HER NAME IS not Mary, and she’s not “quite contrary” — but boy can her garden grow.

I’m talking about hills resident Nancy Bauer, whose artful eye and whimsical flair have helped her design a most interesting garden. And it’s not even on her own property.

“There was this empty lot here that belonged to my neighbors,” she says, pointing to a strip of land just to the side of her house.

With the neighbor’s permission, Nancy started digging, and planting waxy begonias and decorative sage and all manner of flowers and bushes with one thing in common — their resistance to deer. But while deer seem to ignore the garden (with the help of a repellent called Liquid Fence), humans adore it for the joy that it brings to the neighborhood.

Nestled amongst the baby’s-breath and blue flax are grazing cows and plump pink pigs and other metal sculptures.

“I buy whatever’s cute and comical and in the budget,” Nancy says, referring to the garden art that’s never more than $20. She finds most of it in catalogs, including the cat-shaped birdhouse that’s hanging by a tail from a nearby tree.

It’s a roadside garden that makes neighbors smile. And it reminds us that when life gets too serious, we can always go play in the dirt!

Wake-up call

Hills neighborhoods are getting hit, again, by a rash of break-ins.

The Montclair Safety Improvement Council reports a growing number of car and house burglaries in the past month, especially on these streets: Ascot, Brookside, Burton, Chelsea, Fernwood, Pershing, Moraga, Mountain and Wilton.

Police have been asked to step up patrols again in the hills and are warning all of us to lock our car doors and all house windows and doors — even when we’re at home.

You can find out more information, along with Oakland police alerts, on the Web at www.montclairsic.org. The Web site also has offers on locking mailboxes, which help deter mail theft.

E-mail bag

West Oakland was a colorful melting pot of cultures and languages in the early part of last century. But historians say its history has been largely ignored.

Thanks to Mary Mousalimas for telling me about the efforts of the Ascension Historical Committee of Oakland’s Greek Orthodox Church to piece together life in this bustling, densely populated area prior to 1950.

She says almost every ethnic group was found in West Oakland at that time, including Assyrians, Chinese, Irish, Italians, Lebanese, Chicanos, Japanese, Romani (Gypsies), Greeks, Syrians, Portuguese and Slovenians. Each group had its own culture, language and in many cases, place of worship.

If you have photographs and family history you’d like to share, the Ascension Historical Committee would like to hear from you. Call the group at 510-531-3400.

Frightening display

I encountered a haunted house the other day. Imagine my surprise at seeing a ghost in the middle of a September heat wave.

But Halloween is just five weeks away, and the Terrace is ready. That sweet little coffee and gift shop on Broadway Terrace is showing its dark side — with a scary back room full of ghosts, bats and skeletons.

What makes this haunted house different is that everything is for sale. Dancing spiders, maniacal monsters and mechanical witches on brooms — they’re going like “hot-cakes at a pancake breakfast.”

But be not afraid. There’s enough merchandise to keep the place going — at least until October.

This is the story of Clyde, a tan-nosed tabby who’s lucky to be alive.

He was thrown from a car, recently, near Oakland’s Mormon Temple. No-one knows who did it, but the kitten was found screaming in the middle of the night — with broken teeth and an umbilical hernia.

Thank goodness for volunteers with the Feral Cat Foundation, who took Clyde in and nursed him back to health. He’s fine, now, and ready for adoption.

Won’t somebody take Clyde in and give him love and affection? His early life was a nightmare, but he’s ready to purr again, with a bowl of warm milk and a loving lap. And he still has eight lives.

If you’d like to find out more about Clyde or the Feral Cat Foundation, call volunteer Corene Carpenter Martin at 925-376-6937 or log on to an amazing Web site with information and pictures on dozens of rescue animals — www.feralcatfoundation.org. This Web site has helped pet lovers adopt almost 14,000 cats, dogs, bunnies and birds over the last three years!

