Berkeley Rose Garden

Thursday early afternoon, I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather to explore the hidden places I never bothered with when we lived in Berkeley before.. I had come across "Live Oak Park" when walking off brunch a month or so back, and of course I missed a turn somewhere and never found it. Instead, I hike up to the Berkeley Rose Garden, which I hadn't visited in forever... not since we lived here before.



Ideally I wanted to get some practice in with the camera.. The Spouse got a new Nikon sometime last year, and I've not used it all that much, since the iPhone seems to be a bit more flexible when it comes to carrying in my pocket, and as you can see, I was able to take a photo of the lovely Bay View:



I didn't pack the larger lens, so the Nikon was pretty much useless for anything like that. I deleted many of my images because I was trying to take a view from the road or the flash was just too much for the macro I was trying to get of the flowers. I'm still not happy with the flower images... and I can't say I'm pleased with how I did on much of anything. The moss covered steps were the most amazing green.. and the fact that not many flowers were in bloom didn't matter.. there were so many layers of green!






this last one is my favorite..

I did attempt to shoot a few roses and you can see the rest of the images HERE

I probably will go back at some point to give it another go, but I've still got other footpaths and green spaces I want to explore. I'm still trying to decide if I have time to take a photography class this summer session or I should just hold out til the Fall for the classes I actually need. I like using the old Nikon but that one isn't working anymore so I'm stuck learning all these new features on the new camera, or my iPhone. Not a big deal, just may take a little time.

Of homes and blogs.. and Berkeley.

We've been officially house hunting since late January. We were looking in Emeryville (there's no homes for sale in Emeryville for our price range), all over Oakland, Albany, El Cerrito, Richmond Annex, and Berkeley. We came close to finding a place on San Pablo a couple times (in North Oakland and Albany respectively), as well a lovely condo in Temescal. We even saw a most amazing craftsman beyond Eastmont (that's in Oakland) with original 'keyhole' archways and built-ins that I fell in love with, but the neighborhood and commute was something I'd rather not think about.. but my mind always turns to Berkeley.

When we originally lived in Berkeley I used to imagine my happiness as a "big" house in North Berkeley, with a well-worn & loved porch to read the paper on Sundays, drinking coffee and nibbling a day old bagel from Saul's, relaxing with my shoes off (because that's what I do) and hearing the birds singing in the trees and the occasional car driving up the street. Then we moved to SoCal and while I absolutely LOVED living in the Historic Core (4th & Main DTLA) and everything that I had there, it wasn't Berkeley.

I can't tell you what I love about Berkeley. I can tell you what I tried to verbalize with my brother-in-law once a few years ago before we came back home, but even then I couldn't say what it was I loved about Berkeley. It was a feeling. A sense of being..

When I got off work I would stand outside on Shattuck and I feel the fog misting through the air. It wasn't Ketchikan rain, it was like someone was spraying your face from 10 miles away with some sort of Evian mist.. It was cool and clean and fresh.. and the wind would come up and blow the hair from your face. When the sun shone, it glittered like firelight off the buildings and glass. When the leaves fell, it was like Autumn in Indiana.. one of the few things I miss about living in Indiana. The sidewalks outside our apartment on Grant would be scattered with pine needles and and leaves and the crunch of Fall. I lived in my sandals. If I wore shoes at all it would be my worn out (hole worn in the soles) docksiders. Sweaters. You have to love a place where you can wear sweaters in the summer. I love sweaters.. It's like you're wearing a hug all day. I guess that's what I feel about Berkeley.. and still do. Some un-imaginable happiness is wrapping itself around my heart, it greets me when I step closer to downtown, and stays with me, like a fading light as I make my way back to Oakland.

Don't get me wrong, there are things I love about Oakland.. I love my local cafe and the galleries and the love and heart that my neighbors are putting into their community. I love that I am close to so many good things, despite not being so close to school and things and people I care about. I like that our loft is huge and airy and full of history despite a general lack of appreciation of old buildings here in Emeryville. I love many of my great neighbors who embody the sorts of things that I appreciated and miss so much from my time living in Downtown L.A. The connections and the support I had in LA are so missed here, so when we were able to find a place with history and community of people that look out for each other.. Not the same as Old Bank District at all, but close.. and very OK!

