While it never suffered the double-digit vacancy rates of other tony retail districts in the Bay Area, Rockridge lost more than a few businesses over the past two years. Now, a crop of new, and less pricey businesses are moving into empty storefronts.

No address better illustrates the Great Recession evolution of high-end Oakland retail than 5856 College Avenue. Back in the days of the housing bubble, the storefront had been the headquarters of husband and wife team who sold an eclectic assortment of shoes along with their own designs. Twenty Two Shoes was expensive and aimed at people who saved paychecks to spend $500 on footwear. But, when paychecks grew scarcer in 2008, the store closed. Last week, after more than 18 months of vacancy and “Coming Soon” signs, Miam.Miam Lounge started selling yogurt, sorbet, and gelato from the old Twenty Two Shoes location.

“We’re fortunate that the street is evolving and adapting to the new economy,” said Chris Jackson, the manager for the Rockridge District Association.

Between Alcatraz Avenue and Broadway a number of new establishments are open or in the works. Like Miam.Miam Lounge, they generally reflect the constrained spending habits of Oaklanders facing a fragile and uncertain economy. Crossroads Trading Company, which sells used clothes, is doing a brisk trade in its new larger location at 5901 College Avenue - the former home of Cotton and Company.

Financial advisers are always telling us to drop the daily espressos and put an extra $100 in the bank each month, but two new businesses are hoping we won’t heed the advice. Soon, Bica Coffeehouse will join the already jumping Cafe Zoe (6000 College Avenue) at 5701 College, where Cafe Lyon made an unsuccessful bid for the business of BART commuters. Bica is the Portuguese word for a cup of black espresso.

At the higher end of the food and beverage scale is Wood Tavern’s spinoff restaurant, which is slated for the spot next door to the current location at 6317 College Avenue, according to Jackson. Meantime, said Jackson, at the other end of the avenue, a wine bar is planned near Manila Avenue.

With plenty of broad, flat streets, West Oakland is a fine place to ride a bike. But for years, the neighborhood has lacked a bicycle store. Bikes4Life, a non-profit near the West Oakland Bart, is filling that niche with a shop where folks can buy a used bike, and have their bike repaired. 

Like many businesses in West Oakland, Bikes4Life offers more than what’s on the sign outside. The corner space on 7th Street has a fireplace, and Anthony Coleman, Jr., whose father founded the non-profit three months ago, says Bikes4Life is a community space, a spot where people can gather and hang out. In addition to the fireplace, the shop boasts some comfy chairs, a TV, and a friendly pit bull named Queen.

Most of the bikes come to the store as donations. They’re then refurbished and put out for sale at affordable prices. For example, a Gary Fisher Big Sur is on sale for only $250. “Somebody can have a nice bike for a little bit of nothing,” says Coleman Jr. Because Bikes4Life is a non-profit, people who donate bikes receive a tax deduction.

In keeping with the mission of serving as a community hub, Bikes4Life offers classes in bike repair and bike safety. Part of the goal is to get more kids on bicycles. “We’re trying to encourage some of these kids to ride their bikes to school,” says Coleman, Jr.

Anthony Coleman, Sr., started Bikes4Life as a way to provide affordable bicycles to people in the community where he’s lived for the past 10 years. A native of San Francisco, Coleman, Sr., is also the founder of One Fam, a community organization that uses education to help people who’ve been jailed.

There are several ways to get involved with Bikes4Life. Coleman, Sr., says that in addition to donations of bicycles, the outfit could use the help of a good grant writer to help put some of the community’s ideas about where Bikes4Life can go into action. “We’re not short of ideas,” says Coleman, Sr.
 

Oaklanders know how to root for their own. If you have any doubts, just look at how fashion designer Amy Sarabi has become a local hero. Regardless of her loss on Thursday on Project Runway, she’s reminded Americans of Oakland's place on the national fashion map, and Oaklanders aren’t going to forget that anytime soon. If you’re curious about her, here’s a little chat with Ms. Sarabi  

OAKLAND PRIDE: All you Oaklanders – if there’s an indie business or artist you really want to show your support for, here’s your chance. The Indie Awards are calling for nominations. Think of the Oakland businesses (or people) that you love to have in this town and send their names in. Two years ago, you were kind enough to nominate us and help us win the Oakland Soul award. It is someone else’s turn now.

The categories are Oakland Soul, Ripple Effect, Newbie, Greenie, Neighborhood Dynamo, Youth Empowerment, Pillar, and Innovator. To nominate or to learn more about the awards, visit oaklandindieawards.com. The deadline for the nominations is March 24.