Flying high

A group of Oakland passengers got a treat on United Airlines, recently.

Montclarion reader Steven Fuerch says he shared a flight with Oakland’s Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward. The celebrity boxer was flying home through Denver and had just said goodbye to a family member when he took his seat on the plane — in coach class. Upon landing, the crew made an announcement, and Ward personally greeted everyone as they got off the plane.

For a guy who must be flying high, he sure is “grounded.”

E-mail bag

Thanks to reader Catherine Brady for sharing an item that is music to her ears. Literally.

She says every morning she walks from Montclair to Shepherd Canyon and back, and lately she’s been hearing music from the parking garage on La Salle.

“At first, as it was a Sunday, I figured a saxophonist was enjoying the echo, and I thought ‘how wonderful for someone to share their music,'” she writes. But Brady says now she’s hearing it on weekdays and is wondering about the source.

She says it’s just another thing that makes Montclair such a unique and wonderful place to live!

Green tips

Illegal dumping is always a problem in Oakland, but this is dumping of a different kind.

Councilwoman Jean Quan says unsuspecting homeowners are hiring workers to clear brush from their yards, only to find that it’s not being disposed of properly.

In some cases, the tree limbs, stumps and mounds of tinder-dry brush end up in empty lots or canyons, where they are once again a fire hazard. She says the way to avoid this is to pay your contractor only after he’s presented a receipt from the Davis Street Transfer Station.

Getting hitched

Wedding bells, not bike bells, are ringing at Montclair’s local cyclery shop. That’s because Wheels of Justice owner Justice Baxter and business partner Dan Watson are both getting married this fall.

Justice is tying the knot to Rain Johnson in a partly Scottish ceremony, which means he’ll be showing off his “Scottish calves” in a kilt. Scottish calves, by the way, are big beefy leg muscles sculpted by long hours of pedaling.

Watson is no slouch on a bike, either. He won the heart of his gal, Gaby Raymond, when he showed up in Munich riding a unicycle.

SOME MEN will tell you, there are four seasons — winter, spring, summer and football. And as we approach this great season of football, there’s a new Bay Area team to watch. It’s a team of inspired, hard-working players who run laps and lift weights for hours each day. It’s a team of young men, plus one gutsy young woman.

Freshman Raquel Shocron plays football for Bishop O’Dowd. It’s not her first time on the gridiron. “I played football in middle school and heard that not a lot of girls try out,” she said, referring to her new high school team.

Two weeks ago, she showed up for practice and was assigned to the corner-back position. “It’s a lot harder than I thought,” she admits. “I thought it would be all fun and games, but it’s so serious.” How serious? Shocron’s father was trying to catch her eye during a recent practice, but the freshman player knew that looking at him might mean extra drills.

And speaking of drills, how does Shocron do on the line against her bigger, brawnier opponents? She says it’s all in the way she tackles. “I try to, like, go for the legs. I just block it out that most of them are bigger than me, and just go for it,” she says.

The technique is working. “At the beginning, (the guys) would tease me and talk about how I was going to quit. Now, some people still taunt me but the more mature players stick up for me.”

Being O’Dowd’s only female football player has other advantages, too, like star status.

Shocron says a junior came up to her the other day and told her she was sticking up for all girls. “It’s like girl power,” she says, laughing. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Raquel has another sport to give her strength. In Tai Kwon Do, it’s called a black belt.

Small world

Mention Deadwood, and folks may think of that vulgar new show on HBO.

But when East Bay Realtor Nina Quan thinks of Deadwood, she thinks of her great grandfather Fee Lee Wong. “As a young man, he came to the states and lived in San Francisco for awhile,” she recalls, “then met some investors and followed them to South Dakota for the Black Hills mining.”

Quan says Fee Lee eventually started a family in Deadwood and opened an herbal pharmacy on the dusty main street, before returning to China and dying of an illness he contracted.

