Grand-Lakeshore Retail Survey Update
The Grand-Lakeshore Retail Advisory Group's survey has been online for just over two weeks and more than 300 surveys have already been completed. If you haven't already done your bit to help shape the future of the Grand-Lakeshore shopping district, you still have until September 1 to do so. A link to the survey is available at http://www.glrag.org.
GLRAG is still looking for volunteers to assist with all phases of this project--but the most immediate need is for help distributing flyers at the Lakeshore Street Festival this coming Saturday and Sunday and at the Grand Avenue National Night Out Celebration from 6 to 8 PM on August 5. If you can help out for an hour or two on any of these dates or want more info, email info@glrag.org.
Lakefest 2008
Lakefest 2008 promises to revive the traditional Lakeshore street festival in a major fashion and with a local twist. The entertainment schedule includes four (that I know of) groups based within blocks of one another here in the Grand Lake neighborhood. Three of them--That Man Fantastic, the Foggy Gulch Band and the Les Moore Band kick off the festivities on the Lakeshore Avenue stage on Saturday. The Baguette Quartet also has neighborhood roots and will be performing first thing Sunday followed by Terrence Brewer who performs at Mezze every Saturday night.
Plans for a separate stage and other activities at Splash Pad Park on Sunday have been shelved for this year due largely to inadequate lead time. Many of those activities have been relocated to Lakeshore including carnival rides and a monster inflatable.
By the way, as bad as traffic is on a typical Saturday, this Saturday is going to be far, far worse and parking spaces are going to be practically nonexistent. If you can, walk or bike or take advantage of the free shuttle being provided by Douglas Parking both days. Free valet bike parking will also be available on Lakeshore at the entrance to Trader Joes.
The shuttle will operate two loops. One begins at the corner of Grand and Mandana and runs up Mandana into Piedmont; down Highland to Oakland Avenue and down Oakland to the starting point. Scheduled stops are: Mandana at Carlston; Crocker at La Salle; Highland at Wildwood; Highland at Sheridan; Highland at Sierra; Highland at Vista; Highland at Oakland; Oakland at Grand; Grand at Jean.
The second loop runs from 20th and Broadway to the Festival with the following scheduled stops: Grand at Bellevue; Fairyland; Grand at Harrison; Grand at Broadway.
For more detailed shuttle information, consult the Oakland Lakefest map.
The festival is still in need of additional volunteers to staff the wine tent, take tickets, help with set-up and tear down. If you can help out for at least a two-hour shift, contact Pamela Drake at 834-9198 or by email at pamelad205@sbcglobal.net. Volunteers will be provided with souvenir t-shirts and will be well supplied with snacks. In addition, high school volunteers will receive community service credits.
Farmers Market News
There have been a multitude of changes at the market in just the past several weeks. Newest addition this past Saturday was Massa Organics which grows brown rice on a small farm just outside Chico. The previous week marked the debut of Capay Organic which is located in the Capay Valley just west of Woodland. This farm was a trailblazer in the birth of what we now know as the organic food movement and has been using organic principles since 1976. Jim Fenton, the market manager, has long been courting Sonoma County goat cheese producer, Bodega Artisan Cheese and his persistence finally paid off when they joined the market several weeks ago. By all appearances, they've been quite well received. Perhaps, the most unusual addition to the market was the Ocean Harvest Sea Vegetable Company which harvests and dries live seaweed and kelp.
The hot food selection at the market has also expanded with the addition of a booth operated by La Taza de Cafe which is located on Grand Avenue just above Safeway. I had the beef Empanadas with a spicy yogurt sauce which was very good and Jim Fenton said the pulled pork Cuban sandwich was superb.
Yesterday, also marked the debut at the Grand Lake Market of the EBT or Food Stamp program as a way of encouraging low income families and individuals to eat healthier foodstuffs. If you have some free time on Saturdays, the market would very much appreciate assistance staffing their information booth and dispensing the food stamps.
Brad Gates, best known as the "Tomato Man", has just announced plans for what he's billing as the "1st Annual Wild Boar Farms Tomato Tour" on August 10 from 11 AM to 2 PM at his farm in Suisun Valley. Brad is promising U-Pick Tomatoes at $2 per pound + gourmet food samples + wine tasting + sun, wind, dust and dirt. For more info, talk to Brad at the market or visit his website.
