OAKLAND TRIBUNE: October 29, 2010
Friday the 13th. On the list of Hallmark holidays, this one rarely makes the cut. But for Alamedan Victor Miller, it’s the luckiest day of the year. Miller wrote the terrifying screenplay for Friday the 13th back in 1980 and 30 years later, he’s still hearing from fans.
“On Friday the 13th I spend the day answering e-mails,” he says. “And smiling.” Continue reading
Savannah's haunted cemetary in the center of town
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: October 29, 2010
Ghosts are good for business. That’s what an innkeeper in San Diego once told me. She was referring, of course, to friendly ghosts — not specters who misbehave.
Truth be told, she had apparition envy, as many hotel owners do — especially when they’re living in the shadows of one of America’s great haunted properties, the Hotel Del Coronado. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: October 29, 2010
Halloween is here, and it couldn’t come at a better time. I think we could all use a break from reality.
Yet despite the silliness of this spirited celebration, we insist on wearing costumes that remind us of the very things we are trying to forget. The National Retail Federation says witches, vampires and pirates are the big sellers this year — along with Lady Gaga. I get enough of these characters in the news — I don’t need to party with them. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: October 22, 2010
Score one for the good guys. Fed up with a recent rash of home burglaries, Montclair neighbors have helped catch a man who has “copped” to the crimes.
It was a homeowner’s video surveillance system that initiated the search for the thief, who was captured on camera removing property from a house Oct. 7. Less than a week later, a Montclair beat officer spotted the suspect’s silver pickup truck near Mountain and Florence Terrace and made the arrest. Continue reading
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: October 15, 2010
When Elfie Larkin was little, she had weak lungs. Today, at 98, she’s outlived everyone she knows. What’s this Oakland woman’s secret to long life and happiness? Her spirit tells the story.
As she shows me around her neatly kept home on its tree-lined and freshly-mowed lot, she talks about what keeps her going. Coffee in the morning (“I don’t know how people get along without coffee,” she says) and a gourmet dinner with a glass of red wine every night. “I really treat myself,” she says, “with things like filet mignon and chicken.” Continue reading
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: October 15, 2010
America’s beautiful people are alive and well and living in Fort Lauderdale. One visit to this yachting mecca in autumn and you see that gold runs through the veins of their waterways.
An incredible spectacle of money amasses each year at the end of October. It’s the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, where the most opulent yachts in the world are on display. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: October 15, 2010
I’m penning this column in honor of California Writers Week.
At a time when the written word seems muted by talk radio and cable TV, I can’t help but feel a little vulnerable. The ones with the loudest voices seem to survive, leaving me to wonder if I should be writing IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
Yet writers have been around as long as there have been cave walls and rocks. In the Bay Area, members of the California Writers Club kick off their second 100 years in existence this weekend. Writers of every genre and level of experience are welcome to attend the organization’s monthly meetings at the Oakland Main Library. For more information, go to www.calwriters.org. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: October 8, 2010
Talk about adding insult to injury. You come home to find your house has been robbed — and the city of Oakland has charged you $312 for nailing a board across your front door. It’s like being ripped off twice.
“The simple nailing of the board will bill out more expensive than it cost me to completely rebuild the door frame,” writes a furious reader, who wants his name kept private. Continue reading
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: October 1, 2010
When Harvey Hyman was a boy, he dreamed of being a marine biologist. He must have been dreaming in color — because his thoughts were consumed with clown fish and yellow tangs.
But like many youngsters from professional families (his father, both uncles and older brother were doctors), Hyman felt pressure to be something more powerful and profitable than a man who worked with the sea. So he became an attorney and, after 25 years of soul-numbing stress, he crashed into a severe depression. Continue reading
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: October 1, 2010
There are days when I feel like nothing is mine — not the towel on the rack, not the change on my vanity, not even the half a burrito I was saving for later. But when I visit San Francisco in autumn — I feel like I own the place.
Consider a city so loved, it’s practically strangled in summer. But as the days shorten, so do the lines at the cable car turnaround and other popular tourist attractions. That’s when I feel like Herb Caen. That’s when it’s my city, baby. Continue reading
Ginny Prior 