WHAT DOES your town mean to you? Can it be just a soulless place to spend money? Or do you yearn for a village with sweet little shops that are the lifeblood of the merchants who run them. As Bob Dylan once wrote, “The Times, They Are A’ Changin.”

Small towns take on a different demeanor when chain stores move in. It may start with a video store, a company name that’s widely known. Then a big coffee shop moves in down the block, and a fast food chain. Pretty soon, your little town looks like a strip mall — a place where profit is king and nobody really knows your name.

Call me old fashioned, but I don’t want this to happen in Montclair.

There’s been talk that Cold Stone Creamery may move into the Village, where Travel Service Montclair was on La Salle.

The scoop from building owner Andy Namba (of the San Jose area) is that he’s been speaking with a wide variety of prospective tenants — including Cold Stone Creamery. But Namba has no written contract yet with anyone. “It’s way too early to speculate. No one business has been selected,” he shared.

For its part, Cold Stone Creamery spokeswoman Ann Christenson says the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based chain is looking to open an additional store in Oakland — but no lease has been signed for any site, including the one in Montclair.

Still, the buzz on the street is at fever pitch, and some merchants are worried.

Maurine Marie owns the Montclair Malt Shop. For eight years, she’s been carefully crafting the personality of her little ice cream parlor. She serves not just sweets, but nostalgic gifts like rubber chickens, Trolls and retro-style Pez candy dispensers.

Her shop is creative — and one of a kind. It’s the kind of shop that makes Montclair unique, and it’s been featured in TV and print, time and again. Cold Stone Creamery has stores nationwide. It’s trendy and hip — and the younger generation loves it.

The Malt Shop is a symbol of a more innocent time, and frankly, it’s an endangered species. And while I recognize that competition can be good for business, it can also be its demise. Do you see what I see? Do you care? Let me know how you feel.

Carpool sting

Just when you thought it was safe to pick up riders at the casual carpool area on Park Boulevard word comes that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department is slapping fines on motorists.

Rider Amy Graves says a car she got into recently was stopped by a deputy for blocking the bus lane. Rather than wait for the unlucky driver (who was getting a fat citation), Amy and her brother hooked up with me at the carpool stop on Park near Leimert. You can add “blocking bus zones” to your list of carpool no-no’s.

Tree takedown

If you like vistas, you’ll love what the East Bay Regional Park District has done to the corner of Shepherd Canyon Road and Skyline Drive. They’ve toppled a stand of scraggly Eucalyptus trees that were considered a fire hazard to the neighborhood, not to mention an obstruction to motorists at the junction of four ridge-line roads. The reviews are mixed. But as the stumps come out and the hillside gets green, folks are warming up to the idea.

Internet DJ

Oakland hills disc jockey “Audio Vidya” is on the air again. The former Live 105 personality has gone global with a radio station on the web called the Audiofile.

To hear it, follow the links from her Web site, www.audiovidya.com. She says she plays hits that were never hits, but should have been — alternative pop from strange-sounding groups like the Buzzcocks and Radiohead.

Even more interesting, you too can be an Internet DJ for just $9.95 a month. An East Bay company called Live 365.com lets you have your own “station,” download your own music and even add your own voice. How do they make their money? With commercials they drop in every few minutes — just like your traditional radio stations.

SOME FOLKS THINK we’re silly. Tree huggers, I think we’re called. But when Caltrans denuded our picturesque Highway 13, it raised the shackles of more than just environmentalists. Everyday motorists, just driving to work, have been calling and writing to complain.

The idea of putting in a new median area wasn’t the issue. It was taking out the foliage, native or not, without warning — all at a time when efforts were under way to win scenic highway status. It was like one hand had no idea what the other hand was doing.

The good news is that a compromise may have been reached. After two recent meetings with a half dozen neighborhood groups and several public officials, Caltrans is considering a change in the form of the median — so plants can go in along even more of the highway than before.

Though it’s not a done deal yet, I’d just like to say thank you to Jean Quan and her City Council staff (including Richard Cowan), along with community leaders from the Shepherd Canyon and Piedmont Pines homeowners associations.

