Spotted at the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival last weekend, this sculpture really turned heads.
Spotted at the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival last weekend, this sculpture really turned heads.
The high-end stereo shop Stereo Unlimited has closed on Locust St. after being in business there since 1981. Word on the street is that they didn’t pay their rent for quite a few months and were eventually evicted. According to their website they plan on relocating somewhere in Walnut Creek, possibly on N. California Blvd. although that’s not confirmed.
Check out the inside…
and how it looked in their heyday.
From the Walnut Creek Downtown Association website:
PARK(ing) Day is an annual worldwide event that invites artists, designers, and citizens to transform metered parking spots into pop-up parks for an afternoon. Last year’s PARK(ing) Day celebration in Walnut Creek was a great success, bringing a splash of color and fun to several parking spots on Locust Street. Participants included Greenbelt Alliance, Sustainable Walnut Creek, the Gardens at Heather Farms, Generation Green, the East Bay Regional Park District, and Diablo Valley College.
Back in July I noted the opening of cooking school and production kitchen Back to the Table, and last weekend during the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival some of the food artisans who rent space at the production kitchen on the second floor were selling their goods. Introducing, from left to right:
Support your local food artisans and Back to the Table by checking them out and consider buying something. I can vouch for the brownies and jam, they were delicious!
Way back in December of last year I noted that the circular bench next to Nordstrom in the back of Broadway Plaza had been removed, but it looks like it’s coming back. According to a Nordstrom Employee I spoke with recently, there will be a circular bench with a tree or some kind of shrubbery in the center. I’m glad this is coming back!
The construction next to this is for a handicap ramp.
From an email:
Six up-and-coming jazz artists from the famed Berklee College of Music, along with drummer and scholarship award winner Ayinde Webb of Oakland, will present a special performance for 6th-8th grade students from these Title 1 schools in Contra Costa County.
The Berklee Monterey Sextet and Webb, winner of the prestigious Jimmy Lyons Scholarship to Berklee, located in Boston, are on their way to perform this Friday, Sept. 21 and Saturday, Sept 22 at the 55th annual Monterey Jazz Festival.
They are swinging through Walnut Creek Thursday to offer a special performance – a master class of sorts – to 289 students from Hillview and Rancho Medanos junior high schools in Pittsburg. The performers and their audience are guests of the Diablo Regional Arts Association’s Arts Access School Time Program.
What’s especially exciting about this concert is that the students will be able to watch a professional performance by musicians who are not that much older than themselves and who are rising stars in the world of jazz music. One member of the sextet, 20-year-old trumpeter Nick Frenay, has performed at Yoshi’s in Oakland. Another, 20-year-old jazz pianist/composer/arranger Matt Savage, has performed on the “Late Show with David Letterman” and at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.
Oakland’s Webb is the recipient of the full-tuition Jimmy Lyons scholarship, which is awarded to one student from the Western United States, in recognition of outstanding talent. Webb has been a senior drummer for the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s Frederick Douglass Youth Ensemble, and house drummer for Branice McKenzie’s “Not Just for Singer’s only” music salon. Here’s a story on Webb published today on the Oakland Post site:http://www.postnewsgroup.com/publishedcontent/2012/09/14/drummer-ayinde-webb-wins-music-scholarship/
Through its Arts Access program, DRAA annually brings more than 6000 K-12 students from underserved Contra Costa County schools to enjoy live performances at the Lesher Center. DRAA provides free tickets and transportation to students, as well as California standards-based study guides that teachers can use for classroom learning opportunities. Many of these students have never before seen a live performance. Arts Access serves Title 1 schools where the majority of students meet federal poverty guidelines.
Thursday’s performance with the Monterey Sextet and Ayinde Webb takes place at 11 a.m. at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. It will be the first Arts Access School Time field trip for the 2012-13 year.
For more information about the Arts Access School Time program contact DRAA Executive Director Peggy White at 925-295-1470, pwhite@draa.org. Below (and attached) is a press release and photo from the Berklee College of Music about this weekend’s Berklee Monterey Sextext at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Onward California, a tour put on by the UC system to “encourage thousands of passionate supporters to share why they think UC makes California better”, dropped by Broadway Plaza next to Macy’s last Sunday.
From the Onward California website:
This fall the UC system will hit the road, launching the Onward California mobile tour to encourage thousands of passionate supporters to share why they think UC makes California better. The tour celebrates some great UC people and innovations, many of which may surprise you, and has some fun, interactive ways you can share your UC connections. Hope we’ll hear your story and have a chance to meet you at one of the stops.
Free Bar Gelato ice bars for entering your email address:
This was a fun event to run into. Worked out perfectly because I had promised ice cream to my 4 year old. I rounded the corner around the backside of Broadway Plaza near Nordstrom when I noticed a couple eating the Bar Gelato bars. I’ve been back there enough to know there is no place nearby that sells them. That’s when they pointed me to the spot in front of Macy’s and we had a fun break. As a UC grad, I do support the UC system!
Anthropologie has finally opened in downtown Walnut Creek at the corner of Mt. Diablo Blvd. and Locust St. and it looks amazing both inside and out! Just be careful about that parking lot next to the store. It is NOT free. You can park for free at the parking garage (4 hours) next to the Century movie theater as well as the garage (3 hours) on Duncan St. (near Starbucks & N. Main St.).
Whoever designed this store deserves serious props as it is really gorgeous inside. There’s a lot going on but it doesn’t feel overwhelming. On the contrary it has a warm feel that shoppers should appreciate. Anyway, check out the photos below.
This is the view upon entering the store:
Sometimes less is more (outside the dressing room):
Check out more photos after the jump…
Photo by Flickr user quisnovus
From the Town of Moraga website:
The 14th Annual Moraga Pear & Wine Festival will be held Saturday, September 29, 2012 at the Moraga Commons Park from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. This is a family friendly event with activities for all ages celebrating Moraga’s Pear history! Join your friends and neighbors for: entertainment and activities at the bandshell with DJ RyanO, afternoon concert by littledog2, wine tasting with Lamorinda Winegrowers Association, grape stomping, pear pies, jumpies, food, local artist booths, community and business booths, meet your council candidates at the Pear Political Pavilion and much more!
Check back for more information! Contact knelson@moraga.ca.us with any questions.Pear Recipe Contest- Entry Form (PDF)
– Have an amazing pear dish? Show it off!
– Adult division and kids (under 18) division. Limit 2 entries per person.
– Categories: Dessert, Appetizer and Other.2013 Pear & Wine Festival Poster Contest- Entry Form (PDF)
– Design next year’s Pear & Wine Festival poster!
Moraga’s pear orchards are hundreds of years old and still produce an abundant crop. Every year volunteers harvest over 8,000 pounds of pears, to be donated to the Contra Costa and Solano Food Banks. Most of the pears were picked from the orchards at Joaquin Moraga School and from Saint Monica Catholic Church’s orchards. Many residents also allow “pear pickers” to come to their homes to collect fruit.
In late August the recently installed Fountain Head in downtown Walnut Creek on N. Main St. was removed for restoration purposes, and it’s finally back now. It caused quite a stir when it was first installed, with many opposed. Has the opposition died down, or are folks still upset by the sculpture?