Finding a place in Berkeley should have been impossible, as we'd sized ourselves out of our price-point, (our place at OBD was 1400sq ft. and our current place is about 1200sq.) We even considered finding a small place to rent for a year while we scrounged up enough extra for a down-payment on a place that was be-fitting our size issue.. but after looking at a few apartments and realizing we'd still have to down-size, (and store all our excess furniture) I actually looked at what was out there that was under our size minimum, and managed to find a few places to check out!

As of right now, we do have a place. It'll be a long wait (for me) before we move into it, but when it happens I imagine all sorts of new experiences and new adventures will be awaiting me.. and I imagine I won't be blogging all that much about Emeryville, (if I did all that much anyway). I don't expect it would be all about Berkeley though either.. although the focus would change, of course.

As every time we move, I need to come up with a new name for this blog. I hate that the default url is my name.. but this is my main blog. One day we will no longer be on "the edge of E*ville"and instead will be living within proper distance of the city limits of a place I love very much, and the reason my heart was aching to return back to the Bay Area. I don't know what I should call this blog at that point... "Meeko on Main" worked when I was in the OBD, but I won't be moving to any Main Street... and "Meeko's Crumbs"(ramblings and meanderings) worked when we lived in Anaheim and South Park area of DTLA because I was constantly walking and meandering all over DTLA.. and finding my blogging feet.

School and things have kept me busy all this semester and I don't expect things will slow down all that much especially as I'm trying to find a niche regarding my love of history,community, architecture, books, writing, food, and a tad of photography. Unlike DTLA, I haven't found the magical blogging fairy that compelled me to attend a blogger meetup at an online friend's 100th Rate-A-Restaurant.. the day I decided I thought blogging was the neatest freaking idea ever.

I sometimes wonder (and think) that blogging is over, as is newsprint, then I see that other people are doing it still, and doing it well. Magic doesn't happen in the same ways every time, so I leave myself open to possibilities and the positive, good-natured beauty that is out there in the universe. I will be changing the name of the blog eventually.. to what, I don't know, and how often I'll post.. I don't know.. or what I'll write about, again, I don't know.. but if you're adventurous.. it could be anything. or nothing at all. Hopefully it won't really be about me, though. These personal posts are draining..

..And, I have a paper due tomorrow so I need to clear my head and focus. Oh, it's written.. it's just got too much of me in it. ;)

What We Leave Behind

I had an overly emotional moment in an independant bookstore last evening when I found another copy of a certain history book for sale signed in a personal way to the author's uncle dated 1982; I mean WtF people? Don't you have any respect for your own friends/ family?

I know it's just a book, but books have life in them by those that wrote them and those that loved them. There's a reason I call something a 'keeper': the item is worth keeping and cherishing. Certainly not all books are keepers to all people, but there are some, that depending on the person, they hold and cherish and love and read and their finger smudges and dna get all over them and in them (and yes,that sounds gross) but it is so with any object. You are infusing your possession with your energy and emotions, (or cigarette smoke at the least!)

Getting back to this, I couldn't breathe. I immediately thought again of an incident my dearest friend had when he discovered his nephew had sold off some valuable things my friend had given his sister over the years; signed books and art.. whatnot.. why had the nephew not given these items back to his uncle when his mother had passed on?? I don't have an answer for it and I will never know.. except that it hurt my friend very much.

I had just come from another store where I'd found a couple French translations (one my Honorary Uncle had done) and it had made me happy in a bittersweet way, knowing he was still alive through print and relevant.. "When you write you live forever and" what was I babbling this morning? .."your soul is bound through your words", and the works you leave behind as well, I would think.

It was all I could do to just leave the shop and keep from crying in public. I really hate that sort of thing, but I ended up walking down Bancroft, hands in my pocket with my face continually leaking.. I went to the Central Library at that point thinking I might have some sort of luck finding the book I was actually after (nope!) The library actually calmed and centered me so that was something. Maybe Ray Bradbury was right about surrounding yourself with books, sniffing the pages and climbing the stacks, (which I did not do!) I left still unhappy but at least not threatening to leak out my eyes anymore, instead I think I was sadly annoyed. What is that? frustrated? I'm sure there's a better word.

