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By Skip Fogarty

Rockridge Café Hosts New Show by Five Bay Area Photographers R

By Annette Floystrup

East Bay Booksellers Consumed by Fire by Annette Floystrup Odamage can be repaired, but fortunately, no one was hurt. For Rockridge neigh- bors, this building holds many memories. It began life as the Model T Garage, most likely in the late 1910s. When ...

East Bay FeedER Purchases meals at full price plus tip from local, independently-owned restaurants and delivers those meals to feed frontline workers at five East Bay hospitals. Get your restaurant involved, donate, or volunteer to drive. “Prep is Love!...

Cleaning Temescal Creek and Greenbelt.  Miles Avenue volunteers: Jill, Aven, Auntie Emo, Lyra, and Sandy. /Leonora Sea  Chabot School science classes group portrait. /A Chabot parent be polluting the Bay or clogging our little creekbed. Thank you to site captains Lee Patterson and Margaret Pinter; to Alem’s Café (across the street from the DMV) for excellent coffee; to Eddie’s Liquors on College Avenue for ice; to Michael Perlmutter, city of Oa...

The Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir Choral Singing for Children in the Bay Area Young children have an amazing capacity for understanding and internalizing music, even under the worst of circumstances. Singing became an indelible part of my life when I was about ...

“These are five people who are so passionate about jazz,’ confirmed Kitchin, a San Francisco employment law attorney. “We're a pretty well-established band, playing jazz standards at two to three gigs a month.” At the same time, “No one is going to give up th...

Five beautiful homes in Rockridge and Piedmont will be on tour Friday and Saturday, April 24 and 25, from 10am to 4pm, as the Children’s Support League of the East Bay presents the 27th Heart of the Home tour. CSL’s popular boutique at the Piedmont...

East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC); http:// www.ebbc.org/ Bay Area Bicycle Coalition: http://www. bayareabikes.org/content/bay-area- bicycle-clubs In Memory Ruth Isaacson, a beloved Lawton Avenue resident since 1956, was born Ruth Ettlinger on July 28, 1...

...or. ■ ■All current play features will remain where they are; we’re just adding more fun. So put down the bucket and make an impact right here in your backyard by donating to Frog Park today: www.frogpark. org/swings. Frog Park Named One of Bay Area’s Best Playgrounds Inside Bay Area News recently listed Frog Park as one of “five Great Bay Area Playgrounds,” the only Oakland park with ➧➧More Frog Park, page 11

...ame will appear with your letter. Letters may be edited for clarity and brevity. BART Construction Disrupts College Avenue Traffic The barriers reduce the width of the street by two lanes and direct traffic flow into a very short left-turn bay. When the bay fills – that takes only four to five vehicles – south-bound through-traffic on College is blocked. Please speak with the project managers to determine if the work really warrants narrowing the street by two lanes, or if the two la...

baskets of trinkets to a larger than life sized statue of an Indian — left over from her days as a decorator. About five years ago, she says, she decided she had to find a way to dispose of things. She contacted the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse, a marvelous place that provides a way to recycle — creatively reuse — all sorts of materials that would otherwise...

white cookies, rugula). She is actively looking to open at least five more loca- tions around the bay. Much of this expansion has been made possible through a crowdfunding campaign with over 400 people par- ticipating. “We raised over one million dollars in loans, and the investors get an interest payment every ...

By Carol Kasparek

TNT Strength is located at 5256 College Avenue. For more information, check out their website, TnTstrength. com, scan the QR code on the door, or give them a call at (510) 768-5421. n young people through Kid Power. Schmidt has worked in Bay Area gyms for five years, after playing on a club baseball team at UCLA. Both are certified nutritionists. Taylor Jones has recently joined their team, also with a background in baseball and high-intensity training. TNT offers several pieces of...

By Carl Schmitz

...g expedition and Siegriest soon brought along his friend and classmate, 16-year-old Bernard von Eichman, who lived in San Francisco. In 1916, Gile moved to a cabin in Rockridge at 7027 Chabot Road, which he called the Chow House. There the five painters gathered for critiques and hearty meals after hiking and painting all day in the East Bay and Marin countryside. (The Chow House no longer exists, having been torn down to construct BART. The site is across the road from the Chabot Ca...

