photo of the week: heavy metal

Ilove all the competing lines in this shot. In hindsight, I wish I'd had more time and room to shoot this, but it was during the crowded opening for the Manos de Oro Gallery last weekend.

signs: Beauty Salon

Spotted this faded sign when I went to the Manos de Oro Gallery opening last weekend. It's clearly been hanging for a while. My brain keeps merging the various titles, resulting in beautee slop.

Manos de Oro Gallery

Saturday I got word of an art show in East Oakland. I don't tend to hear about those as often, so I jumped at the chance to check it out. (Thanks to @ElTacoBike for the heads up!)

It was the grand opening of the Manos de Oro Gallery on International at 26th Avenue, a venture by local artist Paco Excel. The showing is of work by Mike Giant, titled "Metaphorical Suicide". Stop by and check it out! There are works for sale, too.

More pictures from the showing:

upcoming Oakland events

Let me know about other events by leaving a comment!

Wednesday

What I Hear, I Keep: Stories from Oakland's Griots - Wednesday-Saturday, 2:30-5:30pm. Visual and audio art installation at Peralta Hacienda based on African American stories of modern-day Oakland, with local residents telling about their lives and exploring their identities. (with $5 admission)

Vintage porcelain at the Pardee Home - Wednesdays, 2nd Saturdays, 2nd Sundays. View the historic Pardee Home and the collection of porcelain collected by the globe-trotting Mrs. Pardee. You can take the tour for $5 or have the tour and tea for $25. Read more at World of Mailman. Read about the tea service on the East Bay Express. ($5/$25)

Friday

Off the Grid at OMCA - Friday, 5-9pm. The Off the Grid food truck pod comes to the Oakland Museum for an evening of food and fun.

Destiny Arts Center - groundbreaking party - Friday, March 29, 6-10pm. Demolition will start soon on our new building at 967 Stanford in Oakland and want to invite all of our friends, family, and community to celebrate Destiny style! Food from Tina Tamale available for purchase. ($25 suggested donation)

Saturday

Paintings by Robert Akeley - A Retrospective - Saturdays, 11am-5pm. See an exhibition of paintings by long-time resident Robert Akeley at the Rise Above Gallery.

The Big Painting Show - Saturdays, 1-5pm. See paintings by 8 established Bay Area artists at the Gray Loft Gallery in Jingletown. The Big Painting Show: Layers of Abstraction features the work of Rick Arnitz, Mark Ashworth, Suzy Barnard, Jamie Brunson, Betty Jo Costanzo, Carol Lefkowitz, Simone Simon, and June Yokell. (free)

Easter Egg Hunt in Mosswood Park - Saturday, March 30, 1-5pm. Each child gets a free lunch, Easter Egg Basket, Easter Egg Hunt, and the chance to win a free bicycle. (free)

Takin' the Beets to the Streets! - Saturday, March 30, 6pm. Pay-what-you-can community dinner project between The People's Kitchen and the Phat Beets Produce. This family-style dinner will feature live music, performance, and a multi-course meal celebrating the food justice work of Phat Beets Produce, the history vibrant and radical history of North Oakland and the new kitchen incubation project with Crossroads Co-op Cafe! (pay what you can)

ongoing events:

• Art Murmur (1st Friday)
• Saturday Art Stroll (Saturdays)
• Mt. View Cemetery Tours (2nd and 4th Saturdays)
• Piedmont Avenue Stroll (3rd Thursdays)
• Off the Grid at OMCA (Fridays)

looking further ahead:

bike ride to Uptown Art Park opening - Friday, April 5, 5:30pm. The East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO) and Bikes4Life will host a fun, 1.5 mile bike ride to the event. Riders of all ages are invited to gather at 5:30 p.m. at Bikes4Life, 1600 7th Street @ Willow in West Oakland (take BART to the West Oakland station). Free bike lights will be offered to participants courtesy of the City of Oakland (limited supply – arrive by 5:30 p.m.). Bike valet parking will be provided by Richmond Spokes. (free)

Uptown Art Park opening - Friday, April 5, 6:30-8:30pm. Come celebrate the opening of the Uptown Art Park. Nine Sculpture Art Pieces by Local Artists, plus music, tours and food trucks. (free)

Mountain View Cemetery Tulip Festival - Friday, April 5 - Sunday, April, 7. Mountain View Cemetery's annual tulip festival. There will be special exhibitions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the outdoor flowers will be on view at any time. Read more in the Oakland Tribune. (free)

Day of Peace 2013 - Saturday, April 13, 9am-noon. Join Project Peace East Bay for Day of Peace service projects around Oakland and Berkeley. (free)

Oakland Urban Paths - Oakland's Parklets - Saturday, April 13, 10am. Explore some of Oakland’s parklets and urban nature. Start at Farley’s (east). (free)

OHA: Great Estates in April - Saturday, April 20. The Oakland Heritage Alliance house tour features Tudor and Mediterranean revival style homes Claremont Pines and Upper Rockridge, which emerged as suburban garden developments in the first decades of the 1900s.

