Walter Hood Honored with a National Design Award In last month's newsletter, I had the pleasure of announcing that Walter Hood, the Landscape Architect who designed Splash Pad Park had been selected by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Museum as the 2009 winner of their National Design Award for Landscape Architecture. A couple of weeks later, I myself felt honored to be included in the interviews that were filmed by a two-man, Cooper-Hewitt video crew led by Shamus Adams. During the course of that interview, Shamus mentioned several things that came as a revelation and are very much worth sharing. For starters, he expressed surprise that when he visited our Splash Pad Park website, he had looked in vain for a map or any mention whatsoever of the park's location. In retrospect, I realized that we had originally designed the site with a very limited and very specific neighborhood audience in mind. Some eight years later, as Shamus pointedly noted, Walter Hood is a "rock star" in landscape architecture and, as a result, "Splash Pad" is being googled all over the world. In response, our home page now clearly describes the park's location in Oakland between Grand and Lakeshore adjacent to 580. In addition, Walter now occupies a more prominent place on the home page and when you click on that link, you'll find a partial list of the articles about him that have appeared in major print publications over the last several years including the New York Times, Metropolis and Landscape Architecture Magazine. Secondly, Shamus corrected my assumption that Splash Pad earned its "15 minutes of fame" riding on the coattails of Walter's design for the gardens surrounding the De Young Museum. He said, to the contrary, what most impressed the judges was the extent to which the Splash Pad and Lafayette Square Park serve their local communities. Finally, as they wrapped up filming, Shamus asked if Oakland understood how fortunate we are to have not one--but two neighborhood parks designed by an architect who now boasts an international reputation. I had to confess that we probably did not. That impression was confirmed within the week when I examined the list of parks that the Public Works Department has deemed "Priority" and worthy of continued, regular maintenance. Neither Splash Pad nor Lafayette Square made the cut. Inexplicably, the city's Corporation Yard on 79th Avenue did. In all fairness to the Public Works Department, (thanks to Jim Ryugo's sympathetic ear) they responded quite promptly to my call for a major park clean-up in preparation for the visit from the Cooper-Hewitt video team. Gardeners Jimmy Lowe and Remiro Segura worked the better part of a full day mowing and edging the lawns and a city electrician got the Names in Lights panels working so they could be filmed at night. In addition, First Janitorial Maintenance (which maintains Lakeshore and Lake Park Avenues for the BID) steam-cleaned the Plaza (compliments of the Farmers Market) on just two-days notice. Most gratifying, however, was the extent to which you, dear readers, turned out armed with rakes, brooms and weeding implements. It was a fairly hectic scene and I'm afraid I don't have a complete list of volunteers but they included: Elizabeth Muller, Harry and Michele, John and Buffy Hasley, Jeff Sobul, David Smith, Tom Swaine, Elvie Pignolet, Jeffrey Feldman, Mary Ann Walsh and Richard, Eric Hughes and Ashley Young. Ashley, who had been mixing up some of her fabulous creations at Gelato Firenze, took a brief break to hack weeds in the California Native Plant Bed and before returning to work, offered complimentary scoops to all the volunteers--all of whom happily accepted. More Splash Pad News The Cooper-Hewitt Award (combined with the anticipated cuts in parks maintenance) have had one other major repercussion. Jerry Barclay's Splash Pad Farmers Market Advisory Group has resolved to work harder to relieve congestion and minimize the Farmers Market's impact on the park grounds . At their meeting June 17, a decision was made to implement on a trial basis, a revised vendor layout. If you shopped this past Saturday, you may have felt a bit disoriented as most of the vendors on the asphalt center roadway reversed sides. The main goal was to allow better pedestrian circulation in the area near the popcorn booth and specifically to clear the sidewalk to give better pedestrian access to the side of the park where the Oaklandish van is situated. In addition, the center asphalt roadway was widened very slightly and the majority of umbrellas were removed to minimize congestion. In the coming weeks and months, the Advisory Board will be working with market manager, Jim Fenton, to iron out some kinks. Emphasis will be on protecting the lawns and on preserving specific areas for public access during the market hours. If you have any comments or would like to be added to the contact list for the Advisory Board's bi-monthly meetings, please email Jerry Barclay with a carbon-copy addressed to info@splashpad.org. We've implemented one other significant change to the SPNF website. Rather than upload photos to the Splash Pad gallery, we're now utilizing Flickr which provides easy captioning, a slide show feature; easy downloading of full-size images and the opportunity for viewers to post comments. If this works as effectively as I hope, we'll later introduce separate photo sets for vendors, musicians and Farmers Market patrons. The photos currently uploaded are on this link. What you won't be seeing on Flickr are any of the fabulous photos I shot on May 31 at Oaklandish's Salsa Fest. Long-time readers are aware of my travails learning how to operate a far too complex, well-traveled camera that had a tendency to malfunction at the most inappropriate times. No excuses this time! I have a brand new camera and this malfunction was due entirely to operator error. There are, however, photos from other sources that document the festival including this one posted by Oaklandish. Prompted by the huge turnout and all the smiling faces, Oaklandish has tentatively scheduled a special encore for Sunday, July 26. For more photos and upcoming information, please visit the Oaklandish Events page. Grand Lake Merchant News If a July Newsletter wasn't already in the works, we may have been prompted to issue another EXTRA to announce welcome news for the Grand Lake commercial district. Kwik Way, which has been vacant for two years has been leased to Gary Rizzo who owns the popular Somerset Restaurant on College Avenue. Gary met with about half a dozen Grand Lake neighbors two weeks ago and described his plans for the site. The building itself will be restored to its original late 50's appearance. Outdoor seating will be added along with extensive landscaping. Tentatively, they will be open from 7 a.m. (with coffee and pastries) to 11 p.m. serving "Creative American Food". A surprisingly large percentage