By Judith Doner Berne

...ymore,” making their risk worth the reward. Robbery – which Allison called “a more disturbing and personal crime” – still means jail time. This was also the meeting at which Kalb said that over the next two years, Oakland hopes to graduate five more police academy classes. “I don’t want to have to wait two years to feel safe,” one resident said. Another said: ➧➧Sometimes a Village, page 7 Each office is independently owned and operated. EXPERIENCE THE UNIQUE ORTRUN NIESAR 510.326.216...

tech guys, people just relaxing and working, folks who come in with their laptops.” At Hudson Bay, a man in a wheelchair was pulled up to an outside table. Also, choosing to sit in the sun, were two young women, one bottle-feeding her baby. Sitting nearby was Steve Guinn, a former paramedic, and his dog Sophie. Guinn, who goes by the name “...

By Kristin Hathaway

FROG Steering Committee Sets June Meeting Agenda by Kristin Hathaway and Kristen Zaremba Pedestrians in five Oakland neighbor- hoods including Rockridge are noticing a series of bronze markers embedded in city sidewalks. These new Watershed Markers identify the location of buried creeks that are part of Oakland’s extensive water- shed system. Designe...

1986 20 years, Rockridge has eclipsed North Berkeley as the East Bay food Mecca. Five of the S.F. Chronicle’s top 100 restaurants are in Rockridge: Grasshopper, Oliveto, Citron, Pearl, and À Coté. Fifteen of the 38 Oakland restaurants listed in the respected Zagat restaurant guide are on College Avenue. No other...

By Chris Ayan

... redwoods, oaks, buckeyes, and milk- weed in various stages of growth. Some of the trees will end up in schoolyards. Others along the hillsides beside High- way 24. Others in nonprofit planting projects or private yards throughout the East Bay. Over the last five years, some- where between 1,000 and 2,000 trees have passed through this small stretch of this neighborhood. The operation is run by Hervé Bruck- ert, a 59-year-old UC Berkeley budget office employee who has quietly built w...

...d Crafts alumni drifting onto the campus. There was always something going on and the atmosphere was very seductive.” After graduating, Jim took a job as an artist at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, where he spent his only years outside the Bay Area. His incredible knack for rendering any kind of lettering style was perfectly suited to greeting cards. But Jim wasn’t built for traditional em- ployment, so he returned to Oakland after only five years and launched a freelance career that...

...for housing. “Projects on these sites contribute toward meeting Oakland’s needs for lower-income housing and receive By Right Approval.” The students were guided by an affordable senior housing program and unit design from a reputable East Bay nonprofit housing developer. They assumed the parking necessary for the project would be accommo- dated in a one-story, below-grade parking lot accessed from the south- west end of the site along Claremont Ave. The building, as per zoning allow...

By Judith Doner Berne

Merrill Gardens Boasts a Roster of Literary Talents by Judith Doner Berne If you cried, “Author, Author” at Merrill Gardens, a senior living center in Rockridge, you’d be applauding at least eight of their residents. Five of them have a selec- tion of their books categorized as “written by residents” in the cozy, home-like library where they — three professors, an attorney, and a diplomat — recently gathered in easy, back-and-forth conversation. Although they d...

...ually re-opening the interior as the pandemic waned. “We never laid anybody off. We just kept on going.” He is justifiably proud that “our kitchen manager Findencia has been with us 15 years, the main cook for 13 years, and the second guy, five years.” Before California College of the Arts closed its historic Rockridge campus, Sadri said they went out of their way to hire CCA students for the front of the cafe. Now, “We try to hire local kids to give them some experience so they have...

By Susie Wyshak

... point out that it would not be responsible to approve a project that has given no consideration to public safety. Surely the dramatic Rockridge News photo of flames rising behind homes on Clifton Street during the fire that destroyed East Bay Booksellers should give us reason to challenge this high- rise project – built to neighboring property lines with no setbacks and limited emergency vehicle access. Our new height limit on College Avenue is 55 feet. This will permit the construc...

By Carol Kasparek

lived in Rockridge since the 1980s with her husband, three children, and now five grandchildren. Venues and events span the Bay Area and the globe. The Chorale supports professional opera singers and visiting soloists, and often joins with other choruses for large-scale performances. They frequently visit assisted living ce...

By Nancy Flynn

... by all humans. She loves to wrestle hourly with her feline companion, Goose, who loves it, and Leo, who mostly tolerates and ignores them both. She will hop up onto a very high bar- stool and land squarely on your lap… and give you a high five, or even a ten. You’ll find her enjoying short, energetic bouts of zoomie’s near the DMV. Hashbrown is a 50-pound low- rider, adopted from the East Bay SPCA in 2018. He’s 75 percent bully, 25 percent staffy — and 100 percent stubborn. He favor...

