courtesy of Carmelita Mills
Oakland resident Lola Fitzgerald celebrates her 95th birthday at Fentons Creamery with her daughter, Carmelita Mills, left, and granddaughter, Melia Mills Claybrooks.

MONTCLARION: August 10, 2018

What will you do when you reach the ripe age of 95? Not one but two golden-oldie birthdays were celebrated recently at Fentons Creamery. Reader Trish Brennan says the birthday gals didn’t know each other until their parties were seated nearby. Continue reading →

Ginny Prior/for Bay Area News Group
J.B. Barton plays on a stage run by pedal power June 16 at this year’s Montclair Beer, Wine & Music Festival.

It’s been two years since folks first raised objections to the sale of the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club to a Spanish-immersion school. Now with the sale complete and renovations underway, neighbors will see, firsthand, if the school is a good fit for the already busy corner of Mountain and Thornhill. Continue reading →

Oakland’s Agave Uptown, 2135 Franklin St., is celebrating its first anniversary specializing in Oaxancan cuisine.

MONTCLARION: February 21, 2018

I saw the world through the eyes of a child this week, and it was pure joy. Four little girls, all dressed in pink, were dancing to the music of a farmer’s market busker. Continue reading →

The Copper Spoon’s bar area is seen from above. The new Oakland restaurant is on the site of the former Art’s Crab Shack, the iconic diner that served patrons for decades. – Courtesy Copper Spoon

MONTCLARION: January 18, 2017

The Bay Area burger wars have a hot new contender. It’s chef Andre Hall’s juicy lamb merguez burger with Tracey’s spice rub, Carmen’s kraut and Vita’s tzatziki on a brioche bun (yes, it’s a mouthful). Continue reading →

Bruce Paton, the “beer chef,” is the executive chef for Eve’s Waterfront, in the iconic, renovated site of the former Rusty Scupper in Oakland. (Courtesy of Eve’s Waterfront)

EASTBAYTIMES.COM: Dec 26, 2017

It’s time to say goodbye to 2017. Whether you see the champagne glass as half full or half empty, here are some fun places to toast the New Year:  Continue reading →

Amelia S. Marshall has just published “East Bay Hills:  A Brief History.” Marshall will be showing photos and telling stories from her book at Laurel Bookstore in downtown Oakland at 7 p.m. Nov,. 30 and at 7 p.m. Dec. 8 at A  Great Good Place for Books in Montclair Village.

MONTCLARION: November 17, 2017

It’s mid-November and fall is revealing its true colors. In my own garden, the Japanese maples are brilliant shades of amber and orange. The sweet gum and birch are delicious deciduous that pop yellows and reds through the filtered sunlight and even the East Bay Regional Park District gets into the act with Tilden, with its garden exotics like ginko biloba, and Redwood Regional Park, with its colorful non-native plants along the Stream Trail.  Continue reading →

Aerial view show the scope of devastation in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa, California, Wednesday, October 11, 2017. (Karl Mondon/ Bay Area News Group)

MONTCLARION: October 21,2017

The horrific Napa and Sonoma fires remind us of our own Oakland hills firestorm 26 years ago this month. And sadly, it seems little has changed when it comes to lessons learned from our own disaster. Parked cars still hug the shoulders of narrow, winding roads, compromising the 14 feet needed for emergency vehicle access. Continue reading →