Mountain View Cemetery: Women's History Tour

Saturday morning was perfect weather for a walk around Mountain View Cemetery. A large group met there to learn about some of the women buried there, led by Jane Leroe, one of the enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteer docents at Mountain View.

Jane started with a very brief overview of the cemetery, since some people hadn't been on the general tour. (Those are given every second Saturday; fourth Saturdays are more specialized tours on a wide variety of subjects.) She pointed out the grove of redwoods that marks the "potter's field" where unknown and indigents were buried. Jane also told us about the origin of the word mausoleum. It comes from the elaborate burial monument made for King Mausolus by his wife/sister Artemsia II of Caria. She had the huge Mausoleum of Halicarnassus constructed in his memory. Various well-known Greek sculptors worked on it, along with hundreds of craftsman. It stood about 145 feet tall, and was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.

Ellen White Colton - Our first stop was the Colton mausoleum. It's best-known as the interment location of David Douty Colton, who worked with "the Big Four" (Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins and Crocker). But we were there to hear about his wife, Ellen White Colton, who famously sued the Big Four after her husband's death. She was given a lower valuation for her husband's shares than were later given for Hopkins' shares. Although the judge agreed with her in principal, she had agreed to the valuation, so she lost the lawsuit. It did badly damage reputation of the Big Four. Read more about David Douty Colton on Lives of the Dead, which is a great website for learning about the residents of Mountain View.

Miranda Lux - At one point, Charles Lux owned 1/7th of the land in California. When he died, he left half his $20,000,000 fortune to his wife Miranda. She was active in many philanthropic causes, especially schools and aid societies. When she died in 1894, she left a bequest and the Lux Foundation was started. The foundation still exists and is active today, though in 1955 its name was changed to the Miranda Lux Foundation.

Clara Bedell - Clara Bedell was better known as "Diamond Carrie", the owner of a very successful brothel in San Francisco in the 1800s. Her nickname came from her love of jewelry, especially diamonds. She left a sizable estate, but made the news several years after her death when she was listed as the beneficiary of a $10,000 life insurance policy from a judge named R.S. Mesick. Read more about Clara Bedell on Lives of the Dead.

Dr. Chloe Annette Buckel - Chloe Buckel received a medical degree in 1858. When the Civil War broke out, she volunteered her services, but was instead put to work selecting and training nurses. After moving to California, she co-founded a hospital for women and children in San Francisco, and was one of the few female doctors in the state. Read more about Dr. Buckel on Lives of the Dead.

Mary McHenry Keith - Mary McHenry Keith was the first woman graduate of Hastings Law School (where George Pardee, later governor, was one of her classmates), and active in the women's suffrage movement. Read more about Mary McHenry Keith on Lives of the Dead.

Ina Coolbrith - Ina Coolbrith was California's first poet laureate, and also the first librarian in Oakland. She mentored various Oaklanders, including Jack London, who called her his "literary mother". Read more about Ina Coolbrith.

Emma Marwedel - Emma Marwedel was a German immigrant who was the founder of the movement to introduce kindergartens to the U.S. education system. She also founded various schools for vocational training, and trained teachers. Her grave has a geometric granite marker that resembles children's toy blocks. The marker reads "She loved little children". Read more about Emma Marwedel on Lives of the Dead, which also includes a video of docent Jane Laroe.

Sara Lemmon - Sara Lemmon was a botanist who discovered a number of plant species, but is best known for pushing to make the California poppy the state flower of California

Hannah Jayne Adams - Hannah Jayne was Oakland's first school teacher, and later married one of Oakland's big three, Edson Adams. They are buried in large hillside mauosleum labeled "Edson Adams". Read more about Hannah Jayne Adams.

Mary Williams - Mary Williams was better known by her pen name, Kate Carew. She was the only woman illustrator for the San Fransisco Examiner, and was known for her caricatures. Read more about Mary Williams on Lives of the Dead.

