Ken Katz

Editor’s Note:  As a sign of the times our July edition is reporting on more somber issues than is typically the case but this is also in keeping with our initial efforts to become less of a blog and more news oriented. Over time, you should be seeing fewer “I’s” and hopefully more bylines. You […]

Editor’s Note: We are simultaneously thrilled and humbled to announce that the author of this month’s lead article, C. J. Hirschfield, has agreed to become a regular Splash Pad News contributor. Many of you may know C. J. as the recently retired director of Children’s Fairyland, a beloved institution whose transformation she spearheaded over a period […]

Editor’s Note: We are absolutely delighted this month to be sharing content submitted by eight different individuals writing from their own unique perspectives. Most relate directly to the impact and responses to the Corona Virus pandemic. Our lead story, however,  is a proposal for a food court at the corner of Lakeshore and MacArthur in the […]

GIVING THANKS IN A TIME OF CRISIS by Ken Katz For the past two weeks, this has been my window to the world, as my wife and I (both in our seventies) have sheltered in place. Although inconvenienced and more than a bit anxious, we are grateful for so much, particularly in comparison to the […]

All the News That Fits GRAND AVENUE Last month, we reported on Aisle 5’s brewery operations but failed to mention one specific concern shared by their brewmaster, Karl Bauermeister. Namely, they’re having to dispose of approximately 300 pounds of spent grain (typically barley) every week and, for the time being, that means paying to have it […]

All the News That Fits GRAND AVENUE I hadn’t visited Aisle 5 in a while and, when I did so this past Thursday, I was delighted to find that they had moved their brewery out of a backroom and into a corner of the dining area. I was even more delighted to meet their brewmaster, […]

All the News That Fits Editor’s Note: Sending our very best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year… GRAND AVENUE Wild Rabbit Bakery (3249 Grand Avenue) opened very quietly on December 17 – many months after we first reported that a bakery was returning to this stretch of Grand Avenue. Let me note that […]

All the News That Fits Editor’s Note: As the New Year approaches, I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of the very first meeting of the Splash Pad Neighborhood Forum in what is now Walden Pond’s Rare Book Room. Back then, no one (especially me) could envision that […]

All the News That Fits GRAND AVENUE East Bay Eats (the reincarnation of Sunday Suppers, but under all new sponsorship) has scheduled a fundraiser for St. Mary’s Center to be held at Almond & Oak on Sunday, November 17. When I had the honor of serving on the planning committee for Oakland’s Homeless Connect program, […]