East Bay Magazine March & April

THE MAGAZINE OF OAKLAND, BERKELEY AND THE WORLD THAT REVOLVES AROUND US

March & April 2022

Distilled HEALTH & WELLNESS EDITION

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Mar & Apr 2022

THE MAGAZINE OF OAKLAND, BERKELEY AND THE WORLD THAT REVOLVES AROUND US

WEIGHING IN

LET’S FACE IT

SLIM GYM

UPDATE YOUR BODY

RAISING THE SALAD BAR

DISTILLED

HOME IS WHERE THE JOB IS

ON-FOOT ODYSSEYS

Our editor tries not to get too heavy 4 Local trainers find opportunities during Covid 6 Vegetarians rejoice 12

Finding work-life balance 18 PUBLISHER Rosemary Olson

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Karen Klaber

EDITOR Daedalus Howell

COPY EDITOR Mark Fernquest

CONTRIBUTORS Jeffrey Edalatpour Lou Fancer

The lowdown on local skincare 24 Technology for health and wellness 30 Area distilleries have a moment 36 Where to hoof it in the East Bay 42

Mark Fernquest Brooke Herron Michael Giotis

ADVERTISING DIRECTORS

PRODUCTION OPERATIONS MANAGER

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT MANAGERS

Sean George

Danielle McCoy Ben Grambergu Mercedes Murolo Lynda Rael

EDITORIAL PRODUCTION MANAGER Phaedra Strecher

SENIOR DESIGNER Jackie Mujica

Fearless, We Pursue

COMMUNITY

Lori Lieneke Lisa Santos

CEO/EXECUTIVE EDITOR Dan Pulcrano

ON THE COVER Photo courtesy of St. George Spirits Lance Winters is the master distiller of St. George Spirits, as well as a majority partner in the company and its president.

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Health and well drinks

RAT RACE A portrait of the author off the Wheel.

I

f I have my Physics 101 correct, matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed, though one can be transformed into the other. This, I assume, is the secret to weight loss—converting matter into energy without adding more matter in the meantime. And by matter, I’m referring specifically to Berkeley’s Squabisch Pretzels—with admiration and fear … for my waistline.

Early in my career I did some time in Hollywood, which A) contributed to a lifelong anxiety about getting chunkier and B) meant I was pitched stories like the one about a guy whose life insurance company sends him on a medical exam, only for him to be told he’s “totaled” and get cashed out of his policy. At

Jeffrey Edalatpour’s writing about arts, food and culture has appeared in KQED Arts, Metro Silicon Valley, Interview Magazine, The Rumpus, SF Weekly and Berkeleyside.com.

4

PHOTO BY DAVE ALEXANDER

Gravitas Gravitas various points in my life this could have been me.

After I misconstrued a panic attack as a cardiac event, a subsequent EKG proved I was physically healthier than I thought, though mentally not so much.

Now that I’m squarely middle-aged—I turn 50 this July, and we humans live to be 100, right?—I’m happy not to have totaled myself, though I would be lying if I didn’t admit to enjoying the various attempts over the years. Journos of my type are generally de facto epicures, what with all the good grub and booze that flows our way on the job. I am, as a certain Irish scribe once put, a drinker with a writing problem.

And I’m fending off a weight problem. Hence, the Desk Cycle, an

Lou Fancher has been published in the Diablo Magazine, the Oakland Tribune, InDance, San Francisco Classical Voice, SF Weekly, WIRED.com and elsewhere.

EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

Mark Fernquest is a copy editor and writer. He travels and gardens in his free time.

under-the-desk pedaling machine that is essentially a human rat wheel. By and large it works, especially when paired with the calorie tracker on my phone.

If I indulge too much, I’m on the Wheel. If I even think about indulging too much, I’m on the Wheel. Suffice to say, I’m always on the Wheel. And that’s just to maintain a silhouette that doesn’t get confused with an eclipse. Basically, my strategy is “don’t get rounder.” Or, “Be one with the Wheel, don’t become the Wheel.”

Be assured this is an issue brimming with insights on area-inspired healthand-wellness notions, with just a splash of distilled-spirits writing to prove we still have our priorities straight—no chaser.

—Daedalus Howell, Editor

Brooke Herron When not working on digital marketing and sales strategy projects for clients, Herron can be found hiking Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino trails, and tasting wines for one of her various business ventures.

Michael Giotis contributes to the Pacific Sun, the North Bay Bohemian and the East Bay Express. His most recent book of poetry is Daybreak.

East Bay Area trainers take it online and to the world

BY Lou Fancher

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

Trainers’ access to equipment—even if moved outdoors after the initial shelter-in-place orders lifted or used in virtual classes and programs made available by clubs—was eliminated or, at best, rare. A trainer whose business was independent or who worked only through a club affiliation was cast into the cold world of “what now?”

Like his colleagues, Martinez-based Brandon Glass hit upon his thriving

self-owned company, Contra Costa Fitness, while in a predicament. He knew continued success demanded an immediate rethink.

“Almost all my clients were inperson,” Glass said. “Many of them required hands-on assistance, and with Covid I couldn’t see them safely. I had been training and running bootcamps for some time when the pandemic hit, and I just had a feeling we weren’t

»

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRANDON GLASS

C

ovid cast an entirely new light on the personal-fitness training arena. Suddenly, the highly individual, inperson, hands-on practice of physical fitness trainers represented a dark, dangerous zone.

Compounding the complications, gyms and fitness clubs were shut down entirely due to public-health safety protocols.

GRIT Brandon Glass evolved from personal trainer to physical therapist.

bleed (.25) size: 8.875 x 8.875 book size: 8.375 x 8.375 safety zone: .25 from cut edge

In some ways, fitness trainers during the pandemic were best served by the ability to scramble, to make something out of nothing, to ride roughshod over rough patches with the same grit and determination often required of the athletes they train.

» going to quarantine for a couple

weeks and watch life return to normal. I pivoted immediately.”

Glass was born in San Francisco and grew up in Walnut Creek. The 41-year-old and his wife, Rachel Taketa, are parents of two children and proud keepers of Captain Waffles, a rescued “Fitbull.” Glass, when he’s not training clients, occasionally sings with the local hard-rock band Rose Hill and hikes, camps, rock climbs and runs halfmarathons or, preferably, 10k’s. He is the former licensed physical therapist assistant and trainer at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Martinez; a certified personal trainer, certified by the National Council On Strength & Fitness; and a fitness nutrition specialist, certified by the American Council On Exercise.

“My career in personal training started in a less-than-conventional way. Many in the physical therapy field started out as personal trainers and moved on to physical therapy,” he said.

“While I was an athlete growing up— I’ve always been interested in training

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

myself and others—I started my professional career in physical therapy.”

Glass played football during his teen years and admits to his bumpy academic history being “a story in itself.”