Thanks, too, to Fernwood and Estate Drive neighbors, the Montclair Safety and Improvement Council and Friends of Sausal Creek for attending the meetings and giving hills folks a voice.

There’s no reason our highway can’t be safe and scenic.

Meter mania

Did you know that the city of Oakland is not offering free meter parking on Saturdays during the holidays this year? Montclair Pharmacy and Book Tree owner Joe Sullivan thinks there’s going to be a lot of confusion, because the yellow free parking stickers are still on some meters from previous years

“It’s going to be deceiving to the general public, because they’re going to read one thing on the meter and then they’re going to end up getting a ticket from the city of Oakland,” he says.

That’s not good for business or for Oakland’s public relations.

Fortunately, in Montclair the Montclair Village Association has removed the yellow parking stickers and is keeping the public garage open on Saturday for free.

Montclair memories

Thanks to reader Marta Zahn for her memories of horseback riding in the Oakland hills in the 1940s, related to my Nov. 12 column on hills horse history. She recalls saddling up every Sunday at the Hake’s Stables in Woodminster (near what is now Cesare’s Restaurant).

“The president of the Metropolitan Horseman’s Association was Mister Bemis, who owned a string of (little countertop cafés). There was one near the Grand Lake Theater, one on Third Avenue and East 12th, and another one kitty corner from the Oakland Hotel on 14th Street.”

The hills were dotted with barns in those days, and folks rode their horses through rolling landscape almost unimaginable today. Can we turn back the clock?

Bulb sightings

I can hardly wait until spring, when Oakland is awash in daffodils. With so many volunteers planting bulbs (provided by the city and Home Depot), we may look more like Holland than “the hills.”

Just last weekend, Jill Broadhurst and members of the Montclair Safety and Improvement Council (these folks are everywhere!) cleaned up the medians along Mountain and Park boulevards, and then planted 200 bulbs. They have more plans for Montclair, too, which I’ll unveil in a later column. But if you want to help — see the group’s Web site. www.montclairsic.org.

Birthday bounty

At a time when kids birthday parties are getting bigger and more expensive than ever, here’s a refreshing story. Hills grandmother Jean Stickever says her grandson Max Bratton, got a lot of great gifts at his party last weekend.

But unlike other birthday celebrations, these toys weren’t for him. The first-grader at Corpus Christi School had asked friends to bring new, unwrapped toys for the Toys for Tots holiday donation drive. Max may be just 7, but he’s got an “old soul.”

IT’S A FASCINATING time for world politics, and the political process has never been more interesting — at home and abroad. One hills woman has seen, firsthand, how precious and fragile the democratic process can be.

Mills College emeritus professor Edna Mitchell has been living in Afghanistan and working as a volunteer specialist for the Ministry of Higher Education in Kabul. With a team of five, she helped monitor the recent elections for fraud and found just getting into Kabul was more like a Keystone Cops than an Indiana Jones adventure. The red tape and the lack of consistency in traveling on Afghanistan’s Airiana Airlines made the trip a challenge, to say the least; at one point her flight was canceled because a government official reportedly needed to use the plane). Over the next few weeks, Mitchell will tell us some of her stories from this historic election.

In the meantime, the dust is still settling from our own surprising elections in the U.S. Montclarion reader Judy Janse saw election day as a kind of religious experience. “We are performing a communion with one another and the God we want so much to believe in, our god of democracy, of free will and individual rights,” she writes. “With this act there is only one sin we can be sure we are not guilty of. That of not voting at all.”

Heavenly craft

When is a necklace more than just jewelry? When it’s used to pray, according to Alameda senior Eleanor Wiley. Her jewelry is getting national attention as she resurrects the ancient practice of prayer beading.

And how effective are prayer beads for helping folks cope with everyday stress? Wiley says she’s helping more people now than she ever did as a speech pathologist. Her bead stringing workshops are a forum for people to share their stories — and their blessings.

Hawaiian connection

The phrase “it’s a small world” can apply to many situations. There were at least two Oakland hills connections on my recent trip to the big island of Hawaii. Looking in the West Hawaii newspaper, I saw a piece by Oakland Realtor Dian Hymer (whose column is also carried by Hills Newspapers). She related the story of some Oakland homeowners who had problems with their title, under the heading “what you don’t know may surprise you.”

