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Eyes on Rockridge All photos: Judith Doner Berne When you read this, you might wish that you could live on Upper James A Rockridge Love Story by Judith Doner Berne Tus. And found objects — old license plates, rusty saws, straw hats and a fishing creel that was his grandfather’s — line a ...

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Judith Doner Berne anu EVes ON Rockridge

Stained Glass Restorer Honors A Legacy — by Judith Doner Berne, Rockridge News Staff Writer She’s the second person in the world, and the first woman, to receive a master’s degree in stained glass conservation from the Royal College of Art in London. She has interned at The Getty in Los Angeles and wo...

— By Judith Doner Berne “I the Rockridge Community Planning Council (RCPC) board of directors, serving as chair from 1990-91. During her first year as a policy advisor to Mayor Harris, the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm hit, devastat- ing the community. “I was the ...

Local Assisted-Living Residents Adjust to Challenging Times — By Judith Doner Berne “W

Newcomers Work Together For A Safer Neighborhood — by Judith Doner Berne

ALL PHOTOS: JUDITH DONER BERNE

ALL PHOTOS: JUDITH DoNER BERNE

By Judith Doner Berne

Roy Kahn, left, Margaret Barbee, Nancy Moore Wright, Marian Whitehead, Lee Cohn, Laura Schlichtmann, and Burns Macdonald discuss the benefits and fun of OLLI continuing education at writer Judith Doner Berne’s home. /Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Artist Goes from Digital to Old- School Calligraphy by Judith Doner Berne Jane Brenner’s decorative calligraphy adorns the printed bookmarks hon- oring the San Francisco-based, 700-members of Friends of Calligra- phy’s 50th anniversary. In both Latin and English, it declares: “The spoken word vanishes, the writt...

By Judith Doner Berne

He Knows Rockridge Streets “Like the Back of My Hand” Photo by Judy Berne by Judith Doner Berne Greg Brennan has come full circle. In 2006, the now 67-year-old Rockridge resident moved back to the house in which he grew up. The neighborhood “paper boy” from the age of 10 to 16 years of age, he now delivers the Rockridge News on his S...

By Judith Doner Berne

Traveling Abroad During Covid by Judith Doner Berne I Photo: Judy Berne t was a difficult decision, but my husband, adult son, and I are now back from a month-long trip to three European counties — first Romania, then France and Poland. We had planned our journey for May 2020, but of course...

By Judith Doner Berne

Three Degrees of Minimal Separation, And a Return to Rockridge by Judith Doner Berne It’s been nearly eight years since Rockridge triplets Makana, Maile, and Keale Young, then sophomores at Bishop O’Dowd High School, were featured in the October 2017 edition of the Rockridge News. The article headlined “Triplets Add Life t...

By Judith Doner Berne

A Red Schwinn Sets in Motion a Life of Cycling by Judith Doner Berne Scott Hicks, until very recently, had 20 bicycles – three in the kitchen, several outside the door of his studio apartment in Rockridge, where he has lived for 17 years, as well as four bike frames in his living area. The rest, he said, ar...

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...

By Judith Doner Berne

Hudson Bay Cafe: A Neighborhood Gathering Spot for 40 Years by Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Finding Strength And Healing through Music and Art by Judith Doner Berne It’s so appropriate that when you walk by Amikaeyla (“Call me Ami”) Gas- ton’s Rockridge house you go through her “Tunnel of Love.” The overhanging almost 30-foot-long and sidewalk-wide arch, a regimented tangle of bougainvillea leaves and...

By Judith Doner Berne

Local Filmmaker Taps Into Her Own Coming-of-Age Story by Judith Doner Berne “M aking a film is like a miracle,” says first-time filmmaker Lauren Shapiro. “I love every second of it.” Rockridge resident Shapiro, at age 40, is pursuing her dream of telling a story she wrote more than ten years ago based on her comin...

By Judith Doner Berne

Rockridge to Vote for OUSD District 1 by Judith Doner Berne O I

By Judith Doner Berne

friend and neighbor. Self-taught, he Doing Life with Marty Nemko by Judith Doner Berne If you’re a fan of the Little Free Libraries and wander in and out of certain streets north of Chabot Road, you may have seen one or more books by Marty Nemko. Nemko, a career and personal coach who has lived at his Rockridge address since...

By Judith Doner Berne

Club newsletter that has 16,000-plus subscribers; appearing in conversation by Judith Doner Berne Alexis Madrigal could be the ulti- mate multitasker. As he marks his third anniversary on June 21st as co-host of Forum, KQED’s weekday Take this Opportunity to: Eyes on Rockridge, see page 10 • Meet new neighbors and introduce them to eac...