In some ways, fitness trainers during the pandemic were best served by the ability to scramble, to make something out of nothing, to ride roughshod over rough patches with the same grit and determination often required of the athletes they train. In a broad sweep of personal trainers taking matters into their own hands, the most successful— gauged by following approximately a dozen trainers to track who survived during the two-year period from 2020 to 2022—most jumped immediately past the no-in-person, no-indoor hurdles with outdoor offerings, online classes and newsletters or blogs to keep back-and-forth communications with clients healthy and strong. Some trainers added personal touches: links to masks and t-shirts proclaiming fitness goals, journaling recommendations, services offered in more languages, expanded co-trainers whose expertise

and styles supplemented the core services and other resources.

“The first thing I did was start offering bootcamps and training sessions online,” Glass said. “And while there was a technological learning curve, it was relatively simple and easy, and I had got out the gate early, so I caught enough clients to get by before the gyms started offering online services for dirt cheap, if not free.”

He says the response “was awesome” and more: “I could take on clients all over the world. No more traveling for me or my clients. I could use the time I was saving on travel to provide more open lines of communication.”

As the first few weeks of the pandemic lockdowns wore on into months, and then two years of on-off restrictions, his clients began to reveal new vulnerabilities. These were not weaknesses due to imbalanced cores, legs or upper-body strength—or hardships caused by slacking off during isolation. These needs were more lifestyle than Lifecycle.

“Clients needed more than the normal training models where a trainer showed up, provided a workout and maybe a little nutrition advice. [Prior to the pandemic,] it was just that, and “see ya next week.” That wasn’t good enough. People needed guidance getting their lifestyles back on track and coping with things like emotional eating. They needed guidance and support, plans, structure and accountability. They needed more than someone to kick their butts; they needed a health-andfitness guide.”

Glass started providing nutritional coaching and “hustle at home”

»

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ABANDON When not training clients, Brandon Glass works out with Captain Waffles and occasionally sings with the local hard-rock band Rose Hill.

» training programs of varying

frequency and duration. Classes offered eight times weekly on the Moxie platform include Rejuvenation Yoga, Functional HIIT, Strength and Cardio Kickboxing, Combat and FitPump.

Expanding the services, but also making them more intimate and individually designed, Contra Costa Fitness offers C(LEAN) Coaching, a system of daily accountability and support that steers clients toward stability and confidence that Glass says results from developing and practicing a sustainable way of living. “No more calorie restrictions.

No more yo-yos. One day at a time we will build new habits and daily practices around nutrition, eating and self care practices,” the website proclaims. A computer, a phone and a willingness to collaboratively create and consistently implement a personalized design for living are the primary must-haves.

“This has proven to be truly lifechanging for my clients,” Glass said, when asked about the impact of the broader platform of services. “Now I can provide online communities, open lines of communication, stores of resources and information for my clients to access. Our newest service, C(LEAN) Club, provides all the things I heard clients asking for: meal plans, workouts, coaching calls, accountability and inspiration all in one place, at their fingertips, for a really affordable price.

How great is that?”

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

Answering the self-posed question, Glass says that although the pandemic provided serious challenges, the positives are proving to be more than just silver linings. He has formed friendships and partnerships worldwide. One of his personal training partners lives in Michigan and has become a best friend. Not only has his client list grown, he has experienced a boost in self-respect and strengthened the original purpose that first launched him into the world of fitness training.

“I’ve learned that if you are willing to learn and adapt, you make incredible things happen in people's lives,” he said.

“As long as that is the heart of what I do—changing lives and providing exactly what my client needs—I will be successful.”

Glass predicts it is unlikely he will ever go back exclusively to in-person

training. Online training and coaching caused him to be creative, to think in ways he would never have imagined three years ago. From a practical standpoint, training clients online provides more time to help more people, and it removes geographical boundaries. “Most importantly, it allows me to serve and connect with my clients at a higher level. Why would anyone change that?” Glass asked.

The answer? Certainly his family would not object to the changes in his business model. Glass—in this new, virtual rubric—has more in-person, high-touch time and interaction with family, friends and the other trainers at Contra Costa Fitness and trainers across the Bay Area who demonstrated the same or similar flexibility benefit from the improved life-work balance.

To quote Glass, “How great is that?” ❤

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CREPE EXPECTATIONS The Chinese crepe available at Berkeley’s One Plus is stuffed with leafy greens and a thin, crispy cracker.

The

Salad Bar W

BY Jeffrey Edalatpour 12

EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

»

PHOTO BY GREENS & GRAINS

That Could Greens & Greens and One Plus satisfy vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike

e don’t drink boba milk tea to lessen our sugar intake. It’s popular because the texture is creamy and the taste is sweet.

Add in a handful of tapioca balls and we’ve got our dessert in a tall plastic cup. Yezi Sha, the owner of One Plus in Berkeley, said that most boba shops use a non-dairy creamer to achieve that familiar sensation of creaminess.

But non-dairy creamers contain a long list of unwholesome ingredients such as corn syrup and sodium. When Sha opened her cafe in the summer of

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One Plus serves jian bing, a feather-light egg crepe. Jian bing is a street food that Sha used to eat on the way to school.

One of the three batter choices is a mix of millet, corn, mung bean, wheat and flax seeds.

«

2020, she was determined to use whole organic milk in her tea drinks.

Her menu is, of course, inclusive of milks for the lactose intolerant.

Customers can substitute oat, almond, soy, or lactose-free milk. Additionally, customers get to choose the sugar level for their tea from a range of 0% to 150%. Sha, who grew up in China, said that milk tea didn’t exist when she was growing up. She said the drink originated in Taiwan about 20 years ago and was targeted at young people. The traditional way of drinking tea in Japan and China didn’t include milk or sugar.

“The higher the quality of tea,” Sha said, “the lighter the taste.”

But Sha believes the younger generation liked the taste of something sweeter. “They put in milk creamer and then the boba,” she said. Sha holds a degree in electrical engineering.

Whatever methodical approach she took in her studies has also informed the way she runs her cafe. From the history of the products she serves, to the cups and straws they’re served in, Sha has thought through every aspect of her

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business. She’s concerned about serving healthy drinks and food, but of equal concern to her is the environment and the sustainability of the packaging. One Plus is actively pursuing the production of compostable straws to replace the more-harmful plastic ones.

In addition to the wide-ranging drinks menu, One Plus serves jian bing, a feather-light egg crepe. Jian bing is a street food that Sha used to eat on the way to school. One of the three batter choices is a mix of millet, corn, mung bean, wheat and flax seeds. It’s stuffed with leafy greens and a thin, crispy cracker. Sha wants to add a coldcut option to the jian bing menu, but regular delays in the supply chain have prevented her from ordering from a preferred vendor.

The pandemic has affected Sha’s business in other ways, as well. “It’s very hard to hire people,” she said.

“Restaurant work is a really hard job.”

One Plus is located at the foot of the UC Berkeley campus. Student workers have requested part-time hours, so it’s been tough to fill out hours on the

schedule. The cafe is tucked away in a courtyard on a fairly quiet street, and foot traffic has fluctuated. Sha believes in her concept, delivering healthy food and serving it in an eco-conscious manner. But she is considering opening a second shop in another neighborhood.

