Month: December 2008

Last Day For Dunsmuir Xmas

Around the East Bay, Dunsmuir Mansion is really the “go to” spot for holiday cheer.  For the past 38 years, this has been the ideal time to check out the place – filled with 35 rooms of decorations.

Now there’s just one day left to visit, Sunday from 11 am – 5 pm.  The mansion’s located at 2960 Peralta Oaks Ct. (map, directions), and worth a quick trip down Rt. 580 tomorrow.

Dunsmuir Xmas

Of course, volunteers began the decorations in October because there’s so much work involved.  This is a mansion from another era, and worth the loving efforts by these decorators.  According to the Tribune, it takes 5,000 hours to get ready.  Kind of amazing!

Since the weather’s supposed to turn frightful on Sunday, this should be your indoors destination of choice.  Edwardian-dressed docents lead tours through the mansion all day long, and expect to be serenaded by live music too.

Other things going on at Dunsmuir?  You can sign up for a formal tea-time, served at 11:30am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm for teens/adults (14+).   There’s holiday gifts for sale in the carriage house.  And if the weather’s not too bad, there will be a trolley ride through the estate grounds.

While tickets are pricey, this is the prime fundraiser for maintaining the mansion.  Admission runs $17/adult, $16/seniors (62+), $13/junior (6-13), and free/tots (under 6) at the gate.   If you buy online today, then you incur a $7 order fee but save $5 per ticket.  High teas cost another $25/person, and require advanced reservations.

What If An HBO Hit Featured Oakland?

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing lately about a potential HBO series that prominently features Oakland, in all its glory.  This series would follow an old-school pimp and his challenges as he deals with younger, more violent pimps.

The Hughes Brothers, who produced and directed American Pimp (1999) and Dead Presidents (1995), announced their upcoming dramatic HBO series entitled Gentlemen of Leisure last summer.  If all goes according to plan, the first pilot and episodes would air sometime next year.

In the Hollywood Reporter, scriptwriter Evan Reilly explained the series focuses on “a guy who wants to get out but keeps getting sucked back in by the allure of the game and by extraneous circumstances that have to do with his family.”

American Pimp

Ami Zins heads the Oakland Film Office, which supports movie, TV and commercial production here.  She confirmed that scriptwriter Reilly and executive producer Polly Anthony reached her about the project.  For HBO, this dramatic one-hour series ideally fills the The Sopranos gap.

If green-lighted, this series would film on location.  Zins said the producer identified Oakland as “a character unto itself…with a great diversity of people, culture, arts, architecture and geography.”  While the economic impact isn’t known yet, she pointed to The Wired (HBO) which contributes $35 million/season to Baltimore.

What’s the downside for Oakland?  You could quickly denounce it based on the subject matter alone, since Oakland becomes the land of pimps and prostitutes.  Hollywood is possibly glorifying this crime-ridden life as well.  However, I happen to believe that crime becomes a back-drop for the series and its characters.

Folks living in New Jersey probably had the same concerns when The Sopranos began airing.  The subject matter was about mafia violence, but somehow managed to work anyway.  This acclaimed series drew you into the dark drama and family dynamics over time.

(Full disclosure is that I used to work, long ago, for an HBO competitor.  Getting a top-quality series on HBO is a real coup because they aren’t subject to the pressures of network TV.  Simply put, critically acclaimed fare can survive without a mass audience and advertising there.)

So here’s an opportunity to bring Oakland into the American culture more prominently, warts and all.  It’s admittedly very grimy, and every major city in the world has an underbelly.  Will this transform Oakland into an unacceptable place on earth?  Somehow I doubt it.  If the series really gets aired, this isn’t bad for our city at all.

Dec 23rd Update:  News outlets and blogs are buzzing, and we recommend these original takes from  CBS5 – KTVU – Oakland Tribune – East Bay Express – Oakbook – A Better Oakland – Brooklyn Avenue – Bicostal Bitchin’

Stop By For Gregorian Chants, Friday at 8pm

For the holiday season, there’s more than just the typical Christmas carols in Montclair.  Stop by the Montclair Presbyterian Church for some nice and peaceful Gregorian chants, too.

The Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble (WAVE) will be the featured group tomorrow night.  WAVE consists of 14 singers who perform authentic music from the medieval, baroque and renaissance periods.  They first met nine years ago, after discovering their mutual love of this music through the San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS).