The awards ceremonies are always a lot of fun. This year, the other exciting thing to come out of this is that the show will go up at Jack London Pavilion – where Barnes and Noble used to be. It’s sad that Oakland lost such a big bookstore, as Tammerlin Drummond points out in the Oakland Tribune. Until the new tenant comes in, the space will be used for community events. And if there’s one thing the Indies certainly are – it’s a great community event.

Oakland Indie Awards
May 14, 5.30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Jack London Pavilion (formerly Barnes and Noble) in Jack London Square
Tickets: $15 each indieawards.eventbrite.com/

ART: Everyone’s favorite art collective, Rock Paper Scissors (RPS), has put out a call to artists for their April Sculptural Fiber Show, which kicks off on April 2. 

From RPS: We are looking for three-dimensional textile sculptures with an emphasis on craftsmanship and technique, such as knitting, embroidery, weaving, applique, sewing, etc. Conceptual and functional pieces will be considered. Submissions are due March 21.

Please send no more than three 300dpi JPEGs in a zip file no larger than 10mb per email to gallery@rpscollective.com. Include your contact information, as well as the medium and dimensions of the works, and the price if for sale. There is no entry fee.

CHECK OUT: This is the first Friday of the month, which means it’s time for the Oakland art murmur and art walk. This is when you'd expect that a lot of galleries would open new shows, but one gallery worth stopping by is closing its show this Friday. Metal vs. Wood/ Wood vs. Metal is showing at the Crucible’s art gallery in the Cathedral building in downtown Oakland – and like most events organized by the Crucible, warrants a second look.
 
From the press release: Both media are rooted in tradition and history, and have been utilized for their material qualities for millennia, yet contemporary artists tend to gravitate towards working with one or the other.  Encompassing a diversity of techniques, such as joinery, carving, turning, welding, forging, pouring, and machining, Metal vs. Wood showcases work that pushes the boundaries of what these materials have to offer.  

March 5, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
1603 Broadway @ Telegraph

Photo courtesy: Food GPS

The much awaited restaurant from Charlie Hallowell, a star among local chefs, is now open. It debuted in the Grand Lake neighborhood on Friday, December 11, in what used to be a shoe store – hence the name: Boot and Shoe Service.

It isn’t as big as Hallowell’s other, much-loved Temescal restaurant, Pizzaiolo, which means that it’s wise to make reservations in advance. It is open only for dinner, though that might change. It serves up, as you might expect, pizzas of many different kinds that come out of a wood-burning oven.

5.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday5.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
3308 Grand Avenue (half a block north east from the Grand Lake theater) 510-763-2668
The website is still not up and running, but when it is, it'll be at
Bootandshoeservice.com



And as you make your plans to check out Boot and Shoe Service, keep Friday evening aside for the holiday open house hosted by Oakland’s neighborhood shops. It’s the last weekend before Christmas and your local Oakland stores, boutiques and cafes are staying open late – until 8 p.m. You know that’s unusual in a town where places can shut as early as 5 p.m. Some vendors will have refreshments for you, others will have free gift wrapping, and then there are those who will be giving out hefty discounts. There's got to be something in the mix that works for you.

For a complete list of participating shops, go to shopoakland.com/events.html

Neighborhood Shops Host Holiday Open House
Friday, December 18 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Photo by Geishaboy500.

Visit the basement of the Temescal branch library on a warm Saturday in early spring and you’ll see dozens of people wielding clippers, rakes, saws, drills, and other assorted implements. After nine years of operation, the Oakland Public Library’s free tool lending service is an institution. It’s as popular as Temescal’s famous purveyor of fried chicken sandwiches.

That brisk trade did not go unnoticed by the Oakland City Council, which is desperate to cut costs and raise money. Faced with a multi- million deficit, City officials asked how much cash could be made by selling annual memberships and charging one-time borrowing fees. According to a report from library staff, the answer is not very much. Additionally, memberships would be bought most readily by people who need the tool lending service the least, while driving away patrons who need it the most.

If users of the tool library were charged an annual $35 membership fee, the City could expect a return of around $55,000 in revenue. The cost of staffing the library and replacing lost tools is $169,000. Last year, the Tool Lending Library recorded 34,816 check-outs and renewals, which was a 14 percent increase over the previous year and 1.3 percent of the library system’s total circulation.

While there are around 24 other tool lending libraries in the country, including one next door in Berkeley, none charge a fee for use. A number of privately run, non-profit tool lending institutions have annual memberships ranging from $15 to $30. A $35 fee would be the highest in the country, according to the library’s report.

Some 20 years after Berkeley started its tool lending program, the tools in the basement of the Temescal branch grew out of a home repair collection started after the Oakland Hills Firestorm of 1991. Today, the library has 8,613 registered users, of which around two-thirds borrowed materials from OPL within the past year.