When that happens, she’ll have a clearer idea if the location, where parking is often tough, is the main thing keeping One Plus from breaking even. “Not even for a day,” she adds, still sounding optimistic.

The pandemic wasn’t the only reason that Jackie Riley sold Greens & Grains last year, but it did inform her decision.

Describing Greens & Grains as a salad bar doesn’t quite do the place justice.

Located in the Alameda Marketplace, people are usually lined up at lunchtime to choose which ingredients to put in their custom-made salads. Riley’s business model was smart enough to anchor Greens & Grains with salads, but she also included whole roast chickens, excellent soups, deli sides like potato salad, compact meals-to-go such as chicken pot pies and macaroni and cheese, plus sandwiches. There really is no Bay Area equivalent to Greens & Grains. Every time I decide to quit sugar and banish pizza from my diet, I drive to Alameda and pick up one of her giant salads to go.

Riley opened the stall in 2012 after helping her former partner start the Feel Good Bakery. She went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, where she trained as a pastry chef. After working in a variety of kitchens in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, she moved to Alameda. After settling in, she thought, “There

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salad.” At the same time, she developed a gluten intolerance. Cakes and cookies were out as she switched to a largely plant-based diet.

When Covid-19 first suspended public outings, Riley closed Greens & Grains for eight weeks, “Because nobody knew what was going to happen next.” She began taking phone orders, and set up an area outside for curbside pickups. But with the persistent ups and downs and the arrival of new variants, it prompted the thought in her mind, “It’s time.”

Greens & Grains now belongs to another chef and Alameda resident, Ian Libberton. Riley and Libberton were introduced by a mutual friend. Riley, who was looking for the right buyer, found a chef with years of professional experience. Libberton’s most recent job was at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco, but he’d also run his own restaurant, managed private catering and was an executive chef with the Hyatt Corporation. He and his wife decided that taking over Greens & Grains would be a great opportunity, with the advantage of a much easier commute.

Libberton quickly announced to Riley’s loyal customers that he wasn’t planning to tamper with her winning formula. “I didn’t have to recreate anything,” he said. “There’s only one recipe that I’ve changed—the enchiladas.” The chef changed the sauce from red to green, and the chicken is now shredded. The good news is he’s gotten positive feedback about them.

He’s also keeping her soup recipes unchanged. But he hastened to add,

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

SANDO Greens & Grains serves more than salads—their sandwiches and other offerings, like enchiladas, have proven popular as well.

“Since I started cooking in 1983, I’ve enjoyed making soups, so I’ve got a list of 20 new soups that I’ve made.” Since the soup feedback has also been good, Libberton is going to continue making them. But he’s not changing the salads or the homemade dressings. One 21stcentury change is coming to Greens & Grains, however. Online ordering will kick in at some point later this year.

Like Yezi Sha at One Plus, Libberton struggles with staffing. Because of that, he and his wife decided to close Greens & Grains on Saturdays. The chef felt that they couldn’t offer good service with only one other employee to help him out. Before the pandemic, there were days when at least four or five people were behind the counter, cooking, prepping food or tending to customers. “I started on May 13th and

have had four days off since then,” he said.

Having accepted that for now, Libberton believes that Greens & Grains is mostly Covid-proof.

Chiefly because there isn’t a dining room. Greens & Grains lives inside of a food court so, apart from a lonely bench, there aren’t really places to sit.

The dishes are served in disposable containers. Customers order their meals and then bring the food home.

“The nice thing about us is we’re not fast food,” Libberton said. “We’re organic and healthy.”

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Greens & Grains, open Sunday to Friday, 11am to 6pm; 1650 Park St., Alameda.

510.239.4059. greensandgrains.net.

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FAMILY MATTERS Sometimes working at home is a family affair.

O

Sure, now get back to work

BY Michael Giotis

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»

PHOTO BY LEONIDAS GIOTIS

Work-Life BALANCE

ne of the ways to control work-life balance is to talk about it. I did just that with two experts, both from Berkeley's Haas Business School, one a professor and one a recent graduate, to see what these members of an elite educational institution knew about taking it easy.

Dr. Homa Bahrami is an “​​expert on organizational flexibility and dynamic leadership” at Haas. After canceling our interview because of my son's sudden orthopedic-surgeon appointment and her canceling for her own reasons, we needed that flexibility just to meet up.

I wanted to know how, over the course of the pandemic, work-life balance changed.

“There are some practices that really vary depending on where you are in your life, Michael,” she said. “For example, are you young and unattached? A single individual?”

Uh, who’s asking, Doc? Then I got her point. Different people at different stages in their lives face different challenges during this time.

And they have different opportunities.

“Some of my younger students really miss the social aspect of being in the office, going for lunch [and] going for drinks afterwards,” she said.

Meanwhile, privileged parents with young children also find these times to be a big change from the lives they once

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Burnout is real. Eight in 10 employees experience at least one of the symptoms of burnout. So I have to know, do employees really have the option to turn off at those times?

knew. Dr. Bahrami shared an example told to her by a masters’ student at her elite school: “I’m saving a lot on childcare, because I don’t need my nanny to come at seven o’clock in the morning so I can commute to work and, you know, be back by seven o’clock at night.”

“If you even have a nanny,” Bahrami added, thoughtfully. Right: work hard enough, get a nanny. Wait, weren’t we talking about work-life balance?

“In the past we used to [say] ‘I live to work,’ Bahrami said. “In other words, work is a big, big part of my life, and everything else has to fit around it—my childcare, my social time, my vacations, etc. Now, after two years of working from home, people are saying, ‘I work to live.’ People are putting their total lifestyle front-and-center, and asking, ‘How do I want to work? Where do I want to live? How do I want to spend my time?’”

For example, commute time. The reader will be surprised, or not, to learn that, according to Bahrami’s research, 90% of people like the fact that they

»

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

don’t have to commute and can use that time for other purposes.

So, positive changes with the workfrom-home lifestyle include saving time and increasing productivity. On the other hand, transition time and the ability to focus have really taken a hit. At home, distractions can be everywhere. Like that bike waiting to be ridden, that dog asking for a healthy walk. Aren’t these “distractions” part of good work-life balance?

Time off?

Yennell Selman is the founder of Cultiveit, a startup that helps companies organize high-quality time off. She began our conversation with the question that guides her company.

“How do you make the most of your time off so that when you come back to work you’re feeling good, not so tired?”

Selman asked.

I heard, “Be ready to work.”

“What we’ve seen is, [chuckles] basically, people are still working more hours, so a lot of the time they used

to spend commuting or traveling or having, you know, lunches with their co-workers or informal conversations, a lot of that has been on Zoom at their workstations,” Selman said.

Organizations may be the best way to set an example for how to be intentional. “We really think that is a key that hasn’t been leveraged in workplaces,” Selman said. “Really thinking through being intentional with your time off.”

Anything to help all of us here during the pandemic, drowning in our schedules.

“Now, all of a sudden, you have way more flexibility with your schedule, but you have way less distance from work,” Selman said. “You used to kind of have a buffer between your work space and your home space, and now that’s sort of blended together. Folks are operating with old mindsets, they are not putting their computers away intentionally at the end of the day.”

