everwas

a blog by Ian Kennedy

Tag: Alameda

  • Goodbye Alameda

    Goodbye Alameda

    Over the past month, I have been unwinding my life in the San Francisco Bay Area and getting ready to move the family (and dog) over to Helsinki, Finland where Nokia, my employer, is headquartered.

    For the past four and half years we have been living in Alameda, an island in the East Bay, about 20 minutes from San Francisco, over the Bay Bridge. We settled here because, Izumi, spotting Alameda on a map noted it’s location in the middle of the Bay, making it most convenient to most locations.

    It took two months of intense house hunting (remember, this was 2004, the peak of the housing bubble) but we finally found a place that we could call home. We lucked out and were fortunate to find a neighborhood that we loved on a block surrounded by families with children that really bonded with our kids and grew up together over the years.

    Tyler started in kindergarden when we moved in and just finished forth grade, Julia’s  finished first grade. Edison School, where we walked our kids to school each day, is the only school that our kids really know. It’s been tough for them to imagine what their life will be like in Finland so it’s been hard for them to leave.

    Izumi too has made many friends here and as we walk the island people often wave or honk their horn, it’s that kind of place. Because English is not Izumi’s native language and she didn’t grow up here, she sometimes misses some of the cultural references people make in casual conversation but the community embraced her and Izumi really came to feel like one of the community. It’s been rough for her to uproot herself and get ready for our move and the past few days have seen a lot of teary goodbyes.

    It’s sad to leave but it also represents a new beginning, a fork in the road. We’ve had the good fortune to live in Tokyo, Princeton, and Alameda. Now we have a chance to live in Helsinki, in a semi-socialist country with a totally different climate – a place where we’ll live with a built-in sauna, the schools and hospitals are excellent, and when we arrive it will be light out until 10pm. We been given the choice to live day-to-day in Europe and add that to our life experiences. What we do with this experience and what we make of it is up to us.

    We’re leaving Alameda today but are making plans for a reunion in Europe next Summer and hope to make it back for a visit the Christmas after next. Thank you Alameda for taking us in and keep in touch!

  • Alameda Family Kicks the Fossil Fuel Habit

    Congratulations to my neighbor Eve Pearlman who is challenging herself to life without an automobile. Eve sends her kids to the same school as ours and I’ve ridden with her husband a few times on the morning commute (I ride a bike to the local BART station now). I have a pretty good sense of what they are going through living in Alameda, our leafy suburban island off the San Francisco bay, without a car and it’s not easy.

    The high cost of gasoline (around $4/gallon here) has changed many people’s driving habits. The speed limit on ever street on the island is 25 MPH which makes it ideal for people that want to limit their driving to these small electric golf carts which I see more and more around town. It’s also almost completely flat so it’s also great for those that want to get around on bike.

    But with kids in the leafy ‘burbbs has to be a challenge. We all spend time shuttling the little ‘uns back and forth to school, soccer and swimming and I know it’d be tough for me because my son has practice on the other side of the island, a good 4 miles away. Put in a daily grocery run (because you can’t carry a week’s worth on your bike) and you’re going to be doing a lot of riding around.

    Not that it can’t be done – I lived in San Francisco and Tokyo and didn’t buy my first car until I was 30. I salute the Pearlman’s and hope she can set an example for us all!

  • ULTRA, the Personal Rapid Transit vehicle

    Alameda, the island I live on, is cut off from easy access to the local rapid transit system. Residents need to cross one of three bridges or a tunnel to make it to a BART station. Some people (including yours truly) ride a bicycle to the train station where they have a place to park your bike for the day. For those that drive to the station, by the time they take the trouble to get into their car, they figure they might as well drive the whole way – clogging the roads and using up gasoline.

    One idea being passed around is the ULTRA, a small, 4-person transporter that is something between a tram and a Zip Car. Grab one of these that run on fixed rails around town and are parked at stations along the track. Punch in your destination and you’re on your way. The idea is that a network of these ULTRAs could shuttle people to the nearest train station and cut down the need to wait for a bus or drive your car.

  • Alameda Theatre Restored to Art Deco Grandeur

    Alameda Theatre Restored to Art Deco Grandeur

    When I moved to Alameda four years ago I was struck by the beauty of the local movie palace. It was clearly from a different time, built before VCRs and DVDs, when going to the movies was a social activity, an occasion which you would dress up, put on something special.

    Since closing its doors in 1979, the Alameda Theatre has been a roller skating rink, a disco, and most recently, a gymnastics studio. There was quite a bit of debate over how to revive the building which had, over the years, become infested with rats, water damage, and an alarming amount of pigeon shit.

    The original Alameda Theatre was designed by the same person that designed the Castro in SF and built around the same time.

    Alameda is an anomaly in the Bay Area, debates rage over improvements. There is a decades old measure in place that prevents any multi-story condos or apartment buildings and the debate over how to sustainably develop the long-abandoned naval base on the West End of the island is regularly featured in the opinion pages of the local papers (we have two). The final agreement with the developer of the theatre included construction of a 300+ car garage and several mini-screens in a newly constructed addition. The thinking was that a single screen would never be able to draw the audience necessary to make the $9 million investment pay off. Debates raged with the traditionalists opposed to what they called “cineplex” – eventually the developer won over the city council and development went forward.

    Unfortunately, one casualty of this theatre has been that our local pocket theater which I’ve written about before. Apparently there’s a strange arrangement that’s been made between the Alameda Theatre and the big studios that only allows first run films within a certain geographic radius. This little theater, with donated couches for seating, was within that area so they could no longer feature the films that they felt brought people to their doors. Several people suggested that they could feature “art house” films but the owner confessed that artsy types don’t really go for the soda & popcorn which made up his margins. Izumi had the idea that he could still stay in business if he ran classic kids films (the Disney classics, Little Rascals, Lassie, etc) but the decision has been made and he’s showing his last filming today. In my mind it’s unfortunate but the additional exposure for Alameda via the refurbished Alameda Theatre and the new business (and tax revenues) it’ll generate is worth this small sacrifice.

