I took the bike on a ride through West Oakland this morning. My initial goal was to revisit the steel sculptures we saw the other day. They’re very interesting up close. The kowtowing figure on the southeast corner of the intersection is easily accessible and photographable. These are magnificent, fanciful compositions.

My secondary interest was in finding the new lofts in the old Pacific Cannery building. This is a project developed by an old friend, Rick. I’ve been wanting to see the development and I knew it was over on the edge of West Oakland. I headed west from Mandela Parkway on 16th Street and the first landmark I recognized was the old Oakland Railroad Station at Wood and 16th. The joy of discovery was quickly tempered as I saw the state of the station.

My brother Jon and I took at train trip together when we were young, from Oakland to Seattle to hike with some friends in the Cascade mountains. We boarded the train in the majestic station at 16th and Wood for that trip. It would have been the summer of 1973. I was 15, Jon was 14. I remember thinking, even then, that the building was in a pretty sorry state of repair. It was obviously a building that had a glorious past, but shrinking rail ridership meant too few passengers to fill the building. It felt lonely, and a little run down.

Today, as I caught a first glimpse I was transported back to 1973. Just as quickly, though, that memory disappeared to be replaced by an image of decay. The building suffered significant damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It’s been boarded up for over 20 years, waiting to be rescued from the ravages of time. Vandals and nature have taken a costly toll. Today, the building is a stark and graphic symbol of the extent to which our nation has abandoned its railway infrastructure.

Apparently the the building may yet be saved. As part of the development of the Central Station neighborhood (hundreds of condominiums and apartments of which the Pacific Cannery Lofts are just a small part) the old decaying station was acquired by Bridge Housing. A plan for restoring the building and putting back to use is on the drawing boards.

Of course the railroad has long since found another route through Oakland, and now the trains come and go from a new station near Jack London Square. The developers of the surrounding apartment and condominium complexes have paid homage to the station, replicating the ironwork landing platform in a decorative installation near the new apartments. The whole neighborhood now sports an interesting collection of housing. The new developments sit cheek by jowl with industrial buildings and little houses built in the early 1900s. Some of those houses have been (or are being) lovingly restored or updated. Others seem like they may not have been painted in several decades. It’s an awkward time in this section of West Oakland. Gentrification is not an easily managed (or an entirely positive) process.

I look forward to seeing the old train station remodeled and open to visitors. Even if it never serves another railroad passenger it would be a shame to let it decay any further. And I hope the new Central Station neighborhood is able to preserve some of its character and culture even as new developments grow around the station.

UPDATE: On my way home I passed the African American Museum and Library on 14th Street in Downtown. Oaktown Art has a great entry about the museum today. »

On occasion I find topics to write about which don’t fit into the Back To Oakland framework. When that happens I pop over to my other blog, mark.hurty.net to reflect on those things that interest me. That blog started out as a place for me to express my thoughts during the 2008 Presidential election campaign, so there are still articles in the archive related to that season. At that time the blog was called (with no humility at all) veritas. I’ve since come to my senses and removed the pretense and just offer the content as a self titled journal of things I’m thinking about. Feel free to join me in conversation there if you feel so inclined.

February is a big month. I have my final interview for Teach For America. And of course one of our favorite holidays of the year rolls around on the 14th. The feast of St. Valentine is a day we celebrate with gusto. I’m still having a hard time getting used to the idea that February weather is like spring here in Oakland. No complaints. I think we’ll plan to celebrate Valentines day with a trip to the beach.

We ran into some interesting art today. There’s a fenced lot at the corner of 20th Street and Mandela Parkway in which there are two mammoth sculptures made of scrap iron. One is kneeling and the other is sitting in the lotus position. Kitty corner from that lot is another sculpture of a figure, kowtowing, facing his friends across the intersection. They are beautiful pieces of art. I wish the two larger pieces were not fenced in — it’s difficult to get close enough to take in the textured detail. Perhaps they will eventually move to a more open location.