Selman’ mission is to save us from burnout, so we can get back to work.

Wait, why do I care about burnout?

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The problem, historically, is that the conversation around burnout “has been really clinical, really medicalized, really focused on the individual as a person who needs to manage their own work life balance.” Selman and her company help organizations put resources into helping employees with burnout, so they don’t have to figure it all out themselves. And thank goodness, because please don’t ask an individual in burnout to add another thing to their list of action items. It will break them.

“Something that has really changed in the pandemic is thinking about this at an organizational level,” Selman said.

“Too many choices [for high-quality free time] can seem like … an extra to-do.”

By “taking the logistics off the plates of the employees,” business can provide the “time and budgets to [organize] highquality experiences.”

Selman puts this in the perspective of “quality of respite,” a term found in the research literature on burnout. It is not just taking time off that matters, it is what we do during that time. Companies can help to organize activities to make sure it happens. In short: company-wide paid high-quality time off. Huzzah.

Burnout is real All jokes aside, burnout is real. Eight in 10 employees experience at least one of the symptoms of burnout. So I have to know, do employees really have the option to turn off at those times?

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“These topics of ‘burnout,’ ‘sustainable peak performance’ [and] ‘work-life balance,’ really can’t be addressed at an individual level, it really has to be addressed at a cultural level,” Selman said.

So then, what would be a systemic response to individual burnout?

Selman gave an example, “In Amsterdam, burnout leave is already available. In the U.S. it will look different. My guess is that [different levels of treatment] will be offered based on people’s levels of burnout.”

So, it turns out there are three degrees of burnout: exhaustion, cynicism and hopelessness.

“Sounds familiar,” I said.

“What was that?” Selman asked.

“Rings a bell, right?” I said.

We laughed together.

“Yeah, it’s so pervasive,” she said, then continued. Each degree of burnout has its own appropriate treatment.

For exhaustion, a massage would be excellent, while someone in the depths of cynicism might resent the massage.

Those in the throes of hopelessness need a longer break, to allow for some true detachment. “Corporate sabbaticals are on the rise,” Selman added. “The real future is providing for each of these systematically.”

“Plus massages,” I said, hopefully.

Selman laughed and said, “Massages have to be standard throughout, yep.”

Check out the resources in the side box to deal with your burnout. ❤

Burnout Resources from Haas Business School and beyond.

DR. HOMA BAHRAMI RECOMMENDS: Organize work time into focused sprints

Protect your calendar carefully Schedule 15-minute breaks between meetings or sprints Greater Good Science Center (greatergood.berkeley.edu)

CULTIVEIT’S RESEARCHBACKED SOLUTION FOR HIGH-QUALITY FREE TIME: Get your body active

Do something intrinsically satisfying Stimulate your senses Stay disconnected from devices Be courageous!

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Face Fixes Skincare is more than skin deep

BY Lou Fancher

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

salon or massage establishment provides rejuvenation. After two years of don’ttouch social distancing, deep-bodywork denial and overall disillusionment and distrust related to health during the pandemic, we all deserve safe epidermal and sensory stimulation. A visit to one or all three of these East Bay personalcare businesses provides a roundhouse of services aimed at revitalizing and

reconnecting the body, mind and soul.

This may not fix one’s face—likely, there is nothing wrong with it except the attitude—but one’s outlook will receive a serious upgrade.

Selected based on personal experience, history and recommendations from colleagues— some of whom are in the medical field—the three locations featured

»

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHANGES SALON & DAY SPA

F

or addressing serious skin conditions and concerns, it is always best to contact our primary medical practitioner, who may then refer us to the care of a trained medical dermatologist for diagnosis and treatment. For all other times, when the “fix my face” or “treat my whole body well” impulse surges to the forefront, a visit to a spa, skincare

LOOK Changes Salon & Day Spa excels at skincare treatment.

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» here are by no means an exhaustive

list. They serve as representatives of spas and salons with solid safety protocols in place, established and reliable track records, and owner/ operators and staff who focus on people over product sales. While a good supply of skincare products are offered at two of the three establishments, the energized “push” exerted in deep-tissue massages is not mirrored at the sales counter.

CHANGES SALON & DAY SPA IN WALNUT CREEK The full-service salon, which opened in 1984, is owned by Bonnie Waters, a nail technician who from the get-go envisioned a unique, full-service day spa. The salon’s popularity during the early years resulted in Changes expanding: in 1996, the addition of

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1,800 sqare feet created an extra facial room and a roomier hair styling space.

As the demand for more spa services increased, Changes in 1998 added a lounge and multiple skincare and massage rooms.

Waters’ establishment became a destination space, and in 2007 another expansion of 2,700 sqare feet brought Changes to its current size of approximately 10,000 sqare feet.

Among the amenities and offerings are showers, steam rooms, a 16-foot water wall, a wet room, a sound chair, an infrared sauna and a well-curated boutique offering hair, nail and skincare products, makeup and bath essentials.

Hair-salon services include haircuts, styling, conditioning and coloring for women and men. Spa services range broadly: facials, hair removal, makeup, massage, body therapies and nail, hand

and foot treatments. Special packages present opportunities to gift loved ones or to keep savings in one’s pocket for later self-care.

Asked about riding the roller coaster of running a salon and spa during the Covid-19 pandemic, Waters says, “The first year of Covid was extremely difficult for my business and industry, because of the mandated closures. We were closed almost eight months out of 12, and the other months were a combination of limited services approved to be offered and/ or allowed only outdoors. As you can imagine, doing hair color with no access to water—having a facial—is tough to make happen, not to mention multiple days of smokey conditions or extreme heat that made it very uncomfortable for both provider and client.”

Forced to lay off many of the

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due to the closures, Waters says the second year of Covid, when Changes and other personal care salons were allowed to reopen, was “a big push to try to rehire and/or find new help.”

While still operating understaffed, the salon maintains its high standards and its emphasis on safety. Clients are asked for proof of vaccination to schedule any appointments that require removing a mask. Proof of vaccine—booster optional, either digital or hard copy—is required to receive the relevant services and, in compliance with Contra Costa County mandates, all Changes team members and clients wear masks regardless of vaccination status as of Aug. 3, 2021.

“For the most part our clients have been very understanding and supportive. The vast majority of clients have been happy to show proof of vaccination,” Waters says.

The most popular services in 2022 are Hydraderm Facials, Medifacials and peels; find complete details on the salon website. The top-selling skincare products are Cosmedix Simply Brilliant, Cosmedix Benefit Clean and Cosmedix Purity Clean. Waters says Cosmedix skincare products are designed to work with all skin tones and skin types, not against them. “Whether your skincare concern is dark, under-eye circles, hyperpigmentation, acne, redness, sensitive skin, fine lines and wrinkles or dehydration—our luxurious line of cruelty-free skin-care products delivers real results without harsh side effects.”