Most users are not borrowing expensive equipment. The great majority of tools in circulation are valued at $50 or less – drills, bench planes, wrenches, rakes, loppers, post hole diggers. Based on these figures, library staff reckons that 16 percent of library users would opt to buy a $35 annual membership, earning the City $30,000. One-time borrowing fees would bring in another $25,000.  

The library report notes that a fee would hit the hardest on people who are most dependent on the tool lending service. Library staff also suggested that a fee could create higher expectations about service and tool quality “among some borrowers.”

Library staff offered ways to soften the blow of an annual membership fee: “OPL could also explore alternative fee structures designed to mitigate the impacts of the new cost to patrons, such as requiring the paid membership only for tools valued over $20, charging a smaller fee of $5 for one-time use of tools valued under $20, or keeping the Tool Lending Library free for borrowing, but offering additional privileges such as longer loan periods and higher checkout limits for patrons who elect to purchase an annual membership.”

Let’s hope the City Council doesn’t notice the library’s booming circulation in DVDs.
 

It’s the shopping season, and you’re probably hearing messages from all sides about where to shop and what to shop for and how to shop. There are the big ads promising one sale after another at national chains, there are the neighborhood boutiques promising exquisite – and free – gift wrapping, there are all the museums pleading that you shop in their stores to show your support for their work, there are companies promising to give a portion of the proceeds from their sale to the World Wildlife Fund or some other noble cause that pulls at your heartstrings. And then, there’s the shop local campaign.

It’s a given that you can shop where you want and when, but the people at the Washington D.C.-based Institute for Local Self Reliance will tell you that by shopping at locally-owned businesses, you keep your dollars in your town. The sales taxes you pay come back to you through City services and community development. And local stores often have a better sense of what the community wants, which means that the product diversity will work in your favor -- in your town. And let’s not discount the charm factor here. Mom and pop stores help maintain a town’s unique character. Bay Street in Emeryville and Santana Row in San Jose feel a lot like each other, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But College Avenue or Old Oakland feel very much like no other place in the Bay Area. And there's more, says Samee Roberts, manager of the City of Oakland's Cultural Arts and Marketing Division.

"People seem to want an alternative to chains – not to mention lower prices – as evidenced by the fact that in-store mall/chain shopping right after Thanksgiving increased only slightly over last year while online purchases were up 14 percent," says Roberts.    

So it’s no surprise that the City of Oakland and the Oakland Merchants Leadership Forum, a group that represents local retailers, have decided to push forward their Shop Oakland/Oakland Grown campaign with the new Oakland Grown website. The colorful and attractive site guarantees to connect you - the shopper - with all things independent and Oakland, such as restaurants (including Michelin-rated ones) and shops (with details of when they offer free gift wrapping and complimentary wine) and events (like the Holiday Buy Night coming up this week on Thursday and Friday in Jack London Square, December 10 and 11).  It’s Oakland’s shopping map, which is exactly what a city like Oakland, which has shops spread out across each neighborhood, needed.

The site’s founding members include Oakland City Council President Jane Brunner, the City of Oakland’s Cultural Arts and Marketing department, popular Oakland stores like Entrez! Open House and Paws and Claws, and community foundations like One California Foundation. If consumers sign up to become members, they’re offered a range of benefits from discounts to networking opportunities, based on whether they’re businesses or individuals.

Going forward, the site plans to be a destination for those looking to shop and eat in Oakland. "After the holidays and into the early part of 2010, we are looking to add info on Oakland nightlife, bar bites (noshing), breakfast/brunch spots, cafes/coffee houses, major upcoming events, new and cutting edge shops and merchants, and of course, keep the blogs, reviews, news articles and other features current – including the already popular Late Night Eats section," says Roberts.

Browse the site: oaklandgrown.org It’ll make you want to shop Oakland.

Turntable by Joel Scilley

Winter's finally here as is the holiday shopping season. Why hit the big box retailers with their long lines when you can buy gifts made right here in Oakland by our many talented local artists and craftspeople? This December offers up many opportunities to shop locally in the town's art galleries. Here are my picks for the best -- and affordable -- art sales this December.
 
Holidayland Gift Sale
The Compound Studios and Gallery
6602/6604 San Pablo Avenue
thecompoundgallery.com/

Blankspace
6608 San Pablo Avenue
blankspacegallery.com/
Art Murmur Reception: Friday, Dec.4, 6 p.m.-10 p.m.