Kate Kirkham - Kate Kirkham was the wife of General Ralph Kirkham. When she witnessed a terrible carriage accident and learned the victim had to be transported 10 miles to a hospital, she founded the Fabiola Association, which started Fabiola Hospital to serve the indigent and the poor. The name Fabiola comes from Saint Fabiola, a woman in 4th century Rome who started the first hospital for sick and needy travelers. Read more about Kate Kirkham.

Anna Head - Anna Head founded the Anna Head School, now the Head-Royce School. Read more about Anna Head, and on Lives of the Dead.

Julia Morgan - Julia Morgan was one of the most important Oakland architects and one of the first major women architects. She designed numerous buildings around Oakland and California. Read more about Julia Morgan.

Thalia Treadwell - Thalia Treadwell had a short, tumultuous marriage to cartoonist Jimmie Swinerton. He said the marriage "was not a long one, nor was it civil" and that it fell apart because of "booze and bickering." After studying art in Europe, Thalia returned to the U.S. where she died at age 25 of consumption (tuberculosis). Read more about Thalia Treadwell on Lives of the Dead.

Freda Ehmann - Freda Ehmann is considered "the mother of the California olive industry". Widowed at age 56, she turned a 20 acre olive orchard into the Ehmann Olive Company. She worked with Professor Hilgard of U.C. Berkeley to develop a superior pickling method for olives. Read more about Freda Ehmann on Lives of the Dead.

Mary Swift - Mary Swift was the wife of Franklin Swift, ambassador to Japan, and active in the women's suffrage movement. Read more about Mary and Franklin on Lives of the Dead.

Emily Fish and Juliet Nichols - Mother and daughter lighthouse keepers. Emily Fish married her widowed brother-in-law Dr. Melancthon Fish, and raised Juliet. Juliet married Henry Nichols, a naval officer and lighthouse inspector. After Dr. Fish died, Henry suggested Emily become a lighthouse keeper. She moved her possessions to the Point Pinos lighthouse and a servant, and even brought soil to start a garden. After Henry died, Juliet became the lighthouse keeper at Point Knox on Angel Island. She gained fame when the automatic bell failed during a heavy fog, and she rang the bell by hand for over 20 hours. Read more about Emily and Juliet on Lives of the Dead.

Ella Sterling Mighels - Better known by her pen name, Aurora Esmeralda. Before disparaging her choice of pen names, know that as a child she lived in the town of Aurora, NV, in the county of Esmeralda. She was an author and literary historian; her grave marker is shaped like a giant book, and reads First Historian of "Literary California". Read more about Ella on Lives of the Dead.

Ida Louise Jackson - Ida Louise Jackson was the first African American teacher in Oakland, and attended U.C. Berkeley when there were only 17 African American students. She founded the local chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and was active in in it for many years. She also worked on the Mississippi Health Project which brought health care to rural Mississippi. Read more about Ida Louise Jackson.

There were a number of other graves of note we saw, but I didn't take good enough notes to remember them all.

Lots more pictures from the tour:

a profile of artist Robert Akeley

Robert Akeley has lived in Temescal for a long time, and seen it go through a lot of changes. His life has gone through a lot of changes, too, and his art is a reflection of that.

Robert was born in Maine in a pastor's family in the 1930s, and it was a conservative environment, as you might imagine. After college and training to be a psychiatrist came a big switch, and Robert ended up living in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood during the height of the Beat Generation in the 1950s (think Jack Kerouac if you don't know what that means). The 1960s brought more change for San Francisco, and for Robert.

But 1970 brought upheaval. Some might call it a mid-life crisis. Robert thinks of it more as a mid-life opportunity. While some people get depressed, Robert got angry. He moved out of San Francisco and found a house he could afford in Temescal, a neighborhood that was having its own crisis. The new routing of Highway 24 had recently been completed, and BART was busy tearing up neighborhoods all over Oakland. Temescal was something of a wasteland, cut off from what were formerly adjacent neighborhoods. Robert was becoming more focused on his internal life. To help process his own growth, Robert took up painting. He found Rob March Harper who became his teacher and guide. As Robert said, he didn't want to learn how he was supposed to paint, he just wanted to learn the basics.

