Western Railway Museum

Other than occasionally crossing the border into Emeryville, Berkeley, or Alameda, I don't leave Oakland very often, but Saturday K joined me for a trip to Suisun City. The trip is less surprising when you learn that some Oakland history was involved, with a day at the Western Railway Museum.

The day was a great two-fer, with not just Oakland railroad history, but a ride on an historic train with wildflower viewing and wine tasting. After some lunch (they've got some lovely areas for picnicking) we explored the museum. The visitors center includes some displays, a gift shop, and the F. M. Smith Memorial Library. But outside is where the real fun is, with two car barns, a restoration workshop and grounds full of historic railroad equipment.

Railroads (along with earthquakes and freeways) have been a big part of shaping Oakland's history. The first transcontinental railroad was a joint project between the Western Pacific, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific, and had its terminus in Oakland. This led to countless people settling in Oakland, like C. L. Dellums who left Texas and came to Oakland and worked as a Pullman Porter. F. M. "Borax" Smith and his realty partner bought up small streetcar lines and built the Key System, the first unified transit system in the East Bay. The Sacramento Northern Railway was an electric interurban railroad that ran from Oakland to Sacramento to Chico.

There are other pieces of California railroad history at the museum, like the Richmond Shipyard Railway, a special train the U.S. Maritime Commission hired the Key System to run to transport shipyard workers during WWII, some old SF Muni cars, and railroad cars designed to carry different fruits and vegetables from the farms of California. Some in Oakland might remember the Southern Pacific's electric interurban railroad, the East Bay Electric Lines, with its distinctive red cars and round front windows. We were shown around one of the car barns by historian and author Paul Trimble, who literally wrote the book on the Sacramento Northern Railway and co-authored Ferries on San Francisco Bay. Both are subjects dear to me, because my grandfather worked as a machinist for the Sacramento Northern in their repair shops at 40th and Shafter, and my great-grandfather worked on one of the Southern Pacific ferryboats that traveled between Oakland and San Francisco.

Our visit finished with a ride on a trained pulled by the historic Comet of the Sacramento Northern Railway (shown above crossing Lake Temescal). They do regular rides through the day, but during April, they do a special wine tasting and wildflower viewing trip. In addition to a souvenir glass from the museum, we tasted 4 local wines, were served tasty h'ordeuvres and learned some about local history. I think even the folks who were less interested in railroad history enjoyed the trip.

All in all, a visit to the Western Railway Museum is highly recommended for Oakland history buffs, railfans and wine lovers.

Lots more pictures from the museum:

California magical (and natural) history tour

Last week K and I took a short camping trip. In the past we've done camping trips of a week or longer, but we've both been busy with work and other commitments and scaled this year's trip down to four nights. We split that between two locations, Manresa State Beach near Monterey, and Pinnacles National Park, near, well, not much of anything most people have heard of.

It was an amazing trip. Near Manresa we saw dolphins, whales, otters, California brown pelicans, quail, and various seabirds and shorebirds, including endangered snowy plovers. We also spent a lot of time just walking along the beach, watching the waves, and lamenting the the lack of bear boxes as we watched some raccoons eat the rest of our lasagne that was supposed to be lunch on day 2. After two nights there our reservation was up, so we headed to the east side of Pinnacles National Park. Our route went through historic San Juan Bautista, so we stopped to check out the mission and had a great vegan lunch at the Natural Wonders Health Food Store Deli. San Juan Bautista was also on the route of Juan Bautista de Anza and his historic journey leading some of the first European settlers to the Bay Area.

Once we got to Pinnacles, we picked out a campsite, set up our tent, and got the lay of things. It's not a big park by national park standards, but there's a lot to see. Even just around our campsite there were tons of birds to watch, including quail, wild turkeys, acorn woodpeckers, and turkey vultures. The next morning we drove further into the park and went on a short hike. A relatively short hike took us through caves that are home to several species of bats, and California red-legged frogs, and to a small reservoir where we got an amazing treat. While we sat on a rock enjoying the view, a juvenile peregrine falcon landed 10-15' from us and looked us over for a while before flying off. There are only two nesting pairs in the park, so they're even less common than the 25 or so California condors that call the park home. Seeing one is a treat; having it land next to you for a close look is unbelievable.