By Judith Doner Berne

Park Day Co-Founder Inspires, Learns from Students by Judith Doner Berne “T way was a park.” Three years later, with a growing student body, they moved to Montclair Presbyterian Church and added grades 4-6. In a full-circle scenario, Twin Pines closed in 1982. Erb and her cohorts, with an enrollment that had gr...

By Judith Doner Berne

Alice Erb: Traveler, Hunter/Gatherer by Judith Doner Berne M Since she has lived in The Com- pound, it has been a mecca for artistic people. Currently, the other three homes are occupied by a film direc- tor and his wife, a food and travel photographer (see February 2023 Rockridge News, “Eyes on R...

By Judith Doner Berne

Designer Fits into Expanding Avenue Fashion Scene by Judith Doner Berne T “I’m a survivor,” she said. She chose to give birth and raise her daughter Brenda Sheree, now 30, pretty much on her own. Indeed, if you stop by the shop that’s who’s most likely to be your salesperson. “I love working here,” Sheree said...

By Judith Doner Berne

Foodie Photographer Focuses On Composition and Light by Judith Doner Berne Ian innate, almost obsessive reverence for beauty and crafts- manship that, when focused on a specific dish, can mean the difference between the iPhone pics we all take at dinner and the emotionally impactful pho- tographs that Aya so expe...

By Judith Doner Berne

Leveling the Playing Field on College Admissions by Judith Doner Berne “I

By Judith Doner Berne

Local Designer Finds Community Support in Rockridge by Judith Doner Berne Wparents, Alex Meneses and Luz Delaveal, live on the floor above. “I do my designing at home for the most part,” Gregori said. “We converted our second bedroom into a small studio space.” “Devan’s a big dreamer and has a beautiful vision,”...

By Judith Doner Berne

Devoted Librarian Went Looking for a Job, and Found a Career by Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Local Author Sets Novel ‘Where We Live’ by Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Oakland Tech Grads Achieve College- Bound Dreams by Judith Doner Berne Dprovided by Oakland Tech.) Of the four-year colleges, the highest number of grad- uates, 112, will go to schools within the University of California (UC) system. Next comes California State Uni- versities (CSU) with 101. Forty-three stude...

By Judith Doner Berne

Rockridge Residents Unnerved by Increase in Daytime Attacks, Car Break-Ins by Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Deep Medicine Circle Rooftop Farm Cultivates Food Justice by Judith Doner Berne say, “reframes farmers as ecological stewards whose care directly supports human and planetary health.” “Our purpose is to address food insecurity and heal the land,” says farm harvest manager Meredith Song. The agency’s two farms — this o...

By Judith Doner Berne

She Tracks Rockridge Crime — for All of Us by Judith Doner Berne “C tuned in via Zoom. “Karen has been the core of the Greater Rockridge NCPC for many years,” Ubell said. “She established and maintains the website and email lists. She transcribes our meetings She’s not deterred by meeting atten- dance a...

By Judith Doner Berne

Local Centenarian Looks Back… and Ahead by Judith Doner Berne Taccording to a recent report in the Washington Post. Born of Czech descent in Wilber, Nebraska, billed as the Czech capital of the United States, Kassal grew up in Omaha. “My dad had a grocery store and butcher shop,” she said, so that ev...

By Judith Doner Berne

Rockridge Has its Own ‘Kennedy Compound’ by Judith Doner Berne T At the time, Norma recalls, her daughter was appalled at the state of the house’s interior. “Luckily, Laurie has a lot of creative imagination, and her father-in-law was a builder.” Granddaughter Rebecca Zabel, now a Kaiser pediatrician,...

By Judith Doner Berne

Vintage Eyewear Frame Shop Looks To the Future by Judith Doner Berne in grad school”) and challenged to find a way to lighten the weight of the proposed Renaissance Center — the pet project of Henry Ford II that he hoped would, but didn’t, revive Detroit’s economy. “They relied on the design that their arch...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne Trailing United States Postal Ser- vice carrier Megan Wilson as she delivered the mail on Lawton Avenue between Clifton and 51st streets brought to mind the theme song from the Cheers television sit- com, “Where Everyone Knows Your Name.” ...

By Judith Doner Berne

A Lifetime of Scholarship, Friendships & Travel by Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Sam Davis: “It’s Been A Roller Coaster Ride…” by Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Native Kenyan Did Much More Than “Dream” by Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Volunteers, Young and Old, Make Door- to-Door Delivery in Rockridge Newsworthy by Judith Doner Berne It’s plunked on your doorstep every month. It doesn’t get there by magic. It takes upwards of 150 of your neighbors to make sure The Rockridge News, founded in April 1986 by long-time resident Don Kinkead, is dispersed throughout our commu...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne “I ’m into building community.” That’s why Nancy Morton showed up a few days before Thanksgiving at Clifton Hall, the former California College of the Arts building that currently serves as a temporary shelter for homeless families who nee...

