From the City of Walnut Creek Saturday Walks webpage:
October 20, 2012 Along the canals of Walnut Creek Click for walking guide.
An easy canal-side 4-mile walk on two regional trails, one statewide trail, and one nationwide trail, all in Walnut Creek! Meet at Heather Farm Community Center, 301 N. San Carlos Drive, for an 8:30 a.m. departure. Note date change to 3rd Saturday of the month for October only!
Did you know that downtown Walnut Creek is home to a real pomegranate tree? I had just finished up a meal at the Greek restaurant Pomegranate on N. Main St. near Cypress Ave. and the owner happened to be standing outside. He pointed to the tree in front and said, “Look at the pomegranate tree.” I looked and thought he decorated it with fake pomegranates and replied, “Haha that’s funny”. But he was serious. He planted the tree about 15 years ago and there are quite a few large pomegranates growing right in the middle of downtown Walnut Creek! This is why I like downtown Walnut Creek so much. Secret Koi ponds, and now pomegranate trees. Amazing!
I’ve been meaning to update this site’s logo for a while now and finally found a great designer to update it. Interestingly, he was able to reuse the three swirls from the original logo:
What do you think of the new logo? Did you notice Mt. Diablo in the logo?
From the Ruth Bancroft Garden website:
Free admission
$1 Activity Tickets
The carnival meets The Ruth Bancroft Garden for a family event where you can play games, win prizes, and enjoy the garden with your family.
Play carnival games
Members of the community will have a chance to enter into our scarecrow contest and attendees of the Fall Festival will cast their votes to determine the winner.
To enter into the Scarecrow Contest:
Create your own scarecrow and become part of The Ruth Bancroft Garden’s Fall Festival by displaying your scarecrow in The Garden. We’ll give you the frame, you provide the creativity, and you could be the winner! Individuals, Families and small groups are encouraged to enter.
Contest Categories:
The three most popular scarecrows (regardless of category) will be determined by popular vote on the day of the festival. Fill our our entry form to reserve your spot! There is no entry fee to participate in this contest.
Broadway Plaza has lost a children’s favorite as Build-A-Bear closed last Sunday. This can’t be good for nearby children’s clothing stores Janie and Jack and Gymboree as Build-A-Bear probably brought a lot of little kid traffic to the mall.
Diablo Style notes that an upgraded and high-tech Build-A-Bear will appear in Pleasanton’s Stoneridge Mall on October 5th. I wonder if Build-A-Bear’s decision to leave Broadway Plaza is in anyway related to the future possibility of the plaza getting demolished a few years down the road to make way for larger stores and higher development?
Photo by Flickr user Señor Hans
A few days ago a letter sent to the Mercury News described how an unleashed dog escaped a neighbor’s yard in Walnut Creek and attacked a woman’s companion Yorkshire Terrier pet she got to deal with her son going away to college years ago. This is very unfortunate, and as was noted, it could have been far worse had a small child been involved.
Can anything be done to mitigate dog attacks? Since I recently started running I’m always on the trails with dog owners and I always wonder what I would do if a dog started attacking me. Any suggestions?
Back in August I noted that Lottie’s Creamery was going to open in downtown Walnut Creek on N. Main St. and recently I had a chance to get a sneak preview of the construction and chat with owner Deb Phillips who mentioned that they plan on opening mid-November if everything goes as planned.
Taking a look at the above photo; the rectangular space is going to be a window so people can look inside to see the ice cream being made. As noted previously, they will have their own pasteurizer in-house to make the ice cream. You can see what flavors will be offered here. In addition to these flavors they will also offer seasonal flavors such as peppermint chip and maple just in time for Christmas.
I had a chance to try Deb’s marshmallows that she is experimenting with and it tasted amazing. I can’t wait until this place opens up! The flavor I most want to try is Rocky Road (dark chocolate ice cream, marshmallows and candied almonds). What flavor are you most looking forward to?
Spotted in downtown Walnut Creek, I’m not sure sitting on an American flag makes the most sense but…
Back in April I noted that Rochester Big & Tall was closing on N. Main St. across from Starbucks in downtown Walnut Creek, and it turns out that the women’s fashion store Brandy Melville will be moving from its current spot next to the Cheesecake Factory to this location by the end of the month.
In February I made a “Judging Boutiques” post about Brandy Melville and when I stopped by recently it was packed with young women shopping so it looks like the Italian fashion line is doing quite well in Walnut Creek.
By the way, it seems that there was quite some competition for this retail location as I know a couple of stores that were trying to get it although Brandy landed it in the end.
Take a close look at the above photo. What time time does it say? 6:12 PM? Wonderful, after 6 o’clock, free parking, woo-hoo! Except it wasn’t 6:12 PM, it was 5:12 PM, and technically I was responsible for paying for 48 minutes on the meter. The only problem is that it wouldn’t accept credit cards. Of course I remember Crazy in Suburbia’s parking debacle on President’s Day a few years back, so I stood at the meter contemplating what to do. I had some coins so I put one in. Nothing gets registered. So I pondered whether to just take a chance, after all it’s not my fault that it won’t accept money right? Yeah sure, tell that to the judge is what I was thinking in the back of my mind.
As I stood there wondering what to do, two women walked by and told me it’s not accepting any money. Turns out they tried to put money in as well. So it’s free to park? Yes they replied, and I went happily on my way.
The city should really fix the time on the meters, (daylight savings adjustment probably), if only to not confuse people. If not, does anyone know whether it’s legally ok to park there for free if the time is not correct and it won’t accept money?