We hiked around more and enjoyed the views, then returned to our camp to relax during the worst heat of the day. At dusk, we got another treat as we watched a bobcat stroll 25-30' from where we were sitting. After dinner we waited until full dark. We could see a lot of stars and the Milky Way galaxy from our campsite, but the light from the campground was a bit of distraction, so we went to a nearby viewpoint where we could get true darkness. My attempts at astrophotography were OK, but I really think seeing the Milky Way live in the night sky is something everyone on earth should see.

It wasn't until we hit some traffic in San Jose that we turned on the radio and heard about the earthquake in Napa. It's always a bit jarring to return from extended time in nature to the metropolis of the Bay Area, but it was doubly so with the strange news.

Lots more pictures from the trip:

photo of the week: outside looking in

The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy with work and other commitments. While I haven't been out cycling and walking around Oakland as much, I have gotten in some Oakland-y goodness like a private Oakland Urban Paths walk (as a fundraiser for another non-profit), a trip to the Oakland History Room, a Black Panther history walk in North Oakland (post coming), dinner at The Dock at Linden Street (post coming), talked with Tina Tamale about Oakland history and my upcoming book (post coming), and a few other things, but I've had almost no time to write about any of them. This shot is returning from Alameda on Sunday. K and I went to see her niece perform as Donkey in Shrek: The Musical. It was a lot of fun, but left me wishing for a longer weekend to do more writing. This week won't see a lot of Our Oakland posts, either...we're taking a longer weekend and going camping. Oakland, country, world: please be nice to each other (for a change) while we're gone. #thatisall

Alameda's Gold Coast

On Saturday, I went to Alameda for a walking tour of Alameda's Gold Coast neighborhood. Yes, it's true—I do occasionally leave Oakland. To be sure, there were lots of Oakland connections like Julia Morgan and the transcontinental railroad, but I am interested in other places besides Oakland. And it was a nice chance for me to just go on a walk instead of leading or helping out on one, as I usually do with Oakland Urban Paths.

Although I chose a Julia Morgan-designed house for the photo above, the neighborhood is best known for its Victorians. Oakland has plenty of lovely Victorians, like the cluster in Preservation Park, but Alameda's Gold Coast is a must-visit for fans of the style. There are numerous beautiful, well-maintained examples in area, and a variety of other architectural styles, too. The walk was part of the Alameda Walks program, this one led by Robert Perricone. You may remember the name, as he's been on numerous Oakland Urban Paths walks, and I've used some of his photos upon occasion.

Lots more pictures from the walk:

photo of the week: Wilder Ranch State Park

Kand I needed a break from things and wanted some fresh air, so inspired by a tweet from @ProfCritic, we spent the day at Wilder Ranch State Park outside of Santa Cruz. Still super-hazy down there, but the air felt cleaner, and we saw amazing scenery, harbor seals, dolphins, a whale, and tons of birds.

The dolphins and whale were quite a ways from the shore and the sightings were brief, but we spent quite a while watching the waves, birds, and seals. I think the seals spent a lot of time watching people in return. We had dinner in Moss Beach on the way home, watched some of the Warriors game on TV, and spotted an Oaklandish shirt.

More pictures from the coast:

time off in Kings Canyon

Last week K and I took time off work (as well as Our Oakland and the Oakland Wiki) and spent time in Kings Canyon National Park. Despite water restrictions and no fires because of the dry conditions, we had a great time. We hiked, we walked, we sat by the river, we even went horseback riding. And we spent each night star gazing and watching for Perseid meteors and other "shooting stars". It's been hard re-adjusting to work and "normal" life after a week outdoors.

On a related note, there are a number of phone calls and emails I owe people regarding events and Our Oakland things; I'm still getting caught up on work, so it may be a bit before I get to yours. My apologies if I missed anything time-sensitive.

In any event, here's a sample of photos from our trip:


For the hardcore, here's more than 100:

Tour de Bière 2013

Saturday was the third annual Tour de Bière, a fundraiser put on by The Grand Cru to benefit the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. We had perfect weather for the ride, and as in past years, the tickets for it sold out quickly. I'm not the only one who enjoys beer and bikes, particularly in support of a good cause.

We started in San Leandro at Drake's Brewery. They were kind enough to open early and offer tours. While we were checking in, we started with coffee from Bicycle Coffee Co. and breakfast snacks. The location was new to the Tour de Biere, but Drake's has been around since 1989. It was founded by Roger Lind and originally known as Lind Brewing Company. With 50 people on the ride, we had to split into smaller groups to go on the tour, so it took a while for everyone to go on it. On the tour we heard about the brewing process at Drake's, but also about one of their specialties, barrel-aged beers. Normally after brewing, fermenting and filtering, a beer is pretty much ready to drink. Barrel-aged beers put the beer into oak barrels for further aging. The origin of the barrel, whether from wine-making or some other alcohol production affects the taste, as does charring the inside of the barrel. The beer is aged for varying periods, and the result is something unique. The one we sampled was darker, a bit smokey, and slightly sour. I loved it, but it's not to everyone's taste.