By Judith Doner Berne

Born, Bred and Rooted in Oakland by Judith Doner Berne Max Ornstil is Rockridge-born and bred. That’s why, after four years playing professional soccer for the Portland Timbers, the 27-year-old alumnus of Chabot Elementary, St. Paul’s Episcopal and Bishop O’Dowd is thrilled to be back in Oakla...

By Judith Doner Berne

Unrepresented Patients Discover a Very Unlikely Ally by Judith Doner Berne Solder people may have started when his mom “dragged him” (his words not mine) to play piano for residents of Merrill Gardens and Piedmont Gardens senior living centers several years back. “I didn’t like my parents listening when I practic...

By Judith Doner Berne

A Modern-Day Damsel Reinterprets Folktales by Judith Doner Berne Bobbie Kinkead didn’t read many of the popular children’s books as she grew up in the 1950s in what she describes as a “macho-male society” fostered, in part, by the nine military bases located within her hometown of Colorado Springs. “Whe...

By Judith Doner Berne

Oakland Unified Honors Chabot Teacher by Judith Doner Berne Chabot Elementary School’s Phoebe Diamond, just named an Oakland Unified School District Teacher of the Year, never wanted to be a teacher. “No family member was a teacher,” she said during a lively telephone interview. As a young teenager...

By Judith Doner Berne

What’s Happening At Levant Rug? by Judith Doner Berne It’s been a Safeway, The Levant Rug Company, and now, the building at 5450 College Avenue, one of a few with its own parking lot, could become a Red Cross Blood Donor Center. According to Oakland City Planner Ed Manasse, in order to do so,...

By Judith Doner Berne

Rockridge Café Owner Calls on Residents for Support by Judith Doner Berne “T he pandemic has uprooted the financial conditions of our fellow citizens and also our businesses. I would ask Rockridge residents to patronize the small businesses on College Ave including the hard-hit restaurants. Rockridge Café is fig...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne Lesley Evers is all about local. The wife and mother of two, who designs her signature women’s clothes from her Rockridge living room, moved her retail store late last month – from the corner of College Avenue and Forest to 5711 College, i...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne ° Pee don't say they like it; they say they love it.”

By Judith Doner Berne

Ben ’n Nick’s’ by Judith Doner Berne Kies Debro and Kelly McDonald could,

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne e said he’s slowing down. But Victor Silva, who turned 97 on New Year's Eve, still works, gardens, cooks, walks, drives and takes an active part in the lives of his close-knit and mostly close-by family.

By Judith Doner Berne

ALL pHotos: JUDITH DONER BERNE @

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne H* parents wanted him to be a singer — he took voice lessons all through high school. His community college professor tried to talk him into studying dance — she wanted him to transfer to Cal Berkeley.

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne Tbones in two fingers. “You’ve got to be ready to move and look mournfully at all the cars,” Schneider, who has not lost his whimsical sense of humor, said of his regular forays across Broadway under the former 12-second walk signal. Looki...

By Judith Doner Berne

...“I am so ecstatic about this that I feel like crying. I was living in fear that another one of our dear residents might one day be very seriously injured or worse.” “I was so afraid that somebody would be killed and I hadn’t done enough.” /Judith Doner Berne Alpert took matters into her own hands, after she returned from a board meeting in New York City in early June to find that a

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne reative writing is alive and well in Rockridge.

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne It’s not as many as opened in 2013 when ten — count them, ten — new eateries burst into Rockridge along College Avenue. But in the first few months of this year, six new or re-hashed (excuse the pun) restaurants have opened along College A...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne f your kid or grandkid plays the game Magic: The Gathering, he or she likely has spent time and money at It’s Your Move, the game store just over the Rock- ridge border on Telegraph in Temescal.

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne Re" his apartment overlooking College

By Judith Doner Berne

Library. ‘judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

Eyes on Rockridge The Street Where He Lives Inspires Local Shirt Designer by Judith Doner Berne Iborn Wells has a bachelor’s in sociology from San Francisco State, a master’s in political science from New York University’s New School, an MBA from Golden Gate University – plus a year at Oxford studying modern British politics. ’m pret...

By Judith Doner Berne

to: “Ride my bike to work; be close enough to home that my kids can come to the office; and be a large contributor to the community.” /Judith Doner Berne Like so many of us, Peirce wanted to “live in a place that was walkable.” She told me, “I really didn’t know how great it was until after I moved here.” Wells actually owns the trademark for Rockridge, which he was surprised to find was av...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne y husband and I love frequenting Rockridge’s College Avenue restaurants — and we work diligently to make sure we try them all.