As with most artists, Robert's interests and background help shape his art. People have always been his primary interest in life, so he began by painting portraits. Except for the glasses, his portrait of Carl Jung looks a lot like Robert with short hair. Besides practicing psychiatry, Jung also painted and sculpted, and proposed that creating art can be a form of therapy, so it's not a surprising connection.

Robert did other representational paintings, still in his same vibrant style, and began discovering that certain things looked more pleasing to his eye. More work on composition led to more abstract and less representational paintings. Now a larger part of Robert's work is abstract and geometrical in nature, though he also has a series of 'word' paintings that come directly from his psychiatric work.

Robert's home in Temescal is interesting in its own right. It was built in 1892 as a doctor's office, and as result has some interesting features. It has two front doors, one leading into the home, the other leading to a waiting room for patients. The largest bedroom appears to have been designed as lying-in ward, and one of the smaller rooms as a nurses' station. Art created by Robert and other artists adorns the walls, and the front room is devoted to music. Robert rents out various rooms to people, so it must feel more like community housing when everyone is home. Behind the house is a barn. Not a garage or garden shed as I imagined, but an actual barn with a hoist for hay bales and other supplies. The hay loft has been converted into a work space, and is quite cozy. Robert does his painting downstairs in the barn, sometimes accompanied by a stray cat that has adopted him. Around the barn are countless rose bushes, another of Robert's interests.

You can see some of Robert's work at the Rise Above Gallery on Telegraph, which is open Saturdays from 11am-5pm. In March there was an artist's reception that lots of folks turned out to enjoy. There was food from Happy Girl Kitchen Co., Corner Taco, and other friends, as well as beer from Barn Beer. Live music was provided by oMega LIVE and Bill Hampton. There will be a second artist's reception April 5th, 6-9pm, to celebrate a showing of more of Robert's paintings. Check out Robert's art if you're by on a Saturday, and definitely join the party for the second reception!

More pictures of Robert and his work:

I saw a dinosaur...

The other day I rode out Foothill Blvd. a ways looking for the house that Jack London lived in while writing his first book. The dot on the map was a little off so I didn't find it until after some web-searching later, but I did spot this relic. It's been a while since I last saw a phone booth (though this half-covered variety has never seemed like the real deal) and longer still since I've seen one that still had a phone in it. I've been reading about phones lately, in Oakland author Phil Lapsley's Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell. It's a fascinating and entertaining look at what was in some ways a precursor of today's maker and hacker cultures.

upcoming Oakland events

The big event this weekend is the Oakland Running Festival! If you're not running in it, come out and cheer on the runners. I'll be a course marshal near Lake Merritt and Grand Avenue. Let me know about other events by leaving a comment!

Wednesday

What I Hear, I Keep: Stories from Oakland's Griots - Wednesday-Saturday, 2:30-5:30pm. Visual and audio art installation at Peralta Hacienda based on African American stories of modern-day Oakland, with local residents telling about their lives and exploring their identities. (with $5 admission)

Vintage porcelain at the Pardee Home - Wednesdays, 2nd Saturdays, 2nd Sundays. View the historic Pardee Home and the collection of porcelain collected by the globe-trotting Mrs. Pardee. You can take the tour for $5 or have the tour and tea for $25. Read more at World of Mailman. Read about the tea service on the East Bay Express. ($5/$25)

Friday

Off the Grid at OMCA - Friday, 5-9pm. The Off the Grid food truck pod comes to the Oakland Museum for an evening of food and fun.

Saturday

celebrate parklets with WOBO - Saturday, March 23, 11am-2pm. Join Walk Oakland Bike Oakland and Manifesto Bicycles to celebrate parklets in Oakland! Food from El Taco Bike and Fist of Flour Pizza. (free)

Prescott Circus Showcase - Saturday, March 23, 11:30am and 2pm. The Prescott Circus Theatre Showcase features talented youth from 7 Oakland public elementary schools. This 1 hour performance will inspire and amaze as our students perform juggling, acrobatics, hip hop dance, stilt dancing, clowning, and more! (free)

Actual Cafe turns 3! - Saturday, March 23, 6-10pm. Join Sal and the crew to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Actual Cafe. Special beers from 21st Amendment, live music from Even Taylor, Kim Tillman, Genevieve Wolff, Arbielle and Lindee Hoshikawa. (free)

Paintings by Robert Akeley - A Retrospective - Saturdays, 11am-5pm. See an exhibition of paintings by long-time resident Robert Akeley at the Rise Above Gallery.