On Friday, WAVE will also join forces with Catholic seminarians from St. Albert’s Priory in Rockridge.  This priory is a Dominican training ground, with students living at the school.  Since they participate in active prayers, Gregorian chants are quite familiar to the students – and their Schola Cantorum group will appear in Montclair.

Shepherds Arise

During this concert, both women and men will sing or chant plenty of traditional music.  WAVE says they plan to “perform Gregorian chant from the 9th century and music by Plummer, Monteverdi, Costeley, Hassler, Menotti, Ramirez, Niles, and Rutter as well as traditional Christmas carols.”  Whoever they are.

To me, choral music ushers in the holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.  You don’t have to be an ancient music aficionado to bask in the glow of nice a cappella voices.  I’m sure you will recognize a few tunes along the way, anyway.

To recap:   The Shepherds Arise! concert takes place on Friday at 8pm, at the Montclair Presbyterian Church (5701 Thornhill Drive, map).   While admission runs $15 per adult and $5 per student/senior, this is a special Christmas concert that should be very relaxing.

Yes Virginia, It Snows In Oakland

Since snow is such a rare event around here, everyone went a bit crazy this week when the white stuff started falling.  Heck, it even stuck on the ground for a short while.

What happens when it snows?   Everyone grins with disbelief, that we are graced with snow right now.  Some transform into kids again, and just have to play with the snow.  Since it’s so ephemeral, a lot of people pick up their cameras.  Here’s a quick retrospective from local TV stations and neighbors.

Let’s start with this little boy in Montclair who’s just watching the action from his deck – and which looks like Tahoe and not the Oakland Hills.  The video shows the stuff falling, the little boy checking things out, and a few declarations of “cool” from the boy and his sibling.

Montclair Joy Of Snow

We also have a snowball thrower or two because, well, that’s standard operating procedure with snow.  In this raw footage from CBS5-TV, you see a guy and gal venturing out to the snow-dusted Tilden Park hillside.  The gal eventually reaches down, quickly gathers enough snow, and tosses the snowball at her buddy.  Mission accomplished.

First Toss Gathering Snow

Here’s an action shot, taken up on Grizzly Peak Blvd yesterday.  The snowball is clearly captured in mid-air, a few feet from the thrower.  Meanwhile his companion almost looks ready to catch it, but not sure why.  Also check out the small snowman which stands near the catcher.

First Toss In Air

Next we head a bit south to the Oakland Hills Swim Club, which has been dubbed “Oakland Hills Snow Club” by the YouTuber.  Right outside the entrance, there’s plenty of contrast so you witness the snowfall underway.  It’s coming down pretty quickly at this point.

Oakland Hills Swim Club

There’s plenty of white stuff at the Swim Club, which sits at 1,350 ft above sea level.  Even this bush is nicely decorated by Mother Nature, don’t you think?  I don’t know if this plant is well-suited for deep winter but it should survive the short-term onslaught.

Oakland Hills Snow Bush

So there you have it:  the snows of 2008 right in our Oakland backyard.  It’s so rare and incongruous in Oakland, the land of perfect weather.  Well, a little snow fits that definition too.

Join The Oakland Bloggers Live, On Wed Night

Lately, Oaklanders have been coming out of the woodwork and doing an excellent job blogging about their specific neighborhoods, interests or points of view.  At some point there might be more amateur bloggers than journalists, though it’s hard to say.

Though the magic of online links, the local bloggers have formed their own virtual community.  Now we are about to actually meet each other, and anyone who blogs or even enjoys commenting on blogs is welcome to Blog This! on Wednesday night.  We will gather at The Washington Inn (495 10th Street, map), anytime from 7:30pm to 10:00pm.

Oakland Blogger Gathering

As part of the local blogging crew, Today in Montclair tries to be a friendly observer of this one-of-a-kind place, and finds inspiration from neighbors online and off-line.  Our blog ends up covering an eclectic mix of village doings, city politics, real estate, culture, history, mother nature…you name it.

Without even knowing it, this kind of hyper-local blogging has become quite the rage in Oakland and beyond.  It’s sort of like writing an old-fashioned diary, except the entries are meant for public consumption.  Of course, there are many blogs that come and go, because they take steady time and attention to nurture.

In Oakland alone, there are more than two dozen active blogs.  To take a quick look at what they cover, check out A Better Oakland and its recent love for local bloggers.  Whatever their individual passions, our bloggers share that hella love for Oakland.

So you’re welcome to schmooze with this motley crew, who are coming out of the woodwork to meet in person.  As an added benefit, no one will be tapping away at their keyboards this Wednesday night, either.