Top-selling hair products combining high-tech science and primarily natural ingredients include Kevin Murphy Hydrate Me Rinse, Bumble and

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

Bumble Bond Building Conditioner, Kevin Murphy Session Spray and Kevin Murphy Motion Lotion.

Asked about the overall forecast she makes for 2022, Waters says clients, including both men and women, are “hungry for results-oriented skin care that helps them to look the best they can at any age.” www.changessalon.com/skin-care-services

PIEDMONT SPRINGS IN OAKLAND ON PIEDMONT AVENUE

Another location with a decades-long reliable history, Piedmont Springs, provides massages, sauna and steamroom treatments, hot tubs with group or individual rental options and skincare treatments that include facials, body treatments, waxing and hand care.

Gift certificates, kind and gentle staff, and individual practitioners all received special mention from clients who were asked about the establishment.

Covid-19 protocols include face coverings and social distancing while checking in and entering back rooms.

People displaying symptoms of fever, coughing or sneezing at the time of their appointments are asked to reschedule. Temperature screenings may be required, and to ensure safety, adjusted cleaning and safety practices include: sanitizing commonly touched services in each private room after every use, sanitizing payment devices and sanitizing all commonly touched surfaces in shared areas hourly. Masks are worn by staff and customers at all times while in shared areas, and pre-screening of customers and staff includes temperature checks.

A streamlined website makes it

easy to select treatments, and prices are up-front and reasonable—some very reasonable—when compared to similar East Bay salons and spas. The Sugar Butter Body Scrub, for just $60, promises to exfoliate, smooth and moisturize in one treatment. According to the website, “The essential oils create a sweet treat for the skin that smells yummy enough to eat. The body is left with a clean, fresh polished look.”

Sounds—and smells—like a winner. www.piedmontsprings.com

GOLDEN ISLAND MASSAGE

Finally, for those times when a pickme-up doesn’t allow full, luxurious day-spa indulgence, swing into Golden for an inexpensive—and very strong— half-hour deep-tissue Swedish massage or a 20-minute chair massage. If the schedule loosens, opt for a longer session up to two hours or choose from among hot stone, aroma, pregnancy and couples massages. Acupressure and therapy, reflexology foot massage, Korean body scrubs and combination packages are also available. During a quick call to Golden Island in early February, staff said people in recent months are coming most often for back and foot massages.

The number of appointments each day fluctuates; with some days similar to before the pandemic, other days extremely slow. With practitioners working on clients’ bodies in close proximity, temperatures are taken daily and a room that once had five beds now has three; a room that had four beds now has two. Requests for treatment in private rooms are honored. All staff are triple vaccinated and masks must be worn by both clients and staff. www.gimassage.com

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Digital

Health and wellness gear and gadgets

BY Lou Fancher

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Covid-19 Omicron variant, was no exception. Presentations in-person and in cyberspace from over 2,300 exhibitors—according to event-host Consumer Technology Association— were projected to attract between 50,000 and 75,000 in-person

participants. Actual reports at the start of the show confirmed slightly over 40,000 people at the event in Nevada.

In 2020, just two months prior to the coronavirus lockdowns, CES drew over 170,000 attendees and more than 4,500 exhibitors. Yet, even

»

PHOTO BY RODNAE PRODUCTIONS

T

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During the pandemic, people have taken command of their personal, medical and mental health in unprecedented ways.

though numbers were down, new health and wellness gear and gadgetry was abundant.

Especially during the pandemic— CES showed health-tech innovators and startups are counting on it— people have taken command of their personal, medical and mental health in unprecedented ways.

Some consumer-wearable items and apps mentioned here are in test or prototype phases, or awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval.

Other tech products and services are already on the market. While in no way comprehensive, here are a few top tech items available right now, or in the months to come.

ABBOTT LINGO NEEDLEEQUIPPED BIO-WEARABLE

Abbott is well-known in recent years for its Covid-19 self-test kits. At CES, a line of consumer wearables included Lingo-branded arm patches that contain a sensor with a 5-millimeter-long needle to gauge blood glucose, ketone and lactate levels. The arm patch, which serves a person for 14 days before the needle must be replaced, sends data to an app. For those aiming to burn fat, the feedback app might suggest changes to a diet while monitoring ketones to

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meet the targeted goal. The device can monitor glucose levels in the blood, assisting people with diabetes to remain in optimum health. In the future, Abbott says the device might check a person’s blood-alcohol level to make sure it’s safe to drive. Abbott hopes to launch Lingo in Europe this year and shortly thereafter in the U.S., following approval by the FDA. www.abbott.com

WITHINGS BODY SCAN SCALE

This company, based in Paris, is known for its Garmin Index smart scales that measure bioelectrical impulses—by sending a low electric current from one foot to the other—to calculate body composition. The newest iteration is called Body Scan, which taps into the full torso, arms and legs independently.

Within 60 seconds, the new model can detect A-fib or tell a person about the nerve activity, or lack thereof, in their feet. Body Scan is expected to be available in the second half of 2022. www.withings.com/us/en/body-plus

GARMIN VIVOMOVE SPORT HYBRID FITNESS TRACKER For people who want to track their fitness but hesitate to cough up

nearly $500 on a Garmin, there is the more-affordable Vivomove Sport Hybrid. Unlike their other sports model, the Venu 2 Plus, this fitness tracker resembles a traditional analog watch. It’s perfect for tracking basic fitness workouts—with blood oxygen measurements included. The gadget works for everyone, from casual weekend walkers to gym rats with daily habits. www.garmin.com

MASSAGE ROBOTICS

As if made for the Covid-19 era, this company’s life-sized autonomous massage robot—with collaborative robotic arms and cloud artificial intelligence—can be controlled by the user. People can talk to the robot in a normal voice to control motion and force during a massage. No need to get naked with a stranger or worry about masks and social-distancing with this masseuse. An app allows users to create and customize programs that can be stored and modified in the cloud.

The routines can be shared online or networked with spas and clubs worldwide. The company hopes to release the product in 2022. www.massagerobotics.com

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therapy. The company is now accepting reservations for the product.

How does self-driving tech in the form of an autonomous tractor in a cornfield impact a person's health? When farm fields of all sizes allow farmers to plow their fields remotely, without having to be anywhere near the machine, efficiency is increased. More time can be spent developing and ensuring safe practices—using less pesticides and allowing more soil to remain fallow, for instance. A sensor even causes the tractor to stop when it sees rocks and other obstructions, which could result in less injuries to livestock or farmers who want to go along for the autonomous ride. Perhaps the savings could even show up as price reductions at the market, something from which we’d all benefit. The smartphone control app for the tractor is projected to roll out this year.

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Another robot is the Retriever by Labrador Systems. The nightstandshaped robot can grab food from a programmed fridge using retractable arms, roll to a person’s “station” on the couch and adjust its height so their next meal is within comfortable reach. It connects with Amazon Alexa and can answer phone calls. It can serve people with ease as long as item locations are preprogrammed into it.

Labrador Systems predicts the retriever will be used to transport heavy loads for customers in senior living facilities and serve people undergoing physical

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

MOVANO RING FITNESS AND HEALTH TRACKER

This smart ring has a slimmer profile than the company’s popular Oura Ring.