Generations later, his memory lives on. In fact, 70 members of Fee Lee’s family traveled to Deadwood last month to march in the Chinese section of the 1876 historical parade.

“We have a huge family,” Quan tells me.

It’s wonderful that they know so much about their ancestry in the wild, wild West.

Great beyond

Congratulations to Mills College doctor and anthropologist Robert Anderson for his new book called “The Ghosts of Iceland.” It deals with the fascinating topic of spirit doctors — deceased practitioners who are called on for their healing powers.

Anderson spent time teaching in Iceland, and his research on ghost doctors looks at how people make contact with the dead in medical and non medical ways. His book is published by Wadsworth Publishing Co.

E-mail bag

A word of warning from one of our Montclair merchants. Sherry Taddei says a briefcase belonging to her boss was taken from Montclair Florist recently, when no-one was looking.

Luckily, a neighbor found it the next day with nothing missing. The thief may have committed a “foul” deed, but the hero who returned the valise was rewarded with a fragrant bouquet.

Cajun spice

That city “‘cross the estuary” knows how to party. Alameda is home to the hottest Cajun dance club outside New Orleans and Texas. Every Friday night the top Zydeco bands in the west pull out their washboards and accordions to dish out the Cajun spice. Alameda Eagles Hall has a great wooden dance floor, too, that makes the two step even more fun. For more information, give Louisiana Sue a ring at 916-962-6415.

Animal corner

Remember the song “I’m a little teapot”? Well, there’s is a little teapot poodle, which at birth is the size of a church mouse, in our midst.

Given its size, you can understand why hills child-care specialist Vaughn K. had her poodle snuggled inside a handbag the other day. The 3-week-old puppy was sleeping between the wallet and the lipstick, under a Kleenex-sized blanket. Thank goodness Vaughn didn’t need to blow her nose.

THE ROAD to success can be long and hard. Especially if it’s an actual road that you’re trying to improve.

This is the story of a group of homeowners who wanted, and are finally getting, a safer street to the top of Montclair. Mike Petouhoff, the head of the Shepherd Canyon Homeowners Association, says you’ll see changes soon, on the long and winding Shepherd Canyon Road.

If you travel this route, you know the treacherous hairpin turn as Shepherd meets Arrowhead. After much lobbying, including a barrage of phone calls triggered by two neighbors who passed out leaflets last week, Oakland officials have agreed to recontour the road to make the curve easier to negotiate.

Crews are repaving that whole upper stretch of roadway, anyway, so why not fix this hazard? And speaking of hazards, the spot where Shepherd meets Skyline is no picnic either.

“It’s so steep,” says Petouhoff, “in 6 feet of travel you gain 4 feet in elevation.” He says the city plans to regrade that stretch, grinding some pieces of the road bed down and building some up to lessen the impact of the elevation.

So next time your travels take you up Shepherd Canyon Road, think of the hard-working homeowners who finally found the road to success — perseverance. Thank you, Mike, and all the members of your association.

Street talk

Jameela Williams called me this week to say her shop, Ester’s Garden Body and Bath, has relocated in Orinda. After six years on La Salle in Montclair, Williams says she needed to downsize and found a smaller, more intimate space in Theatre Square.

With the historic Orinda Theater as the center’s crown jewel, Williams should do well. Even better, she’s sandwiched between a fitness center and a hair salon. “So you can get your hair done, your body done, and then you’re ready for my lingerie,” she jokes.

Mailbag

Thanks to Rose P. for pointing out a story on Oakland’s Fruitvale Village that ran recently in the New York Times. The piece touts the project as having played a critical role in turning around one of Oakland’s poorest neighborhoods.

Despite the low average income, Fruitvale produces the second highest level of sales tax among Oakland’s neighborhoods, according to city figures. The numbers also show that land values have shot up sharply around this festive urban village.

Illegal dumping

If only there were security cameras trained on “hot spots” for dumping. One of the worst places is 35th Street behind Home Depot. It’s terrible blight on a direct route to two freeway on-ramps, and it’s always a mess.

