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More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Now that the long-awaited Lake Chalet is open, one would think everyone in Oakland's happy that it's done and the boathouse is restored. But no. I'm told some Oakland councilmembers are still upset over a vote that took place three years ago. So much so they won't even set foot in the Lake Chalet! Let's go back three years to 2006, when San Francisco restaurateurs Lara and Gar Trupelli, known for the Beach Chalet and Park Chalet restaurants, were selected over the always good and very popular Everett & Jones Barbeque, in Jack London Square. The Oakland City Council was deadlocked four in favor of the Beach Chalet proposal and four against it. Specifically, Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland), Oakland Councilmembers Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland), Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary), and Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) against the Beach Chalet pro

OAKLANDISH PRESENTS THE 4th ANNUAL RADIO REGATTA When: TODAY! Sunday, August 23rd, 1:00-7:00pm Where: Lake Merritt Sailboat House, 568 Bellevue Avenue (inside Lakeside Park) What: Oaklandish's biggest event of the year! Inluding DJ's, free gondola rides, and half-priced boat rentals. "The music the DJ's will be spinning in the Boathouse will be micro-FM broadcast out across the lake, so folks can tune in and enjoy it while out on the water in the summer sun. Bring a portable radio if you have one, and money if you want to pick up an Oaklandish tee from the Mobile Ops truck, make a donation to support free events like this, or buy artwork from the Innovators winners. We will enjoy beer from Linden Street Brewery, Pacific Coast Brewing Co., and the brand new Lake Chalet. There will be Lanesplitter pizza, and other food thanks to Noah's Bagels, Bacheesos, and Semifreddi's Bakery. This event is also sponsored by Hard Knock Radio and will feature some of the 2009 Oa

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com     Last night I saw the incredible sci-fi movie "District 9" at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland (and the line for it was out of the door and around the building). Without giving too much away (and that's a matter of opinion) for those who've not seen it, the movie produced by Peter Jackson (of Lord of The Rings and King Kong ) and directed by Neil Blomkamp, concerns a giant alien spaceship that has parked itself over Johannesburg, South Africa. Over the course of the last 28 years - over a generation - over one million aliens, called the derogatory name "Prawns", were placed in an area of the city called "District 9", and that zone became a giant slum. Some say District 9 is the best science fiction movie of 2009 if not the best one ever made. That question will be the focus of my poll below, but let's focus on the movie more b

From: NewsPaperOnline....What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But what if you haven't even gotten there yet? A Southwest flight with 108 passengers headed from Oakland, Calif. to Las Vegas turned around this morning after a 300-pound man punched a woman on board and then stripped naked. Both were taken More.. off the plane and taken away in ambulances. One of the passengers, Steve Lichliter, was on the plane accompanying his daughter to college at Penn State. She took a photo of the man -- sans clothing. Here's Lichliter's story, according to an email forwarded to NBCBayArea.com: Well our flight started ok but about 30 minutes out of Oakland a big guy started hassling other passengers then took off all his clothes. A posse of redneck vigilantes was quickly formed by the stewardesses and they were given restraining devices and taught how to tie the guy up after they got him pinned face down in the aisle. I offered to sit on top of him afterwards, as long as he was face down

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Last night, Wednesday, August 19th at 6 PM (well, I got there ay 6:38 PM) Paul Grabowicz, the Associate Dean and New Media Program Director at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, hosted the second meetup of local bloggers in the school's library. It was a great event. The idea of these meetings is, as the email put it, ... "so people can get together to socialize, share ideas, solve common problems and explore ways we might collaborate. We also want to find out what kind of training people might be interested in through the UC Berkeley J-School's Knight Digital Media Center" And really that's what happened. The meeting itself, which I did not video as some people don't want to be on camera, started with the idea of breaking into groups around "editorial" concerns and "business" issues, but that was jettison

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com YouTube , MySpace , Metacafe , DailyMotion , Blip.tv , StupidVideos and Sclipo I couldn't wait to visit the new Lake Chalet Restaurant at the restored Lake Merritt Boathouse, so I made a plan with my friend Gab to be there when the doors opened for the first time right at 5 PM last Monday, August 17th.  As you may recall, I recently posted a video-blog of the day the ribbon was cut to dedicate the boathouse and Lake Chalet owner Lara Truppelli and Executive Chef Jarad Gallagher were kind enough to give me an interview at the bar as the eatery was under construction.  Now, it's open and man is it terrific!  What's so exciting is the setting.  The Boathouse is right on the shore of Lake Merritt and a seat at the "Pumphouse Bar" section of the place on a sunny day as Monday was is a treat to the kind of Oakland many of us have wanted to see and c

I had the pleasure of meeting Gabrielle today, who lives in Oakland and is an artist with a special interest in reforming arches. For more on this check out her blog and stay tuned here!

