photo of the week: King Block alley

The other day I was downtown for a meeting at AAMLO, and after some lunch, I happened by this bit of juxtaposition off Harrison Street, the Tribune Tower and Clorox building against a bright blue sky, and the wildness of the graffiti-covered brick alleyway.

Oakland Urban Paths: Lake Merritt

courtesy Alan Forkosh

Saturday we had near-perfect weather for an Oakland Urban Paths walk around Lake Merritt. Unfortunately the sound system died, but the group wasn't too large, so hopefully everyone could hear me OK. My cellphone battery had died, but regular OUP walker Alan Forkosh was there and took some great photos. See Alan's website for lots more photos from the walk.

Alan's photos include some amazing panoramas of the lake, like this one:

courtesy Alan Forkosh

Starting with Lake Merritt not being a lake but a tidal slough, up through some of the Measure DD work still going on, we covered a wide variety of topics about the lake over its history.

• Measure DD
• Dr. Samuel Merritt
• Peralta Playland
• Lake Merritt Monster
• Huey Newton
• Black Panther Party

• Lake Merritt Boat Landing
• Once Upon A Time project
• Lake Merritt Institute (volunteer cleanups)
• Lakeshore Apartments

• Cleveland Cascade
• Floating Christmas Tree
• Our Lady of Lourdes Church
• Pergola
• Walter Reed

• Bellevue-Staten Building
• Bellevue Club
• Wildlife Refuge
• Rotary Nature Center
• Paul Covel
• Geodesic Bird Dome

• Gardens at Lake Merritt
• Autumn Lights Festival
• Lake Merritt Breakfast Club
• Children's Fairyland
• William Penn Mott, Jr.
• Lewis Mahlmann
• Frank Oz
• C. J. Hirschfield

• Edoff Memorial Bandstand
• Oakland Municipal Band
• Mid-Century Monster sculpture

• Veterans' Memorial Building
• Glen Echo Creek
• Cathedral of Christ the Light
• Earle C. Anthony Packard Showroom
• Kaiser Roof Garden

• Lake Merritt Hotel
• Scottish Rite Center
• Lake Chalet
• Municipal Boathouse
• Lake Merritt Rowing Club
• Gondola Servizio
• Oakland Women's Rowing Club

• Camron-Stanford House
• Oakland Public Museum
• Oakland Museum of California

Looking at all the items on the list, it's no wonder we weren't all the way around the lake in 2.5 hours.