...a “third space,” a welcoming place other than the two places where many of us spend most of our time: work and home. Joshua Redel was fed up with the potholes on his street brought about by the unceasing atmospheric rivers that deluged the Bay Area this past winter. Despite Forest Avenue being included in the citywide paving plan in the 2022 fiscal budget, the street was badly in need of repair. Redel decided to take matters into his own hands and fill the holes himself. “I got tired...

By Jody Colley

...g original tunes along with classic songs of Elton, Stevie, and other favorites. They will be performing at Yoshi’s in June, but catch them here first! Other live music includes Nilo Ayele Afro Brazilian Grooves (McNally’s Irish Pub), East Bay Serenaders (Cole Coffee), Five & Dime and Gony B. (College Avenue Presbyterian Church), Claiborne and Friends (Beer Baron Whiskey Bar & Kitchen) and more. All performances are outdoors. n Photo/ Jack A. Millar he Rockridge Rock-N-Stroll returns...

By Jody Colley

maybe four, five stories — while still having a retail feel to it.” The Rockridge News will con- tinue to report on the project. D (Photo courtesy of the Rockridge District Association) H It’s a bustling time for College Avenue, which invites visitors to enjoy...

By Annette Floystrup

“merchant seat.” He was subsequently appointed by the board to the LUC, and named committee chair the fol- lowing year — a position he has held since then. He was elected to six sepa- rate two-year terms, serving as RCPC Board Chair for five of these years. Flashman is one of America’s top environmental lawyers and has been named a Northern California “Super- lawyer” since 2011. During his 15 years Ken Rich on the LUC, he has guided Rockridge to several notably successful results ...

By Terry Smith

new complex will serve as a hub for local East Bay nonprofits, much in the way that the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco has done for the nonprofit community there. JCCEB currently hosts many community activities and expects to move some of them to its new College Avenue center, as well as to...

and cheaper rates. More trans-bay bus routes to San Francisco may be another possible solution for Rock- ridge. BART and City staff are seeking a planning grant to help determine parking needs and solutions, among many other issues. The ridership gained from denser housing at t...

By Ben Friedman

...ns. Coast Redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth. They can live for 2,000 years and can grow to the height of a 35-story building. The holy and silent groves of old-growth stands in protected areas across coastal California represent only five percent of the historic range, most lost to logging. n this most strange year, I’d like to express gratitude for something that makes Rockridge special: Our Coast Redwoods. While we are in close proximity to world-class groves of these giants ...

... Berne “W e are a special community in which men come together in a safe place to share and be supported in their struggles, engage together in community service, cele- brate their victories, and grow in all aspects of their lives.” — East Bay Circle of Men When Jeff Randall returned to his Rockridge home in 2012 after living for nearly 20 years in Israel, he was missing male companionship. Although he met and had married Miriam while there, and happily gained five stepchildren, he f...

worked as both a teacher and family therapist, turned to the Internet where he saw an ad for the East Bay Circle of Men (EBCOM or “The Circle”). He attended one of their monthly Saturday morning meetings, “held rain or shine,” near the marina at Lake Chabot Regional Park. “I knew within five minutes that these were my people.” One of them joined us...

Brush, who went on to become principal of Berkeley’s Longfellow School and then principal of Berkeley High’s Independent Study Program, now volunteers at Chabot Elementary. He also has published five his- torical novels set in the 19th and early 20th century Bay Area and Sierra, and is working on the sixth.

Update on Rockridge Housing Study Last month’s call for technical assistance in evaluating the five alternative housing scenarios resulted in several offers of help. Committee members discussed forming a subcommittee to move the housing study forward. Also discussed was outreach to faculty members at the Cal-Berkeley campus who might be able...

five years, with much community input. Those plans, originally put forward by Safeway and now being implemented by TRC, Inc., a Southern California developer, called for two phases. The first phase, including a new Safeway, a new Chase Bank buildin...

By Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz

llowing a series of public workshops and feedback sessions, Bay Area Bike Share hopes to finalize locations for four new bicycle stations on College Avenue from Alcatraz to Broadway. The stations will be roughly four blocks apart. A location at the Rockridge BART station, still in planning with the agency, ...

By Annalee Allen

by Annalee Allen Twenty-five years ago, Oakland faced what was to become one of the worst urban fire disasters in the Nation’s history. At 11 a.m. on October 20, 1991, Diablo winds gusting at 65 mph fanned a small blaze that had reignited from a grass fire incompletely ex...