The second Oakland connection came when I signed up for a snorkel trip on the big island with Sue Breisatori of Ocean Adventures. It turned out she was a Bay Area gal and a humane officer during the ’91 Berkeley-Oakland Hills Firestorm. She went house to house in the hills, rescuing stranded cats and dogs.

She said she’d never forget the little gray cat that was cowering in the corner of a doghouse, with burned whiskers and a hot ember threatening to burn the fur on its back. When she finally re-united the cat with its owner, there were tears of joy all around, and a grateful meow from the kitty.

Speaking of animals

Next time you pick up a pack of breath mints for yourself, get some for Fluffy and Fido, too. Pet Food Express in Montclair has fish-shaped mints for cats and bone-shaped breath fresheners for dogs. Don’t ask me how you get your pet to eat a breath mint — but if you’re concerned enough to buy them, you’ll find a way.

A LONG TIME AGO, in a village not far away, the horseman ruled the land. Barns dotted the hillside and Paints and Appaloosas grazed in pastures above the sparkling waters of the Bay.

This was the Oakland hills, circa 1938, when rodeo cowboys ran the ranches and the Mills College girls rode their steeds through the canyon and up the hill, past what’s now Merritt College, to Joaquin Miller Park.

“After the vets came home from World War Two, there was a tremendous upsurge in equestrian use in this area” says Amelia Marshall, a historian for the Metropolitan Horsemen’s Association. As many as 3,000 hills folks rode horses, and because of this, a grand plan was born for an equestrian center in the park. There would be paddocks and stables, an arena and racetrack. A horse trail would be built down the center of Skyline Boulevard, with equestrian access to all parts of the Oakland hills. It was a plan that was “cut off at the pass,” so to speak.

Sequoia Arena was built, and later, a clubhouse was moved to the site across the street. But a push for two highways was slowly changing the character of the hills. With I-580 and Highway 13, the parks began to be used in a more urbanized fashion, and at some point, the funding for the grand equestrian center dried up.

There was another mode of transportation coming into play, too. “In the 1970s, the mountain bike was invented, and many equestrians preferred to move to more rural areas so they wouldn’t have to share the trails with mountain bikers,” Marshall comments. Horses were skittish enough on the trails without this kind of encounter.

Off-leash dogs were becoming a problem as well, in some cases, causing horses to throw their riders. Decades later, and despite all this, the Metropolitan Horsemen’s Association continues to survive — even thrive in the hills today. It has three or four horse shows a year at Sequoia Arena, and the clubhouse, which was once Oakland Firehouse No. 28, hosts lively meetings. Even more important, the city is considering landmark status for the clubhouse and arena, and the wealth of old photos and Trailblazer magazines could someday be part of a splendid museum.

“Researching the land-marking application showed me the joy of going around and talking to all the old-timers,” says Marshall. Some, like horseman Earl Hansen (who’s in his 90s) are still active today, and are helping Marshall with a book on the subject.

The equestrian story. It’s a part of hills history that has framed how we live today — in a region with wide open spaces and room to roam — for horses and for humans.

Crime watch

The Shepherd Canyon Homeowner’s Association has joined with other hills neighborhood groups to lobby the city for their own detective. If you’ve been the victim of a burglary in the last few weeks, let association president Mike Petouhoff know, because he’s compiling data to support the case for increased patrols in the hills.

Figures show that in just seven weeks, almost 50 burglaries have been committed in the Oakland hills, most while the victims were home. One suspect has already been caught, but break-ins are an on-going problem. Petouhoff ‘s number is 510-531-5959 or you can send him an e-mail at Mike.Petouhoff@CH2M.com.

E-mail bag

Thanks to hills mom Gaby Miller for letting me know that her daughter Frances is being featured in the annual Stillwell student art exhibit at San Francisco State University. On through Dec. 15, Miller’s piece is one of 60 student art pieces selected for the show.

Tickle your senses

If it’s been awhile since you “stopped to smell the roses,” reader Anne Woodell has an offer for you. She needs help with Oakland’s Garden for the Blind at Lakeside Park (666 Bellevue Ave.) This is a permanent garden with Braille labels and raised beds, so folks can lean over and smell nature’s creations.