The Big Painting Show - Saturdays, 1-5pm. See paintings by 8 established Bay Area artists at the Gray Loft Gallery in Jingletown. The Big Painting Show: Layers of Abstraction features the work of Rick Arnitz, Mark Ashworth, Suzy Barnard, Jamie Brunson, Betty Jo Costanzo, Carol Lefkowitz, Simone Simon, and June Yokell. (free)

Sunday

Oakland Running Festival - Sunday, March 24. Whether you're a runner, a volunteer or a spectator, it's a great big blast of Oakland love. There's a 5K race, a 1/2 marathon and a full marathon.

ongoing events:

• Art Murmur (1st Friday)
• Saturday Art Stroll (Saturdays)
• Mt. View Cemetery Tours (2nd and 4th Saturdays)
• Piedmont Avenue Stroll (3rd Thursdays)
• Off the Grid at OMCA (Fridays)

looking further ahead:

Destiny Arts Center - groundbreaking party - Friday, March 29, 6-10pm. Demolition will start soon on our new building at 967 Stanford in Oakland and want to invite all of our friends, family, and community to celebrate Destiny style! Food from Tina Tamale available for purchase. ($25 suggested donation)

Takin' the Beets to the Streets! - Saturday, March 30, 6pm. Pay-what-you-can community dinner project between The People's Kitchen and the Phat Beets Produce. This family-style dinner will feature live music, performance, and a multi-course meal celebrating the food justice work of Phat Beets Produce, the history vibrant and radical history of North Oakland and the new kitchen incubation project with Crossroads Co-op Cafe! (pay what you can)

bike ride to Uptown Art Park opening - Friday, April 5, 5:30pm. The East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO) and Bikes4Life will host a fun, 1.5 mile bike ride to the event. Riders of all ages are invited to gather at 5:30 p.m. at Bikes4Life, 1600 7th Street @ Willow in West Oakland (take BART to the West Oakland station). Free bike lights will be offered to participants courtesy of the City of Oakland (limited supply – arrive by 5:30 p.m.). Bike valet parking will be provided by Richmond Spokes. (free)

Uptown Art Park opening - Friday, April 5, 6:30-8:30pm. Come celebrate the opening of the Uptown Art Park. Nine Sculpture Art Pieces by Local Artists, plus music, tours and food trucks. (free)

Day of Peace 2013 - Saturday, April 13, 9am-noon. Join Project Peace East Bay for Day of Peace service projects around Oakland and Berkeley. (free)

OHA: Great Estates in April - Saturday, April 20. The Oakland Heritage Alliance house tour features Tudor and Mediterranean revival style homes Claremont Pines and Upper Rockridge, which emerged as suburban garden developments in the first decades of the 1900s.

signs: Lungomare

Istill haven't been there to eat, but was at JLS yesterday and snapped this photo of the Lungomare sign. The location used to be Miss Pearl's Jam House which had a much fancier sign, but this one isn't bad.

photo of the week: shapes

One of my more abstract and favorite shots from my most recent Mountain View Cemetery explorations.

more Mountain View Cemetery explorations

Wednesday I took advantage of the amazing weather and stopped by Mountain View Cemetery. I wanted to find the grave of Chris P. Johnson, founder of the Johnson Electric Washer Co. but I also wanted to check some things out at Saint Mary's Cemetery so I figured I wouldn't stay too long. Um, yeah, about that...

I ran into some friends I know from Habitat for Humanity who were out for a walk with their 10-week old baby in a carrier. We got to talking, and I showed them the map of the cemetery which shows the locations of some of the interesting people buried at Mountain View.

After we parted, I looked at the map to figure out the route to plot 66A, and noticed that I would be going close to the grave for Enoch Homer Pardee, the 18th mayor Oakland and his son, George Pardee, 29th mayor of Oakland and later governor of California. Oh, and Moses Chase is buried nearby. Just one more little side trip...

A few side trips later, I did make it to plot 66A and found the Johnson Grave. The entire plot is markers that are flat with the ground, like in plot 54. In theory, this makes it easier to maintain, as you can just run a lawnmower over everything, but in practice it was found that flat stones have a tendency to sink over time. It also makes it harder to find graves, as from a distance there's nothing distinctive about any of them. Plot 66A is in a lovely area, and though it doesn't have the sweeping vistas of nearby "millionaire's row", the views aren't too shabby.