Both deliver metrics such as heartrate and body temperature. Movano hopes to use these metrics to explain how exercise or a lack of exercise affects sleep, among other things. FDA clearance is needed for any healthfitness product which provides medicalgrade insights, but look to the future when the rings’ temperature-screening tool will be used to track fertility and an app will track rising body temperature; a helpful metric for people trying to conceive, according to the company’s website. www.movano.com

I just loath carrying both sunglasses and reading glasses on a sunny day in the East Bay. Luckily, these new DeepOptics 32ºN glasses switch between sunglasses and different reading-glass presets with a simple swipe on the temple. The lenses have a layer of liquid crystals similar to what is found in TV screens. Voltage that moves the pixels into different programmable prescriptions means the sunglasses fit variable needs in conditions such as reading or driving.

DeepOptics reports it is working on a distance-lens version, expected to be available later this year. www.32northglasses.com

SMARTY PEAR LEO’S LOO TOO LITTER BOX

Even the family feline can benefit from new tech to stay regular—or to determine if an illness is causing a problem. Spending time perusing the contents of a cat’s litter box is less than ideal, so the Loo Too comes with a built-in sensor that tracks how often a cat goes, along with its weight. It syncs the data to a companion phone app and comes with additional features like UV sterilization and radar to keep the box from self-cleaning while the cat is nearby. With a self-cleaning package, a recent Valentines Day Bundle offered a Leo’s Loo Too in a choice of colors, along with a Leo’s Loo Mat, a box of 25 Leo’s Loo Drawstring Waste Liner Bags and three Smarty Pear Plushies. www.smartypear.com

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Spirits of the Times Distilleries in the North Bay and the East Bay

BY Brooke Herron

T

»

WALL OF FAME Testing the barrels at Wright and Brown Distilling Co., the first Oakland distillery launched since before Prohibition.

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MARCH/APRIL 2022

PHOTO COURTESY OF WRIGHT AND BROWN DISTILLING CO.

he demand for quality craft spirits has steadily increased during the past 15 years and shows no sign of slowing down.

Consumers have developed a taste for and interest in higher-quality, smaller-production specialized spirits and cocktails, as evidenced by the huge increases in craft distilleries in the U.S. during the past seven to 10 years.

Between 2015 and 2020 the number of small craft distilleries nearly doubled and the number of medium-size craft distillers more than doubled, according to the Craft Spirits Data Project.

Moreover, spirits continue to gain an ever-increasing alcoholconsumption market share.

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DISTILLED Hanson’s upscale tasting room and bar offers a variety of different spirits tasting experiences including a small menu of cold foods such as oysters.

»

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Why visit and taste at a craft distillery? Visiting a craft distillery gives us a chance to see behind the scenes as well as to taste and purchase spirits that may not be easily found in stores. It’s also an opportunity for us to support a local business by purchasing locally made products that keep money in the local economy.

The following itinerary includes a selected group of distilleries in two distinct regions linked by the Richmond Bridge. From Richmond and Alameda, in the East Bay, to Napa and Sonoma, in the North Bay, here are seven fantastic

local craft spirits distilleries to visit, tour and taste.

East Bay DISSIDENT SPIRITS

This new Richmond-based distillery is a project by Oliver Gothe and founding-partner Adrian Willey. Both Oliver and Adrian were home brewers for some years before meeting, with Oliver having tried his hand at home beer and wine brewing—for personal consumption—in his home state of

PHOTO BY BROOKE HERRON

Local craft distilleries are in high demand, particularly in areas like the Bay Area, where people tend to be very interested in where the products they eat and drink come from and how they are made. They may even be in greater demand in the Bay Area than anywhere else in the state, because there are so few craft distilleries compared to wineries and breweries. To wit, there are close to 4,000 wineries in California, but just under 150 distilleries—and fewer than a dozen of those are Bay Area craft distilleries that offer tasting experiences.

South Carolina, though he’s originally from Germany, and Adrian hailing from a family of craft spirit makers who own a distillery in New Orleans.

While the plan to start a distillery percolated for some years, Oliver and Adrian decided to go all-in and find a location, file for permits and get started on making their first batches of spirits for commercial sale a mere six to nine months into the pandemic.

Dissident’s tasting room is located at The Crossing at Marina Bay, situated between both Armistice Brewery and The Artisan Kitchen—a popular local cafe and restaurant that serves wholesome fare incorporating local produce.

The status on Dissident’s tasting room’s opening date is up in the air, but it is expected to be very early in the new year. Staff is hired, labels are approved, and the storage and distilling space at the new tasting room is renovated—so the doors are sure to open soon.

Dissident Spirits, 855 Marina Bay Parkway, Suite 28, Richmond. 415.578.0156. dissidentspiritsco.com

ST. GEORGE SPIRITS

One of the earliest craft distilleries to offer tours in the Bay Area, St. George, which set the benchmark for distillery tours and tasting experiences more than a decade ago, has been in the business of craft spirit making for more than three decades. For those who are just starting out on their craft spirit journey, St. George is a perfect introduction to the world of craft distilling and spirit tasting.

Why visit and taste at a craft distillery?

Visiting a craft distillery gives us a chance to see behind the scenes as well as to taste and purchase spirits that may not be easily found in stores.

While St. George Spirits originally specialized in brandies—they launched with a pear brandy in 1982—they evolved over the years, adding whiskey, vodka and other spirits to their range of products. Located in an old airplane hangar in Alameda, St. George Spirits is the company that launched Hangar 1 Vodka, a brand they sold in 2010.

Today, St. George crafts a range of vodkas, gins, rums, brandies, whiskeys and liqueurs.

While tours and tastings are normally available by reservation, St. George stopped offering them during the pandemic and has not yet specified when they will be available again.

Subscribe to their email list to get updates on their re-opening date.

St. George Distillery, 2601 Monarch St., Alameda. 510.769.1601. stgeorgespirits.com

WRIGHT AND BROWN DISTILLING CO.

Wright and Brown have crafted aged rums and California whiskeys in Oakland since 2014, when they launched the first Oakland distillery since before Prohibition. The distillery has won a number of awards for their

whiskeys, including a Good Food Award in 2021 for their bourbon.

The distillery works with exclusively non-GMO grains and sources much of its rye, corn and malted barley from family farms in California that practice organic farming methods. While these guys don’t currently have an on-site tasting option, they do sell bottles out of their bottle shop at the distillery, and customers are welcome to stop by if they are in the area.

Wright and Brown Distilling Co., 2715 Magnolia St., Oakland. 510.922.1429. wbdistilling.com

The North Bay HANSON OF SONOMA DISTILLERY AND TASTING ROOM

Located in what was formerly a large brewery space off of Sonoma’s historic Highway 121, Hanson opened the doors to it’s new tasting room and cocktail bar space in 2018. Located 5 minutes from downtown Sonoma, 15 minutes from Downtown Napa and just under an hour from San Francisco, Hanson

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EASY DOES IT The ‘speakeasy’ at Napa Valley Distillery.