It's had me thinking about what we leave behind. I know most things aren't important. Your clothes, your shoes, most of your things.. everything is replaceable. The 5 or 10 items that are YOU or that you hold dear, however are not and go with you regardless of where you end up, and when you can no longer move on.. those are the things you don't want to end up in some used bookstore or auction or whatever. Give them to someone trusted, that will cherish the item too, and not see it as so much waste. Have some respect for people's things. Don't hold on to what isn't yours, but certainly don't just give it to the next person along the way. Find a home for it.

City Storage Emeryville

Things keeping me busy the past month or so, so I haven't been out and about, but out of town. Today upon returning from a quick venture out in the world for lunch, I got a closer look at the deconstruction of the former "National Upholstering Company" building at 40th and Adeline. I'm not overly familiar with Emeryville and admit to not knowing how the mostly abandoned warehouse-like structure was originally used. The spouse and I had guessed it was a bakery warehouse, but honestly had no clue. I liked it though, despite the over-grown ivy and occasional homeless camp that sprouted up in warmer weather. I had hoped something more would become of the place, but I perhaps selfishly hoped it would be more housing.. not storage.

Storage is what it will be! It seems City Storage, a company with locations in San Francisco had purchased the location a couple years ago and finally got through all the hoops of conditional use and planning approvals. We first noticed demolition of the interior this last Saturday, though it could have been earlier.. (as mentioned, we've been out of town).





According to the August 2013 progress report from the City of Emeryville Building and Planning Newsletter dated 1 September, 2013:

"City Storage: This proposal involves the conversion of an existing 32,291 square foot brick 
building at the northeast corner of 40th and Adeline Streets to 57,600 square feet of self‐
storage. 

The applicant would retain the existing brick facades and locate all parking and storage 
units inside the building. The proposal includes a single residential unit for the on-site manager and a small retail space at the corner as accessory uses. 

A second story of storage units and extensive landscaping work along Adeline is proposed. 
The Planning Commission approved the project on October 27, 2011, and approved a one‐year extension on January 24, 2013." (page 7)


One might wonder if Emeryville really needs more storage,(there's at least two other companies: Public Storage on Christie and ExtraSpace on Hollis) but as a renter in the E*ville Triangle area, I can tell you storage is hard to come by and expensive. Many of the apartments and lofts being built up in our area are small and costly, and often lack the space to store anything as simple as a bicycle or other off-season gear and equipment. While we're lucky we have a large enough unit now, if we wanted to move, we'd have to find a place to store a good portion of our furniture. I'm not sure where we'd keep our bikes, as leaving them locked up outside in our fine community is asking for trouble and inviting theft. While we're on the 'Edge of E*ville' we're more accurately on the Edge of Oakland when it comes to crime.

Día de los Muertos E*Ville Style

The Day of the Dead, or "Dia De Los Muertos" is celebrated from Halloween through the 2nd of November.. the Day of the Dead. Like All Saints' Day is celebrated in New Orleans, (and other places), it is a day of remembrance of family and friends who have died.



While seemingly not as big a celebration as other cities, Emeryville has its own Day of the Dead celebrations represented. Local Bakery Arizmendi recently celebrated the day of the Dead several days early on October 27th with music, food, chalk art and dancing & prayers in and around the San Pablo Avenue Bakery.

Arizmendi is usually closed early on Mondays, so it seems it's also the best opportunity to have a celebration! Delicious (and free!) food was provided for all who came to take part in the festivities. There was live Music and dancing, sidewalk chalk art and sugar skull decorating for the kids.. and the food.. The food was amazing..





These lovely ladies provided some of the live music during the celebrations..


Besides the vegetarian tamales (which I almost forgot to take a photo of my plate before devouring my tamale!) they also had: vegan or cheese tamales, mixed green salad, refried beans, rice and sweet roll pieces for dessert. Water and just the right amount of horchata was available too! (I love horchata! So it's a good thing they kept me from the supplies).