San Pablo Avenue, at the very edge of the Art Murmur map and near the Oakland-Berkeley border, has become an art destination with two strong art spaces calling it home. The Compound Studios and Gallery and Blankspace Gallery have again teamed up for their holiday art sale and celebration called Holidayland, which will feature two poles of art and entertainment on hand for your seasonal shopping and mirth needs. Blankspace co–director Kerri Johnson elaborates, “The idea behind this is to promote local artists and crafters. It is a way to put money in the hands of artists we’ve worked or plan to work with in the next year. We put a focus on emerging artists and conceptual ideas at Blankspace.”

This show features so many artists offering up “…original artwork, jewelry, handmade crafts, accessories, cards, ornaments, tote bags…” among other items that to list them all would take up a whole page of space easily. Among those on the list of artists for this year’s edition of Holidayland are several local names I’ve noted previously in this column: Ben Belknap, Crystal Morey, and Daniel Healey and other noteworthy folks like Bruk Dunbar, and gallery owners Kerri Lee Johnson and Jason Byers. According to the press materials, you’ll also have the opportunity to get, “ …your holiday photo taken in our themed photo booth (proceeds go to Art in Oakland Schools) and spin the Wheel o' bounty for prizes.” This sounds like a more interesting shopping plan than visiting a crowded mall -- affordable art and crafts, entertainment and tamales from Tina Tamale of La Borinqueña? Sounds like my kind of shopping experience.

Eastside’s Open House & Holiday Art Sale

Eastside Cultural Center
2277 International Boulevard
eastsideartsalliance.com/
Reception: Friday, Dec.11, 4 p.m.-8 p.m.
 

With the press the Uptown and Western sections of Oakland receive, it can be easy to overlook great spaces and arts organizations in other parts of town -- like The Eastside Arts Alliance. For years, they’ve mentored at risk youth, engaged in progressive activism, and put together community minded events like The Malcolm X Jazz Arts Fest. They serve as a bright beacon in an area that has seen more than its share of blight. I should well know. I grew up there. I expect folks like Favianna Rodriguez who organized the epic mural that adorns the entrance of the in renovation Oakland Museum and legendary aerosol artist Estria Miyashiro will be participating as they are both co-founders of this organization. Support the community, affordable art, free entertainment, and a little education on the side. Huh, kinda hard to argue against going to this one. It’s on the early side too, making hitting other art shows this night a snap.

Shop/Show

Swarm Gallery
560 Second Street
swarmgallery.com/
Reception: Friday, Dec.11, 6 p.m.-9 p.m.

Svea Lin Soll’s Swarm Gallery will doing a curated “pop-up shop” show of affordable art goods. Of the featured artists, two -- John Casey and Nathaniel Parsons -- have been featured as past picks in this column and another, David Higgins, was one of eleven artists in Art@TheOakbook’s “Improvised Branches” exhibition. In addition, a great emerging art publisher/bookseller, Rowan Morrison, will be selling some thoughtfully designed publications. Here’s some more info: Merchandise includes limited edition t-shirts for everyone by Oakland's favorite home grown brand, Oaklandish; t-shirts printed with work by John Casey, Terry Furry, Sarah A. Smith and Jake Watling; art books by great artists like Jason Jagel and Andrew Schoultz, and self-published zines and autobiographical art by artists such as Alika Cooper and Paul Solis and Ashley Jones; hand-crafted toys for big kids by David Higgins and Nathaniel Parsons; framed work on paper by John Casey and Treasure Frey; sculptural jewelry you won't be able to resist buying for yourself by M.E.Moore; unique Sgraffito tiles by Todd Barricklow and fabulous and fun installations by Sarah A. Smith and others. Count me in. I’ll be the guy buying the John Casey tee around 6.

Editor's note: Below, we feature the art@theOakbook's holiday show. Full disclosure -- The OakBook runs art@theoakbook.

A Long Way From The Cabbage Patch
Art@TheOakbook’s Inaugural Holiday Art Show
ART@TheOakbook
423 Water Street (across from Barnes and Noble in Jack London Square)
Opening Reception: Friday, December 11, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The show runs through January 9, 2010

This holiday season, Art@theOakBook invites you to discover the work of six local emerging artists who who have gotten positive critical accolades on the local and/or national level.  

Each and every artist in this show has been “vetted” by critics and journalists as artists well worth watching.

Art@theOakBook's holiday show is your chance to buy affordable art by Marcos LaFarga, Kevin Earl Taylor, Jake Watling, Savanna Snow, Theo Konrad Auer,and Joel Scilley. Here's an opportunity to make an investment in your community by starting up or augmenting your art collection on the cheap.