But then I was off to check on something else I'd seen...a truck with a compressor and sandblaster working on a gravestone nearby. I talked for a while with Dale, the owner and chief of Gateway Memorials. He was mostly done by the time I got there, but I learned a bit about the marking of gravestones. Whether they're working in the shop on a new marker or in a cemetery on an existing one, they use a heavy, slightly adhesive sheet of rubber as a mask. What's not covered gets sandblasted, then painted with black or white paint. It turns out Dale's company also does work in Kaua'i, so it's entirely possible I've seen some of their work when I was there last summer.

I did some more looking around plot 66A, and then realized I didn't have time to go to Saint Mary's Cemetery, too, so I might as well make the most of my time here. I checked the map again to see what other well-known markers I could visit that I hadn't seen before. I went along the row of mausoleums below "millionaire's row".

From there I swung past the Folger (of Folgers Coffee) plot then back to find the mausoleum of David Hewes, who was an associate of The Big Four, and lived for a time at Camron-Stanford House on Lake Merritt. Oh, look, some of the Camrons and the Marshes are just down the hill. And Ina Coolbrith—I think I've seen her grave, but do I have a picture of it?

After only a few more side trips, I eventually left the cemetery. But as usual, I had a few answers, but I had even more questions than when I'd arrived. At least for a change, I'd actually found what I was looking for instead of getting completely sidetracked.

Lots more photos from my exploration:

upcoming Oakland events

Running late, and definitely running behind. Let me know about other events by leaving a comment!

Wednesday

What I Hear, I Keep: Stories from Oakland's Griots - Wednesday-Saturday, 2:30-5:30pm. Visual and audio art installation at Peralta Hacienda based on African American stories of modern-day Oakland, with local residents telling about their lives and exploring their identities. (with $5 admission)

Vintage porcelain at the Pardee Home - Wednesdays, 2nd Saturdays, 2nd Sundays. View the historic Pardee Home and the collection of porcelain collected by the globe-trotting Mrs. Pardee. You can take the tour for $5 or have the tour and tea for $25. Read more at World of Mailman. Read about the tea service on the East Bay Express. ($5/$25)

Thursday

Conversations with Julia Morgan - Thursday, March 14, 1:30–2:30pm. OMCA celebrates Women's History Month and renowned architect Julia Morgan as portrayed by Betty Marvin, a historian and preservation planner. (with admission)

Friday

Off the Grid at OMCA - Friday, 5-9pm. The Off the Grid food truck pod comes to the Oakland Museum for an evening of food and fun.

Bay Area Underground reading - Friday, 7-8:30pm. Join author Matt Werner and photographer Joe Sciarrillo for a reading and discussion of Bay Area Underground. See some photos from the book here. At SoleSpace, 1714 Telegraph. (free)

Saturday

Paintings by Robert Akeley - A Retrospective - Saturdays, 11am-5pm, . See an exhibition of paintings by long-time resident Robert Akeley at the Rise Above Gallery.

The Big Painting Show - Saturdays, 1-5pm. See paintings by 8 established Bay Area artists at the Gray Loft Gallery in Jingletown. The Big Painting Show: Layers of Abstraction features the work of Rick Arnitz, Mark Ashworth, Suzy Barnard, Jamie Brunson, Betty Jo Costanzo, Carol Lefkowitz, Simone Simon, and June Yokell. (free)

ongoing events:

• Art Murmur (1st Friday)
• Saturday Art Stroll (Saturdays)
• Mt. View Cemetery Tours (2nd and 4th Saturdays)
• Off the Grid at OMCA (Fridays)

looking further ahead:

celebrate parklets with WOBO - Saturday, March 23, 11am-2pm. Join Walk Oakland Bike Oakland and Manifesto Bicycles to celebrate parklets in Oakland! Food from El Taco Bike and Fist of Flour Pizza. (free)

Oakland Running Festival - Sunday, March 24. Whether you're a runner, a volunteer or a spectator, it's a great big blast of Oakland love. There's a 5K race, a 1/2 marathon and a full marathon.

Oakland Urban Paths: Oakmore Highlands

Saturday we had perfect weather for the largest ever turnout for an Oakland Urban Paths walk. There were 70+ people and at least 6 dogs who joined us to explore Oakmore Highlands and Sausal Creek.

streetcar crossing the bridge
photo from Oakmore Homes Association

We started by crossing the Leimert Bridge. It was built in 1926 by developers Harry and Walter Leimert so they could develop Oakmore Highlands. It originally had Key System streetcars running over it as well as cars and pedestrians. In 1947 the poles used for supporting the streetcar power lines were converted to street lighting. The 117-foot high concrete arch bridge was designed by engineer George Posey, who also designed the tube to Alameda.