Sugar Skull decorating..


and did I mention the dancing??








Arizmendi Bakery and Pizzeria
4301 San Pablo Ave,
Emeryville, CA 94608

Temescal Alley

Seen waiting outside the Temescal Alley Barber Shop

Brunch at Doyle Street

Not just food.. but home.. and happiness! =)


Sunday was our errand day.. What usually happens, we rent a GetAround (peer-to-peer car-sharing) for a few hours and get all our trips done in one day.. Unfortunately GetAround did not come through for us again (either the cars weren't available from the owners or people just didn't respond in the 12 hour request window), so we went with Zipcar.. What this meant was we could still get a carshare vehicle (from a company rather than a person) and we could decide where we wanted to get it.. Anyways.. The plan was to have brunch and then rent a Zipcar for our errands.. Which meant.. Doyle Street Cafe!

I can't recall the last time we had breakfast-y/ brunch at Doyle Street.. which is (as I've said several times) one of my most favorite places to have breakfast or brunch.. I love eating there.. The Joe's Special.. the Chorizo Scramble..(oh scratch that, that one's not on the menu anymore!) the Buckwheat Pancakes.. Seriously, I've always been happy with what I order, regardless..

I was craving their egg white scramble, which they don't have on the menu.. However, a nice lady had told me (I wish I remembered her name.. blonde server..) had told me on a trip after they updated their menu, that I could still get egg whites as an option with a number of their menu items.. So last time I was there I had the Florentine Omelet with egg whites.. and this time.. I had the Eggs Milan Scramble:


It was all veggies with a nice Pesto flavor that didn't need to be covered in hot sauce or anything else..

The spouse ordered Homefries Heaven (with a side order of corn bread of course!).. I was surprised he ordered this, since I knew his favorite was the Homefries Heaven at our OTHER favorite place.. Homemade Cafe (Doyle Street, Homemade, and Rudy's.. the triumvirate of breakfast goodness!) One of the things he's not crazy about is that the avocado is sliced rather than part of a guacamole... but we forget this as his plate is set in front of him..


Wait.. the Doyle Street HomeFries Heaven comes with scrambled eggs on top??? Seriously! When did that happen??

Well, I didn't take a photo but we both cleaned our plates, leaving behind the little packets of jam unopened.. one doesn't need jam on that amazingly yummy cornbread. No matter what I get at Doyle Street, I have to have the corn bread.. unless they're out.. then I'm sad. =(

Service was still good (We sat in the back section which always makes me worry we'll be forgotten) and I had nothing to worry about.. The folks at Doyle Street are super friendly, pretty consistent in service, even when they are crazy busy.. you won't be forgotten for too long.. Our server was working tables in the front and back and still managed to refill our coffee.. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's been an issue at other places. The other thing I like is that staff doesn't seem to turn over so much like it does other places.. I still get happy when I see the same guy pouring my water or the same host or hostess seat us or serve our food. It's probably the key reason that we kept coming back to have brunch there when we were living in SoCal for the eight years we were gone.. The manager then (I wish I knew what happened to him! Maybe he retired?) always remembered us, no matter how long we'd been away.. He asked "Still in LA??" and we'd sadly reply "Yes.." but he was always positive, give us a reassuring comment that we'd make it back home one day.. and at least we got to back now and again. I wish I could tell him he was right..

Spur Alley

Bike Lane!

Green stripe up 40th toward MacArthur BART.

Expectations of Security

The spouse and I lived several years in Downtown LA. It's not the safest place, and we lived "Skid Row Adjacent" for most of the years we were there. When I was out and about doing the blogging thing I walked through several areas that you'd think wouldn't be safe at night. I was very lucky maybe or despite the perceived lack of safety. I was OK. I hardly ever worried about things happening to me. I was aware of my surroundings.

Inside our own building I didn't have to worry about the drug dealers or getting robbed or anything. We were high up (5th and 6th floors respectively) We lived in "secured buildings" (number code to get in) in the Old Bank District right on Main Street. Not a fancy place at all,(no amenities), rather a friendly but sketchy area of DTLA: very "Mayberry" -like, if Mayberry had homeless people, pan-handlers, and drug-dealers. Tom Gilmore, the owner/developer does have paid security outside the main building (where Pete's Cafe and Bar is located) but that's about it. LAPD is your friend otherwise (and they are in my experience anyway). Moving on..