Not nearly as bad, but perhaps more disturbing because of the natural beauty surrounding it, is Pinehurst Road down to Canyon. On two occasions last week, a variety of garbage was dumped, including three mattresses and assorted cans, bottles and clothing. To their credit, Moraga police took care of the cleanup the day I reported it. The Moraga police can be reached at 925-284-5010.

Animal instincts

It’s one thing to pet a cat or dog. It’s another, altogether, to give them a massage.

But Lisa James offers rubdowns for Rover and other assorted animals as part of her Bay Area pet care business. I saw her ad in the Glenview Laundromat the other day and had to find out more.

“From pit bulls to snakes — if it’s an animal, I love it,” she says, adding she can change problem behaviors after spending just a week with most pets. There’s no word on how the snakes react to a massage, but hopefully it’s not with a big squeeze. You can reach Lisa at 707-434-7133.

SCHOOL DAYS, school days. Just as our summer really kicks in, the kids return to the classrooms. There’s something cruel and unusual about this, but that’s life in the foggy Bay Area.

This year, there’s more reason than ever to celebrate this annual back to school ritual. There’s been a critical shift in fashion, away from bare midriffs and seriously sagging jeans.

If only this had happened a year earlier, Bishop O’Dowd High School might not have gone to mandatory uniforms. But the irony is, the preppy look is in this fall — with collared shirts for boys and plaid skirts and ponchos for girls.

For me, the timing is perfect. This week, my daughter starts high school, and my son begins junior high. Life doesn’t get any better.

Shop talk

Those who dream of a more “upscale” Montclair Village may be getting their wish. Not only is a new kitchen store opening soon on La Salle, but a renowned, high-end truffle shop is going in next door.

The owners of XOX Truffles Inc. actually live in Montclair — and have been waiting for this opportunity. (They’ll move into the shop occupied by Ester’s Garden Body and Bath).

Jean Marc and Casimira Gorce say their San Francisco business has been doing very well; they’ve received lots of acclaim and national press. Now, they want to expand closer to home.

XOX hopes to open sometime in November, permits permitting, and there are plans in the works for indoor seating — and an evening dessert bar.

Flag theft

I know it’s the Olympics, but even patriotism is no excuse for this: someone stole Old Glory from its pole at the top of La Salle in Montclair. “They actually lowered it the right way,” says Liz Silverman of the Montclair Village Association, “and didn’t cut it or anything. They just took it off.”

The flag was a memorial to Hank and John Raimondi, and Silverman says taking it is like “taking the offering out of the church plate.” If you have a clue about the red, white and blue, call her at 510-339-1000.

Purse snatching

You might call this a crime of opportunity.

A reader reports that a friend of hers was “mugged” in front of the Montclair Bank of America this week, just after an ATM withdrawal. The woman was putting her wallet back in her purse when a youth on a bike rode by and grabbed it.

The victim reported the crime to the bank’s security guard but wasn’t able to give a description of the suspect. It’s a reminder to all of us that our quaint little Village has big-city crime.

Field of screams

Oakland soccer parents are crying foul, after repeatedly finding the gate locked at the popular Spunkmeyer sports field. It seems that the city doesn’t have the staff to come out and unlock the field for every soccer practice and can’t pass the keys over to the coaches. Since vandalism precludes city staff from keeping the gates unlocked, players have just two choices — climb over the corral or suck in their guts and squeeze between the fence and the dumpster.

Cajun spice

That city ‘cross the estuary’ knows how to party. Alameda is home to the hottest Cajun dance club outside New Orleans and Texas. Every Friday night the top Zydeco bands in the West pull out their washboards and accordions to dish out the Cajun spice.

Alameda Eagles Hall has a great wooden dance floor, too, which makes the “two step” even more fun. For more information, give Louisiana Sue a ring at 916-962-6415.