Like so many things, it’s fallen in disrepair because of city budget cuts. If you’d like to help spruce up the sensory garden, call 510-339-2818.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE to raise a child. But it can also take a village to raise a restaurant, as one hills couple will attest.

Henry and Kathleen Vortriede had been dreaming of their own eatery for years. They loved to cook and they loved to entertain. But little did they know that they’d be opening a place in their own home town, with money they’d borrowed to remodel their house.

The end result was a restaurant that is fast becoming a local favorite — Montclair Bistro in the old Gary’s Grill & Bar on Medau Place.

Here’s where our village comes in. “We gutted the building,” Henry Vortriede said. He hired local contractor Jack Stabb to do the work, with property manager Ann Moody and the Montclair Village Association’s Helen Wyman “bird dogging the project.”

When construction was done, the interior decorating began. That’s where local shops Raimondi’s and P.S Home helped out — with everything from the paint to ideas for the window coverings.

The end result is the kind of restaurant Montclair has been waiting for — “casually elegant, but not stuffy,” Vortriede says. He calls it a clean country French/Tuscan mix, and his menu compliments the decor. From tender truffled bordelaise steaks to sweet cream puff swans, dining here is a celebration of life. And judging by the reaction so far, folks have a lot to celebrate.

Reader’s corner

Thanks to Joe Sullivan (owner of the Book Tree), for letting me know that he’s selling autographed copies of Gary Erickson’s new book. I wrote about Erickson (the founder of Clif Bars) last week, but was remiss in mentioning that “Raising the Bar” is available at local bookstores, as well as the big chains.

Gary is a local guy, and I should have known he’d be signing autographs at the Book Tree on the night of Thursday, Dec. 2 — during the Montclair Village Stroll. Buy a copy, and Joe will kick in some money for the Catholic charity Project Joybells.

Get cooking

Hills resident Jennifer Sandstrom, owner of Someone’s in the Kitchen, says the new Montclair Village store will celebrate its grand opening from 4 to 7 p.m. today at the shop — 6128 La Salle Ave.

E-mail bag

Diane Hill is one of several readers to comment on the new safety median going up along Highway 13. She writes: “To learn that they are planning to put up a wall in the median section of the freeway is very upsetting to me, especially on such a pretty section of the freeway. It seems to me that Caltrans is determined to build walls — sound walls or median walls.”

Diane was part of the grassroots effort to stop the sound wall on Highway 13. She says it was “a long, hard road,” in part because the funds had already been earmarked for the project.

Flower power

Good things come to those who wait, and daffodils are the perfect example of this. St. Paul’s School kids are planting 2,000 bulbs over the next week, at the entrance to Lakeside Park and around Children’s Fairyland and the Veterans Administration Building.

Home Depot is donating the bulbs to the city of Oakland, for groups who pledge to plant them on public property. The goal is 25,000 big, beautiful blooms by spring. If your group wants to help, call 510- 434-5126.

Lamenting the landscape

While flowers create just the right air, there’s something else creating an “air” these days. Reader Jonathon Dranger notes the plethora of potties dotting the hills. “There are three outdoor johns on my street alone,” he sighs, adding they’ve been there for months. I guess we should be grateful they don’t have half moons carved in them.

IT’S THE CLASSIC rags to riches story, with a Montclair twist. In 1990, Gary Erickson was like a ship without a rudder. At least that’s what his dad thought. At the age of 33, he had no real job and was living in a garage in Berkeley. This is not to say that Gary was lazy. He was an avid bike rider, and this is how the story begins.

On a marathon ride one day, Gary was wolfing down energy bars like they were going out of style. But with 50 miles left on his 175-mile ride, his energy level was crashing and he couldn’t choke down one more Power Bar. It was then, that he had an epiphany. “I can make a better product than this,” he thought to himself. So he went back to his mother’s Montclair kitchen and the Clif Bar was born.

