The East Bay just keeps getting better and better.  If you think Oakland and Berkeley are sleepy cities, then you are certainly mistaken!
Once Ozzie’s Fountain Shoppe a  mid-century pharmacy and soda fountain is now the Elmwood Cafe.  This cafe was thoughtfully renovated and the owners did their best to savage the essence of its former [...]

Last weekend I made a point of getting out and enjoying my community.  Friday morning I headed to Brown Sugar restaurant, a cute soul food eatery on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland operated by chef  proprietor, Tanya Holland. I had a “screaming”, (that means unbelievable, over the top) piece of brown sugar peach coffee cake, [...]

Effective December 12th, 2008 the city of Alameda increased their point of sale city transfer tax from $5.40 per $1000 of purchase price to $12.00 per thousand. There are two transfer taxes involved in buying a selling a home; county transfer tax is a generally paid by the seller when a house is sold. [...]

Recently, I was house hunting with a client in Alameda. A quick drive from Oakland across the Park Street bridge and I was in sleepy Alameda; a community I visit often for weekend soccer games. (My children both play soccer.) As Alameda develops and improves, it maintains the small town charm we [...]

On the somewhat deserted Alameda Naval Base is St. George Spirits. Jorg Rupf started St. George Spirits 25+ years ago, with a vision of producing small batches of Eau de vie, (a clear colored fruit brandy). Using the highest quality fruit and ingredients St. George Spirits grew to America’s premier craft distiller producing, Eau de [...]