by Ken Katz – In the face of a pandemic that’s dragged on for more than two years, it would have been reasonable to expect boarded-up shops throughout the Grand Lake District. To the contrary, over the past couple of months, we’ve reported on at least half a dozen businesses newly opened on Grand, The newest addition is Red Bay Coffee Roasters which celebrated the Grand Opening of their seventh and newest location on June 19–right next door to the Grand Lake Theatre. Hours are 8:00-3:30pm seven days a week. In addition to coffee, they feature Firebrand pastries which are roasted over a wood fire. Continue Reading
Lakeshore BID – July 2022 Highlights
by Kira Pascoe – June is LGBTQ PRIDE month and a stroll down Lakeshore shows merchants proudly supporting PRIDE and celebrating the LGBTQ community. Lakeshore’s non-profit Oakland LGBTQ Center is an amazing community and resource. It has a library definitely worth checking out! Arise Yoga celebrated PRIDE and community with queer yogis in an afternoon of gentle yoga, meditation, ecstatic dance, expressive art, and vulnerable community sharing. The class was facilitated by Melissa Andrada (Mel – she/her), a queer Filipina-American born in Nigeria who came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant and came out later in life. Continue Reading
Confessions of a Seventy-Nine-Year-Old Virgin
by Ken Katz – You were probably expecting this to be a salacious story. It’s not. It’s simply about me being among the last of the Hippie Generation who had never smoked a joint, devoured a pot brownie, or consumed Cannabis in any form. Why not? In retrospect, I doubt that I was the least bit worried about being dragged into “quagmires of degradation”—the chief argument cited in a multitude of posters and films from the 1930s and ’40s, including Reefer Madness. I was, however, acutely aware that Cannabis was illegal, and I preferred to not be arrested. More significantly… Continue Reading
Odds & Ends
* New Pancho Pescador Mural in Lake Park Parking Lot.
*Why are the Walker Avenue and Lake Park parking lots underutilized?
*EVGO Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Operational.
*A moving tribute upon the passing of Barbara Newcombe.
*The July Concert Series at the Edoff Memorial Bandstand returns. Continue Reading
Farmers Market Updates – July 2022
by Dan Foster – Another Grand Lake Market Participant, Starter Bakery is transitioning into a brick and mortar location. This time in the Rockridge District as reported in The Oaklandside. New Grand Lake Farmers Market Interactive Map available on AIM’s website: To access the map, click on this link and then scroll down until you find the map where you can do any of the following. Change the date to view the folks expected to attend on that given date (or who attended on a past date) – please note, the map is updated as new information comes in, so if you look at upcoming weeks, it might not be totally accurate. Type in the search bar to find specific vendors or products. Continue Reading
AIM’S Racial Equity Fund Newsletter
by Andy Naja-Riese – I wanted to share the good news with you: AIM has selected the Racial Equity Fund award recipients! We are so excited to share the names of the seven Racial Equity Fund recipients chosen for our Spring 2022 Cohort, out of many outstanding applications: Chestnut Street Granola, Dragonspunk, Mac’d With Love, Pound Bizness, Raised Roots, Shao Shan Farm , The Lemonade Bar Continue Reading
Splash Pad Park Update – July 2022
As reported last month, repairs to the decking in the Splash Pad Plaza commenced on Sunday, June 5. Despite non-stop rain, four Public Works employees reported for overtime including Martin Tovar, the Facilities Maintenance and Construction Manager, and Christian Boyle, the City Gardener who maintains the Rose Garden, Mandana Green and Splash Pad Park. Volunteers included Billal Sidiq (from Bolani Foods) and three young (especially compared to me) Farmers Market patrons: Raphael Holmes, Jake Kring and Jose Santos plus Eric Hughes, Jerry Barclay and myself. Continue Reading
July 2022 Calendar
by Sheila McCormick
This month’s picks:
July 1, Friday, 7-8pm *ZOOM* Rotary Nature Center Friends. Lakeside Chat #20 – Neighborhood Snakes: Meet Your Neighbors!
July 4, Monday, 1-3pm *In Person* Oakland Municipal Band. A Selection of Patriotic Music.
July 16, Saturday, 10am-1pm *In Person* Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour. F.M. “Borax” Smith’s Palatial Estate.
For the full calendar, please click on this link.
CALENDAR OF THE MONTH
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