Joel Scilley’s Ipod docks have been noted as a “much buy holiday gift under $100 “ by the New York Times. Theo Konrad Auer’s photos have been heralded by DeWitt Cheng of The East Bay Express and have appeared on Fecalface Dot Com among other websites and magazines. Kevin Earl Taylor, Jake Watling, and Savanna Snow’s art has been covered in Juxtapoz and other media outlets.  Marcos LaFarga’s art has received kudos from Swee(t)art Magazine and from The Oakbook. 

All works are priced to sell from less than $100 to $300. Sold work is available for pick-up/shipping one week before Christmas. On Friday, December 11, expect a few holiday surprises and good company at art@theOakbook

If you use a computer, and you do because you’re reading this right now, there must have been times when you’ve struggled with a computer application. Perhaps you’d like to start a blog and don’t really know where to start. Maybe you’d like to customize a template for a newsletter, but don’t want to try and find someone on Craigslist for something so minor. And maybe you’re a freelancer and feel like working in a non-café environment once in a while.

If you live in Oakland, you can now rest easy. Anca Mosoiu, a computer science graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has opened TechLiminal in downtown Oakland. Anca's dubbed it a technology salon.

In a past life, Anca used to build websites, web applications, and do some tech consulting. Since 2004, when all things tech-related went bust, she’s lived the life of a freelancer. She’s worked on iphone apps, online games, volunteered at libraries and neighborhood centers. And somewhere along the way, she realized that she enjoyed helping people with technology. It wasn’t just satisfying. It was a learning experience.
“I learned how people perceive what we build,” she says. “There’s a disparity between people who build it and those who often use it.”

Anca Mosoiu

Anca realized that there was this alternate universe of people, who either due to age, education or background, can’t really use the web for all that it’s worth. And she hit on the idea of a place that people could use for the Internet the way they use a mechanic’s shop for cars.

“Everyone should have access to information without having to deal with a jerk,” she says.

At TechLiminal, you can rent a computer for $15 to $20 per hour, depending on the kind of monitor you want. (If you plan to be a frequent user, ask for a discount.) You can just rent the space, too – if you’re looking for a quiet place to take a phone call in or have a meeting at. There’s a conference room on the upper level, with a smart board for discussions and presentations. The place is cheerful and professional.

Anca, who is also cheerful and professional, hopes that TechLiminal helps advance a culture of innovation in Oakland. With that in mind, she’s already begun hosting classes and workshops in her two-week old space. If you follow our calendar, you know that she’s already held a class explaining Facebook to the uninitiated, she’s held a BarCamp for East Bay bloggers, and soon, she’ll be holding an iPhone developers’ camp.

This is a modest beginning. Eventually, Anca would like to be able to open TechLiminal in multiple locations. And given the number of freelancers out there these days across industries, she might be able to pull it off.

TechLiminal is at 268 14th Street. Call: 510-832-3401

 

 


                                         
 

Tiffani Neal (right) wants to eventually open a physical store. For now, she's happy with the way things are moving at her online store.

Oakland's fashion scene has always had its own flavor. Some say it's fashion forward, others feel it isn't as hip as the city across the bridge. Whatever your take, what you choose to wear -- and in some cases, where you get it from -- tells others a lot about you. 

Oakland has a lot of charming clothing retailers to shop at. You can find new stylish clothes, designer labels, vintage wear, and even an occasional chain store. You can buy pretty much anything you want when you walk into a store in our town. But if you don't feel like the charms of College Avenue or Old Oakland, but still want to shop in Oakland, you can try out some Oakland-based online boutiques. 

Even though there's talk of things turning around, people are still dealing with the economic meltdown we've witnessed for several months now. In the Bay Area where the cost of living is already high, it can be especially challenging to find ways to make your dollar stretch. For families with kids, it’s even tougher, especially when more and more households are depending on a single income. Here are bargain buys and bites for Oaklanders who need to tighten up their wallets, but still want to enjoy life.

SHOP

Hello Baby:  Trade and consignment Baby and Children’s Store
This new boutique is run by very friendly staff who offer gently used high quality clothing items for fifty cents and up.
204 13^th St.
879-7029

CrackerJacks
This small but sweet boutique is a local favorite for used hipster children’s gear.
14 Glen Ave.
654-8844
http://www.crackerjackskids.com

Salvation Army
Every week there seems to be a red tag sale where most items are 50% off. You’ll find vintage furniture and textiles, clothing, and books for everyone in the family.
601 Webster St.
451-4514
http://www.salvationarmy.org

Maribel
For the moms who still want to wear the latest fashions without running up their credit card, take in your old but stylish clothes and consign here for cash.
3251 Lakeshore Ave.
419-0677


WATCH

Movies are expensive these days at $10.50 for adult tickets. But there are cheaper ways to keep up with films, and one of them is a short drive away:

Red Box
This movie kiosk at Lucky’s Supermarket is for the non-Netflixer stay at home types.