Freebie alert

Thanks to Robin G. who reminds me of a longtime freebie in town. Montclair Golf Course, the little pitch and putt with the popular driving range, offers free Sunday night lessons for kids.

The one-hour clinics start at 6 p.m. and are good for youth 8 years old and up. The classes are offered seasonally, though, since only die-hard golfers like to be out in the winter rain.

THEY CALL IT the last frontier — a land so vast and unspoiled, less than one percent of it has been altered by man. Amazingly, you can get there from Oakland by lunchtime.

I’m talking about Alaska, a place that sees scores of visitors annually out of Oakland International Airport. This week, it was my turn.

You’d have thought I was headed for the moon. I packed everything from an eye mask (I was sure the sun never set) to a parka. And energy bars — in case reindeer and moose were my only options. Everything I knew about Alaska I’d read in a book or seen on TV. I had a lot to learn — and four days to do it.

You’d be surprised at how much you can do with 17 hours of light each day, and how soundly you sleep when your head hits the pillow.

Spending two afternoons in Anchorage, I saw folks fishing for salmon in downtown Ship Creek. I followed the walking tour and recreated the Gold Rush, the entry into statehood and the ’64 earthquake. I rode the coastal bike trail and the original red trolley and caught a hilarious dinner show spoof on Alaska at the famed “Fly By Night Club.” I also wolfed down two reindeer sausages and some coconut-battered Spam. (Alaska has the second highest consumption of Spam in the U.S. What a distinction!)

But while Anchorage has plenty to see and do, you need to go airborne for the “real” Alaska. Bush pilots will fly almost anywhere and land on anything from a lake to a beach to a frozen strip of ice. Alaska Air Taxi took 10 of us over the colorful Cook Inlet to Lake Clark National Park for a day of bear watching.

We saw big browns eating berries and salmon and grubs. Then they scratched their backs on the bark of a Black Spruce. In this wild land, bears fish side by side with human anglers in great glacial streams. Everyone gets their fill. And that night at the Alaska Homestead Lodge, I had the best salmon dinner of my life.

Alyeska is the largest ski resort in Alaska, but its busiest season is summer. That’s understandable, with biking and hiking and even walking on glaciers. With Red Bull for breakfast, you can accomplish all three and be soaking your blisters by dinner.

That leaves just one day to accomplish the number one tourist activity in Alaska — a glacial cruise. You can knock that out in an hour with a quick cruise to the Portage Glacier, where 1,000-year-old ice chunks float all around you. Call me crazy, but I couldn’t refuse a taste of this finely aged ice when the captain brought it aboard.

Spot a moose, see spawning salmon … talk to 10 guys who like bear hunting and oil drilling. Yep — you really can do Alaska in four days. But you’ll need those energy bars.

Wood woes

A giant wood pile on an empty lot on Azalea Lane has neighbors crying foul. They’ve been told by the city that a crew can’t come out until late September to clear it away.

“That’s the end of fire season,” says one woman, who says she’s been calling for action since last spring, but the lot owner (who reportedly lives in Montclair) hasn’t complied.

Meanwhile, folks at Oakland Weed Abatement say they wish they’d known sooner. It apparently takes time to give the guilty party the required two warnings and wait for a response. The final step, which the agency is preparing to take next month, is to hire someone to chuck the wood, then bill the owner.

The wheels of justice do move, but ever so slowly. If you have a similar incident to report, call 510-238-7388.

Hollywood Hornet

The rumors are true. A big Hollywood movie is being filmed on the USS Hornet in Alameda next month. The whole thing is hush hush, but it’s bringing in enough money to force cancellation of the Oct. 9 Jimmy Dorsey big band dance (reschedule for April).

I wonder how the fabled Hornet ghosts will react to all the hubbub.

THIS IS A TALE of two fortunes. One is lost, another found. Both involve houses.