By Judith Doner Berne

Rich told me. And, “It feels like we have a third child.” — judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne hoosing to live in Rockridge allows Nicole (Nikki) Foletta to literally walk the walk.

By Judith Doner Berne

Oakland Residents: Their Recipes; Backgrounds; and Neighborhoods by Judith Doner Berne Over a six-month period, teenagers Elazar Sontag and Anya Ku showed up at the doors of home cooks in 20 Oakland neig hb or ho o d s – notebook, camera and bags of groceries in hand – often traveling by bus. As they watched each one prepare...

By Judith Doner Berne

...traight from school (Drew ➧➧Oakland: Flavorful, page 7 In Rockridge since 1997 Have you reviewed your business insurance lately? Yes we do offer: Elazar Sontag’s and Anya Ku’s Flavors of Oakland cookbook is their ode to the city they love. /Judith Doner Berne Workers Comp Insurance High School in San Francisco). But I’m not a protégé,” he was quick to say. “I was just cutting onions.” His interest in cooking food evolved into writing about it. “I started a food blog when I was about 12. I wante...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne A Oakland, including Rockridge, is slowly becoming a safer place to live and work. police presence in Rockridge is no longer the unfamiliar sight that it was when we moved here from the suburbs of Detroit in June, 2011. To me, Sgt. Anthony...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne From a cozy garret not much bigger than a walk-in closet on the second floor of his longtime Rockridge home, Don Kinkead gathers material for, edits, lays out and often writes for The Rockridge News. Kinkead, a retired Alameda County socia...

By Judith Doner Berne

... Rockridge and was also an RCPC leader at that time. What was at stake, Floystrup says, was whether Rockridge would continue to develop as a low-rise, pedestrian-friendly Bobbie and Don Kinkead leaf through archives of The Rockridge News. /Judith Doner Berne and a concerned group of neighborhood activists – who reinvigorated the then- passive RCPC – came up with the idea of a regular newsletter to be sponsored by the organization. Armed with a Macintosh IIe computer

By Judith Doner Berne

City’s Growth with Heritage Second of two articles covering Mayor Libby Schaaf’s first year in office. by Judith Doner Berne ‘I ’m hopeful I’m the right leader at the right time.” That’s what Libby Schaaf shared when Rockridge News editor Don Kinkead and I interviewed her at the Rockridge Café, a year after her election as Oakland’s 50th mayor. That is no small ...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne Seeing her sister battle breast cancer in 1990, Irene Marcos decided to volunteer at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center (WCRC), not far from the Rockridge home she had recently bought and has now lived in for 24 years. Yes, October is Brea...

By Judith Doner Berne

...deal with on your own when the ‘drama’ of the diagnosis and the active treatment Rockridge resident Peggy McGuire loves that “I live a mile away” from the Women’s Cancer Resource Center where she has been executive director for 10 years. /Judith Doner Berne Summer Sales Stall

By Judith Doner Berne

“The odds are very slim of catching them in Sometimes it takes a village… Sometimes just one resident by Judith Doner Berne I think we owe Tim Caton. It was Caton who protested to the Rockridge public after the Locksley Avenue home that he and his wife, Ruth Paglierani, have lived in and beautified over 40 years was broken into twice within a few months earlier...

By Judith Doner Berne

...nd Police Department.” He has one patrol car per Leafy Locksley Avenue was recently the scene of numerous residential break-ins and attempted break-ins. Police warn that heavy vegetation can provide cover for prowlers and would-be crooks. /Judith Doner Berne

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne ‘S umer is icumen in” which, in at least two Rockridge neighborhoods, means the resumption of outdoor movie nights. Residents of the 5300 block of Shafter and the Colby Park area host several films each summer as a way to create a sense of...

By Judith Doner Berne

by Judith Doner Berne ‘T ech rules real estate” blared the front page headline in the April 11 issue of the Oakland Tribune. And Heather Sittig-Jackson, a Rockridge businesswoman and 13-year resident (who moved in March to the Oakland Hills), hopes to capitaliz...

By Judith Doner Berne

commercial space owners would prefer to leave buildings empty and claim a loss on taxes than rent for more reasonable amounts to long-term tenants. That’s their by Judith Doner Berne My guess is that it’s rare when 100-year- old houses in Rockridge have belonged to only to one family. But that’s the case for Claire Lomax’s home. Her grandfather, Richard Clifford Porter, a ship salvager, and his wife Jennie, a nurse, we...