Ginny Prior

MONTCLARION: October 7, 2011 Like the Kennedy assassination and 9/11, most of us remember where we were when the Oakland hills fire broke out. I was in Minneapolis covering the World Series, and watched reports of the blaze on a lone TV in the pressroom. I remember Oakland A’s Manager Tony LaRussa saying he might [...]

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OAKLAND TRIBUNE: September 29, 2011 Three smartly dressed women stroll through the handsome brick dining room past the warm wood bar, smiling as they say “arrivederci” to a gentleman nearby. “Arrivederci” the dapper man answers, letting the r-r-r-r roll off his tongue in a rich, Italian accent that can only belong to a native speaker. [...]

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HILLS NEWSPAPERS: September 3, 2011 Happy hours I have known …. Someday I’ll write a book about this spectacle we call happy hour. Did it really start in the 1920s as a way for ship-bound sailors to relieve stress? Did it explode onto the civilian scene in the decadent ’60s, as Wikipedia says? Whatever the [...]

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MONTCLARION: September 2, 2011 It’s block-party season, and nothing brings folks together like the tangy aroma of barbecued chicken and ribs. It certainly drew us in last weekend, when we saw the party outside the little grouping of businesses on Thornhill Drive, across from the 7-Eleven. Thornhill Salon was celebrating its one-year anniversary, and new [...]

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MONTCLARION: August 18, 2011 In my parents’ town of Chanhassen, Minn., the heart of the community is the library. It’s well funded and beautifully decorated and serves as a great place to gather. Several years ago, the libraries in their county partnered with Target to offer free passes to dozens of museums in Minneapolis and [...]

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OAKLAND TRIBUNE: August 11, 2011 We’ve all heard the saying, you are what you eat. But how true is this philosophy, attributed to Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin? The man with the answer is Oakland culinary historian Andrew Sigal, who says. “I eat pork, you don’t. I don’t eat meat on Friday, you do. I eat insects, [...]

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MONTCLARION: August 11, 2011 The adage that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself certainly applies to fighting crime in Oakland. Citizens are banding together to keep a watch on their neighborhoods — to the point that they’re even paying extra for security patrols. Last week I wrote about Piedmont [...]

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MONTCLARION: July 29, 2011 For folks who’ve been following the changing restaurant scene in Montclair, it comes as no surprise that Toshi Sushi is for sale. After 23 years in the Village, the owners no doubt find there’s too much competition these days. Unless you’re living in Japantown, three Japanese restaurants in two blocks is [...]

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