The fact that Gary’s mom was an expert baker didn’t hurt. “I grew up in this great Greek family,” Gary told me, “and every holiday we were always cooking.” In fact, Gary shocked his teacher, one year, when he brought in 100 buttery croissants that he’d made from scratch. His mother’s cookie recipes were equally delicious and were the foundation for the first Clif Bars, sans butter, oil and sugar. He used naturally processed rice syrup instead.

The Clif Bars took off. They were selling so well, that in the year 2000, Gary was offered $120 million for the business he owned with just one partner. He was tempted to take the money and run.

Then he had what he called “big epiphany number two.” “I was just two hours from walking away and having the money wired to my account — when I left the office, went around the block, and decided not to sell the company.” Gary and his wife, Kit, bought out the partner and have never looked back.

“It’s not just about the money,” he said. “I didn’t want to see all the work that I’d done become unraveled. As a private company, we do so many unique things, and go overboard for our quality.”

Indeed, a mega-corporation might be tempted to cut costs for the sake of its stockholders. But Gary and Kit are increasing their bottom line. They’ve gone all organic with the Clif Bar and hope to do the same with their Luna Bar and other products.

And how does Gary’s father feel about all this? He’s as proud as can be, and not just because of his son’s success. Gary’s dad’s name is Clif — and now, everybody knows his name.

(Gary’s new book is called “Raising the Bar: The Story of Clif Bar Inc.,” and is available online at BarnesandNoble.com).

Neighborhood alert

I’m getting reports, again, about door-to-door magazine solicitors in the hills. These are typically young people who are driven here in a van and dropped off in neighborhoods to make their sales quotas. One resident tells me a solicitor came back so many times, it felt like harassment.

If you have reason to believe that there’s any suspicious activity (last year a solicitor was arrested on an outstanding warrant), call the Oakland police on the non-emergency line at 510-777-3333.

Outstretched hands

What do wealthy Moraga and inner city Oakland have in common? They are linked by a volunteer-reading program that started six years ago at Saint Monica’s Catholic Church. The Moraga parish wanted to help a struggling Oakland Catholic school, so they chose Saint Anthony’s on East 15th Street.

Not only do volunteers help young students read, they bring them socks, shoes, uniforms and other clothing their parents may not be able to afford. If you’d like to help, contact Maureen Graf at 925-376-7226.

Birth of a car pool

Here’s a trivia question for you. How old is the car pool? Hills commuter Carol Van Steenberg says she was actually in one of the first carpool lines back in 1985 when a photographer from “Newsweek” came by to take a picture.

“The photo, taken by James D. Wilson (of) ‘Newsweek,’ shows me and a guy getting into one car, with another person about to get into the car behind us,” she says.

Back then, the carpool pick-up spot was on Park Boulevard, across from Corpus Christi Church (not down the street as it is now). The Dec. 16, 1985, article credits the kindness of strangers for cutting the 45-minute San Francisco commute time in half, not to mention the 75 cent toll it saved the drivers. Oh, how times have changed!

THE NUMBER ONE question I get asked these days has nothing to do with my kids or the weather. It’s all about what’s going on with Highway 13.

Despite the coverage in the Montclarion, rumors persist that our beloved little thoroughfare is being widened. Not true! It is, however, being altered in a way that angers a lot of us.

It’s a prime example of bad state-to-local communication, according to one local political source.

Here we’ve been trying to get scenic highway status for the Warren Freeway, and Caltrans comes along and starts taking out foliage. Why? Because the money was earmarked for guardrail replacement, and Caltrans decided it would be most efficient to put a wall into the median section — so it could use street sweeping vehicles instead of hand crews.

First, we got the plan for a sound wall (which was soundly thwarted) — and now this. It’s enough to drive some motorists crazy, when all they see on their daily commute is a concrete jungle.

A public hearing on the matter may take place this month, with the aim of convincing Caltrans to “up its budget” for beautification. But it’s a long, hard road — so to speak. We’ll be following the “progress” every step of the way.

Saying goodbye

After 34 years as the cosmetics lady at Longs Drugs and its predecessor, Guy’s Drugs in Montclair, Joan Gonzales is leaving. It’s the end of an era, really. Joan was around when drugstore cosmetics were all under glass, and there was no self service.