of the people who filled out the GLRAG survey last year complained about the blight at Kwik Way and it would be difficult to overestimate the extent to which the proposed improvements will make Lake Park Avenue far more pedestrian friendly--building on the success of Gelato Firenze and now Lanesplitter Pizza. The other new addition to our restaurant scene, The Grand Tavern is also doing quite well and is rapidly gathering a devoted following. Although it does include meats on its menu, the vegetarian items seem to be getting the most attention including a glowing review from Ross Turner, the graphic designer who contributed all the art work for GLRAG'S Stub Club promotion. Although there may be a few bugs yet to be addressed, the Lakeshore Avenue Business Improvement District has just unveiled its new, improved website at www.lakeshoreave.net. Content includes a comprehensive directory of businesses on Lakeshore and Lake Park Avenues. Website will be regularly updated and additional information will be added over time. Prominently mentioned on the new website is the second annual Lakefest 2009 Street Festival, August 1 and 2nd. This promises to be even bigger and better than last year's debut under the management of Helen Wyman. Helen is planning to include one feature that proved highly popular at the recent Uptown Unveiled Street Festival she organized. On Sunday, the 2nd, she's scheduling a skateboarding demonstration on the asphalt at Splash Pad Park under the supervision of Keith Williams, a former Oakland High School art instructor better known as "K-Dub". I caught part of their gravity-defying performances at Uptown and look forward to a repeat session here in the park. Lakefest once again needs community volunteers to help with the kids' area and with their waste reduction program. If you'd like to help out on August 1 and/or August 2, please email Pamela Drake. Stephen Duffy is a long-time Grand Lake neighbor and chief honcho for a band called That Man Fantastic. He's been talking up a proposal to draft neighborhood musicians to play in the Grand Lake business district on a regular basis. Tentatively, two to four groups will be kicking off the program around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday July 11. Focus on Lakeshore will be Arizmendi and Starbucks. Focus on Lakeshore will be Grand Bakery and across the street from the theatre. Stephen's very much in need of a couple of volunteers to help a bit with coordination--finding electrical outlets and such. If you'd like to help bring music to our streets (think 76 Trombones...well, maybe not quite than many), please send him an email.
Farmers Market News The first of the season sweet corn that I fantasized about last month materialized a couple of weeks ago and has become a menu staple here in the Katz household--eaten on the cob or shucked for inclusion in pizzas and salads. Four new vendors have joined the Saturday market in the past month or so. The one generating the most excitement is undoubtedly Cowgirl Creamery. Since I'm lactose intolerant, I must admit I don't share that excitement, but the buzz is somewhat akin to the anticipated arrival of Pizzaiolo which I'm told has been installing pizza ovens in their new digs on Grand. The new vendor that's stirred my interest is J. E. Perry Farms. If you're a committed locavore, you'll have a hard time beating this Fremont-based operation unless you have your own backyard, truck garden. The kicker is that J. E. Perry exists within the confines of the historic Ardenwood Farm which is part of the East Bay Regional Park system. I'm hoping to convince them to bring pumpkins in October. The third new grower is Blossom Bluff Orchards which specializes in stone fruits. Their farm is located in Parlier--just outside Fresno. The last of the new vendors, Blue Chair Fruit Co. is based here in Oakland. They specialize in small batch production of exquisite fruit preserves. If you become a regular, remember to save the bottles as they have a recycling program that allows you to exchange twelve empties for one full jar. Miscellaney
More "Travels With Charlie" (with apologies to John Steinbeck). Last month, I gave a plug to Charlie Haas, the author of "The Enthusiast" and noted that I'd be in the front row of his book reading at "A Great Good Place for Books" on Thursday, June 4. As it turned out, that date conflicted with a meeting of the Grand Lake Community Council and I chose instead to occupy the back row of a reading a couple of days earlier at Books Inc. in San Francisco. It was an overflow crowd that snapped up all available copies and then happily waited in line for Charlie's signature. Charlie has just added two new, neighborhood readings. The first is at Walden Pond Books on Thursday, July 16, 7:00 p.m. and the second is at L'Amyx Tea Bar at 3437 Lakeshore Ave at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 19. The latter reading is particularly appropriate since Charlie actually wrote portions of his novel sipping tea at L'Amyx. In addition, in one of the chapters, his protagonist ends up working at a publication called " Cozy--The Magazine of Tea". At the Indie Awards on May 15, Allan Michaan the owner of the Grand Lake Theatre received this year's Heritage Award. The SPCA has instituted a new adoption program and with the cooperation of the Bank of America will be setting up a booth in front of the bank on the second Saturday of each month. For June, they just brought cats, but in the future, should be bringing some puppies as well. The Sailboat House at Lake Merritt will be hosting a Splash Into Summer event on Saturday, July 18 from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00. The big draw will be free boat rentals. As you can see from the photos I took at a similar event on June 20, this is a real family affair. "Coastie", the Coast Guard's robotic tug boat should be there as well helping to promote water safety. In observance of Independence Day, there will be a special 4th of July Municipal Band Concert at the band stand adjacent to Fairyland this Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. This is the first in a series of weekly concerts through August 2. The remaining concerts will be held on Sundays from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The Grand Lake Community Council meets tomorrow night (Thursday, July 2) in the Lakeshore Baptist Church library. There's a lot on the agenda including Vine's application for a liquor license; the revocation of Serenader's cabaret permit; a community booth at Lakefest; a Grand Lake Retail Advisory Group report; and a crime report. Splash Pad Newsletter Subscriptions If you have friends, relatives, neighbors or co-workers who may be interested in today's newsletter, please send them this link: http://www.splashpad.org/mostrecent.html. If they choose to do so, they can then subscribe by sending an email to info@splashpad.org. |
