Beast Blog

Great East Bay Book Stores!

bookstores are wonderful places, and independent book stores are even more so! the east bay has plenty of great indie bookstores.

my four fave books stores in the East Bay are:

1. A Great Good Place For Books, 6120 La Salle Avenue, Montclair District.

when i first walked in, i was greeted by the owner. she was one of those people that was helpful without being pushy. she asked about my lit preferences, and was able to recommend some great titles that i hadn't read based on who i liked. she is also one of the people working on "West Coast Live" (a public radio program), so she gets great authors coming through the area to read there.

2. Pegasus/Pendragon Books:
(3 East Bay Locations)-
2349 Shattuck Avenue, (Berkeley, Downtown)
5560 College Avenue, (Oakland, Rockridge)
1855 Solano Avenue, (Albany, Solano Stroll)

i love this independent mini-chain for several reasons: knowledgable staff, excellent recommendations, cheap book tables (great gift store!), and their annial calendar sale. (wait til Jan 1st to get the new year's calendar & you'll save save save! it's an east bay tradition to shop for calendars on Jan 1st here!)

3.
5433 College Avenue, Oakland (Rockridge)

We Get Press Releases - A Taste of Albany

The Beast Blog knows it's reached the big time when Chambers of Commerce send in stuff. We don't print everything we get, but this seemed of quality and interest:

A Taste of Albany, Sunday, June 5th   Set yourself free! at the fourth annual "A Taste of Albany -- a Small-Town Walkabout," Sunday, June 5th, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Solano and San Pablo Avenues. Tickets available at www.albanychamber.org. Price: $20 in advance, $25 day of event (if available). Price includes tastes from 18 of Albany's finest restaurants, including Fonda, the Solano Grill and Bar, Albany Bistro, and Ruen Pair, to name a few, and special promotions from over a dozen other businesses in town. The festival features 12 live bands, featuring ORIXA and Otis Goodnight, an arts-and-crafts show, two free cable car shuttles, a "Kiddyland," jugglers, magicians, and more. "A Taste of Albany" is a "green" event.    (Note to editor: Twenty percent of any profits will be donated to the Oakland Center for the Blind and victims of the south Asian tsunami. Additional donations made to support music, art, theater, and sports in local schools.)

Foodie Trip Report

On Chowhound, a poster provides a lengthy report of her eating over 8 days in the Bay Area, much of it in the East Bay.

Film Bums' Paradise in Emeryville on July 17

Bums' Paradise, a well-reviewed film about the residents of the Albany Bulb and their efforts to fight so-called redevelopment and eviction, is coming to Lola's Outdoor Film Frenzy in Emeryville, 1280 65th Street, Emeryville, between Hollis and Doyle, on Saturday, July 17th, at 8:30 pm. I've wanted to see the film ever since I read about how it was made, by letting the residents of the Albany Bulb encampment film themselves, in a sad article about the death of one of its stars. I hope to make it to the screening myself.

The filmmakers, who will be present, say "So grab you[r] chair and blanket and come lounge beneath the stars at Lola's Film Frenzy." Only $7, no one turned away for lack of funds. More details on venue and film available here.

Cross-blogged at The Berkeley Blog.

Chocolate and Chalk Art Festival - May 29

It's chocolate week on Beast Blog!

From my inbox:

CHOCOLATE & CHALK ART ON SOLANO The sidewalks along the entire length of Solano Avenue in Berkeley and Albany are the target of artists young and old, professional and greenhorn during the 8th annual CHOCOLATE & CHALK ART ON SOLANO on Saturday, May 29.

With no fees to artists, areas of sidewalk will be assigned to participants to create their own fanciful chalk paintings. Registration takes place 9-5 in three locations on Solano: 1561 @ Peralta Park; 1850 @ Andronico's Market.; and 1216 @ YMCA Kid's Club. Artist's chalk and a Polaroid of their finished work are available for a fee. To encourage early registration, a raffle for merchandise donated by local businesses will be drawn at noon from the names of registered artists.