“We showed customers how to apply makeup, and we went to intense schools for Revlon and Elizabeth Arden,” she says. It was a tricky business, applying just the right amounts of pancake and mascara. But Joan thinks makeup is much better these days. “Now they have nice formulas — not the heavy lubricating creams of the past.”

Joan is moving to Healdsburg, where she says she’ll probably help out at the Longs. One thing’s for sure — whatever Joan does, she’ll put on a “happy face.” Good luck, Joan, the Village will miss you.

Shop talk

When it comes to inspirations, this story “takes the cake.”

Glenview mom Jennifer Sandstrom was putting together a basket of kitchen gadgets for an auction item at Joaquin Miller School when she thought to herself, “Hey, this is kind of fun!” Little did she know it would lead to a passion for cookery that would have her opening her own kitchen shop.

Stop by “Someone’s In The Kitchen” on La Salle in Montclair and see what’s cooking. FYI, Jennifer knows her way around the oven, too. She owned La Farine Bakery on College Avenue for ten years.

E-mail bag

I wonder if Oprah knows about this. There’s a local book club that’s been meeting since the early 1950s.

Reader Irene Olson says the group is a spin-off of the Oakland/Piedmont branch of the American Association of University Women. Around 25 women meet from September to May, starting with social time and then diving into their book of the month, with a review and lively discussion.

The women are celebrating their 50th anniversary with a Halloween luncheon at the Bellevue Club in Oakland, and two of the founding members are coming.

Author, author

Speaking of books, the head of the Sophia Center for spiritual studies at Oakland’s Holy Names University hosted a book party of his own this week. Jim Conlon’s new publication is called “At the Edge of Our Longing” and deals with the human need for a sense of purpose and belonging. It’s a poignant book for those who are searching for answers in life.

Going batty

Maggie Hooper would have stumped the panel on “What’s my line.” She’s a bat conservationist, who’s making the rounds at the Oakland public libraries this month. Just in time for Halloween, she even brings her furry fruit-eating friends with her.

Then there’s the annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch. Kids from Thornhill Elementary are going out to Joan’s Farm in Livermore today to pick a gourd from the 14-acre spread. This old-fashioned farm has a western town, museum and even a giant corn maze (if you really want to lose yourself).

AT THE EDGE of the Redwood forest, where the trees reach out to a brownish-green meadow, there’s a warm wood lodge. Inside, the fire dances and throws light across the room. “This is a treasure,” I think to myself as I take it all in. It’s like being in Montana or some far away place, but it’s here in the Oakland hills.

This magical spot is the lodge where the Redwood Bowmen Club has been meeting since 1939. The group’s president, Vail Briggs, took me up there the other day, and we shot a few arrows together.

“It’s a great way to get outdoors,” she says, “away from housework, the office and cement, and enjoy the beautiful state we live in.” Briggs describes archery as almost “Zen-like,” with its meditative focus on the target.

The range is open to the public, right behind Chabot Space and Science Center in Redwood Regional Park.

How popular is archery? Nationwide, the National Archery Association has over 50,000 members and is getting ever more attention from hunters and athletes.

But you don’t have to be either one to shoot in Redwood Park. For $6 a round ($3 for kids under 14 with an adult), you can try your skill at hitting 3D animal targets Saturday mornings. It’s the fun of hunting without the kill, but you need to bring your own equipment.

There’s also a turkey shoot Sunday, Nov. 21, when every kid “bags” a Rock Cornish Game Hen, and adults can win frozen turkeys. No real gobblers are killed on the premises, thankfully. Parking is free in the space center lot, and you’ll probably find a warm beverage waiting for you when you at the lodge.

For more information, or free instruction for a school, church or scout group, call youth project manager Jess Aldape at 510-237-7257 or send him an e-mail at j archer300@sbcglobal.net.

Lurking danger

It’s my sincere belief that most people are good and decent in the world. But scary incidents like these point out the importance of talking with your kids about strangers.

A hills teen student is said to be recovering from an alleged assault by a man in his 20s, who reportedly slipped a drug into her drink about two weeks ago. This happened after a night out with her friends, who didn’t see her leave with the suspect.