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Robert Bobb, the former Oakland City Manager, possible candidate for Oakland mayor, and currently Emergency Financial Manager for The Detroit Public School system is on CNN now regarding the identification and arrest of employees in the Detroit Public School system (DPSS). Bobb already made headlines when he had the DPSS file for bankruptcy; now there's more news and while it's not good for the system , it's good for Bobb. Bobb said got a tip regarding embezzlement of funds from the system's new hot line installed to identify such problems, but what is being done to monitor employees in the future? "We have already implemented a very strong monitoring system," Bobb said. "Individuals who would be cheating the system will be caught." CNN's Kyra Phillips is hailing Bobb with what is a "great job" salute. It's still not cle

If you bank with Bank of America in Oakland, be careful because according to the Oakland Tribune, BofA branches are being robbed of late . First there was the Diamond District, then just this week East Oakland. Who's next? No branch I hope. Be watchful.

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com In the wake of my interview with Chevron employee Dennis Roos I've gotten a number of email and calls updating me on the matter of the negotiations to restart the stopped construction of the improvements to the Richmond refinery. One of them was this "Meet The Mayor" community meeting held Friday, August 7th at 5:30 PM. Here, one could ask questions of Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin for one hour, but my intent was to attend, film residents who were concerned about the project, pro and con, and after it was over, get the Mayor's direct point of view if she would give it to me. (Take note of that.) To review, Chevron's planned upgrade of their giant Richmond oil refinery was stalled because environmentalists sued them in court regarding what was viewed to be an inadequate environmental impact report (EIR) regarding how emissions were going to be lesse

By steveinmarquee66 who writes: The Rolling Stones performing Satisfaction, live at Oakland Coliseum 9 November 1969(second show). Soundboard recording Jumping Jack Flash Carol Sympathy For The Devil Stray Cat Blues Prodigal Son You Gotta Move Love In Vain I'm Free Under My Thumb Midnight Rambler Live With Me Gimme Shelter Little Queenie (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction Honky Tonk Woman Street Fighting Man

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has called for reform of how police solve problems in the wake of the Oscar Grant shooting. I'm not sure if it's because we have more digital camcorders around than ever before, or there's something sinister in the way police are being trained today, or some combination of both, but we now have two disturbing examples of excessive force applied by the people we hire to protect and to serve. The first and most recent example comes from a Walmart in Columbus, Ohio . In the video below this elderly woman named Virginia Dodson reportedly of 84 years old is standing in a parking lot and holding a knife. The reason for holding the knife was that Dodson's daughter left her in her car while she went back into the store. The elder Dodson, an Alzheimer's Patient, got scared because she was alone and cut herself out of the car seat belt,

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com On YouTube.com LakeFest is a street fair that was held last Saturday and Sunday August 1st and 2nd on Lakeshore Avenue between Lake Park and Mandana near the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. After a long absence, it's back for its second year and with great bands and vendors selling clothes and representing everything from the new Lake Chalet restaurant to "Friends of the Oakland Public Library." I talked with a number of Oaklanders about the festival because there was a long period of time that, well, there was not an event of this kind at this location. That is until Helen Wyman stepped in. Helen Wyman is an event producer currently best known for the first, successful Uptown street fair held June 18th of this year. She explained that this event has nothing to do with the version of year's past and is brand new. "'LakeFest' was a concept we

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com On YouTube.com In the ongoing gaga of the Parkway and Cerrito theaters in Oakland and El Cerrito respectively we have read or heard the views of many people over the past seven months except two: Catherine and Kyle Fisher, who created both the Parkway Theater in Oakland, California and the Cerrito Theater in El Cerrito, California.  I was honored to be given the exclusive first video interview with the Fishers over brunch at the Lakeshore Cafe in Oakland.   They talked with me on video for 19 straight minutes - nothing edited - about what happened that led to the closure of the Oakland Parkway Theater and that led to the current very messy relationship between the Fishers and the El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency (ERA) regarding the Cerrito Theater, a situation which saw the Fishers lose that business too , and watch as the owners of the Rialto stepped in to take over.  Firs

From LakeViewFriends on YouTube. (I wish these video channel owners would let me know when they put out a video!) who wrote: "This is a short video about the history of Lakeview Library, near the top of Lake Merritt in Oakland, California"

From Contra Costa Times on YouTube - The Oakland Women's Rowing Club (OWRC) has been rowing on Lake Merritt since 1916. The Ladies of the Lake as they are known, row every Wednesday morning. Their ages range from 50-80s.

Lake Chalet interior The Lake Merritt Boathouse is being transformed into what will be one of the Bay Area's most popular restaurants: The Lake Chalet . The new restaurant will be the focus in part of a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday, August 6th at 2 PM reopening the historic boathouse. According to conversations I've had with employees, the new outdoor waterfront eatery setting will be just plain awesome. The creators of the Lake Chalet are known for the landmark Beach Chalet and Park Chalet in San Francisco at Ocean Beach.