Back across the bridge, we headed up the Bridgeview Path stairs. The stairs were built when the original development was, but had fallen into disrepair. After some resistance from the city, they finally agreed to fix them up, with the proviso that the homeowners keep them clean. In 2005 there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reopening of the stairs. Compared with many stairs around Oakland, these ones are now in great shape, with repaired concrete and new railings.

We walked up and down more stairways, and I pointed out the WPA stamps in one set that date them to 1939. I also pointed out some sidewalk stamps, and mentioned Andrew Alden's method of estimating the age of a neighborhood. Up several streets, passing lots of beautiful homes and some lovely views, we made it to the high point of our journey. The house there is marked by a mailbox labeled "Hilltop House". We even saw a red-tailed hawk soaring overhead. Past more houses (including that of Mayor Jean Quan) we came to a dirt path at the end of a cul-de-sac. That led us to some wooden stairs, which led us to the back of the Mormon Temple property.

Mormon Temple

Before touring the grounds, we talked a bit about the temple. The temple was built in 1964, and a NY Times article a few years ago said it has an approximately $35,000 per month electric bill. If you've ever seen the temple at night, it's not hard to see why—the brightly-lit temple is visible from all over the Bay Area at night. One of our walkers who lives not far away related two things: (1) the light from the temple is bright enough to light up her house (2) back during the rolling brownouts, the temple complied with requests to power down to ease the demand on the electrical grid. The FAA quickly requested they turn the lights back on, because the temple is used as a landmark for pilots flying under visual flight rules (VFR). We walked across the immaculately maintained grounds, and then to the base of the temple to take in the views.

Then we headed to Monterey Blvd. which parallels highway 13. A short, unexpected tunnel led us under the freeway to the corner of Joaquin Miller Park, and the former site of Camp Dimond. It was a Boy Scout camp from 1919 until 1948, and along with cabins and other permanent structures, it featured a 300,000 gallon pool with a special sand filtration system.

We headed back under the freeway and down to the trail head for the Bridgeview Trail. There, volunteers with Friends of Sausal Creek were finishing up a morning of working to restore and protect the watershed. The trail descends to the creek and back up the other side of the canyon, then is relatively flat, running almost down to the bridge where we'd started. But it was quite a change from the streets and stairs we'd been on up to that point.

Thanks to everyone and everywoof who came out for the walk. I hope you had as much fun on the walk as I did leading it! Special thanks to area resident John Tuttle who told us about the history of the Leimert Bridge and Oakmore Highlands, and to Megan from Friends of Sausal Creek who told us about the work that FOSC does to restore and protect the watershed.

The next Oakland Urban Paths walk will be Saturday, April 13th. We'll be exploring Oakland's parklets.

Lots more pictures from the walk:

upcoming Oakland events

There are a couple of art shows opening Friday night, and Oakland Urban Paths will be exploring Oakmore Highlands. Let me know about other events by leaving a comment.

Wednesday

What I Hear, I Keep: Stories from Oakland's Griots - Wednesday-Saturday, 2:30-5:30pm. Visual and audio art installation at Peralta Hacienda based on African American stories of modern-day Oakland, with local residents telling about their lives and exploring their identities. (with $5 admission)

Vintage porcelain at the Pardee Home - Wednesdays, 2nd Saturdays, 2nd Sundays. View the historic Pardee Home and the collection of porcelain collected by the globe-trotting Mrs. Pardee. You can take the tour for $5 or have the tour and tea for $25. Read more at World of Mailman. Read about the tea service on the East Bay Express. ($5/$25)

Friday

Off the Grid at OMCA - Friday, 5-9pm. The Off the Grid food truck pod comes to the Oakland Museum for an evening of food and fun.

Paintings by Robert Akeley - A Retrospective - Friday, March 8, 6-9pm. See an exhibition of paintings by long-time resident Robert Akeley at a show opening at the Rise Above Gallery. There will be food, drink and music Robert's extended Temescal community: Todd & Jordan Champagne, Happy Girl Kitchen; Matt & Mike, Barn Beer; Lena & Brian, Corner Taco.