Meanwhile, a stranger gave a group of young Corpus Christi School students quite a scare when he spoke to them from his older model bluish-gray pickup truck at the corner of Park Boulevard and Leimert last week. The children were participating in a designated Walk to School Day.

They were just a couple of blocks from school when the suspect pulled up and asked them if they wanted some Spiderman stickers. They hurried to class where they reported the incident, and police in Oakland and Piedmont were called.

Garbage dump

Anyone who travels down rural Pinehurst Road from the Oakland hills to Moraga has seen the dumpster-size pile of trash that someone left there last weekend.

Neighbors who came on the scene almost immediately afterward say the offenders tied a rope to the guard rail — and the other end to a bicycle at the bottom of their garbage heap. Then the alleged polluters drove their trash-filled truck at high speed around the hair-pin turn, and the junk came tumbling out onto the road.

“It’s an old trick,” one witness told me. “You don’t have to lift a finger.”

But sheriff’s deputies in the area may get the last laugh. They pulled a number of names and addresses out of the mess and are going after the suspects.

Zoo games

The Oakland Zoo has a chance to make a cool 25 grand in a new Microsoft game contest. It’s made the semi-finals of a competition for America’s favorite zoo — and now the outcome is up to us.

Take a minute to log on to and cast your vote today — at www.oaklandzoo.org or www.microsoft.com/games/zootycoon/zoo2/favorite-zoo.asp. The winning zoo not only gets the cash, it gets the bragging rights to this big national popularity contest. I’ve always known our zoo had animal magnetism.

PARDON ME if I quote a famous line for my opening: “The Hills are alive, with the sound of music.” In this case, it’s Cuban music we’ll be hearing when the new La Taza Café opens on Thornhill Drive later this month (or soon thereafter).

Montclair couple Daniel Brajkovich and Minette Montoya have big plans for this place, which has seen a couple of restaurants in recent years, including the Thornhill Café and Canvas (which is still serving meals until the close of escrow).

“What we’d like to do is bring in different kinds of promotions and things like a flamenco night with food from southern Spain,” says Brajkovich.

His thoughts race as he imagines a guitar player and a dancer entertaining his patrons as they nibble on small plates of tantalizing food called tapas.

“We’re not looking to be stuffy,” he says. “We’re looking to be relaxed, friendly and social where people can come in to more of a lounge atmosphere, and they can have a glass of wine, maybe a couple of small tapas and discuss the day’s events.”

There’ll be a full dinner menu as well, and he plans to keep serving until almost 11 p.m., saying there’s a need for more late-night offerings in Montclair. Oh — and one more thing — Brajkovich says he’s opening up the patio outside. And true to the Cuban spirit, it’ll be a place where you can smoke a good cigar.

E-mail bag

Thanks to Marian O’ Brien for letting me know that the new East Bay Dance Center has opened in the Glenview district. She says her two daughters have been dancing with director Bonnie Sita for four years: “We feel so fortunate that they have been able to express their love of dance with this wonderful woman who is not only skillful and full of positive energy, but who is a kind and caring professional that you would love to have your kids dance with.”

The center (at 1318 Glenfield Ave.) offers everything from ballet to hip hop, and the new location is pretty special. It’s in the historic building where the Glenview Women’s Club met from 1914 to 1934. For more information call 510-336-3262.

Water therapy

What do you get when you cross a group of wild women (and one man) with water? You get the aptly named Aquanuts, who perform their own brand of synchronized swimming for local charities.

You should have seen them swing their pool noodles last weekend in a lively performance at the Hills Swim and Tennis Club.

On a serious note, a member of the audience who used to be an Aquanut herself was too sick to perform. She has brain cancer and came all the way from Texas to be at the show. And fittingly, the proceeds went to the National Brain Tumor Foundation.

Garden therapy

Sue Morgan is looking for folks who like to garden and want to help propagate plants in Joaquin Miller Park this fall. The greenery will eventually be planted along Sausal Creek, as part of the effort to restore the native habitat there. It’s a great program for kids, too, and classes from several local schools will be planting, pulling weeds and keeping track of their work in journals.

If you’d like more information on how you can help, call Sue at 510-531-6293.

