August and September Events
On August 27th, Shakewell hosted a Milk Bar 50/50 fundraiser celebrating World Breastfeeding Month and Black Breastfeeding Week with Oakland Better Birth Foundation. It featured Monica McLemore, a warrior for women’s reproductive rights and it featured “Mommatails” (non-alcoholic drinks for those with nurselings), delicious finger foods and a raffle.
Proposition Chicken donated 10% of all August Monday dine-in food sales for Non-Profit Monday to Healing Muses in Oakland.
Coming Up:
Oakland LBGTQ Community Center One Year Anniversary on Sept. 8th at Children’s Fairyland, 11 am-2 pm:
Save the Date: Hipline 10th Anniversary Party on September 22!
Did you know that Hipline started out as a Belly Dance studio in 2008? That is where the “Shimmy” in Shimmy Pop comes from. ☺️ And you can see more shimmies at their 10-year anniversary party on September 22nd!
Special Promotion: The European Wax Center- Lakeshore has a new promotion starting next week (which is exclusive to the Oakland Center). For every Tuesday for the months of September and October, they have a special 1/2 off for a new service when paying full price for your regular service (exclusions apply).
A BIG Thank You
Thank You Tyrone Mack, gardener at Lakeshore Baptist Church, for cleaning up the triangle on Lakeshore! It is now much safer for oncoming traffic and much cleaner!
Openings and Closings:
Lin Jia has re-opened and they have a great new menu featuring rice and salad bowls for lunch, check it out!
We are looking forward to Bardo’s opening, it is coming soon and if you or a friend is looking for work, there is a “Help Wanted” sign on the door.
EAH Housing looks to be closing their purchase of the Kwik Way property. If they close, they plan to construct up to 50 units of much needed affordable housing with ground-floor retail in its place.
Improvements are also currently underway in the space at 3355 Lakeshore that was occupied most recently by the Moroccan Palace restaurant. This will likely become a satellite of Merritt Bakery and, down the line, a replacement location once the Kwik Way building is torn down.
Foot Locker has permanently closed its Lakeshore storefront.
July was a busy and eventful month for Lakeshore Avenue merchants full of accolades, media and giving back!
Huge congratulations to our East Bay Express Best of the East Bay winners:
Arizmendi Best Bakery (all listed at ArizmendiBakery.coop)
Shakewell: Readers Choice Runner up BEST Small Plates
The Main Squeeze: Readers Choice Runner Up BEST Juicebar
Peet’s Coffee – Readers Choice Best Coffee (all listed, Peets.com)
Celebrity Sightings and Giving Back!
Blindspotting co-stars Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casals took over Lakeshore Peet’s Coffee to celebrate their film premiere. As part of the event, Peet’s Coffee contributed $5,000 donation to Youth Speaks, a Bay Area non-profit arts organization that supports both youth and artists. By the way, Blindspotting is now playing — go check it out :).
To show gratitude for the contributions that Starbucks has made to the community and have the opportunity to give back, District 2 Councilmember Abel Guillen served coffee at Starbucks on Lakeshore on 7/30, he may have been your barista!
In 2017, Arizmendi on Lakeshore, with customer support, raised a total of $38,526 for a variety of wonderful community organizations. Thus far, in 2018, they’ve already contributed $20,000 cumulatively to similar causes including in June and July, fundraising for the Oakland LBGTQ Community Center. It’s great to see such support from one Lakeshore business to another fabulous Lakeshore organization!
Proposition Chicken Oakland non-profit partner for July was Telegraph Ministry Center, which received 10% of all Monday dine-in sales throughout the month. Thanks for helping to support a wonderful community organization!
Lakeshore is on TV!
Congrats Bay-Made for being one of the fantastic local businesses featured on CBS 5 KPIX This Is SF on July 28th. If you missed it, you can watch it on YouTube here.
KRCB, a public broadcasting station in Sonoma County, filmed an episode entitled, “The Ins and Outs of Managing a Farmers Market” at our neighborhood Grand Lake Market this past month. It’s available on YouTube at this LINK.
Lin Jia was closed for the entire month of July for extensive remodeling but is scheduled to re-open Thursday, August 2, with new floors, newly installed sound-proofing and new menu items. Stay tuned for details and photographs.
INTRODUCING LAKESHORE’S NEW BID ADMINISTRATORS
Greetings Lakeshore! The Lakeshore Business Improvement District has two new Co-Administrators, Kira Pascoe and Carol Dru – both of whom are delighted and honored to serve you!
Kira Pascoe will be doing Social Media, updating the new LakeshoreAvenue.com website and Directory, representing Lakeshore in the Oakland community and helping with outreach. Her goal is to work with the Lakeshore community to create a robust Social Media and marketing presence. Kira has worked with local businesses for over 10 years and currently works on Buy Local campaigns with Oakland Grown. Previously, she worked as a Community Manager with Townsquared and as a Business Development and Outreach manager for Chinook Book. You will see Kira out and about on Lakeshore shopping, taking pictures or walking her dogs. She can be reached at kira@lakeshoreavenue.com
After 28 years on Lakeshore Avenue as co-owner of Silver Linings Jewelry, returning to the Avenue, surrounded by long-time customers and old friends, makes Carol Knight feel right at home. As a Co-Administrator of the Lakeshore BID, she’s going to serve as their eyes and ears; working with neighborhood businesses to resolve problems and also oversee the various contractors that provide security, maintenance and landscaping. A key part of her job will also involve co-ordinating special events including the Halloween and Easter parades – roles that she always embraced in years past as a volunteer. Although it’s not necessarily in her job description, Carol also wants to be the spark that helps create a more cohesive merchant group. She can be reached at Carol@LakeshoreAvenue.com.