...hools, setting college as an expecta- tion for all. By 2020, every Oakland student entering kindergarten will have a college savings account of $100 opened in his or her Kaiser Permanente: $3 million over three years; PG&E: $1 million over five years; East Bay College Fund: $1.5 million annually; OUSD & City of Oakland: $1.25 million annually; Payette River Foundation is sponsoring scholarships for OUSD’s Coliseum College Prep Academy (CCPA) High School

Ed. Note: Below, Cole Hardware responds to concerns expressed in the above letter. exhibition spanning five decades of the artist’s work. Each of these shows has featured works made by the artist during the time he lived in the area; the de Young show was composed only of works made during Diebenkorn’s Berkeley years. As noted by Richard Grant, the ...

...own Hall meeting could hardly do full justice to his seven years of service with RCPC. Flashman did not come to the RCPC board as a novice in public service. He had been a planning commissioner and city councilmember in Emeryville; an East Bay MUD director and, later, president; and he founded the Emeryville Shoreline Committee and served as its co-chair for five years. Flashman slowed down a bit after moving to Rockridge in 1992, only to get involved again when he accepted an appoin...

...ship for the 4th Ward is uncontested. That seat is held by Andy Katz, board president. The seat in the 3rd Ward is held by board vice president Katy Foulkes. Foulkes has served on the board for 20 years. Marguerite Young is challenging the five-term incumbent for 3rd Ward seat. Foulkes has a long history of political involvement in the East Bay. She has served two terms on the Piedmont City Council, including one as mayor, two terms as president of the League of Women Voters by Zabra...

...in downtown Berkeley, primarily at Freight & Salvage, and also at the new Magnes Museum and Univer- sity Hall. A few courses are also scheduled every term at the Lafayette “satellite,” in the Lafayette library. Members can take from one to five or more courses per term, on variable pay- ment schedules. More information on OLLI @Berkeley is available at olli.berkeley.edu. Other OLLI programs within driving distance of Rockridge include Cal State-East Bay; Dominican University (San Raf...

...acy programs, branch projects, collection development and more. 721 Washington Street, 444-0473. Details at www.fopl.org and www.thebookmarkbookstore.org. 26th Annual Heart of the Home Tour Benefit for Children’s Support League of the East Bay (CSL). Tour five beautiful homes in Oakland and Pied- mont (including 2 in the Rockridge area on Harbord and Claremont Pines). Fri. and Sat, 4/25 and 26, 10am to 4pm. Includes pop-up boutique, raffle and gourmet lunch. All proceeds benefit at-r...

...no markets. The unique chemical properties of citrus fruits make them ideal for preparing the popular Latin American seafood appetizer ceviche. Pucquio, the Peruvian restaurant at 5337 College Avenue, serves some of the best ceviche in the Bay Area. Pucquio’s menu includes at least five types of ceviche. Every type of fish served is of the freshest

...chool in Oakland. Class of 1988 Terrell Lowery, professional baseball player. After starring at Tech in the 1980s, Lowery was recruited to play baseball at Loyola Marymount in LA. Three years later, he was drafted by the Texas Rangers and, five years after that, was traded to the New York Mets. He broke into the big leagues with the Chicago Cubs in 1997 and went on to play for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and for the San Francisco Giants. Class of 1994

By Rebecca Saltzman

by Rebecca Saltzman My name is Rebecca Saltzman, and I am the recently elected BART Board Member for District 3, which includes Rockridge. I’m excited to represent Rockridge on the board. For five years, I lived a short walk away from the Rockridge BART station and used it frequently. I have advocated for transit, bicycle, and pedestrian issues in Oakland and the East Bay for many years. When I’m not at BART, I’m Government Affairs Mana...

Christopher Chin Incumbent Ch r i s t o p h e r Chin has lived in Rockridge for the past twelve years, and in the East Bay for twenty-five years. While he has an engineering degree from U.C. Berkeley, he spent many years after graduation working for the University on its IT systems and infrastructure, including helping to set up the campus- wide wireless network. C...

By Kristin Hathaway

ics for our new Earth Day posters. One of five bronze markers depicting creek scenes installed in the sidewalk at College and Shafter avenues next to Market Hall. ment Program undertakes numerous water quality protection activities including creek and wetland restoration and stormwater pol...