At $1.00 per movie, it’s like a DVD ATM dispensing the latest films. You can even reserve a movie on-line.
247 E.18^th St.
www.redbox.com  

EAT

Eat out family style for under $25:

BC Deli
This family run deli offers traditional Vietnamese sandwiches (banh mi). Buy 5 at $2.25 each and get one free.
818 Franklin St.
261-9800

Holy Land Kosher Food
Take everyone out to enjoy scrumptious falafel, lentil rice, and a one of kind mint lemonade.
677 Rand Ave.
272-0535
www.holylandrestaurant.com

Manzanita
Try taking the family out for a delicious and nutritious macro-biotic meal at this warm and intimate restaurant. You can choose from a simple ($8.75), moderate ($11.75), or full meal ($13.75).
4001 Linden St
(510) 985-8386
www.manzanitarestaurant.com

Round Table Pizza
It’s a chain, but a classic one. They offer a weekly Kids Night, which includes activities and all-you-can eat pizza for the whole family. $9.00 for adults including one child. Free for children under 3.
398 Grand Ave
834-4444

EXERCISE

If running around the the lake doesn’t cut it, but a traditional gym membership is out of reach, try these:

Laney College
Our community college offers many classes including Polynesian dance, soccer, bowling, and diving. Most classes for a semester will cost $26 or less.
900 Fallon St.
www.laney.peralta.edu

Norman Marks Health Club
A family run center that has traditional exercise equipment and sauna. They offer short term memberships too.
298 14th St
452-3755
http://www.normanmarkshealthclub.com 

PLAY for kids

Malonga Casquelourd Center
Tacumba King teaches the djembe, dundun and conga drums and African dance for children of all ages. No pre-registration is required and it’s free. Saturdays 10 p.m. to 12 p.m.
1428 Alice St.
www.bayyoutharts.org

Lotus Bloom
Free art and music program for children 0-5. 10 a.m.-Noon every Saturday.  
2285 International Boulevard
910-0805

Sadie Dey's Cafe
This play cafe has many activities and events for kids, including a puppet show on Friday afternoons. Adults and pre-crawlers get in free. An all-day pass for kids is $5.95 and each sibling is $2.95.
4210 Telegraph Ave
510-601-7378
http://sadiedeyscafe.com/


LISTEN TO JAZZ

Yoshi’s Club
This Oakland establishment has brought back their 2 p.m. matinees for kids and their family on Sundays. $5 for all kids under the age of 15.
510 Embarcadero West
238-9800
www.yoshis.com

Plastic Bags Blow Away - Cloth Bag

Show the world how you feel about plastic as you head out to the market! 100% Cotton Tote Bag for groceries and other small items. Proceeds support Oakland Unwrapped! - a 501c3 organization supporting Oakland's economy.

 For more information and/or to buy this bag, click below:

http://www.oaklandunwrapped.org/oaklandpride/merchant.ihtml?pid=474&lastcatid=339&step=4

Tutti Frutti Brown ~ Double-Sided Blanket
Playful, yet modern apples and pears printed in lighthearted rows show off some of baby’s first fruity treats. The print’s hip brown hue pops the lively reds and yellows.

$50.00 each

For more info:
http://mariposababy.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=295&lastcatid=232&step=4

Want to buy your necklace? $85.00 each.

http://oaklandunwrapped.org/eartoear//merchant.ihtml?pid=257&lastcatid=243&step=4

Jenny Hurth with her eco-friendly bags. Photo: Amy Perl

Local artist Jenny Hurth's business is rooted in her passion--reusing  materials that would otherwise go to waste.

"I've been working so hard on a bike messenger bag prototype that I missed all the Earth Day parties," she says. "Maybe my contribution for 2008 will be yet another messenger bag out there on the roads." 

Hurth ventured into the eco-friendly business of bags, notebooks, and curtains made of recycled banners in 2005 after working for 20 years as a maker of custom slipcovers. She didn't consider herself a "designer" but always had a knack for creating gifts for friends and family with materials that were lying around. 

Hurth stumbled upon her new business idea by discovering vinyl banners at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse.  

 "I was absolutely stunned by them, having never been to a trade show or convention. All I could see up close was huge letters & fragments of pictures - they looked great! I bought them & covered my mom's patio umbrella & made some bags. I felt quite hooked after that and went looking for more,” Hurth recalls.