Dig this

Most parents have seen the movie or read the book “Holes.” It’s the award-winning story of a desert camp where juvenile delinquents dig holes all day.

Well, it’s coming to a theater near you, and this time it’s live. The Alameda Children’s Musical Theatre is literally breaking new ground with this performance of “Holes,” since the group will be doing the whole thing (including the hole digging) outdoors.

Hills sixth grader Shannon Powers, who attends Corpus Christi School, plays the part of Kissing Kate Barlow and hopes kids will come see one of their favorite stories come to life. The play runs Oct. 9-24 at the St. Phillip Neri School lot on High and Van Buren in Alameda. For show times and reservations, call 510-521-6965.

THERE’S SOMETHING about Sinatra and a good martini that sets the world right. So how could I pass up a feature on a couple of “local cats” like the Martini Brothers?

The “brothers,” aka Grand Lake residents Bob Dalpe and “Mr. Rick” Fishman, have been promoting what they call the martini culture for years. But are the old standards back in vogue again? Not so’s you’d notice, says Mr. Rick. “I don’t see it as a hip new thing, but it seems to have really become the mainstream for the cocktail culture over the past 12 years.”

Still, finding a place for their band to play locally hasn’t been easy. “We’ve been really involved in the whole swing thing in the Bay Area, playing at places like the Top of The Mark and the Compass Rose, but there’s no place to play in Oakland,” Mr. Rick laments.

But the Martini Brothers have landed a groovy gig at one of the swankiest spots in San Francisco — Le Colonial. “It’s an upscale French Vietnamese Restaurant with long rattan bars and a lot of sophistication,” says Mr. Rick, who has his six-piece combo playing there from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday nights.

I caught their act the other night and believe me — it’s as smooth as a hot toddy in winter. The band really draws a crowd, too, since so many people are dying to go out where they can dance and drink and get dressed up. For this, San Francisco seems like the perfect spot.

E-mail bag

Speaking of music, thanks to hills photographer Reenie Raschke for sharing this: “I am always amazed at the jewels I find on my block. I met my guitar teacher, Caren Armstrong, when I put a note on her door saying, “‘It seems like a lot of people are walking into your house with guitars…. Is it possible you teach?'”

What Reenie discovered was that Caren not only teaches, she’s an amazing singer and songwriter — with three CD’s and a long list of credits. “My daughter and I went to the Mountain Winery in Saratoga to watch her open for the Beach Boys,” Reenie wrote. “She plays regularly at Strings in Berkeley, and has a lovely gig coming up at the Freight and Salvage in Oakland on Oct. 10. She so personifies the groovy women in our town.”

By the way, Reenie is a “groovy woman” in her own right. You can check out her work (and make an appointment for your holiday photo) at the Studio Montclair in the Village.

Flower power

Imagine Oakland abloom in yellow daffodils.

Keep Oakland Beautiful is giving away 25,000 free daffodil bulbs this month to groups or individuals who promise to plant them in public places. No fair putting them in your back yard garden — these buttercup beauties should be placed in parks and median strips, for all to share.

To order bulbs or for more information, call 510-434-5126.

Coming soon

Nero Tovar (owner of the wonderful Senior Nero’s on Grand Avenue) tells me there’s a new Cuban restaurant going into his building on Thornhill Drive.

The owners of Jackson’s Canvas — who are still serving lunch and dinner — will be getting out of the restaurant business in about four weeks, but will do catering in the future.

A Montclair couple is opening La Taza de Café sometime in late October or early November. I’ll have more in my column next week, but if you’ve been longing for live entertainment in Monclair, you’ll want to stay tuned. Co-owners Daniel Brajkovich and Minette Montoya say they’ll be bringing in Latin music and even a flamenco dancer or two.

The candyman

Remember the hills dad who broke the world record for eating M&M’s with a pair of chopsticks? Jim Hager may be taking his act to Japan soon.

Apparently, the Nippon Television Network is courting Hager for a show entitled “World Records” and may be flying Hager to Tokyo. Aside from good television, Jim’s act would make a good slogan over there. M&M’s …they melt in your mouth, not in your chopsticks.