Farmers Market News

This September, the two stages at the Farmers Market will (as usual) be featuring a wonderful mix of talented musicians including several based right here in Oakland--David Gans, Asheba, Damond Moodie and Stephen Duffy's That Man Fantastic. For details, please check out the Entertainment Calendar posted on the Splash Pad website.

I hate to bitch but, for me, shopping at the Farmers Market this summer has been a bittersweet experience. In the process of installing a new kitchen, we've done without a stove and kitchen sink for a great many months. As a result, I've walked the aisles of the market looking wistfully at all the wonderful summer vegetables I've had to forgo--not to mention, the incredibly fresh eggs and sausages from Fabrique Delices. There have been two saving graces. One being this year's bumper crop of sweet and juicy stone fruits. The other was the pizza shells from Panorama Baking that I heaped with tomatoes, corn and red onions supplemented with mushrooms or spinach or eggplant or whatever caught my fancy. The pizzas cooked perfectly in the toaster oven and became a staple of my weekly menu. I was, therefore, disappointed and perhaps a bit annoyed to find the Panorama Baking booth absent for the past several weeks. It turns out that Erik Niederholz has been ill and unable to work. He and his sister, Anna, have been mainstays at the market for many years and have always generously contributed breads and pastries to a variety of Splash Pad events including our periodic volunteer clean-up days. As much as I miss Panorama's pizza, foccaccia and breads, I miss Erik more as he's become a part of our extended farmers market family. We're glad to report he's on the mend and, hopefully, will be back at the market next week.

Grand Lake Merchant Report

Change is in the wind--particularly with Trader Joe's and Walgreens accepting applications and poised to open in the very near future. The building that most recently housed Albertson's has just been stuccoed and construction now appears to be moving quite rapidly. I stopped by yesterday afternoon and spoke with a couple of the Trader Joe's managers who are conducting interviews for the sixty some part-time positions that have to be filled in time for their opening--perhaps as soon as early October. Additional information about the job openings on Lakeshore are posted on their website.

Further up Lakeshore next to Starbucks, a boutique wine tasting bar and Tapas Lounge called ViNE, is also accepting applications while the storefront that formerly housed a frame shop continues to undergo major renovations. I got the inside scoop about ViNE from John Fabela, the graphic designer who has long occupied an office on the second floor above Copy Central. John has signed on as their Marketing Manager and provided a wealth of information. Sales and sampling will be limited to a select group of California boutique and sparkling wines. Eighteen reds and ten whites will be dispensed from automated tasting machines. On any given day, sixty different wines will be open for sampling and approximately two hundred total will be available for sale. Target date for opening is late September or early October.

Change is also in the works for Lake Park Avenue which has long been the "poor step child" compared to Lakeshore and Grand Avenues. The success of Splash Pad Park along with the pedestrian safety improvements that accompanied the project have inspired some needed improvements. The most recent of which is the opening of Gelato Firenze next door to KFC. I've tried the delicious Kiwi Sorbetto and my wife notes that this little taste of Italy has already become the regular stomping ground for the volunteers at the Children's Book Project who are enamored with all the various flavors they've sampled thus far.

A couple of hundred feet east, new tenants have gutted and are refurbishing the interior of the storefront next door to the Neighborhood Center in preparation for a new take-out restaurant featuring rotisserie roasted chicken. The owner told me he and a friend used to periodically hop on a Southwest Airlines flight to Los Angeles to visit a restaurant that served poultry unlike any available here in the Bay area. He and his partner are opening their own restaurant here in Oakland partly to reduce their travel expenses. The secret, he confided, is marinating overnight allowing the seasonings to permeate the chicken. I'm looking forward to my first taste.

Elsewhere on Lake Park, Kwik Way appears to be more or less permanently closed. There was a rumor that McDonald's was again interested in leasing the property, but it's hard to believe that their corporate offices would once again be willing to rile up the surrounding community with all the attendant negative publicity that would surely result. We continue to hope that the property will be sold to a developer willing and able to construct the kind of mixed use development that was previously vetted and overwhelmingly approved by this community a couple of years back. If you're new to the area and want some background info, a good place to start is an article by Pamela Drake in the archives of the Grand Lake Guardian.

Free Neighborhood Plant Exchange

Odette Pollar, a long-time resident on upper Lakeshore has just come up with a really great idea and apparently has the resolve and energy to make it happen. She's in the process of organizing a free neighborhood plant exchange for October 6 that will take place from noon to 4 PM in the driveway of her home at 3811 Lakeshore. She's already begun collecting donations including a substantial collection of succulents. She notes that all plant materials are welcome including potted plants large and small as well as seeds, bulbs and sproutable clippings. Space is also being reserved for gardening accessories such as tools, pots and trellises.

Details are posted on Odette's Plant Exchange website or you may contact her at (510) 866-8482 for more information or to volunteer to help.

Art & Soul Festival this weekend

Oakland's sixth annual Art and Soul Festival will fill the blocks surrounding City Hall with great music Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Headliners include Jeffrey Osborne and Lucinda Williams. If you go, be sure to check out the Oakland Expo which features food and beverage products produced right here in Oakland.

American Society of Landscape Architects to Visit Splash Pad

The American Society of Landscape Architects is hosting its National Conference this year in San Francisco in early October. One field trip will focus on Oakland parks beginning with a stop at Splash Pad Park where Walter Hood will describe the design process. I'll be representing the Splash Pad Forum providing some background information about the controversy that eventually led to the construction of the revamped park. Additional stops on the tour will include the newly restored Pergola, the Cleveland Cascade and Union Point Park.

Splash Pad Volunteers Needed

We'd love to give Roger Helm, our terribly over-extended gardener, some serious help in sprucing up the park prior to the visit from the American Society of Landscape Architects and accordingly, will be scheduling one or more volunteer work days in September. Please watch for details in a future newsletter. Also, if you'd like to assist with weeding, pruning or raking on your own schedule, please send an email to info@splashpad.org or phone me at (510) 451-6537.

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