Montclair Lions Club member Bill Scramstad, right, is shown collecting eggs from young collectors during the Montclair Lions Club annual Easter egg hunt on April 12, 2009. Longtime Safeway managers Scramstad and John Lake recently retired after each working for Safeway for 41 years. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff archives)

MONTCLARION: November 25, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving! If your life is anything like mine, you’ve got a full tummy and a full house. But as sluggish as you may feel, you’ve got a job to do today, so you might as well get to it. Continue reading →

Award-winning Gather restaurant in Berkeley specializes in Northern California food, innovative craft cocktails and West Coast wines. Gather is headed by Executive Chef Charis Wahl. (Courtesy of Gather restaurant)

MONTCLARION: November 18, 2016

They call this place Gather, and gather we did on a mild moonlit night four days after Trump won the presidency. The Berkeley restaurant at 2200 Oxford St. was buzzing and the foursome next to us was digesting the results of the vote as they supped on small plates of steamed mussels and white sea Continue reading →

The Book Tree, 6121 La Salle Ave., in Montclair Village, hosts acclaimed chef Linda Carucci, left, in conversation with food trend expert Kara Nielsen at 7 p.m. Nov. 10. Carucci recently published the second edition of her popular “Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks.” She is featured here with Book Tree owner David Hartsough. (Courtesy of Barbara Hardacre)

MONTCLARION: Nov 4, 2016

Growing old in Montclair can be hazardous to your health. In the wake of yet another accident involving a car into a storefront, (a 96-year-old man mistook the gas pedal for the brake) I’ve come to the conclusion that driving around here must be hell for the elderly. Can you imagine navigating the traffic, the hills, the bicyclists and the winding roads? Continue reading →

MONTCLARION: November 8, 2016

The Town Crier is cranky today. Please don’t say it’s hormonal — I’m much too young for a mid-life crisis. Rather, it’s a deep-seeded disappointment in how some people behave. Continue reading →

MONTCLARION: Sept 30, 2016

How much dough could a woodshop raise if a woodshop could raise dough? Just look on Eric Runge’s GoFundMe page, which he started to support the Montera Middle School woodshop. Continue reading →

Two residents engage in a vain attempt to save a home on Contra Costa Road as a wall of fame sweeps toward them from Lake Temescal during the firestorm in Oakland, Calif. Sunday Oct. 20, 1991. (Karl Mondon/Staff) NOTE: Scans made from negatives in 2011 for 20th anniversary project.

MONTCLARION: October 6, 2016

Where were you on Oct. 20, 1991, when the firestorm ravaged the Oakland hills? If you lived here, you most surely remember the day — even if you’d like to forget it. Continue reading →