Hurth’s work helps decrease the waste that local trade shows produce. For example, the Moscone Center in San Francisco can have up to seven major events a month, bringing in a large number of banners and signs. An average vinyl banner can be about 3 feet by 7 feet. Hurth gets a call from the center three to four times a year after they've donated a certain portion of the leftover banners to non profits and schools to use for their projects.  

“I come away from Moscone with my husband's pick up truck -- a very big old Chevy -- loaded almost to the top of the lumber rack most visits," says Hurth. "This is a small fraction of what is left behind at one convention center in one city in one state.”   

After collecting the material, Hurth cleans the vinyl without using any chemicals, adds thread and the occasional zipper. The letters and images create colorful collages that make for an attractive, waterproof  and sturdy bag. The Berkeley-native usually a one-woman show, creating, on average, 100-200 items each month in her North Oakland studio. 

Jenny's folders

And it's other artists who love to buy her bags. She's noticed that most of the buyers are women. Her clientele "seems to divide equally between the green crowd and the bag fetish crowd," she says. Her products are relatively affordable, costing anywhere between $10 and $65 per piece. 

Hurth is a finalist at the Oakland Indie Awards in the Greenie category. She says she's thrilled that people notice her work. For more information, take a peek at www.jennyhurth.com.

The Oakland Indie awards will take place on May 2 at the Historic Sweets Ballroom. The event, which begins at 5.30 pm will feature Oakland food, drinks and an awards party. Tickets cost $20 and are available here.

We had just lost our cable. Not for any other reason than it was too expensive and we were saving pennies. So, my boyfriend and I were looking for new options to how to spend an evening. I, a fan of good ol’ times like Monopoly and Life, thought to meander in a Dr. Comics & Mr. Games store on Piedmont Avenue before a movie. And discovered many things to do every evening.

Chris Frater, Zen Master of Board games – and a really nice guy -- helped us pick one out. It was pricey, but he said that it was a classic that would be quite a hoot after we got the hang of it. He even gave us his card with his number, and said if we ever needed help figuring it out, to give him a call. I thought that was mighty nice, and when I ripped off the thin plastic cover and read the instructions, I was tempted to make that call. But ultimately, it seemed a little silly, and I didn’t.

So, both Lee and I began making do with our own sense of things. We thought a board game would be child’s play. After all, I had a BA in Journalism, and he had an MA in Women's Studies, both from San Francisco State University. We followed our way down the rules to set the game up. On our kitchen table, we stacked the tiles side down, and each of us picked wooden men in our favorite color.

I read out loud, as I picked up one green wooden piece and held it between my fingers, “The southern French city of Carcassonne is famous for its unique Roman and Medieval fortifications. The players develop the area around Carcassonne and deploy their followers on the roads, in the cities, in the cloisters, and in the field. The skills of the players… (blah blah blah) will determine who is victorious.”

We sure did lay titles and deploy our players, but did we know what we were doing? Ask a couple of fools, and they would shake their heads and walk the other way. We needed someone to show us how to play Carcassonne, but none of my friends had ever heard of this game. They’re club jumpers, not people who enjoy a quiet game around the table.

However, I got lucky. I was walking in Old Oakland just sniffing stuff out when I stumbled upon another game stop -- EndGame, a store at the corner of 10th and Washington that invites people in to play and learn. Lee and I decided to walk into the lion’s den and take a shot with the experts. I’m talking about walking into a room of nerds, and being made to feel like a snot-nosed loser who’d just peed in her pants in the homeroom. Now, I would be the first to say that we stuck out like a couple of sore thumbs at EndGame’s board game night the following Wednesday. It didn’t help that we brought our tired old 2001 Germany’s game of the year, Carcassonne.


The aisles at EndGame

Don’t get me wrong; I am not using “nerd” negatively. All the 30-years-old-and-above men, who probably frequent EndGame every week, seemed like a good bunch, but society would no doubt label them “nerds” because of the activities they’ve chosen to pursue.  

The first time we showed up, we made our way to a corner table – we didn’t want to stir the bowl. If we were not invited to a game, I was sure I didn’t want to interrupt. I understood I needed to show my face a few more times before I was asked in. So, we haphazardly played a game like we had done before, and found our way out around 9 pm. While heading down the stairs, we were bid a good night and someone said we should come back.

Oh, but the second time, things happened, fingers were snapped, we were sure playin’. Right when we walked up those metal stairs, two guys, Greg DeBeer and Brad Goodson, who were waiting for more players to join them, greeted us and waved us over. Of course, I didn’t know their names until after we shook hands, but I was excited to be where the action was.