We found these sculptures while driving along the Mandela Parkway from Emeryville into downtown Oakland. Another thing we passed along the way was the Loma Prieta Earthquake memorial and park. I’m heading back tomorrow on my bike when I have a little more time to explore. It looks interesting.

While we were walking in the neighborhood this afternoon we passed a gray cat sitting on a balcony watching the passersby. Oh, to lead the life of this happy cat. He sat patiently and watched me with detached amusement as I fumbled to capture his image with my cellphone camera. As we walked away I pondered Garrison Keillor’s line, “cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.”

Inspired by DC at Fragmentary Evidence I rolled out of Adams Point on my bike this morning, heading for the Bridgeview Trail through the Sausal Creek watershed. I’d walked this trail a long time ago — when I was a kid. (In fact I smoked the only cigarette I ever smoked along the side of this trail with a high school buddy. Mike and his family used to live on Leimert just above the trail and we slipped out one afternoon to taste the forbidden tobacco. I thought Mike was pretty cool, and sharing a smoke seemed like manly act of bonding. I remain friends with Mike, but the cigarette experience was a real letdown.)

This morning I pointed the bike up Grand then south on MacArthur Blvd, east on Park, south on Leimert, east again on Bridgeview to the trailhead where the road dead ends. The first half a mile of the trail was not problematic, even considering the mud produced by this weeks rains. At the top of the trail, though, just before it intersects with Monterey Blvd (the frontage road along the west side of the Warren Freeway) I encountered a very muddy, steep set of switchbacks and stairs. There used to be a cable suspension bridge over the creek at this location—the anchors for the cables are still visible on the ground—but the bridge is gone, so one must slip and slide all the way to the bottom of the ravine to cross the babbling creek. This was a get-off-the-bike-and-walk section of the trail. I encountered several walkers (most with dogs) on the ride up the trail, but no other bikes. When I got to the switchbacks I realized why. This is a great trail for walking, and in the future I’ll incorporate it into foot based exploring.

One of the great things about the top part of the trail is the redwood forest. There are many trees in the 30 inch diameter range, probably 80-100 feet tall — a great little forest within easy pedestrian range of our urban neighborhood. It’s one of the best things about Oakland — our city encompasses some incredibly beautiful and rich natural environments. Add to that our great collection of public art, great restaurants, farmers markets, and friendly people and you have a pretty darned livable city.

Now if we can just teach the squirrel who was rooting around in the planters on the terrace this morning not to dig up our flowers, we’re golden.

Riding home from the grocery store on my bike this morning I decided to take the long route around the lake for a little exercise. As I was rolling along Lakeshore I saw a bunch of kids (they looked like they were 5th graders) with nets pulling garbage out of the lake. I saw a different group of kids doing the same thing last week. These kids said they were on a field trip, and as I continued my ride I saw other small groups of kids with nets on the other side of the lake. A few weeks ago when I was walking I saw a couple of adults with garbage bags cleaning the shoreline along 12th Street across from the Oakland Auditorium.

All this cleaning got me curious. A quick Google search provided some answers. There’s a non-profit organization which is devoted to the cleaning and preservation of Lake Merritt. The Lake Merritt Institute has a contract with the City of Oakland to clean the lake. The organization relies on volunteers and if you’re interested in lending a hand you can stop by and grab a net and gloves near the sailboat house on Bellevue in Lakeside Park. If you prefer to work as part of a larger team, Hands On Bay Area organizes monthly clean up/habitat restoration projects. You can sign up to participate at the Hands On website.

I checked the schedule for the Hands On project and they are already at capacity for volunteers for their February and March dates, so it looks like you need to sign up early to get in on the fun. I have to say that the kids I talked to this morning seemed like they were having a great time. I think it’s fantastic that local citizens are taking direct responsibility for keeping the lake clean.

After dinner on Wednesday Desi gave Anna and me a copy of the magazine he and the artists in the Community Rejuvenation Project produced last summer: S.W.E.A.R. — Street Warriors Enacting Artistic Revolution. The magazine documents the art made as part of their Summer 2009 project.