After Drake's, we headed past the Oakland airport and into Alameda. After a brief rest stop on Bay Farm Island, we rode along the estuary and onto the island of Alameda (which wasn't always an island.) There we were greeted by one the mom of one of the riders who had made us fresh cookies! The ride along the estuary was particularly beautiful, as there were numerous shorebirds and other waterfowl.

From Alameda we headed through Jingletown up along the estuary towards Jack London Square to Linden Street Brewery in West Oakland. There we were greeted by Andrew, head brewer and co-founder (Adam was busy in back watching a test batch being brewed.) Linden Street is partnering with James Sybahout of Commis and Hawker Fare to open a restaurant adjacent to the brewery in Linden Street (I reported on this back in December.) As a result, things were a bit chaotic in the tasting room, and much of the furniture had been moved outside. Andrew told us about the story of Linden Street (the first production brewery in Oakland since the 1950s) and kept us well-supplied with tastes of LSB's four beers. They brew "session beers", which are lower in alcohol than many beers today. The lower alcohol (generally 4% to 5%) allows you to drink more beer over a session without getting too drunk too fast. At Linden Street we were joined by El Taco Bike, which gave people the opportunity for a tasty snack.

Then it was up through West Oakland and Emeryville to Aquatic Park in Berkeley, and on to the Trumer Brewery. We again broke into smaller groups for a tour of the brewery. Trumer is unusual in a number of ways. First, they make only one beer, Trumer Pils. The first Trumer brewery started in Salzburg, Austria, in 1601, and is still family owned. They pride themselves on making a pure, bright pilsner, so when they OK'd making Trumer in the U.S., the quality of the water was a big consideration. EBMUD water from the Sierra Nevada was perfect for their needs, but they still had to do a lot of back-and-forth to satisfy the exacting standards of the main brewers in Austria. At the brewery they have a quality assurance lab that tests the beer to make sure it's up to their standards. Trumer then opened their tasting room to us, where people enthusiastically drank some Trumer Pils.

Our final stop was Pyramid Brewery, which is also in Berkeley not far from Trumer. There we took over the patio and sampled a few of Pyramid's beers. Some people ordered food, while some went on a tour of the brewery. They don't allow photos inside the brewhouse, but there was interesting stuff to learn. We heard about Pyramid's history, from their founding in the Pacific Northwest to their expansion to Berkeley and several subsequent mergers. After the tour, the rest of us got food and some more beer, and sat and reflected on the day.

It was another great Tour de Biere. There was about 20 miles of cycling on the tour, and I had another 17 or so to and from BART and home at the start and end of the tour, so it was a lot of riding. But the tour part was very flat, with the biggest hills being over the bridges to and from Alameda. Thanks to The Grand Cru for organizing it, to Drake's, Linden Street, Trumer and Pyramid for hosting it, Bicycle Coffee Co. for the coffee Clif Bar for the snacks, and to everyone else who made the day possible.

Lots more pictures from the tour:


There's a great write up by Jenny Oh at Bay Area Bites with more pictures.

Read about the Tour de Biere 2012.

bikes + beer + benefit = fun!

This past Sunday was a great event combining several of my favorite things: beer, bikes and Oakland. It was the Tour de Bière 2012, led by The Grand Cru, as a fundraiser for the East Bay Bike Coalition. With a full day of biking and beer tasting, plus discounts at several destinations, it was a bargain at $25 per person. So it was unsurprising when tickets sold out for it in 4 days.

We met at Trumer in Berkeley to sign in and start off with some coffee and snacks. The group split into two for a tour around Trumer's brewery. Outside are a number of large silos for grain, and giant temperature-controller fermenters. Trumer Pils is known for being a 'bright', clear beer, so they've got an amazing filtration system, but because EBMUD water is so good, they don't need to filter or treat the water. I worked at a brew on premises / brewpub for a while, and was interested in beer before that, so I'm familiar with the brewing process. That said, I still found the tour at Trumer interesting and informative.