In one tale, a blaze broke out quickly in the misty morning hours in Canyon. The bohemian enclave on the backside of Montclair was just waking up, when the cry was unleashed.

“Fire!” screamed the neighbors as they raced to their telephones to call one another. The old phone tree, in the process of being updated, broke down.

Two structures were burning. Lois Aldrich, who lived nearby, raced to her elderly neighbor’s place to awaken him.

Fire is a frightening force. But when you’re surrounded by trees with only one route out, it’s beyond scary. In this case, two homes were lost, but no one was hurt.

The redwoods, as dense as they are, were conduits for moisture — which collected on the springy forest floor. Mother Nature was the firefighter’s best friend.

Meanwhile, in our neighboring community of Oakland, houses are going up as symbols of hope for hard working families who qualify for Habitat for Humanity.

A Fourth of July Build-a-Thon attracted 200-plus volunteers, who framed six new homes and raised over $70,000 in pledges. With work going on each day, two families have already been chosen for their new dwellings, in a complex of a dozen new homes.

You don’t have to be a contractor to help. You don’t even have to have a hammer. You just have to have a heart.

Core classes

Where does your strength originate? If you’re speaking in anatomical terms, it comes from your gut — your core. Each Monday through Thursday, dancer Janet Welsh helps people strengthen their core with a blend of pilates, yoga and dance — which she calls Core Flow.

The location is the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Center, which provides an interesting historic backdrop for getting in touch with your body. The nine o’clock classes are $15. Learn more by calling 510-543-5442.

The ‘strip’

The strip may be naked now, but it won’t be for long.

The Glenview Neighborhood Association is planting the Park Boulevard median strip this month. And in a spirit of cooperation, there’s even free child care for volunteer gardeners — at 9 a.m. on Aug. 14 and 28. Contact Erin Moore at 510-336-0365 for more information.

And they call it…

“Puppy Love.” A boy and a girl — different backgrounds but similar interests — making a commitment to love, honor and obey. Their masters, that is.

Yes, the wedding of the summer has taken place in Montclair, and apparently no one has a bone to pick except the bride and groom.

The pooch named Penny was dressed in lovely formal attire that allowed her to show off her legs. The groom was a real catch, with an obvious affection for his mate that went beyond the usual panting and licking. Rumor has it there’s a video of the event, which may surface as we enter the dog days of summer.

Punny Plate

Spotted on a green car driving through the Caldecott Tunnel, the vanity plate: DSEPTIV. The make of the car eluded motorist Chris A., who says that may have been the driver’s intent.

FOR MORE THAN TWO decades, I’ve reported the news — most often, the bad news. I broadcast the fires, murders and chaos, because those were the headline stories. “If it bleeds, it leads,” a boss once told me.

Funny, but I can hardly take all that news today. The phrase “TMI” comes to mind — too much information, too much negative information.

That’s why I focus on happy news, the sometimes silly but mostly uplifting stuff that you don’t always hear about — but maybe you should: stuff like the changes at Children’s Fairyland.

C. J. Hirschfield is the executive director of this Oakland treasure and is beaming over what’s being accomplished. She says staff and volunteers are really sprucing the place up — with a new covered amphitheater, a totally refurbished storybook puppet theater and a kid-sized Old West town.

She’s also joined forces with Target stores for a multi-cultural storytellers series and “sweetened” the pot with a partnership with Fentons. On Aug. 14 and 15, park visitors can build and eat a giant 50-foot ice cream sundae.

Many folks say the park was an inspiration for Disneyland. In fact, when Walt Disney came here in 1954, he was so impressed that he hired Fairyland’s director away at double her salary.

“There’s so much love for this park,” says Hirschfield, who gave up her career in cable television two years ago to run the Lake Merritt amusement park. “People can’t imagine Oakland without a Fairyland,” she says. And to that I add, “Don’t even try.”

Sunday stroll

Maybe it’s time to resurrect the old Sunday stroll. Drop your sweat pants and don something fancy for an afternoon of window shopping and fine nibbling on Grand Avenue.