Both looked like they were in their mid or early 30s. They were brown haired normal looking boys, if you define normal as wearing modest clothes and having unassuming features. I noticed Brad had freckles – I always notice freckles as I share the same feature of scattered skin pigment. We sat around a brown folding table, below which lay two bags flooding over with different board games. Back at home, Greg told us he has three bookshelves filled with games—and a couple of books.

I asked them if we could play our Carcassonne. Greg knew how to play the game, but Brad didn’t, so Lee and I didn’t feel too much like boobs. A gentleman from Ireland joined us. He, too, was seasoned at the game. Greg took the reins and began describing what each piece is for, how the game is played, and the most important, how - and how many -- points you gather.

Greg was like Renoir. It is quite an art form to be able to relay instructions about a board game in a clean, concise manner, a manner so good that even a little five-year-old boy with attention deficit disorder could understand him. It didn’t take long until we were getting to the strategy aspect of the game, which is what makes cardboard tiles and little painted wooden pieces fun in the first place.

Game Board Terminology: Mepol -- a wooden cut out, shaped like a person.

I would frequently bounce my eyes and ears around the room to listen to the other tables taunt or laugh. But I had to try to stay focused on a plastic structure that was used to toss dice. Greg leaned over and told me that it's called either a dice boot or dice tower to assure total accuracy. I know… a little excessive, but whatever floats their boat.

We got to know Greg and Brad better through the evening. Greg is a voice over manager for Sony with a horrible commute. Brad is a high school math teacher, but is taking the year off to play Texas Hold 'Em in Las Vegas. And wouldn’t you know, Lee and I came up on the tail end in the first game—talk about the figures adding up.

A wise man once said you can tell a man’s real character in how he treats his fake money. Take me, for example. In front of strangers at work, I am very respectable and sweet. I don’t go tossing money (the titles or chips) down if I am upset or excited. With friends, it's a different story. Brad was boisterous and more vocal with plays than Greg, who was subdued -- and the first to help someone confused. But both were fun while they jested as though they were college roommates.

Game board Terminology: www.boardgamegeek.com- the ultimate resource guide for games and instructions, rules, and events in the game board community. -- Tip from Brad

After we left, Lee and I decided to hit the pub across the street for a pint. We both agreed that we should go back the following week. I took a sip from my beer, looked over, and asked if he wanted to play another game of Carcassonne.

He grinned and said, “I think I can get used to this whole not having cable thing.”

EndGame board game nights
Each Wednesday, 6 pm to 11 pm

Some Oaklanders might remember holiday shopping in downtown Oakland as a blur of posh department stores. No more. Today, many consider the area completely bereft of retailing. Even those who know otherwise are often daunted by the thought of going to the various boutiques scattered over several districts.

But with last-minute shopping upon us, there are few places more convenient  for Oaklanders than downtown. NovoMetro offers a baker’s dozen of gifts, all available in the historic city center.

Clear plastic laser-cut earrings, $30, Drift Denim, 815B Washington St. (now closed)
Molly M’s architectural earrings are exciting and high-concept, but wearable.

mollymdesigns.com/wheretobuy/

Duck mousse pate with port wine, $6.40, G.B. Ratto’s, 821 Washington St.

A Taste for Wine and Murder dinner party game, $20, Endgame, 921 Washington St.
Six to eight people can play characters and solve a mystery, set in the wine country. Includes recipes!

Fingerless unisex knit gloves, $2.50, Shoe House, 388 9th St #103
A hip and handy cold-weather present for the smoker in your life.

Oakland’s Chinatown photo history, $20, DeLauer’s Super Newsstand, 1310 Broadway
One of a series of books, Images of America, documenting our nation through photography.

iTunes gift card, $15, Radio Shack, 501 14th St (in City Center)

“I Hella Heart Oakland” T-shirt, $20, CLEAN Skate & Apparel, 1432 Franklin St
These in-demand tees are trademarked, so you’ll never see I Hella Heart SF on your West Bay friends.

Organizer magnets, $8.50, EntreZ Open House, 1645 Telegraph

Rhinestone dominoes, from $30. A Diva’s Closet, 383 17th St.
This top seller is “the girly way to play,” with colored stones in place of the usual black dots, packaged in an attractive box.

Made-to-order leather handbag, $65 - $185, Rags Like Riches, 376 17th St.

Black leather stiletto boots, $130, Miracles Too, 316 17th St.
Boots are a must-have this winter, paired with jeans or a pencil skirt.

Kangol ladies’ trilby, $55, The Hat Guys, 1764 Broadway
This stylish yet retro chapeau works with almost any woman’s club-hopping outfit.

Denim fishtail skirt, $88, Spoiled, 2001 Broadway
Earlier this season, Spoiled had a waiting list for this sophisticated but streetwise style.