Newsletter
Search Content for your favorite subjects
-
Bad dream or a sideshow?
Sideshows are held in the middle of the night and may insert themselves into your dreams. What are sideshows? How are they dangerous? What can be done about them?
-
Farmers Market Update – March 2024
In addition to the entertainment calendar, this month’s Farmers Market update gives you an opportunity to meet Meaza Haile. She’s a regular vendor at the Farmers’ Market and has her own shop across the street on Santa Clara where she creates her own clothing line.
-
Lakeshore Avenue Update – March 2024
Lin Jia is one of our neighborhood gems and is the subject of this month’s Lakeshore update. Meet owner Marcia Lam and go make a reservation! Also for those of you with children, mark your calendar for March 30 — the Hop & Shop Derby Parade, that includes a scavenger hunt on the Avenue.
-
Changing how we get on and around 580
How will we enter 580W and how will we cross Santa Clara when the overpass is removed? That’s the topic of Jerry Barclay’s story, part of an ongoing series about traffic changes that may be heading in our direction.
-
Splash Pad Calendar – March 2024
This calendar is amazing! Sheila McCormick compiles Bay Area and virtual events on every topic under the sun…and a few beyond. Check it out! Neighborhood events are highlighted in red.
-
Grand Avenue Merchant News – February 2024
by Ken Katz I went knocking on Grand Avenue shop doors on January 21, accompanied by Susi Vogler, a new member of the Splash Pad News team, not knowing that we were in for far more surprises than we could have ever anticipated. Atop that list was Smitty’s Cocktails which closed at the start of…
-
Lakeshore Avenue Update – February 2024
Happy 25th Anniversary to Silver Moon Kids By Racheal Scott & Kelsey Heath, Lakeshore BID In the heart of Berkeley, a small secondhand baby store named Silver Moon Kids became the seed of an unexpected entrepreneurial journey. This story unfolds over 25 years, starting when Dima Hart’s son was just a year old. Back in…
-
Farmers Market Update – February 2024
Katie Derrig: Longtime market volunteer finds community through the spirit of volunteering By Madhavi Athanikar If you are a regular at the Grand Lake weekly farmers’ market, you’ve probably seen a familiar friendly presence working alongside the team at the Agricultural Institute of Marin (AIM) station on Saturday mornings. Her name is Katie Derrig and…
-
On the Street
Traffic improvement or disaster? By Jerry Barclay Re-imagining the intersection of Grand, Lake Park, and Santa Clara Avenues might be a transportation engineer’s dream assignment (or major headache). Anchored by the Grand Lake Theater and Splash Pad Park on one side with the freeway entrance and AIMS College Prep School on the other, it’s a…
-
Neighbor Profiles
“The Urban Logger”: Jerel Mahaffey By Susi Vogler & Madhavi Athanikar Meet Jerel Mahaffey: He’s an artisan in woodworking and a local treasure. In a tiny workspace behind his home on Walker Avenue, Jerel creates original tables and benches constructed from reclaimed, repurposed, and recycled tree and lumber scraps which he collects from all over…
-
The more things (don’t) change
By Ken Katz On Wednesday, January 10, Officer Tuan Le was laid to rest after a memorial service at Three Crosses Church in Castro Valley. The service was broadcast live and videotaped. As an indication of the impact his tragic death has had on people from all walks of life, 254,000 people have viewed it…
-
Unattended Donation Bins? Clothes them down!