The path’s stairs begin near the end of Rockridge Boulevard and connect to Margarido Drive. It is possible to continue climbing the next two sets of steps and emerge on upper Ocean View Avenue with a fabulous view of the Bay and bridges. Most of Oakland’s paths and steps are located in older neighborhoods and were built between 1906 and 1940 to allow people easier access to the Key Route Trolley System. With the post-war spread of the automobile, many of these path...

beauty needs. Facials, waxing, lash/brow tints, skin tag/capillary removal, permanent make-up, reflexology and more! 30% off w/ad. www. penelopecalef.com 510/594-1552. Health Talks “How to Lose Five Pounds of Extra Weight,” Jan 9, 12 pm. “Train Without Pain; Benefits of the Anti-Inflammatory Diet,” Jan 23, 12 pm. Rockridge Community Room. No cost. www. oaklandchiropractor.net Robert Townsend DC 510/708-9363. Home Repair Expert Carpentry, ...

...irepot is the perfect winter entertaining meal. It proceeds at a leisurely pace in a festive atmosphere and can last from two to three hours. And of course, in those communal years, who could forget the great potluck dinners? Moving to the Bay Area in the early ’80s, we were swept up into the California food revolution. Entertaining became a more formal affair with an emphasis on the foods of the Mediterranean, Mexico, and Southeast Asia. We also tended to serve dishes from countries...

...will eliminate the much smaller back-ups in the reverse-commute direction and weekend recreational trip back-ups on Highway 24 and SR (State Route) 13. For this, the State will be paying well over $244 million. The remainder will come from Bay Area toll payers ($50 million) and Contra Costa County shop- pers ($125 million in county sales tax revenue). Even that total doesn’t count the costs for bond financing. Meanwhile, the project will mean five years of round- the-clock major cons...

By Jen McKillips

population ages, the Bay Area is at risk of a dangerously low blood supply, according to the American Red Cross. Officials say it is not necessary to know your blood type in order to donate because every type is needed, but there is a special need for Type O donors, th...

...et from freeway noise is taken very seriously. Thorough separation by combinations of broad fields, forests, berms, below- grade routing, and/or effective soundwalls (and even special “quiet night” speed limits) is strictly mandated. Forty-five years ago the construction of Highway 24, an elevated freeway built right through Temescal Canyon and the Rockridge and Temescal Districts, one of the most attractive areas in the East Bay, seriously diminished livability. Although we citizens...

...rs.” No slouches, that group will be touring Italy this summer, where they will play at the Vatican, the Spoleto Festival, and St. Peter’s Basilica, among other venues. by Rockridge News Staff Fthe most prestigious high schools in the East Bay, including College Preparatory School, The Athenian School in Danville, Bishop O’Dowd, Head-Royce, St. Mary’s, Bentley, and the Orinda Academy. (The other two students plan to move back to Poland and Livermore, respectively.) or the boys of the...

...uture Community activist and artist Jeff Norman has just published a book on the history of the Temescal neighborhood. More than two years in the writing, Temes- cal Legacies: Narratives of Change from a North Oakland Neighborhood looks at five significant changes to the Temescal neighborhood since World War II: The founding in the late 1940s of the Studio One Arts program on 45th St. The rise and fall of the Sacramento Northern Railway, which ran up Shafter The community’s response ...

... it. KATRINA VICTIMS NEED OUR HELP Editor: Letters, continued from page 8 WHY HIGHER DENSITY? Editor: I live in Rockridge and am appealing for help for the victims of hurricane Katrina. I was born and raised in New Orleans and moved to the Bay Area five years ago. I have many loved ones in New Orleans; family and friends. Most were able to evacuate, but their homes have been severely damaged or destroyed and they may not be able to return for months. I still have not been able to con...

Selling Homes in the East Bay since 1980. Speak five Indian languages.

Selling Homes in the East Bay since 1980. Speak five Indian languages.

Selling Homes in the East Bay since 1980. Speak five Indian languages.

Selling Homes in the East Bay since 1980. Speak five Indian languages.

Owners Rosemary and Percy Yung opened The Great Frame-Up five years ago, a few years after they immigrated to the U.S. from Hong Kong, where they were involved in the antiques business and garment industry. After spending three years in Houston selling antiques, they moved to the Bay Area. They both enjo...

Selling Homes in the East Bay since 1980. Speak five Indian languages.

A birder and backpacker, Oakland resident Rick Lewis got involved in photography five years ago and has won a number of awards for his wildlife images. He feels that conservation begins at home and points out that all the photographs in this exhibit were taken within a ninety mile radius of Oakland. “My focus,” he says, “‘is to...