by Sarah Van Roo Beautiful Lake Merritt was front and center again after our series of January atmospheric rivers. Following a summer of red tide drama and an enormous fish die-off, now we can add flood danger to the list of Mother Nature’s unexpected lake-related events. Now, we hopefully watch for our usual bird migrations, […]
Sarah Van Roo
Weed Warriors Wage War on Weeds and Trash
by Sarah Van Roo Back in 2010, Jennie Gerard and Joel Peter saw that the beautiful new landscaping around Lake Merritt funded by the 2010 Measure DD could not be adequately maintained by existing city staff. Working with the Oakland Public Works Department (OPW), in 2010 they organized the Lake Merritt Weed Warriors, which was modeled […]
Emily Erickson: Researching Monarch Migration Mysteries
by Sarah Van Roo Wandering the trails and sidewalks of Oakland with a butterfly net over her shoulder, Emily Erickson is clocking about 60 miles a month in search of elusive monarch butterflies. After completing her Entomology doctorate at Penn State, Emily returned to her native California as a post-doctoral researcher on a UC Davis project […]
11th Annual Autumn Lights Festival The Best Yet
by Sarah Van Roo The Autumn Lights Festival at the Gardens at Lake Merritt drew the curtain across its garden stage on Saturday evening, October 15. Over three evenings, 11,000 festival-goers enjoyed a peaceful, vibrant event. Families with young kids, the hip and hip-replacement crowd, and everyone in between mingled happily in the fantastic fall […]
The Gardens at Lake Merritt’s Entry Gets a Facelift
by Sarah Van Roo and Donald Cooper Many of us wander bewitched though the Autumn Lights Festival each fall, without knowing that each ticket purchased has gone to help fund the redesign of the entrance plaza for The Gardens at Lake Merritt in Lakeside Park. This plan, six years in unfolding, was created by […]
Lake Merritt Area Earth Day Volunteer Opportunities
Earth Day is Saturday, April 22, 2017 and there are a lot of opportunities around the lake for engaged neighbors to jump in. Lake Merritt Weed Warriors: We’ll collect litter and pull weeds in and around the vegetated stormwater basin just downstream from the Lake Merritt Blvd. bridge from 9 a.m.- 12 noon. April rains have […]
KITCHEN 388’s REPLACEMENT – A STUDY IN CONTRASTO
For fans of the much-loved Kitchen 388 on Grand Avenue, there’s good news and bad news. Owner, Philip Toman closed in late December due to family issues which forced him to focus on Olea, their San Francisco restaurant. He recently found an eager tenant in the person of Chef Alessandro Campitelli, who grew up in Rome, trained […]
Splash Pad Park’s Plant Whisperer
by Sarah Van Roo There are secret gardens in many places, and Oakland has one that wasn’t really meant to be secret. Chances are you don’t know about it – but it’s hiding in plain sight. This would be the beautiful California native plant garden in Splash Pad Park, which is tucked in the shadow […]