Buy a packet of $1 tickets for $10 at any of the registration sites for CHOCOLATE SAMPLING. The menu features delectable brownies, yummy rich chocolate cake, Brooklyn'€™s "My-T-Fine" chocolate pudding, and spicy chocolate mole burritos as well as the stranger chocolate fried wontons, chocolate raspberry body paint for adults, and chocolate covered ants! Spend your tickets on these
delights in the Solano Avenue businesses flying festival banners. Music & balloons fill the air, street poets slam on the corners, there are pet adoptions at Peralta Park, and there are many more surprises as you stroll along the sidewalks viewing the artwork which remains in place for the next two weeks.

Unfurling of the SPRING ART STREET BANNERS which have been individually painted by 150 members of the community will complete the cycle of art above and below!
Sponsored by the Solano Avenue Association
510/527-5358
www.solanoave.org.

CHOCOLATE & CHALK ART FESTIVAL
SATURDAY, MAY 29, 2004

All along Solano Avenue from The Alameda in Berkeley to San Pablo Ave. in
Albany
9AM-5PM Chalk Artists draw on sidewalks
9AM-5PM or from store openings to closings
Look for the stores with brown festival pennants to redeem your
tickets for items listed on the Chocolate Menu

Peralta Park, 1561 Solano Ave., Berkeley
9AM-5PM Registration of Chalk Artists
Information, Chocolate Menus, Chocolate Tickets (10 for $10)
SAA Headquarters booth, First Aid
12 Noon Artist's raffle at SAA HQ booth
12-4 PM Berkeley Animal Care Pet Adoptions

Andronico's Market, 1850 Solano Ave., Berkeley
9AM-5PM Registration of Chalk Artists
Information, Chocolate Menus, Chocolate Tickets

YMCA Kid's Club, 1216 Solano Ave., Albany
9AM-5PM Registration of Chalk Artists
Information, Chocolate Menus, Chocolate Tickets

ENTERTAINMENT
Papel Picado demonstrations 11-3 1564 Solano @ Gathering Tribes
Poet - Chokwadi 1-2 1580 Solano @ Solano Cellars
Mike Glendinning - Guitarist 1-3 1115 Solano @ Albany Theatre
Carol Denney & Jim Nelson 1-3 1850 Solano @ Andronico'€™s
Pat Ryan'€™s Celtic Junket 11-1 1744 Solano @ Pharmaca
Featherlight the Clown 11-3 1224 Solano @ Sweet Potatoes
Poet - Tony Caine 2-3 1561 Solano @ Peralta Park
Poet - Selene Steese 12-1 1497 Solano @ High Tech Burrito
Poet - Louis Cuneo 3-4 1745 Solano @ Sue Johnson'€™s
Poet - Jim Williams 3-4 1561 Solano @ Peralta Park
Dana Smith &
His Performing Dog Lacey 3-5 1275 Solano @ Key Route
Gassy Bones 3-5 1423 Solano @ Gordo'€™s

CHOCOLATE MENU

Artbeat Salon 1887 Solano Cacao Eye Liner by Aveda $11
Noah'€™s New York Bagels 1883 Solano Chocolate Chip Mini Bagels 3/$2
KNA Copy Centre 1865 Solano Chocolate Colored Note Pad 1/Free
Andronico'€™s Market 1850 Solano Adult Thick Chocolate Brownie $5
A.G. Ferrari Foods 1843 Solano Gianduja Chocolate Brownie $1
Peet'€™s Coffee & Tea 1825 Solano Chocolate Covered Blueberries $6
Ideas 4 Elements 1774 Solano Real Swiss Chocolate 'Clogs' $1
Pharmaca Pharmacy 1744 Solano Chocolate Raspberry Body Paint $10
Pharmaca Pharmacy 1744 Solano Organic Milk or Dark Chocolate Bar $2
Pharmaca Pharmacy 1744 Solano Milk Chocolate Calcium Chews $8
Pharmaca Pharmacy 1744 Solano European Chocolate Orange Soap $4
Pharmaca Pharmacy 1744 Solano Mexican Cocoa Votive Candle $2
Tangerine Food Bar 1707 Solano Dutch Cocoa Hot or Cold $2
King Tsin Restaurant 1699 Solano Chocolate Fried Wontons $3
Bone Room 1569 Solano Chocolate Covered Ants $2
Frishman'€™s NY Deli & Bakery 1561 Solano Ortman'€™s Chocolate Ice Cream $2
Frishman'€™s NY Deli & Bakery 1561 Solano Brooklyn'€™s '€˜My-T-Fine'€™ Chocolate Pudding $2
Frishman'€™s NY Deli & Bakery 1561 Solano Rich Chocolate Homemade Brownie $2
Seven-Eleven Food Store 1540 Solano King Size Hershey Bar $1
High Tech Burrito 1497 Solano Spicy Chocolate Mole Chicken Burrito $6
Sophia Cafe 1247 Solano Chocolate Covered Marzipan Fingers $2
Celadon Fine Teas 1111 Solano Yummy Rich Chocolate Cake $3
Max'€™s Liquor 865 San Pablo Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich $2