We live in Emeryville now, literally on the Oakland/ Emeryville border ("On the edge of E-Ville" right?!) where all kinds of crazy stuff is going down literally a couple blocks away from us. The Oakland border as I may have mentioned, passes through our next door neighbors apartment despite our street address being Emeryville. I guess crime doesn't pay attention to street addresses..

We just found out my super nice neighbor a couple doors down from us got a gun pointed at her head in a very bold attempted armed robbery late last night through her barred window! She's got 2 big dogs (one of them a scary looking to strangers doberman) I don't know what the heck is wrong with people!!? Does no one have any boundaries?? A few of my neighbors have decorative bars on their small windows and she says it was this and her doberman that kept them at bay enough for her to get down and call the cops. E-ville cops rock! She says they responded pretty quick. I'm so grateful and glad she's OK! It could have ended very very badly.

This getting mugged from WITHIN YOUR OWN SPACE is BS! As renters you should have reasonable expectations of safety within your own place. I guess I should be glad our cats are frightened of the fireworks last night as we closed and locked our windows by 8PM or so.. Went to bed by Midnight & the fireworks (illegal ones of course) were still going off. We live very close to Market St. (we're incredibly close to the Oakland border) which is a hotzone of muggings and armed robberies. The 4th of July is usually a time of hooligans to be out and about setting off M-80s and possible car break-ins.. It seems like it's escalating and our area (and my neighbors!) of E-ville is suffering for it.

I can't help but wonder stupid things like "If only they hadn't taken out most of the ground cover between our windows and the sidewalk?" or maybe our area of the street needs better lighting?? I don't know if anything would have discouraged these jerks from trying something as crazy as pointing a gun through my neighbor's window... but having our lush landscaping ripped out and left bare doesn't help.

I think "reasonable expectation of safety" should include NOT having some jerk point a gun at you through your window demanding your laptop. We live in a low-key but fairly nice place and pay decent rent... Like where we lived in LA, it's not a fancy building, we don't have crazy amenities and we don't have alarm systems and MOST of us don't have bars on our windows (but that doesn't seem to help much in this case) I really don't know what one or anyone can do if bars and scary barking dogs don't keep people from attempting to kill you over your things. There should be something.. You should be safe within your own space!

It's so frustrating! I've lived many years in New Orleans.. where I can't imagine the crooks ever trying anything like that.. maybe they do these days? In DTLA it seemed like things happened to people who 'asked for it' IE: not paying attention to their surroundings, flashing money or expensive accessories (ipod/cellphone theft is pretty high).. stuff like that. A guy gets stabbed in DTLA it's because he was in the middle of a drug deal that went sideways. I'm not saying crime doesn't happen to people that are aware and doing the right thing.. but it seems like it's less likely.. and the veil of security and sanctity of home is mostly intact.

Here things happen to folks outside.. down by the bus stops on Market or more recently out on the sidewalk in front of our neighboring buildings. Here we have people trying to live and be aware despite what is going on within a block or so of their home, still being victims of crime. Sanctity of home? Expectations of Security?? I'm just not sure, but something needs to change.

Arbor Cafe

Sometimes all you need is a sandwich and some good coffee! We finally got around to trying Arbor after returning our GetAround car mid-day... We didn't need a lot..


Pretty good Turkey & Brie sandwich.. was big enough to split!


The "personal" French Press is big enough to share with a friend as well.. enough for about 3 cups of coffee we were told.. Sounds about right!


Arbor isn't on our usual walking route.. We were pleasantly surprised to see how much it resembled one of our favorite places, (Actual Cafe on San Pablo: both Actual and Arbor are bike friendly and offer good & casual food and good coffee). You can read more about bike friendly East Bay from an article from last year in the East Bay Express:
A Bike Rack on Every Corner

Arbor Cafe is located at 4210 Telegraph Avenue.. They have a facebook page and you can read reviews on Yelp if you want to hear more from other people.