Reader Audrey Daniels tells me the Coffee Mill has live jazz from 3 to 6 p.m. every Sunday, and the street offers a world of ethnic cuisine — from Korean and Thai to Italian. There’s a theater, book store and even a chocolatier on Grand Avenue, where Sunday’s are something to celebrate.

Street art

A mystery artist has returned to the hills to repaint the sign along Skyline Boulevard near Shepherd Canyon Road. With just months until our president election, the painter reverted to the message, “Vote for those who vote for the Earth.” And just as quickly as the artist surfaced, he seems to have disappeared — to live in Italy, I’m told.

E-mail bag

With documentaries being so popular these days, reader Jamie Sharp wants people to know about a group of budding movie journalists. Reel Kids Films is a company of Bay Area students, teachers and film makers who focus on social themes like violence prevention and women’s rights. Anyone interested in working on, supporting or making donations to the group’s film “Times Like These, Again” should check the Web site, http://www.reelkidsfilms.com/.

Running ‘afowl’

Wild turkey sightings are up in the hills, and it’s not just at Crogans. Lisa N. says she was playing with her 5-month-old daughter when she looked up to see one of these fine-feathered fowl in her yard. Later, when it re-appeared, she was able to capture it on camera. I’m including a photo to remind you that Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Reach Ginny Prior by phone at 510-273-9418 or on the Web at http://www.ginnyprior.com/.

Fun at Fentons: C. J. Hirschfield, executive director of Children’s Fairyland, Oakland City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, Fentons President Scott Whidden, Elvia De La Fuente and Karl Osterloh, president of the Fairyland Board of Directors, attend a kick-off fund-raiser for Children’s Fairyland at Fentons Creamery on Piedmont Avenue on July 18, National Ice Cream Day. July sales of Fentons’ Fairyland Sundae, Myrtle’s Creation and a special T-shirt will benefit the park; patrons bringing Fairyland keys to Fentons receive discounts on some items. Fentons is also celebrating its 110th anniversary this year. See http://www.fentonscreamery.com/ or call 510-658-7000 for more details.

OAKLAND IS full of surprises. Just when you think you know everything, you find out those scary rubber masks you see at Halloween are made right here in our town.

In an old metal foundry in West Oakland is a design studio so popular that its art is known worldwide. And Halloween masks are just part of what’s created at Chiodo Studios.

Much of the garden art you see today is made here, including some whimsical pieces that are being molded and designed for the new children’s section of the Oakland Zoo. Chiodo’s vice president, Francine Agapoff, showed me the pieces the other day, in a great little tour.

In a sunny spot in the back lot, a man was casting polymer on a giant purple spider. By spring, kids will be climbing on this big bug, along with a caterpillar, ladybug and a tortoise (and shell).

“It’s art with great educational value,” says zoo director Dr. Joel Parrott. “Kids will get to climb on the backs of oversized insects of real species,” he says, adding that the art goes perfectly with the new bug house, underwritten by hills businessman George Zimmer (a long time zoo supporter).

Chiodo is also designing a maze and an interactive otter den, as well as a three-dimensional mural. The total cost: $300,000.

“It’s the going rate for great interactive art,” Dr. Parrott says with a laugh, “and the kids will have a lot of fun learning.”

Escargot a go-go

Reader Al Caruso says there’s money to be made in ranching — snail ranching, that is. You just catch them, purge them (with a seven-day cornmeal diet), and they’re ready for the sauté pan — with a little white wine and garlic butter. Get enough of them and you can sell them to fancy French restaurants.

Don’t expect to make a fortune immediately, though. The profits come in at a snail’s pace. For more information, look on the web at www.snailfarming.net.

Sign of the times

Oakland’s Camera Corner is gone, but not forgotten. Owner John Hartz says the Oakland Museum wants his old sign, which has been hanging above the 13th and Broadway store since the mid-1940s.