Linden Street Brewery

From there we headed down to Linden Street Brewery in Jack London Square. I'm a huge fan of Linden Street, not just because founder Adam Lamoreaux is incredibly supportive of different non-profits around Oakland, but also because Linden Street Beers are incredibly tasty (love the Burning Oak Black Lager and the Urban Peoples' Common Lager). LSB has been growing at a healthy pace, and Adam is hoping to outgrow the space in Jack London Square. But even if that happens, he plans to keep the Linden Street location going forward, as a 'brewery incubator'. Currently LSB hosts Dying Vines Brewing, but going forward they'd love to host more.

Triple Rock

The group again split in two. Most people headed for Elevation 66 in El Cerrito and the rest of us headed for Triple Rock in Berkeley. Triple Rock is the granddaddy, one of the oldest operating brewpubs in the U.S., and opened when I was in college in 1986. They were having their 'Sour Sunday' which drew a lot of fans, so the brewpub was packed. I had some of their IIMax DIPA, a big, hoppy beer.

We then headed over to Elevation 66 in El Cerrito. It's the new kid on the block, having just opened in 2011. I'm not in El Cerrito very often, but I'll definitely keep it in mind for future visits.

To finish off the evening, we rode down to Pyramid in Berkeley, not far from where we started. Our ranks had thinned a bit by then, but those remaining happily toured the large brew house and sampled a variety of Pyramid's beers.

The tour was about 20 miles, plus I had another 6 miles each way to and from BART, so about 32 miles of riding for me. Despite that, I only used the electric assist on my ride home; the rest of the ride was flat and slow enough I didn't need it.

It was a long day with a lot of riding, but hella fun. Thanks to The Grand Cru for organizing the Tour de Bière and to Trumer, Linden Street, Triple Rock, Elevation 66, and Pyramid for hosting us and supporting the East Bay Bike Coalition!

lots more pictures from the ride:


More pictures from The Grand Cru.

There and Back Again: an Oaklander's photo tale

"I don't want any sort of adventure!" But Gandalf would not be swayed. He seemed distracted, lost in thought, referring to me as hairy even though I had recently shaved. Perhaps he was referring to my toes, of which we hobbits are justifiably quite proud. In any event, there was no changing his mind.

So after packing entirely too few provisions, I raced out the door, unsure if I would ever see my home again. I could only hope I would find a decent tavern or two during my journey, as I hadn't yet eaten my second breakfast. I hadn't even done the dishes from the first! With a long sea voyage ahead of me and because time was of the essence, I rode to the quay in the Rainbow Havens aboard the wagon of one of the 'big people' named Bart. It was a quick but comfortable trip, though I must say some of the way stations could do with a good cleaning.

I walked the short distance to the ship and set about familiarizing myself with my new surroundings. The ship seemed sturdy enough, but sensible hobbits are none too fond of boats of any sort, so I was cautious. And a good thing, too—within minutes the ship was moving. As I watched my now-distant home fade into the haze, I wondered what lay ahead.

The ship passed several islands, one looking to be almost entirely covered by a deserted castle. A much larger island appeared to be inhabited, though I could not see any people moving about. Perhaps elves were moving silently through the forest, watching us as we sailed past?

The ship entered shallower water as we neared land, and slowed I thought, to avoid the treacherous shoals. I heard later that the huge fortress on the nearby shore held thousands of prisoners, so perhaps the captain was right to sneak past, lest we join them.

The sun was beginning to set as we made port, and I was a bit apprehensive. I could no longer see my home in the distance, and what sort of strange people inhabited these lands? But the oddly pale Northern peoples were friendly enough, though. Perhaps they took me for one of their not-as-well-to-do Southron cousins.

I mounted my trusty pony Bill ^*1 and we proceeded up the river. As the last rays of light disappeared from the sky, I made it to my destination. The lovely and talented K and I then proceeded to a nearby pizza/pasta place tavern and settled into a good meal and a few pints of the fine local ale ^*2.

After such an exciting journey, the return trip seemed uneventful ^*3. But it was good to be home again!

more images of my journey:

---

*1 Yeah, I know Bill wasn't until Lord of the Rings. Work with me here!
*2 I know, I know...Lagunitas or something from Marin Brewing Company would be more local, but they didn't have it.
*3 Except for the announcement in the BART station that trains weren't stopping at West Oakland because of a 'police action'. Maybe it's just me, but 'police action' always makes me think of the euphemism for the Vietnam War.

taking the train

JLS Amtrak

Last week I went to Sacramento for work, and was able to take the train to get there. It was a double bonus -- a spare the air day, and it was hecka fun.