WELCOMING BARDO LOUNGE & SUPPER CLUB
The Grand Lake Neighbors group meets the third Wednesday of each month at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church and one of the main draws for the meeting last week was a presentation by Seth Bregman and his wife, Jenni. They outlined how and why they are in the process of converting Michel into Bardo Lounge and Supper Club.
The “why” portion can best be summarized with this quote from the Michel Bistro website explaining that they want to create “a neighborhood lounge and dining room inspired by the comfort and camaraderie of a mid-century dinner party.”
the LATEST NEWS and LOTS of it
The Lakeshore BID’s Annual Meeting this past Monday, June 25th was heavily attended and very informative with a robust discussion of important issues. Mayor Libby Schaaf gave a detailed update on the City of Oakland’s plans for effectively and compassionately dealing with our homelessness crisis. Councilmember Abel Guillén gave an equally detailed report on his office’s accomplishments and noted, with particular satisfaction, that the budget he drafted passed the council unanimously. Police Chief Kirkpatrick discussed security and lauded the department she supervises with praise especially for the Area Commanders and Community Resource Officers who were present.
The meeting included special acknowledgements for long-time members of the Advisory Board including its Chair, Barry Gilbert, and it’s Treasurer, Steve Banker. Both served in their respective offices since the BID’s founding twenty years ago. On Monday, Barry announced that he was tendering his resignation next year. Steve Banker resigned a couple of months ago and turned over the accounting books to Board Member, Terri Ellis. Other long-time employees were thanked for their services including Pamela Drake, the just-retired BID Administrator as well as the highly-esteemed, Lakeshore Security Guard, Abebe Lemo. Although he’s been employed as the Lakeshore Gardener barely one year, Daniel Schneider was lauded for all the new landscaping he’s installed. A graduate of Merritt College’s Horticultural Department, “Donnie” has accepted an apprenticeship in Switzerland but has promised to keep in touch and to eventually return. Ryan Nishioka, whom you may already know as one of the marvelous employees at Grand Lake Ace Nursery, is slated to become the new Lakeshore gardener. P.S. They’re working on a budget – so donations of plants and cuttings would be much appreciated.
Special thanks to Chipotle for a delicious dinner and Starbucks for providing coffee!
The New Lakeshore Website and Directory went live this past Friday. A huge thank-you to Ken Katz, from the Splash Pad News, for working so diligently to make it happen. Please bookmark the website (www.lakeshoreavenue.com) and the Directory and share both widely on social media with friends and neighbors. We will be updating the site regularly and if you have any requests or comments, please e-mail kira@lakeshoreavenue.com.
News in Brief Includes the Following:
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Hipline’s annual “Shimmy Pop-A-Thon” fundraising event was a HUGE success. This year’s beneficiary, MISSEY.org (which provides support services for sex trafficking victims) received $19,600 in contributions from the event – well above Hipline’s $15,000 goal! - Due to staffing issues, Adventure Toys will only be open four days a week for the next several weeks
Dress Best for Less has a large collection of exotic, hand-carved ethnic masks for sale. They’re highly-collectable -so do stop in to see them before they all sell!- Lin Jia is closing for remodeling on July 2. Be on the lookout for new decor and a new menu when they reopen in August.
- 18/8 Fine Men’s Salon at 3340 Lakeshore just closed permanently with no advance notice.
The interior of 3247 Lakeshore (until recently, Pura Vida) is being gutted to the lath in preparation for the opening of “Forever Beauty and Nails”.- Work has also just begun at 3355 Lakeshore – the space recently vacated by Moroccan Palace. Charles Griffis, the owner/operator of Merritt Bakery at Kwik Way says he’s planning a satellite restaurant -very tentatively called Merritt Bakery Cafe.
Hats off to the Public Works Department for removing the severely blighted newspaper racks in the Grand Lake District in response to multiple complaints over the past year from neighborhood residents and business owners. Also, thanks are due to Abel Guillen’s office for facilitating the removal. While the rack’s demise is due, in part, to the extent to which the public is ever more likely to get their news online or via cable news networks, it’s also due to damage incurred when people broke into the coin boxes. Eventually, stocking and maintaining the racks became financially untenable.
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A big welcome to Hillary Flowers, the new owner of Gymboree, who writes that she is “excited to be a part of this vibrant community. Reflecting a broader focus on their programming, it’s now called Gymboree Play & Music but their goal continues to be “fostering creativity and confidence in children ages 0-5”. Hillary also extended an invitation to a free event, featuring music, games and give-aways in celebration of National Day of Play on June 23 from 10 – 2pm.
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Every year, Oakland Magazine conducts a Best of the East Bay reader’s poll.
As is regularly the case, Lakeshore Avenue businesses were well represented.
Best Bakery – Arizmendi
Best Doughnuts – Colonial Donuts
Best Shoe Repair – Ike’s Shoe and Luggage Repair
Best Yoga Studio – Namaste Yoga + Wellness
Best Coffee House – Peet’s
Best Happy Hour – Shakewell
Best Gift Shop – Urban Indigo
Congratulations to all the above award winners along with a shout-out for all the other businesses on Lakeshore and Lake Park that feed and clothe us well and also provide valuable services.