In terms of simple mechanics, the photographs I took this past Saturday may hopefully represent a turning point in my photographic "career". None were terribly under or over-exposed and I was particularly pleased to see that nobody came out looking purple. More significantly, my son Adam, who is my mentor and harshest critic, actually found a picture he liked--at least, at first glance. If you go online to the Photo Gallery, it's the photo of the irridescent eggplant from Capay Organic. I'm actually more partial to the photo of the wooden bowl with fruit--but that's more of a tribute to the craftsman who turned the bowl.
One other photo that you'd probably gloss over is the one of the guy assiduously studying a tomato. That's Richard Orlando--a fellow student at my high school in Southern California. Richard, whom I hadn't seen in over forty years turned up a few years ago at a meeting I attended at the Lakeside Garden Center and re-introduced himself as my former tennis partner. As I recall, neither of us was particularly adept.
Splash Pad Volunteer Work Day, Sunday July 20
We had a fairly small, but enthusiastic group of volunteers last Sunday. The California Native Plant Bed was thoroughly weeded as was a good portion of the decomposed granite walkway surrounding the park. Volunteers included Eric Hughes and his son, Gavin plus Barbara Chikiary, Bob Dutra, Shannon Wu, Pamela Clarke and Splash Pad/Farmers Market Advisory Group Chairman, Jerry Barclay.
Grand-Lakeshore Merchant News
The big news on Lakeshore was the announcement that Walter Bennett Cameras would be closing effective August 23. The shop was originally purchased by his father, Walter, in 1950 and Jim has been there there since 1975. In an article I wrote for the Guardian earlier this year, I noted that only five businesses that were here when we purchased our house nearly forty years ago remained. That number sadly is about to be reduced by 20% and it's a loss on a par with the departure of the much beloved Dime and Dollar year's earlier. Jim is an old-school retailer who valued the personal relationships he developed with his long-time customers who in turn genuinely appreciated his commitment to customer service. Jim kindly agreed to let us share with our subscribers a letter he wrote explaining the reasons for his closing and a hint about his future plans.
Other news regarding Lakeshore came from Jane Courant who sent me the following email:
Exciting news about the See's space: a good friend of mine (Yvette Chamberland) is moving her small jewelry store from SF--she lost her lease after 24 years on 24th and Sanchez in Noe Valley--and as she lives in Oakland, she decided to move Rose Quartz to her hometown! She sells wonderful, interesting things, some of it antique, and she hopes to open in September.
A few days ago, I happened to see Yvette as she was about to check out the status of the work that she's having done and I introduced myself. She seems quite nice and talked about the kind of jewelry she'll be stocking in a wide--but mostly reasonable price range with an emphasis on handcrafted jewelry.
Bike Against the Odds Fundraiser
Bike Against the Odds is an annual fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Fund that is working to identify and prevent the environmental causes that may be responsible for this devastating illness that strikes 1 of every 8 women in the United States. Three of my neighbors/friends are participating in this year's 30 to 100 mile ride through the Oakland Hills on Saturday, August 23 and they're asking for your support.
Adam Van de Water, who is perhaps better known as Eliza's dad and Amanda Brown-Stevens husband, is motivated by the painful awareness that his mother has now been battling breast cancer for fourteen months. This will be the sixth year, Tara Runyan has participated as a rider and now as the rest-stop coordinator, as well. With a baby and a toddler at home, any concerns Tara had previously about environmental toxins have been magnified immensely. Jeff Sobul is a long-time Splash Pad supporter and is a rider and publicist for the Team Oakland bicycle racing team. Since the team is sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, Jeff is particularly pleased to be participating in an event that benefits medical research.
To learn more about Bike Against the Odds and Adam, Tara and Jeff's reasons for participating, please click on their individual links :
Construction Project in Parking Lot under Freeway
Caltrans has just announced plans for modifications to the parking lot under the freeway that will make it compliant with the requirements of the Americans for Disability Act (ADA) while simultaneously reducing traffic congestion and improving lighting. Full details are available here.
Splash Pad Newsletter Subscriptions
I you have friends, relatives, neighbors or co-workers who may be interested in becoming subscribers, please cut, paste and send the link to http://www.splashpad.org/newsletter.html to our Newsletter archive. If they choose to do so, they can then subscribe by sending an email to info@splashpad.org.