By Ken Katz Back in March 2021, we encouraged readers to donate unwanted clothing and household goods to local non-profits — not to bins such as the ones shown above, nor in response to cards you may be getting in the mail saying that a truck will be in your neighborhood picking up donations. The…
-
Remembrances of Oakland’s Past: Chapter Four
by Virginia Brown Keyder Modes of transport around Oakland, leisurely childhood explorations – these stories which I covered in previous newsletters, pale in comparison to what growing up in Oakland really offered – its people. Outgrowing the familiarity of the neighborhood primary school, which basically centered around four square blocks from home, middle school brought…
-
Odds and Ends – February 2024
Stopping the noise Errant sirens going off at all hours of the night… Is it trains? Is it the parking lot? Nobody knew for sure what it was or where it was coming from, but for neighbors near Trader Joes, it was annoying as all get-out and they were determined to get to the bottom…
-
Grand Lake Neighbors — Minutes for January 2024 Meeting
Grand Lake Neighbors (OPD beats 14Y & 16X) Monthly meeting minutes 1/17/2024Barnett Hall, Lakeshore Baptist ChurchAttendance: 39, including OPD(2) and City reps(2) and County (1)NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY, February 21, 2024Questions: Eric Hughes – hughesearthur@gmail.com
-
Splash Pad Calendar – February 2024
by Sheila McCormick Thursday, 2/1, 3-5pm, Inform Your Community, Screening of We Are the Radical Monarchs Set in Oakland, this film documents the Radical Monarchs—an alternative to the Scout movement for girls of color, aged 8-13. Thursday, 2/1, 4-5pm The Writer’s Center, 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused and Productive All Year Round…
-
Mourning Officer Tuan Le
Early Friday morning, Officer Tuan Le was fatally shot on undercover patrol as he and his partner approached a robbery in progress in the 400 block of Embarcadero Avenue. Only 36 years old and in his 4th year of service in the Oakland Police Department, he leaves behind a loving wife and a long list…
-
Farmers Market Update – January 2024
Sip to Live Herbal Tea Company is one of the market’s newest vendors. They are located in the corner of the plaza adjacent to the popcorn booth. The company is owned and operated by Gibran McDonald, who in a “previous lifetime” worked in NASA’s space exploration program. All that changed in 2000 in Morocco when…
-
Grand Avenue Merchant News – January 2024
by Ken Katz The big story on Grand this month is unfortunately bad news. Sister is closing on January 27, citing a decline in revenue due in large part to an uptick in crime, particularly car break-ins — an ongoing problem shared by a number of area businesses. Here’s what Sister posted on their Facebook…
-
Splash Pad Calendar – January 2024
Splash Pad Calendar by Sheila McCormick January 4, Thursday, 12:30-1:30pm (and January 11, 18 and 25), 12:30-1:30pm *In person or via ZOOM and Facebook Live* Oakland Rotary Club #3. Check here for speaker information. January 5, Friday, 7-8pm *ZOOM* Rotary Nature Center Friends. Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins―from Spices to Vices. Professor…
-
Odds and Ends – January 2024
As we reported last month, Hood Design Studio has been commissioned to design a memorial in honor of the Dearings — the first black family to reside in Piedmont — who were forcibly driven from their home on Wildwood Avenue in 1925. On November 7, in Piedmont’s Alan Harvey Theater, Walter spoke about his…
-
Splash Pad Park – January 2024
Splash Pad Park got far more attention than usual this past week thanks to a C. J. Hirschfield article in The Oaklandside that echoed some of the many concerns I’ve been sharing on this platform and elsewhere. Although the article was mainly focused on infrastructure issues that haven’t been resolved, C. J. also had some…
-
Splash Pad Calendar – December 2023
Splash Pad Calendar by Sheila McCormick December 1, Friday, 7-8pm *ZOOM* Rotary Nature Center Friends. Birding Our Nation’s First Wildlife Refuge with Naturalist Clay Anderson. Learn more about the birds hanging out at Lake Merritt. Register here. December 2, Saturday, 4-5:30pm *Stream* AARP. Jonas Kaufmann – It’s Christmas. Concert filmed at the Silent Night Chapel…
-
Grand Avenue Merchant News – December 2023
by Ken Katz The Sanctuary at 3344 Grand celebrated their Grand Opening on November 13. Owners Stephanie and Etecia Burrell describe their shop as an “apothecary, apparel and home decor boutique,” but a visit to their website (which I highly recommend) tells a much larger story that includes classes and workshops, a community gathering space,…
-
Farmers Market Update – November 2023
This month’s update is dedicated exclusively to the Agricultural Institute of Marin’s celebration on October 21 of the Grand Lake Farmers Market’s 25th Anniversary. A market that started with maybe a dozen farms under the freeway has since been named the Best Farmers Market in the East Bay year after year. Javier Ledesma who has…
Tags
Artists (2) Art Walk (1) butterflies (1) Calendar (1) Event (2) Farmers' Market Entertainment Calendar (1) Farmers Market (1) Garden (1) Grand Avenue Merchant News (1) Lakeshore Avenue News (1) Minutes (1) Monarchs (1) Neighbor Profile (3) Odds & Ends (1) On the Street (1) Photographer (1) Restaurant (4) Splash Pad Park (1)
Splashpad News
©2024