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Hanson’s upscale tasting room and bar offers a variety of different spirits-tasting experiences including a spirits-and-chocolate tasting, martiniand-caviar pairing and cocktail tasting.

The business also offers a specialty cocktail menu and a small menu of cold foods, including oysters, charcuterie and cheese plates, and hot foods such as wood-fired pizza, Friday through Sunday. It also hosts group and business

events such as food-and-cocktail pairing experiences, mixology classes and private parties in the “barrel room” group-event space.

Hanson of Sonoma Distillery and Tasting Room, 22985 Burndale Rd., Sonoma.

707.343.1805. hansonofsonoma.com

PROHIBITION SPIRITS

Prohibition specializes in whiskeys, rums, brandies, liqueurs, vodkas &

PHOTO BY BROOKE HERRON

specializes in small-batch vodkas made with organic grapes.

The distillery is family owned and run by Scott Hanson and his four children—sons Darren, Brandon and Chris, and daughter Alana—who all play important roles, and hold equal shares, at the company. Chris is the distiller, Alana does the marketing and branding, Brandon is the macerator and Darren manages production.

cellos. Its wide range of speciality spirits includes items such as pink gin, brandy XOX—like XO, but with an extra X— Gravenstein-apple brandy, figcello—like a limoncello but with figs—and blackwalnut liqueur in addition to more traditional gins, whiskeys and rums.

Prohibition’s modern-but-cozy tasting room is located off of the Sonoma Plaza, just a door down from La Salette Restaurant. The space isn’t approved for serving drinks, so at this point the tasting room is just that, a tasting room—though visitors can purchase bottles of spirits as well as pre-mixed specialty cocktails to enjoy at home.

Prohibition is open for spirits tasting and sales at its tasting room and bar shop daily from 11am to 6pm. It also offers group tastings, mixology classes and private cocktail-and-food pairing experiences. Contact co-owner Amy Groth, at amy@hellosonoma.com, for more information on how to book a group event.

Prohibition Spirits, 452 1st East, Suite E, Sonoma. ​707.933.7507. prohibition-spirits.com

NAPA VALLEY DISTILLERY

the brainchild of Armenian-American owners and partners Arthur and Lusine Hartunian, who picked up and moved from Southern California to pursue their dream of starting a craft distillery and speakeasy-style bar in the Napa Valley in 2009.

Spirits-lovers can visit and enjoy Napa Valley Distillery’s spirits at three locations: the Grand Salon and tasting room, at the distillery; Hollywood Room Cocktail Bar, a speakeasy-style bar at the distillery; or at Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa. The distillery offers tours and tastings in addition to classes and/or private group experiences by reservation. Contact Theo for more information on group experiences.

The distillery also has a spirits club called the Distinguished Bar Club, which is described as being “like Blue Apron for Cocktail and Spirits Enthusiasts.”

Napa Valley Distillery, 2485 Stockton St., Napa. 707.265.6272. napadistillery.com

GRIFFO DISTILLERY

Griffo Distillery is a craft distillery located in a small warehouse in a Petaluma industrial business park that specializes in gin, whiskey, vodka and mixers. It also makes a line of canned cocktails. The Griffo distillery space contains both a small bar and distillation room, where visitors can spy Griffo’s pretty copper-pot still from their perch at the bar, as well as a large whiskey barrel aging room which also serves as a bar-seating area.

Griffo offers tours and tastings by appointment; tastings and cocktail/ bar service Friday through Sunday; and group experiences with advance planning. During weekend business hours, guests can also enjoy beautifully prepared bites of food from Griffo’s neighbor food partner, Stockholm Restaurant. Walk-ins are welcome, though reservations are encouraged.

Griffo Distillery, 1320 Scott St., Petaluma.

707.879.8755. griffodistillery.com

MARCH/APRIL 2022 | EASTBAYMAG.COM | EAST BAY MAGAZINE

PHOTO BY BROOKE HERRON

As Napa’s one-and-only distillery, Napa Valley Distillery offers a unique opportunity to Napa Valley locals and visitors alike to come and sip a variety of locally made small-batch brandies, gin, or spirits in a variety of settings. Selfdescribed as “the first distillery in the City of Napa since Prohibition”—and we have found no information to refute this claim—Napa Valley Distillery is

TASTE Prohibition Spirits produces a range of specialty spirits as well as traditional gins, whiskeys and rums that are available to try in their tasting room.

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East Bay

Walks In Alameda, Oakland and Berkeley

BY Mark Fernquest

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T

he East Bay is an exquisite nexus point blessed with a plethora of unique cultural and natural phenomena.

Included among them are a handful of quaint, often off-the-beaten-path parks and locales that offer excellent opportunities for quiet contemplation, walks or bike rides for the introverted suburbanite. Never one to go to the gym, I spent the past 20-plus years locating and frequenting these sublime places to get my exercise and maintain my equilibrium. In these chaotic times, during Covid especially, they allow easy local access to nature with safe social distancing.

ROBERT W. CROWN MEMORIAL STATE BEACH

I learned something a lifetime ago, when I first moved to the East Bay: An artificial beach is better than no beach at all. In fact, in many ways it is superior to the real thing. Why? Well, if it is designed just right, the uniformity of the shoreline makes for a straightline walk with a million-dollar view of San Francisco and the greater Bay, the water is warm and shallow, and the lack of surf—and resulting tranquility of the water—allows people to walk out into the Bay and to windsurf, sailboard and kiteboard with relative ease.

Thus the popularity of Alameda’s own 2.5-mile-long, 387-acre man-made

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PHOTOS BY MARK FERNQUEST

LIMITLESS The breakwater, a destination unto itself, stretches away from Alameda Point’s Encinal Beach out into the Bay for hundreds and hundreds of yards.

beach, which is good for a walk day or night—within posted hours, of course— at any time of year. I’ve watched the sunrise and sunset and everything in between from this very special place, and engaged in many meaningful conversations with friends as we walked the surf’s edge.

The beach’s conveniently located public bathrooms and water fountains, and accompanying paved bicycle path and parking, all along Shoreline Drive, make this location especially userfriendly. Those wishing to make the full 5-mile round-trip circuit can walk from the Broadway/Park Street end of the beach all the way up to the Crown Cove visitor center and back, but should pack water, sunscreen and a windbreaker and give themselves several hours to make the full journey.

Susan Ramos, 57, a naturalist for the East Bay Regional Park District, has worked at Crab Cove, on the west end of the beach, for many years. In her opinion, “... the best thing about the beach is that although it is located within the large City of Alameda, there is still an abundance of natural plants and animals to be seen and explored. Shorebirds can be seen from August through April, some other birds are seen year round. At Crab Cove during low tide you can find crabs, side swimmers, clams, oyster drill snails, Atlantic mud snails, sea lettuce, barnacles, mussels and much more. During the late spring and early summer a fish called a grunion comes up onto the beach to lay its eggs.”

She adds, “One rule to follow is that there is no collecting at the

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» beach and in the Crab Cove Marine Conservation Area. And please be sure to deposit any trash in a trash can.”