Bum's Paradise showing May 13th

As demonstrated in previous posts, The Beast Blog is a big fan of the documentary Bum's Paradise, about the indigent/artist community residing on the Albany Bulb.

If you haven't yet seen it, here's another chance:

----
Thursday, May 13th @ 7pm
Albany High School Library
603 Key Route Blvd, Albany, CA, USA

Sponsored by Embracing Diversity Films
free - DONATIONS ENCOURAGED - site is wheelchair accessible
Robert “Rabbit” Barringer and filmmaker Tomas McCabe will be present for Q&A.
----

China Village: Chowhound Find

In trying to find a tasty place that could comfortably seat 12 in Albany, I resorted to Chowhound.com. A restaurant which kept coming up is China Village on Solano. The Chowhounds noted it for it's authentic Sichuan cuisine (which you have to ask for specially -- most gweilo are given the American Chinese menu).

Well, the restaurant is not much to look at from the outside, but the meal we discovered inside was delightful. Here's what was left of it:

Particular favorites included a fish soup with chilis, cumin lamb, pork shoulder, boiled beef, and eggplant.

Signage Silliness

Whomever dandies up the marquee for the The Albany Twin Theater on Solano Avenue clearly has too much fun. Always interspersed with the film titles are delightful bits of goofiness. A past favorite of mine was, "Just Like The PBS, Only Bigger!"

With that, we present what we hope is the first in a series, What's Up At Albany Twin:

Poor taste, maybe. Funny, yes!

Stop for a Sandwich

While Zarri's Delicatessen isn't unknown to Albany locals, a Google search for this Solano Avenue sandwich-spot comes up fairly thin. This may be because the specialties at Zarri's remain unmoved by food fashion - you can get a basic meat and cheese sandwich for a few bucks (choose from bologna, mortadella, roast beef, pastrami, prosciutto, etc.) - but don't expect any bunny-foods or tapenade on it. Add to this, though, a decent selection of sliced deli meats and sausages; italian, swedish, and american cheeses; snack foods from European cookies and candies to Tim's potato chips; cheap wines; and a variety of Italian groceries such as inexpensive dried pasta, anchovies, and canned goods, and you get a fully satisfying experience. I always walk away from Zarri's with more than I'd planned - today it was my usual 1/2lb. of sliced pastrami (wrapped in white paper) and a $0.99 package of hazelnut-cream filled wafer cookies. Other days I've come home with colourful Jordan almonds, bargain-priced pine nuts, and sourdough rolls (from the Maggiora Bakery in Richmond).

If you really want a tomato on that sandwich, you can walk next door to Happy Produce, an Asian grocery market with a variety of fresh and prepared goods. I always look closely at what I buy there - some items spend a little too long on display and get mushy or moldy - although I have to give it to Happy Produce that when I wanted to make Tom Ka Gai, they had a galangal root.

Zarri's Delicatessen is at 1244 Solano Avenue in Albany, about five blocks east of San Pablo Avenue.