    On opening weekend, the renovated Alameda Theatre opened it’s doors to the community with free screenings of classic movies from the theatre’s golden age. I caught the Wizard of Oz with the family which was a real treat to see on the big screen. It was easy to imagine how incredible it must have been, at the height of the Depression, for folks to come into what can only be described as a movie palace and see color moving images for the first time. Experiencing the film in the theatre, Oz’s themes of faithfully following the yellow brick road but that no wizard can grant you what you need, you ultimately need to find it in yourself rang true in context like they never did before.

    After the film, we joined all the townspeople and toured this new structure and could not believe that such a small town as ours could play host to such an amazing piece of architecture. It was as if Radio City Music hall opened up on Main Street. Kids were riding up and down the escalators as if they’d never seen one before. Everyone was smiles.

    Lobby

    So far so good, everyone in town I’ve spoken to has seen several films since opening and we all just went to see the new Pixar movie, Wall-E and when the previews started to roll, people in the crowd yelled out “Focus!” and there was a brief intermission as they threaded the second reel halfway through. One of our neighbors across the street serves popcorn. They’re still working out the kinks but I kind of like it. The theatre has a real community feel despite its grandeur.

    New businesses are opening on either side of the theatre (a wine bar and a gourmet hamburger place) and, from what I hear, business is up and the line at the local ice cream shop is always long. I was skeptical that this project would ever get off the ground but, now that it’s open, I’m glad and hope it leads to a revival of Alameda’s Park Street district.

    Other Coverage

  • Small Town Messages

    You know you live in a small town when the local PTA message board posts the following:

    We lost one of our black silkie chickens near Santa Clara and Court. If you see a small black chicken roaming around please call us.

    We miss her.  She is a pet, not dinner.

  • Our Local Pocket Cinema

    Nice write-up in the San Francisco Chronicle of our local, 49-seat movie theater in Alameda. It’s a one-man operation with the same guy who takes your tickets and serving you popcorn also running the projector. With old couches and laz-y-boy chairs to sit on, it’s more reminiscent of Cinema Paradiso than your standard Lowes megaplex.

    Our competition here is not that megaplex opening downtown,” Haskett says. “Our competition is Blockbuster. Our competition is Netflix. Our competition is iTunes. I’ve got a big screen and a venue that you don’t have at your house. But you’ve got your sofa and you’ve got your TiVo. That’s where the competition lies.

  • Hecka nice

    “He’s an extraordinary player who makes every team a lot better. This guy is hecka nice. . .”

    High school coach for Jimmy Rollins who has just been named Baseball’s National League’s Most Valuable Player. Jimmy Rollins is from Alameda, CA where I live. Encinal High School, where Jimmy played, is in Alameda. We’re all really proud and every time the Phillys come to town to play the Oakland A’s at the coliseum, the stands are packed mostly to see Jimmy play.

    What really cracked me up about this article in the local paper where I saw this quote is the phrase “hecka” which is a uniquely Bay Area term. My kids have started to use it now so I guess we’re settling in.

  • Fore!

    I’m not much of a golfer. I never did understand the attraction of hitting a little white ball around and then, as is usually my case, looking for it in the bushes. I never gave the sport a chance when I was young and had a chance to get into it. I guess patience comes with age and I’m now beginning to appreciate what people see in the sport. The singular focus, you and the terrain, and the satisfaction when you do make good contact, that ping of the club against that little white ball.

    There’s a public golf course about a half mile from our house and on Saturday my neighbor was taking his boys over to whack a bucket of balls at the range. Tyler and I tagged along (99 balls cost you $8) and Izumi let me borrow her clubs (she’s got a cute, pink driver that’s
    real fun to use). It was Tyler’s first time at a range and he did pretty well. He did lament that there were, “no windmills” like the mini-golf place down on the Santa Cruz boardwalk but, nonetheless, he enjoyed himself.

    I also go a few good shots out there and, after hearing a round of 18 holes is only $25 for Alameda residents, think I may try to get myself out there one of these days. They give free lessons to kids on the weekends and it looked like Tyler had a thing for this club and ball thing so maybe we’ll get him out there as well!

  • 500 pieces of candy in 90 minutes

    500 pieces of candy in 90 minutes

    All the kids in Alameda have the day off from school on Halloween which just makes the waiting worse. Tyler woke up early, moaning that evening was hours away. It was 5:30am – I told him sleep makes time go by faster and convinced him to get back in his bed.

    I got back from work a little early, just in time to see things in full tilt. The kids were wild with anticipation and had already taken a few walks up and down the street to check out the various displays that our neighbors had put up. Our street is really popular with the trick-or-treaters so everyone was busy getting ready and by dusk we had all put on our costumes, filled our candy bowls, and were ready for the onslaught like soldiers peering over the battlements – the calm before the storm.

    By 6:15pm the street was heaving with all manner of goblins and ghouls. Lots of Spidermen and Things this year but my favorite was the one kid dressed up like Willy Wonka. After making her rounds, Julia came to help me hand out candy to the visitors which was a big help because sometimes we had 10 or 15 people holding out their bags at once. She got into it though and took time with each one (“Here you go Mr. Spiderman.”). Whenever someone with a particularly scary costume walked up, she would pull her princess hat down over her eyes and ask me to handle it.

    We were “sold out” by 7:30 and I turned the lights out and put a sign on the door. Another year done.