But hopefully it'll be fun. 
Thanks again, maybe we'll play in person someday!
Cheers,
Rich
If you are ever over on the East Bay the North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library has weekly games.
Every Tuesday 3pm-5pm. There's a wide range of abilities that show up, from young beginners to some pretty tough and experienced players.
It's worth a visit.
Don
Hello! Every Saturday afternoon there's a group of people playing at Starbucks in Sunnyvale.
https://www.meetup.com/the-chess-players/events/290413129/
I've been there a couple times (though I didn't play) and I've seen different people each time. Not sure how many regulars there are or how many people show up on average, but you might have luck there.
I recently got back into chess after a 10+ year hiatus. I'm really enjoying it, and I feel like I've learned more here at chess.com in the past few months than I did the last few times I was playing actively over the past 30 years. Thanks to all the great contributors and members!
About 20 years ago, I belonged to the Bank of America chess club when I was working for BofA in San Francisco. Now I live in San Jose, and I'd love to get back to playing with someone in person -- especially since my wife got me a nice set of pieces for Christmas!
I checked the map page at http://www.chess.com/map/clubs and found one local club, but they haven't responded to my e-mail; a couple of other clubs that I found here and through Google look like they have pages that haven't been updated in years, so I don't even know if they're still around. So I thought I'd see if anyone reads the forums who might be local and might have some suggestions for OTB play.
I'd also like to see about tournament OTB play. According to my Google searches, it looks like http://www.bayareachess.com/ is probably the most likely place where I can find this. But I find their website terribly confusing as a non-member who's interested in playing, it seems like it's designed for people who know exactly what they need (although "designed" is generous, considering the look of the site). I'm sure that if I have to I can navigate my way to eventually play someone in person, but I thought it might be easier if a fellow Bay Area resident who's knowledgable about these things could offer some friendly advice.
Cheers,
Rich