Month: April 2011

Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, RIP

The Oak Knoll Naval Hospital’s carcass will be demolished this Friday, sometime between 10:00 am and noon.  There’s been an awful, silent and ignored hulk shadowing the Oakland Hills for 15 years.  Good riddance, we say.

According to the Oak Knoll Coalition, a group of neighbors, the main hospital will be exploded this week.  They reported that developer SunCal will raze all the remaining masonry buildings by year-end.  However Club Knoll, a relic of the country club which preceded the hospital, will be saved for later refurbishment.

Over the past few years, there have been several visitors to this supposedly off-limit place.  Check out the fascinating coverage (part 1, part 2), images and videos which document the derelict hospital compound — and also honor what once took place on the hill.

The hospital base was opened from 1942-1996, which means the East Bay’s filled with former workers, their families, patients and even those born there.  Please visit the Facebook petition underway to create a fitting memorial on the hillside.  It’s a nice idea, we think.

So what’s next?  After the demolitions, we wait for new homes and a little open space.  Presumably housing developers will get capitalized again, whether it’s SunCal or someone else — though nothing is truly known or scheduled at this point.

Update:   Courtesy of The Bay Citizen, here’s a video showing the hospital implosion.

for Oak Knoll Naval Hospital Memorial

Proof of Alphorns

As you may know, alphorn players are unofficially part of Oakland’s Running Festival experience.  After running some ten miles uphill, the marathoners are welcomed to their Montclair high-point by several Riccola-like players.  We didn’t see photographic proof until now, a week later.

One runner, whose blogger alias is XLMIC, stopped in her tracks and captured the experience:

Then I heard these guys!  How could I not stop and take a picture?  This was in the middle of a moderate hill that felt like freaking the Alps.  [I] appreciate that I stopped and took a pic for the blog ‘cuz starting again was so hard.

Given our Germanic heritage in Oakland, we’re not too surprised by this Montclair quorum of players.  Since hearing about the alphorn greeting during the inaugural 2010 marathon, we hoped for and were pleased by this encore performance.

P.S.  In an enlarged image, you can see the Wooden Window support truck behind the players.  We first noticed these restorer-contractors at last year’s Greening Oakland Homes fair — and they clearly respect local tradition.

http://didyougetanyofthat.blogspot.com/2011/03/oakland-marathon-relay-recap.html

Curb Appeal Visits Montclair

If you are an aficionado of HGTV’s Curb Appeal: The Block, then you already know that Montclair received its 15 minutes of national media fame tonight.

Here’s the scoop on Juniper Jungle to Modern Masterpiece, aka episode HCRBL-301H:

David and Kerryn La Duc live on a close-knit cul-de-sac in the Montclair neighborhood in Oakland, CA. While they love their neighborhood, their dated modern ranch style home could use some updating. Their front yard is almost completely covered with juniper….

The program began with some quick video of Montclair Village and then traveled to a neighborhood off Joaquin Miller Road.  It showed the neighbors hanging out, followed by the homeowners (and their kids) as work proceeded to kill the junipers.

We’re so proud!  The couple, who are now officially famous, represented our best.  We learned that Kerryn is a teacher, though the show didn’t reveal too much about David.  However it was clear they were Montclarions, and a team of equals.  We also enjoyed how Kerryn was grateful and yet not a pushover about all the changes to their home.  🙂

Today in Montclair could not resist “googling” these neighbors and they are typically interesting.  Kerryn had twittered about teaching ancient Chinese philosophy to her sixth grade class.  Meanwhile David placed third in last year’s Sequoia 50K Trail Run, and has been running long distances for years.

Anyway, we wish that we could show you the amazing transformation to the La Duc home along with the quick upgrades to a few neighbors’ places.  Their mid-modern house looks so cool now, with stone and wood accents and great landscaping.  Living in a place where the foliage grows so quickly, we would like Curb Appeal to make a few more visits to our neighborhoods.

Check back on the HGTV site, since they’ll eventually show repeats online.