A chemical fire forced the shop’s closure about a year ago, but the 6-by-20-foot sign is still up, and Hartz says the landlord would probably like to get rid of it. The old saying, “One man’s junk is another man’s …” comes to mind, since the museum sees the sign as a part of the city’s history.

History cruise

FDR’s floating white house is setting sail July 24 for a cruise honoring Admiral Daniel Judson Callaghan.

Reader Howard Smith says Callaghan was Roosevelt’s naval aide and was born and raised in Oakland, attending St. Elizabeth’s School. The 10 a.m. cruise is open to the public, and reservations can be made by calling 510-627-1215.

Beloved bartender

A good bartender is a therapist and a mixologist. But Luis Dehora (www.martiniman.com) has taken his job a step further. The Brazilian bartender is so popular at the Lafayette Park Hotel that customers Harold and Lee Reed have paid for his trip to Rio and back three times.

But that’s just the beginning. Another couple is so attached to Dehora, they’ve purchased plots at the cemetery next door. It has something to do with his “heavenly” spirits.

SOMETIMES this big city life gets you down. The traffic, the crowds, the clash of agendas. But then a day comes along that lifts your spirits: a day like the Fourth of July.

It starts in the morning with one of the best hometown parades in the country, in Piedmont. It’s a scene from a simpler time — the streets lined with happy faces and outstretched hands as the children clamor for candy tossed from the floats. And there are the bagpipes, the clowns and the ladies on stilts. As the years go by, the entries just get better.

Throughout the day, there are barbecues — with the grill being the center of activity. Everyone has a recipe, a favorite food to cook over the coals until the juices run clear. Those who don’t grill bring salad and side dishes, on a day when we’re free to eat just what we please.

The nightcap, of course, is the fireworks. Say what you will about the big, booming displays at Jack London Square. I like the “baby boomers” on the other side of the hill.

The town of Moraga has a sweet little fireworks display that’s easy to get to and blanket friendly. And once you’ve watched fireworks while resting on your back, you’ll never go back to standing shoulder to shoulder again.

Vandals and victims

It’s summertime, and restless teens can mean trouble. Tire slashings, mailbox thrashings and even a suspected arson fire at Montera Middle School — these are among the recent crimes that cost taxpayers and homeowners plenty.

Since the suspects are youths, police want parents to keep an eye on their kids and an ear on their conversations. Vandals sometimes brag about their deeds, and it comes back to bite them. If you hear or see any suspicious activity, call the Oakland police at 510-777-3333.

Oakland plays host

Just what is there to do in Oakland? Ask the hundreds of writers and travel promoters who attended a major tourism conference at the City Center Marriott last week.

Of the 100 “surprising” things to see and do in town (according to the Oakland Convention and Visitors Bureau), there’s the Chabot Space & Science Center, Jack London Square, downtown, Chinatown and even more out there — like the Paramount, Potomac and Preservation Park.

There’s enough to keep you busy from early morn till dark. It’s our job to accentuate the positive; and when it comes right down to it, Oakland has a big list of attractions.

Gone fishin’

They’re not much for frying, but they do a great job of keeping bugs at bay. Alameda County is offering homeowners free mosquito fish for their ponds.

Just one of these swimmers can eat up to 500 mosquitoes a day, finding the bugs most succulent during their tender young larvae stage. Mosquito fish are kind of a dull gray, but you may want to request the albino variety, which has a “pinkish hue” and may look better in your ornamental pond.

Just call the county’s mosquito abatement district at 510-783-7744 to order your fish and find out other ways to prevent West Nile virus from spreading in Oakland.

Freebie alert

Thanks to readers who told me that one of the best ways to sell a car is on craigslist. With no fee and a simple signup, I posted my 2001 Prius on this Web site and had several offers within days. Compare this to the complicated procedure on eBay, where it costs $40 to sell. Sometimes cheaper is better!