I rode down to the Amtrak station at Jack London Square to catch an early train for the capitol. It couldn't have been easier; I locked my bike, walked into the station, used a machine to buy my ticket, then stepped out into the early morning light to wait for the train to arrive. I could have even taken my bike with me if I'd wanted, as there are racks on the lower level of each car (hear that, BART?). My boss got on in Martinez, and we watched the scenery go by until our arrival in Sacramento.

It took a bit longer than driving (2 hours vs. 1 hour, 33 minutes), but was a lot more fun and a lot less stressful (particularly coming home at commute time.) Taking into account parking and gas, it was probably cheaper than driving, too. A highly recommended way to get to Sacramento from Oakland, that gives a unique view of the Oakland waterfront, the delta, and beyond.

what a long, strange two weeks it's been...

First, thank you to Oakland Magazine for featuring Our Oakland in the Oakland Online piece in the latest edition! Welcome to any new readers (whether you found the blog through that or not :-) As the title suggests, this post is somewhat long and strange compared with what I usually post here: no signs, no restaurant reviews, no cool maps.

Now, on to an explanation of the paucity of posts of late. It started two weeks ago with a short trip through the stairs of our carport. No broken bones, but plenty of aches and bruises and a renewed appreciation of the power of gravity.

not Oakland

I recovered enough from that in time for a trip for work to near Fellows, CA. Outside of Bakersfield is the town of Taft. Outside of Taft is Fellows. Outside of Fellows are a bunch of oil fields and several power plants. It's a strange-looking bit of California, so it was appropriate I was there over Halloween. Doubly spooky since the entry on Wikipedia says Fellows is where the film version of Shirley Jackon's always creepy short story The Lottery was shot.

Had I been 30 minutes or so to the west, I could have been in the beautiful Carrizo Plain National Monument. Instead, I was inside most of the time working on software at one of the power plants, working long hours to launch a new version of the software.

The long hours lead to a nasty cold, but we got the new version launched, and made it home in time to vote on Tuesday. The results from across the nation were somewhat depressing, but many of the California and local contests have had good results: we don't have Meg Whitman as our governor, nor Carly Fiorina as our senator, and Prop 23 didn't pass. (And even more locally, I'm happy that Libby Schaaf will be our new council member for district 4.) Tammerlin Drummond of the Tribune asks the question I ask almost every election: isn't there a better way for rich candidates to spend their money? The flood of negative ads didn't persuade me to vote for anyone; rather it confirmed my votes against those sending it out.

We didn't know who the next mayor of Oakland would be, though -- due in part to ballots like mine. I requested a mail-in ballot in case I wasn't able to get back in time on Tuesday. Unfortunately, it didn't arrive before I left, so I had to cast a provisional ballot upon my return. The changing results as the IRV ballots are tabulated has been interesting, and it's clear why Don Perata was against IRV since he's gone from 1st to 2nd in the process (and speaking of spending lots of money...) For what it's worth, although I think Don Perata is "ethics challenged", he was my second choice after Rebecca Kaplan. Jean Quan's responsibility for Measure Y, et al, was enough to convince me she's probably not the right person to lead Oakland out of its budget problems.

By Friday, I was mostly over my cold, but we still didn't know who the next mayor would be, but Oakland was now focused on the impending sentencing of Johannes Mehserle for his killing of Oscar Grant. Like many, I was disappointed with the involuntary manslaughter verdict, but was hoping for for a reasonable sentence because of the gun-enhancement charge the jury included. Instead, the judge inexplicably gave a minimum sentence and credit for time served. Not surprisingly, this made many people unhappy. A peaceful rally lead to a march towards Fruitvale BART, which lead to some vandalism, and ended with 152 arrests. Reports differ widely about the nature of the march, but at least the understaffed OPD was better prepared. My question for those involved in the vandalism: if you feel like you have to trash something to make your point, why not go trash the BART offices instead of the property of innocent Oaklanders?

Sunday morning I woke up barely able to swallow and my tongue looking absolutely disgusting. After I nearly passed out, K called the advice nurse at Kaiser. A trip to the doctor and pharmacist later, I had diagnosis of strep throat and a prescription for penicillin.

Rosie

Since then, the kitties and I have been doing a lot of this. To be fair, that's what they do a lot of even when I'm feeling well, but they enjoyed the company and were probably wondering why I don't join them every day.

So there you have it: the long, strange post of why I haven't updated the blog recently. I'm off to rest a while, and will hopefully be back to normal posting soon.