Daily park hours are 5am to 10pm.

Dogs must be leashed. Children are welcome. Fishing is permitted, as is swimming, though no lifeguards are on duty. Boating, kayaking, sailing and picnicking are popular activities.

www.ebparks.org/parks/crown-beach

ALAMEDA POINT

When I lived in Alameda, the former Naval Air Station—now known as Alameda Point—was a mere stone’s throw from my front door. I spent countless hours bicycling and walking around the massive, 1,560-acre neighborhood, exploring its many historical ruins, buildings, warehouses and oddly disjointed boulevards. In the 6 years since I moved away, the base has grown by leaps and bounds, and a promenade along Seaplane Lagoon is now partially finished, the massive— and rather visually stunning—new Aero apartment complex is completed, and the main strip of jumbo-sized hangars is now so overflowing with breweries, wineries, distilleries and excellent eateries that it resembles a veritable marketplace. But regardless of the ever-evolving state of Alameda Point, it remains a gold mine of adventure for anyone with two shoes or a bicycle.

Lifetime Alameda resident Christine Winberg, 53, says, “I go to the former Alameda Air Naval base or, as we old-time native Alamedans call it, ‘The Base,’ at least once a month for a walk. It’s changing, evolving and being developed quickly, so there is always something new to see. I’m still in awe

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of the views from the base every time I go.”

She adds, “I like to walk amongst the old air hangars and the old housing and ‘BOQ’ (bachelors officers quarters)— it’s so post-apocalyptic and cool to just wander around. I also like going by Seaplane Lagoon. Along the lagoon you can see jellyfish, seals, many different kinds of birds and more. It’s not very dog-friendly in those area’s due to broken glass, sharp bits of metal and old pavement, so if my doggy is with me we stick to the beach near the rock wall and Encinal boat ramp. It has a decent sidewalk there, and it’s much kinder to her paws—plus, she loves the squirrels that live over there.”

My favorite parts of the base include Encinal Beach, near the aforementioned Encinal boat ramp, and the walk from there up the Bay Trail along the shoreline to the Hornet aircraft carrier, which is a phenomenon in and of itself. I also like the former officer’s housing neighborhood—near the ferry terminal on the opposite side of the base—with its wide avenues and vast, green lawns.

Known as a “garden” cemetery, Mountain View was uniquely designed with integrated grand monuments and broad avenues. According to its website, “... near its entrance gates, Olmsted [the architect] designed a straight avenue lined by trees. On the slopes of six hills skirting this avenue, he constructed curved lanes and paths like tributaries flowing down from the hills to make possible a gradual ascent and descent, like the twisting roads of the park cemeteries set in England.” Live Oaks, Italian cypress, Lebanese cedar and Italian stone pine add peace and beauty to the landscape.

It is important to note that, due to Covid, the cemetery’s hours of public access have been reduced to Saturdays and Wednesdays, 8am to 4:30pm.

Sign-in is required at the gate, and strict new rules regarding dogs are now enforced. Please show proper respect to this venerable private institution when visiting.

www.alamedapoint.co

Located in Oakland’s Grand Lake neighborhood, a few short blocks from both Piedmont Avenue and Lake Merritt, this sublime, 8-acre garden is not to be missed. Tucked away in its own little valley on the side of a hill, it makes for tranquility itself with its winding walkways, many stairways and fountains, and a reflecting pool. It’s not exactly the type of place one goes to rev up their rpms and work up a cardio sweat—consider it a destination to walk to or a place to find instant Zen while alternately strolling amidst,

MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETERY

When I lived on Linda Avenue, off Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, Mountain View Cemetery was a regular destination. Whether by bicycle or on foot, I explored the 226-acre cemetery at least once a week. Its beauty, varied terrain and countless paths never failed to amaze me. I came to affectionately call its cluster of tombs the City of the Dead—for it is quite remarkable, in and of itself.

www.mountainviewcemetery.org/resources/ pilot-re-opening-plan

MORCOM ROSE GARDEN

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TIMELESS Alameda’s Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach offers the intrepid Zen walker miles of perfect, pristine beauty among the sand dunes, all with a priceless view of the San Francisco Bay.

and sitting amongst, the flowers.

A designated World Heritage Site since 1980, the Morcom Rose Garden has 6,000 exotic roses which bloom from late April through the end of October annually. But honestly, I never needed the flowers to be in bloom to enjoy this park; I passed through it frequently when I lived in the neighborhood, especially when walking to or from the Grand Lake District, and always brought guests to visit it.

Located at 700 Jean St., in Oakland, Morcom Rose Garden is officially open Monday through Friday, 9am to 4pm, but admission is free, and there are multiple access points from the surrounding streets. www.visitoakland.com/listing/ morcom-rose-garden/220/

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INDIAN ROCK PARK

A perennial favorite, Indian Rock Park rises out of a hillside in Northeast Berkeley’s historic Northbrae neighborhood in rather striking fashion.

I discovered it quite by accident, when visiting an acupuncturist who operated out of his house a few blocks away, and my jaw literally dropped at the sight of this unexpected visual gem. Parking can be mildly challenging, but the walk through the neighborhood is almost as enjoyable as exploring the giant rock itself, and should be considered part of the Indian Rock experience.

This beautiful, teeny-tiny 1.18-acre park is a must-see local treasure. The rocks and boulders are both majestic and otherworldly, and make for

delightful exploration. Kids love it, but adults—including me—do, too. The park’s website officially states that it features a picnic area, “a vista/overlook with gorgeous view of the San Francisco Bay and a rock outcropping with carved steps and areas for rock climbing.”

Located at 950 Indian Rock Ave. in Berkeley, it is open daily from 6am to 10pm. www.cityofberkeley.info/Parks_Rec_ Waterfront/Trees_Parks/ Parks__Indian_Rock_Park.aspx

It’s high time for safe, socially distanced exercise, folks. So go, get out of the house and explore these local treasures. They are free, open to the public and may just hold the key to the equanimity we all need. ❤

Farmhouse Kitchen Thai Cuisine · Plank · seabreeze on the dock Heinold's first and last chance saloon · Forge Pizza · Scott's seafood Rosenblum cellars · yoshi's music venue and japanese restaurant Coming Soon: Noka Ramen & Timeless Coffee

scan the qr code for a complete listing of businessES.

Jack London Square is located at the south end of Broadway, on the The Oakland Waterfront.

472 Water Street, Oakland, CA 94607

JackLondonSquare

JacklondoNsquare.com

JackLondonSq

Be unique, Be you.

At St. Paul’s Towers, at this unconventional time, you can define community living in your own way.

Even with physical distancing, you can be a vital part of a community that solicits opinions, listens to all voices, and respects individuals.

Join a community that supports and stimulates, communicates and cares. Engage your way at St. Paul’s Towers.

For a virtual tour or to learn more, please call or visit our website.

510.891.8542 www.covia.org/st-pauls-towers

A not-for-profit community owned and operated by Covia Communities. License No. 011400627 COA #327