upcoming Oakland events

Avariety of interesting things to do, including learning how to curl, the HellaWeen Fun Run, walking tours, Day of the Dead at OMCA, and more.

Thursday

Barbary Coast Comedy - Thursdays, 7-8:30pm, at Legionnaire Saloon on Telegraph. A weekly comedy showcase, featuring cutting-edge comedy from names you know and up-and-coming comedians from around the Bay and beyond! (a Belgian comedian? they can probably make you laugh in 3 languages) ($5 cover)

Friday

Learn Curling - Road to the Olympics curling tour - Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Come learn the basics of curling at the Oakland Ice Arena. Tickets are normally $40, but click here and enter the code "OAKLAND ROCKS" to get them for $25. Curling is hella fun! ($25-$40)

Saturday

East Oakland Cleanup - Saturday, October 26, 9am-noon. Come help clean up along Bancroft at 73rd and get to know your fellow Oaklanders. (free)

Learn Curling - Road to the Olympics curling tour - Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Come learn the basics of curling at the Oakland Ice Arena. Tickets are normally $40, but click here and enter the code "OAKLAND ROCKS" to get them for $25. Curling is hella fun! ($25-$40)

Oakland Walking Tours - Saturdays, 10am. Free downtown walking tours highlighting Oakland's history, architecture and people. Saturday's tour is Preservation Park, led by Dennis Evanosky. Read about past Oakland Walking Tours. (free)

Hellaween Fun Run - Saturday, October 26, 4:30pm. Come out and show off your creative side in the 2nd annual Hellaween 5K Fun Run. Prizes for best costume. Post-race beers and restaurant specials in Old Oakland follow. Read about last year's Hellaween Fun Run. ($35-$45)

Sunday

Days of the Dead Celebration at OMCA - Sunday, October 27, noon-4:30pm. The annual Days of the Dead community celebration at the Oakland Museum of California. Read about last year's celebration. (with admission)

Learn Curling - Road to the Olympics curling tour - Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Come learn the basics of curling at the Oakland Ice Arena. Tickets are normally $40, but click here and enter the code "OAKLAND ROCKS" to get them for $25. Curling is hella fun! ($25-$40)

Food Day popup and beer garden - Sunday, October 27, 3-7pm. Food Day is "a nationwide celebration of healthy, affordable, and sustainably produced food and a grassroots campaign for better food policies." Join La Borinqueña, Linden Street Brewery, and more to celebrate in Oakland. (free)

Wednesday

Oakland Walking Tours - Wednesday, 10am. Free downtown walking tours highlighting Oakland's history, architecture and people. Read about past Oakland Walking Tours. (free)

ongoing events:

• Oakland Walking Tours (Wednesdays and Saturdays)
• Piedmont Avenue Stroll (3rd Thursdays)
• Off the Grid at OMCA (Fridays)
• Dancing Under the Stars at JLS (Fridays)
• Art Murmur (1st Fridays)
• Jack's Night Market (1st Fridays)
• Saturday Art Stroll (Saturdays)
• West Oakland Community Fair and Farmer's Market (1st Saturdays)
• Oakland Urban Paths walk (2nd Saturdays)
  
• Jack of All Trades Market (2nd Saturdays)
  
• Mt. View Cemetery Tours (2nd and 4th Saturdays)

looking further ahead:

Dia De Los Muertos festival - Saturday, November 2. The annual Day of the Dead celebration in Fruitvale. Read about last year's festival. (free) CityCamp Oakland - Saturday, November 9. The 2nd annual "unconference" brings together citizens, city government, and businesses to innovate, enhance transparency and increase civic engagement. (free) Fences - from the Lower Bottom Playaz - opening in November. The Lower Bottom Playaz continue working their way through August Wilson's remarkable Century Cycle.

wanna learn curling for free? (yes, that sport with stones, ice, and brooms)

Coming up this weekend is a special event, the Road to the Olympics / Olympic Celebration Tour put on by the World Curling Federation and the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club. There are 'learn to curl' sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and a mini tournament on Sunday. And I've a free pair of tickets for Our Oakland readers! I can personally attest that curling is hella fun.