The Big Painting Show - Friday, March 8, 6-9pm. See paintings by 8 established Bay Area artists at the Gray Loft Gallery in Jingletown. The Big Painting Show: Layers of Abstraction features the work of Rick Arnitz, Mark Ashworth, Suzy Barnard, Jamie Brunson, Betty Jo Costanzo, Carol Lefkowitz, Simone Simon, and June Yokell. (free)

Saturday

Oakland Urban Paths - Saturday, March 9, 10am. Join OUP for a walk through Oakland history. We'll be exploring Oakmore Highlands and part of Sausal Creek. (free)

TreeCircus at Wood Park - Saturday, March 9, 9am. Learn about tree care, conservation, our environment and a healthy planet with Timmy Womick's TreeCircus! This energetic stage show is interactive, educational and captivating for all ages. (free)

Oakland Grown Card Crawl - Saturday, March 9, 2:30-6pm. A fun afternoon of shopping, exploring, eating and drinking on Piedmont Avenue! (free)

Tuesday

book talk: Rebecca Miller discusses Jacob’s Folly - Tuesday, March 12, 7pm. Filmmaker and author Rebecca Miller will be discussing her new book Jacob’s Folly. This critically-acclaimed novel takes on a wide range of topics including faith, love, acting, and reincarnation. (free)

ongoing events:

• Art Murmur (1st Friday)
• Saturday Art Stroll (Saturdays)
• Mt. View Cemetery Tours (2nd and 4th Saturdays)
• Off the Grid at OMCA (Fridays)

looking further ahead:

Conversations with Julia Morgan - Thursday, March 14, 1:30–2:30pm. OMCA celebrates Women's History Month and renowned architect Julia Morgan as portrayed by Betty Marvin, a historian and preservation planner. (with admission)

celebrate parklets with WOBO - Saturday, March 23, 11am-2pm. Join Walk Oakland Bike Oakland and Manifesto Bicycles to celebrate parklets in Oakland! Food from El Taco Bike and Fist of Flour Pizza. (free)

Oakland Running Festival - Sunday, March 24. Whether you're a runner, a volunteer or a spectator, it's a great big blast of Oakland love. There's a 5K race, a 1/2 marathon and a full marathon.

more Mountain View Cemetery explorations

The other week after I stopped in Saint Mary's Cemetery I went to nearby Mountain View Cemetery to find the grave of A.K.P. Harmon. Amongst other things, he's known for donating for Cal's first indoor athletic facility, and later, Harmon Gym was named in his honor.

After finding the Harmon grave, I did some more exploring. Mountain View Cemetery is so large that I see new things every time I'm there, even though I've lost track of the number of trips I've made. But I also see things in a new light, sometimes literally. While exploring, I saw the warm afternoon light on the Colton mausoleum. It's the resting place of David Douty Colton, who the town of Colton, California is named for, and probably Colton Boulevard in Oakland, too. He was an interesting sounding man, sometimes referred to as one of "the Big Four and half" because of his association with Crocker, Huntington, Stanford and Hopkins of railroad fame. But other than the possible naming of a street for him and his interment in Mountain View, I don't know of any Oakland connections so I haven't dedicated much time to learning more about him (say, to write an Oakland Wiki entry for him). Regardless, the warm light and the beautiful design made for a lovely image.

More photos from the afternoon:

food+drink: Toast wine bar

The other weekend K and I needed to eat an early dinner before helping at an event, so we decided to try Toast wine bar on College. As you might guess from the name, they have a sizable wine list, and even have two red wines on tap. But they also have a selection of cocktails and beers, including ones from locals Oakland Brewing Company and Trumer Pils.

I had an arugula salad with mushrooms, almonds and a garlic vinaigrette, and a delicious red lentil and sweet pepper soup. K had petrale sole with brussels sprouts and potatoes. Everything was delicious and the service was great. And dessert? Mmm...chocolate. We'll definitely check it out again for a fuller wining and dining experience.

Oakland Running Festival - March 24

Coming up on March 24th is a big blast of Oakland love in the form of the Oakland Running Festival. There's a 5K run, a half marathon, a 4-person relay marathon and a full marathon to compete in. Even if you're not a runner you can come out and cheer the runners on. This event brings more the $4 million in revenue to Oakland.

You can also volunteer to help. I'm told they are in great need of volunteer Course Marshals. "Course Marshals keep the runners safe, traffic clear and most of all support our runners! Please email tsvedock@yahoo.com if interested as we have a lot of locations in the Grand Lake Area that could use assistance."

K ran the 5K race last year, and I volunteered at a water station two years ago. Read about the festival two years ago.