The Sandlot
A few weeks ago a friend told me about PlayBall! Alameda’s Sandlot Blog, which chronicles the glorious tenures of kids who played Rec & Park league ball at local parks in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
My friend, a onetime “park rat” himself, told me the kids used to show up, sign themselves in and play [...]
Knife Catchers, RIP
Just got the head’s up from a friend that Alameda’s irreverent real estate pundit L. Opine has called it a day on the popular Knife Catchers blog, which I wrote up last September.
I checked in with L., and they said the blog may or may not come back, but for now, it’s off altogether.
The blog, [...]
Alameda’s cafe culture
The last couple of years have been banner ones for Alameda’s coffeeholics, with a whole mess of cafes opening up all over the Island. They’re a diverse group, ranging from the community center and mommy magnet Crosstown Coffeehouse to Julie’s Coffee & Tea Garden, which is likely one of the prettiest little spots on the [...]
Big cat at Alameda Point
A little bird told me last week that the late adventurer Steve Fossett’s catamaran is out at Alameda Point. So I took a ride out there a few days ago. As I was tooling down Oriskaney toward Ferry Point I saw two enormous, white hulls emerge. I checked in with the nice folks at Nelson’s [...]
Wedge issues
When Erik Miller moved to Alameda’s Wedge neighborhood from San Francisco a decade ago, it was largely populated by “blue collarish” renters who had little interest in local politics. But over the years, things have changed.
Now, Miller says, the Wedge – which is bordered by Park Street, Tilden Way and Clement Street – is being [...]
Your house, in lights
As promised, I’ve toured the Island and brought back snapshots of some of the many homes decked out in lights for the holidays (you’ll recognize a whole lot o’ Christmas Tree Lane in there, I’m sure). Call it my little gift to you. You can check those pictures out right here. Enjoy!
Got pix?
One of the many great things about Alameda is that people here are into the holidays. Really into the holidays. As in decorating your house with strings and strings of lights and wood cutouts of characters from long-ago holiday cartoons into the holidays.
Wanna showcase your spirit? Take a picture of your house and shoot it [...]
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … bike?
A few weeks ago I was driving down Park Street when I saw a couple of guys riding by on some of those old-timey bicycles with the giant front wheels. I figured it was just a fluke, or that in my sleep-deprived state I was just seeing things – until I saw them again, over [...]
Your hot car, here
The other day our Google Alert for Alameda brought us this neat little item on the Jalopnik site about a 1986 Toyota Cressida owned by a delivery guy over at Bowzer’s Pizza on Park Street. A defining feature: A skull “hood mural.”
I contacted the fine folks at Bowzer’s (named after the owner’s pizza-eating dog, btw) [...]
No more signs
The ever-shifting mass of cryptic, painted signs that have long graced the walls and fence of the home on the corner of Lincoln and Lafayette avenues are a familiar sight to Alamedans (and were famous enough to inspire this review on Yelp). But they may be a thing of the past. The man behind the [...]
Alamed(i)ans
The first time I heard someone refer to the residents of our fair isle as Alamedians, I thought I had simply misheard. The second time, I figured they just talked funny. Then I heard City Councilman Doug deHaan use it at a public forum he attended. I began to wonder whether I was missing something.
“I [...]