The magazine (and Desi) got me interested in the mural art we see around Oakland. Some of it is painted on commission, but much of it is painted without permission. It’s a fascinating scene. Today I found a website, Oaktown Art I hadn’t seen before which curates the public art on display in Oakland, including a rich sampling of murals and graffiti. What a great website—my daily browsing schedule just got longer.

The top article on Oaktown Art (on Jan 28) is about Desi, the S.W.E.A.R. magazine, and the Community Rejuvenation Project. Hop on over and give it a read. And spend a few minutes scrolling down the page for more about public art in Oakland. The site also features a google map page that locates all the art that she finds and writes about.

Anna and I decided to see Avatar last night at the Grand Lake Theatre. It’s a 15 minute walk from our apartment. After an early supper (home made soft tacos with a nice shredded cabbage salsa that Anna threw together) we stepped out for a pleasant stroll up Grand Avenue.

We left a little early so that we could grab a cup of coffee at the Day of the Dead Cafe next to the theatre. Cute place. There were half a dozen people inside working on laptops and watching the cafe’s large screen TV. Smokey poured us a couple of cups and we sat outside and sipped for a few minutes before buying tickets for the show.

We grabbed a couple of the bags of popcorn that the Grand Lake gives away on weeknights and chose our seats. The 3D glasses are pretty clunky looking (I enjoyed sneaking a peek at Anna in hers—it made me laugh), but the effect is pretty sweet. One of the trailers was for the 3D version of Tim Burton’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland, and it looked great. (It looks good in 2D, too — 3D just accentuates Burton’s already heightened visual reality.)

Avatar was a very engaging film. If you’re one of the few people left who haven’t seen it, treat yourself to a nice evening out. The story is a bit over the top — melodramatic is probably a fair description — but the visual world James Cameron creates is stunning, totally worth the price of admission.

We wrapped the evening with the short walk back down Grand Avenue. I have to remind myself that it’s January — walking to the movies in the dead of winter was not something we’ve done for the past several years.

The beautiful, warm weather called and I replied with a short walk to Lakeside Park. Anna and I needed to go to the California Department of Motor Vehicles today to take care of some business. (After waiting in line for about half an hour to get to the “Start Here” desk we found we didn’t have all the paperwork we needed. Rats. We met a really nice clerk at the desk, though, and she set us up for appointments in February so we’ll be going back then and avoid further lines.) Anyway… I didn’t have time for a long walk so I just made a little loop down Perkins to the edge of the lake and then back to the north through the park.

I passed the bird sanctuary and a little duck pond and the building that houses the Oakland Junior Center of Art and Science. Next to that is the place where you can rent little sailboats and kayaks to putter around the lake. I’m definitely going to go back and relive my childhood there by renting a little boat and taking it out for a sail.

The gate to the gardens was open so I popped through for a short visit. The Garden center features an eclectic collection of gardens. The Golden State Bonsai Collection is there, as well as a large palm garden. There are several community tended vegetable plots and other ornamental plantings and plantings of native and drought tolerant plants. The garden may not be at it’s most beautiful in midwinter, but it was nice to see so many people walking around and enjoying the sun.

Next to the Garden Center is the Oakland Lawn Bowling Club. No bowlers today, but I will be checking back on warm spring Sunday afternoons. I recall seeing older gents in white clothes and white straw hats bowling here when I was a kid. It’s a genteel sport. I may be just about old enough now to qualify for the label “older gent.” (If not “gent” at least “older dude,” or, as my cousin Brita might say, “old fart.”) I already have the right kind of hat. I just need to shop around for some white pants and shoes.

I won’t claim to have any particularly novel insight into the greatness of J.D. Salinger, but I didn’t want the day to pass without recognizing his death. Franny and Zooey is on the very top of my all-time great books list. The New York Times has a good piece about the enigmatic writer.