The pair of tickets (normally $40 each) are first-come, first-serve, and depend on space being available for your chosen session. Please claim them only if you plan to use them! I'll be there on Friday.

You can also get tickets for $25 by clicking here and enter the code "OAKLAND ROCKS".

walking tour: the Dimond

If you're new to Our Oakland, note that the links below marked with the oak tree logo will take you to the corresponding article on the Oakland Wiki where you can read more about the topic and see more photos.

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Sunday there was a waking tour led by local historian Dennis Evanosky. I went on a walking tour of the Dimond with Dennis two years ago, but I've found there's always more to learn.

Dennis had a number of historic photos of notable people and the district laid out on the picnic tables. He told us about some of the colorful characters in Dimond history: the Peralta family, Hugh Dimond, Henderson Luelling, Frederick Rhoda, and others.

We walked a short distance to the Boy Scout Hut, which was made in part with bricks from the Peralta Hacienda adobe. Then we went south past a grove of redwoods where we heard about plans to reroute and unculvert part of Sausal Creek. The current route of Sausal Creek is not where it naturally flowed, and is causing erosion below nearby houses. Near the redwoods is where the home where the Dimond and later Luelling families lived.

swimming hole on Sausal Creek

Towards MacArthur Boulevard, we saw the remains of one thing the early Dimond was known for—beer gardens. Although Tepper's and other beer gardens are long gone, the building where Tepper's was is still there. We crossed MacArthur briefly to take another look at Sausal Creek where it comes above ground again, and heard about the old swimming hole.

Unfortunately we couldn't go into the Altenheim as we did two years ago, but Dennis told us a bit about the history. The first Altenheim was a large wooden structure, and like many wooden structures of the era, it burned down. Adolph Sutro had wanted it built in San Francisco, and even offered land, but it was decided Oakland had better weather.

We walked back towards Dimond Avenue and then under the freeway and up the hill, where Dennis showed us a historic picture of the Dimond circa 1927, and the house on Boston Street that's in the photo. After wondering about the location of the photo for years, Dennis happened across it when there was a fire at the house in the photo. He determined that the photo had been taken from two houses over, but another house and growing trees have made it impossible to recreate the image in the present day.

Back over the freeway took us to Palmetto Street, where there are a number of palm trees. But there's also a building that was the first Presbyterian church in the Dimond. Then it was over to Prospect Hill on MacArthur to see the location where another historic photo was taken. From there we could also see where the original Dimond firehouse stood next to the current (but unused) one. The bell from the first firehouse is on display at Dimond Park next to the Boy Scout Hut.

Closer to Fruitvale Avenue, we heard about the naming of the Dimond. The conservative Presbyterians in the area weren't too pleased at having their district named for liquor salesman Hugh Dimond, but the post office got the name anyway. Despite that, some early signs referred to the area as "upper Fruit Vale". The first Fruit Vale post office was near the Cohen-Bray House.

We heard about lots more in the Dimond and other places in Oakland, including:

• the infamous Hermitage
• Leona Heights
• Laundry Farm
• the Nike missile site that isn't (it was part of quarry operations)
• the old sulfur mine
• Caspar Hopkins

and much, much, more.

Dennis will be leading a city of Oakland walking tour on Saturday, October 26, at 10am in Preservation Park. He'll also be leading an Oakland Urban Paths walk in November—check the OUP website for details.

More pictures from the walk:

photo of the week: fall colors

One of the best returns on investment we've gotten was the $10 or so of materials to make a birdbath. K and I and the cats are entertained by it daily, whether it's sparrows or crows. Yesterday afternoon, the bath was back lit by a Japanese maple tree changing colors, making for an even more striking scene.

Oaktoberfest 2013

The other week I had too many things going on, but I did manage to go and hang out at Oaktoberfest in the Dimond for a bit. Lots of adults and kids (and no small number of dogs) having fun.

Lots more pictures from Oaktoberfest: