A new garden has been planted at the edge of the parking lot on Civic Dr. and Locust St. in downtown Walnut Creek where the restaurant Lettuce is and appropriately enough this one’s edible as you can see from the photo below showing off a Tango Mandarin sapling. There are also tomato plants growing. Amazing!
1259 S. Main St, Walnut Creek
In January I noted the Japanese clothing store Uniqlo would be coming to downtown Walnut Creek and construction has now begun. Gina Khan Salon temporarily replaced The Children’s Place which closed last September and they have temporarily relocated to San Francisco.
4th of July Concert and Ice Cream Social:
Civic Park Gazebo
1375 Civic Dr, Walnut Creek
Friday, July 4th, 2014
3:00pm – 7:30pm | FreeWalnut Creek continues its Centennial Celebrations with an Independence Day Concert and Ice Cream Social. The family friendly evening includes performances by the acclaimed Walnut Creek Band and free root beer floats served by the city’s current and former Mayors. The Valley Art Gallery is hosting a “Walnut Creek Paint-Out” project, a display of plein aire art scenes of Walnut Creek created by local artists. People attending the social will be able to view the works of art and vote for their favorite painting at www.valleyartgallery.org.
2933 Ygnacio Valley Rd, Walnut Creek
A new children’s birthday and fun center called Smile Tu recently opened in the Encina Grande Shopping Center in Walnut Creek. The main feature are Japanese purikura photo booths where 4 – 8 kids and others can dress up in costumes, wigs, masks etc. and get their photos taken which can be customized afterwards. Drop-ins are allowed anytime. They also have different party-themed rooms like Western, Frozen and glow in the dark. Check out the party packages here.
From their website:
We are a cool NEW store in Walnut Creek that currently has 10 unique party themes designed around our different, out of this world photo booths. We have an experience that will take you UP to a new level of entertainment.
These machines have the ability to alter lighting, back grounds, hair color, and eye animation. Essentially they are digital photoshop pictures, making you look great! One can then customize the picture sticker strip by using a touch screen and stylist pen. The touch screen displays a vast array of options to decorate your picture sticker strip, with different boarders, frames, stamps, creatures, smiley faces, sparkles, glitter and different colored pens to draw freehand. Two pictures are never a like, all being done under a time limit adds to the excitement. Finally the number and size of pictures are chosen and then printed on a glossy very colorful 6×4 inch sticker sheet.
Back of the Purikura photo booth:
Plenty more photos after the jump…
Back in January I noted that construction on Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf had begun in the Sprouts Shopping Center located on Geary Rd. and N. Main St. in Walnut Creek and judging by the inside it’s getting much closer to opening now. This place has been empty for a really long time so it’s good to see significant progress being made on the inside. Stay tuned…
1192 Locust St, Walnut Creek
A new men’s section is opening sometime in July within the Forever 21 clothing store in downtown Walnut Creek across from The Cheesecake Factory.
Bancroft Elementary
2200 Parish Dr, Walnut Creek
Saturday, July 12th – Sunday, July 13th, 2014
9:00am – 9:00amAt Relay For Life events, communities across the globe come together to honor cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that has already taken too much. The funds you raise truly make a difference in the fight against cancer – just ask one of the nearly 14 million cancer survivors who will celebrate another birthday this year!
Relay For Life teams camp out overnight and take turns walking or running around a track or path at a local high school, park, or fairground. Events are up to 24 hours long, and because cancer never sleeps, each team is asked to have at least one participant on the track at all times.
2230 Oak Grove Rd. Walnut Creek
A couple of weeks ago I noted that a new shaved snow and flavored drink shop called Ice Monster would be opening in the Nob Hill shopping center in Walnut Creek and they have now opened. Their featured offering is called shaved snow (see photo after the jump) and they also offer regular Dreyer’s ice cream as well as flavored iced tea, iced milk tea, milk shakes and smoothies.
I tried the taro flavored shaved snow with lychee jelly, m&ms, and chocolate syrup. I’m not sure how they make the shaved snow but according to a person working there they use less dairy, and no heavy cream from a recipe that comes from Taiwan where this type of ice cream is quite popular. Note that contrary to what I imagined this isn’t shaved ice with syrup aka snow cones that I loved as a kid. You may notice the $7.50 cost of a shaved snow; this is plenty for two people. They are considering adding a smaller size as well.
Click on menu for larger view:
Photos of the inside and a closeup of shaved snow after the jump…
Spotted at the Cinemark movie theater in downtown Walnut Creek yesterday. I think they need to upgrade to version 2. 🙂
I’ve finally added a new daily email newsletter with a summary of the day’s posts. It’s sent out each weekday at 5pm so if interested, sign up under the “SIGN UP FOR BEYOND THE CREEK UPDATES” section at right.