Anna and I were invited to Susan and Andrew’s for dinner tonight. They served what Andrew called a “Moroccan themed” meal. Delicious. We started with olives, dolmas, pita, cheese and a very tasty spinach pastry. The salad course was lightly roasted eggplant slices and a rainbow carrot salad (accented with a delicious lemon juice and cilantro dressing). The main course was a lamb stew with apricots and squash accompanied by couscous with mushrooms and chickpeas. A sweet mint tea was a delicious companion to the meal. Anna made a brownie pie topped with almond whipped cream and chocolate shavings. We managed to polish off the brownie with little trouble. What a meal.

Joining us for dinner was artist/beat boxer Desi W.O.M.E. (Weapons of Mass Expression). Desi is originally from Chicago and a really interesting dinner companion. He’s also a community organizer and teacher. You can see his murals on many Oakland buildings (we drove by one of his pieces on our way home from dinner — 28th Street and Martin Luther King). He really piqued my interest in mural art, and I’ll need to take a bike tour soon and hunt down more of his stuff. (It was too dark to take a picture of the building we saw tonight.)

Conversation at the table was fascinating. Susan is a writer and journalist. Andrew is brilliant. Desi is fascinating. Even Susan’s dog Winston (who was named for and closely resembled Winston Churchill) was friendly. Nothing makes for a more pleasant evening than a meal shared with friends.

One of the great benefits of living in Oakland is that it affords us easy access to world class venues for music, art, theatre, and dance. I hopped on BART this evening and met Casey at the SF Opera House. We bought standing room tickets for the SF Ballet production of Swan Lake. Of course it was great. I was totally out of the habit of watching a classical story ballet, and it takes a bit to wrap your mind around some of the conventions (anachronisms?), but by the fifth act I was in the swing of things.

Helgi Tomasson’s staging is different than I had expected. The choreography is very traditional — no surprise there — but the sets and costumes were surprising. He added some video sequences of flying swans (I assume they use Isadora to control the projections) and used projected scenery on the scrim behind the main set pieces. It was beautifully done and delightfully danced. There’s a sequence in the first act with child dancers and even they looked polished and professional.

The orchestra played beautifully. The strings were lush, and the harpist was sensational. As I was listening I recalled that my brother and I studied conducting with a former music director and conductor of the SF Ballet, Denis de Coteau. He was a terrific teacher, and I know that his encouragement was especially inspirational to Jon. Hearing the orchestra tonight reminded me that I will not be able to see Jon conduct the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Carmina Burana next week. I’m sad to miss that — I’m proud of Jon. I would have enjoyed singing the Carmina Burana with him, too.

Since we stood throughout the performance, Casey and I found a place to give our legs a rest during intermission. The ballet is a great occasion for people watching. During the second intermission we ran into George Schultz and Charlotte Maillard and said “hi.” That was fun. She looks great as ever. And of course she never let on that she had no idea who we were. (We’ve met before but I harbor no illusions that she would remember.)

I took a little walk this morning. Rather than take a full lap around the lake I decided to spend a little quality time with just the shoreline between Perkins and El Embarcadero. I picked up a latté at Coffee With a Beat. Someone had thrown a brick through one of their windows late on Saturday night or early Sunday morning. It also broke their neon sign. Jamila said they hoped their insurance would cover the cost of replacing the sign, but they don’t know for sure. Very sad.

Coffee in hand, I strolled down to the edge of the lake and chose a peace bench looking over the bird sanctuary. (All the benches have been painted and have hand lettered messages of peace.) The bench I chose quoted Abraham Lincoln: “The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” There was an older gent feeding pigeons and seagulls. Several joggers and walkers passed by, taking advantage of the cool-yet-not-too-rainy morning.

Strolling northeast, I reached the well grooved labyrinth. The walkway is deeply cut into the lawn, so it was too muddy to use this morning. If the Park and Recreation department would fill the paths with river pebbles it would still be very walkable, even while wet. I’ll write and suggest it to them.

Surrounding the labyrinth are several California liveoaks. The bark on these particular specimens is deeply grooved, echoing the deeply cut pathways of labyrinth they shade. I can’t tell if this is a healthy condition of the bark or if they have some sort of disease, but the bark is very interesting, and the leaves of the tree showed no particular signs of poor health. On the other side of the walking path, right next to the lake are a series of small, shrubby trees. These trees also feature a deeply grooved bark. I don’t know what kind of plant this is, but they appear to have been planted here a long time ago.

Reaching the colonnade and embarcadero at the east end of the lake, I was struck by the significant expanse of newly planted turf grass. I realize that the monocultural expanse is aesthetically smooth, and offers a clean canvas of negative space in the landscape design. But it’s sad that the city chose not to plant hearty, native, drought resistant plants in this area. It might have been beautiful, required less maintenance (no mowing, weeding, chemical applications, etc.) and offered local wildlife and birds a welcoming habitat.

Today marks the first full month in our new neighborhood. Anna moved out in early November, and I was here for Thanksgiving weekend, but I arrived late on the evening of December 21, so I’m observing the 22nd as my official first month in town. So far I’m really loving the process of getting to know my old friend Oakland.

One thing I’m especially happy about is how infrequently I need to get in the car. This past month I’ve spent a decent amount of time on my bike(s) and put quite a few miles on a couple pairs of shoes. Groceries are now easily accessible on foot or by bike, and the weather has been very pleasant and accommodating for the pedestrian lifestyle (for the most part). The little rain we’ve hasn’t really been all that inconvenient, and since it’s generally pretty warm here, even in the dead of winter, I have only had to put on a coat 3 or 4 times. Most days I can get away with a sweatshirt or my fleece vest.

Living in a two bedroom apartment is a bit of a challenge. I didn’t realize how much stuff we had stored in our various and abundant storage locations in Moline, but Anna has done a nice job of thinning out the things we really don’t need. And she’s made our place very livable and pleasant. Our garden now consists of a few potted plants on our front “terrace” — really a small deck. The garden also includes a few of Justin’s older art pieces. We live on a pretty busy street, and it’s kind of fun to watch people walking by — it’s an interesting, eclectic crowd.

I haven’t yet seen many birds on our bird feeder, but it’s fun to watch the seagulls circling in the sky outside. Walking around Lake Merritt has acquainted us with cormorants, egrets, and of course the usual ducks and geese one expects to see around a lake. I’m loving the several coffee houses within easy biking distance. It’s nice to have my folks just a couple of blocks away. And when we get a hankerin’ for nachos, it’s really nice to be able to walk around the corner and have a plateful of the tasty goods at Los Cantaros.

It wouldn’t be fair to say I don’t miss Moline. I still wake up in the morning thinking about our yard full of trees, our good friends, my brother and his family, the interesting species of birds, and of course our old pal, Tucker. I miss snow. I don’t miss the ice, and word has it that it’s been pretty icy back there for the past couple of days. I’ll be back in the midwest for a couple of months in the spring to direct a production of Anton Chekov’s The Seagull at Augustana, so I’m hoping to reconnect with some of those things I’ve missed.

Home is here, now, though, and when I visit Moline later this year, I’m sure I’ll miss the great things I’ve grown so fond of here in Oakland.

Have a great weekend!

I mentioned yesterday that I’d seen a handful of broken umbrella’s strewn on downtown Oakland sidewalks. When the drizzle finally let up this afternoon I hopped on the ol’ Schwinn cruiser for a quick turn around the lake. I was not surprised to see another dead umbrella. Sadly, though, this particular cast-off was not on the sidewalk, it was in the middle of the street and cars were rolling over it, adding to the damage done by the weather. The cloth which covered the cheaply made mechanical structure was an American flag, so I parked my bike to retrieve the umbrella from the middle of the street.

The damage was significant. I propped it up next to the street by sticking the handle into a garbage can with the flag end waving in the breeze.