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POPSOakland's Peerless Coffee is still going strong More: Peerless' cupping room, in fact, might be the most charming around, with the same furniture that John Vukasinovich used decades ago lining its cramped quarters, along with a shiny new spittoon - essential for cupping. "We thought for hygienic purposes, we should retire the old one," jokes George Jr. Perhaps it will last into the next generation - there's already a fourth in the wings. Will Kristina's oldest son, 7-year-old John William, become the family's next great cupper? "I hope," George Jr. says with smile. "Bring him on."
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POPSOakland Mayor Ron Dellums needs to explain tax mess or resign More: The debt owed to this city by Dellums is incalculable and there is nothing but pride - or arrogance - standing between him and a full public disclosure of the facts surrounding his tax problem. Anything short of that constitutes unacceptable behavior by a public official and violates the public contract between an elected official and the constituency the office serves. I tried to reach the mayor for comment - but he declined to speak with me, his press secretary Paul Rose told me. No one has asked Dellums to disclose anything that any other politician in the same set of circumstances wouldn't be asked to explain. If he cannot provide a public explanation for a controversy that has become another national embarrassment for this city, it's difficult to see how continuing in his current position is going to be good for anyone - either him or Oakland's citizens.
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POPSMan searches for his 4th-grade teacher to thank her More: Though never clinically diagnosed with dyslexia, he's convinced he has a mild form of it. After the fourth grade, he returned to the same teacher for a half-year in the fifth and sixth grades. She became, essentially, his tutor. "I thrived there," he said of their extended classroom relationship. "She took a personal interest in me. She felt I was bright because of some things I excelled at, and so she found different ways to teach me. She didn't require me to read in class. And I was able to write in block letters because I had trouble with cursive and small-case letters. It really built a foundation for me."… Perhaps somebody out there might have a lead, if it's not too late, for Bugbee to express his gratitude face-to-face. That way, when he does purchase that home from Habitat for Humanity — he's on the board of directors — and before he dedicates it to his favorite teacher, he can spell her name correctly.
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POPSACORN foresaw the foreclosure crisis in 2001
More: Moreover, Oakland's law would have gone much farther than requiring that borrowers could afford loans. In 2001, ACORN officials already recognized that the driving force behind the subprime lending was the ability of brokers to chop up risky mortgages, repackage them with good loans as "securities," and sell them to other banks on a largely unregulated market. When homeowners who couldn't afford their loans later defaulted on them, these securities became widely known as "toxic assets" and were the primary cause of the world financial crisis… But if Oakland's law had been widely adopted, the bailout likely would have been unnecessary and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression probably averted. Why? Because the city's ordinance not only would have held mortgage brokers liable for making bad loans, but also every other bank that later bought pieces of those bad loans after they were securitized. In short, the market for subprime loans would have dried up.
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POPSOakland's Linden Street Brewery hosts "Brats & Beer" benefit - 10/17/2009 More: For $10, attendees will get two tickets for 12 ounces of beer and a souvenir glass. Additional tickets will cost $5 for one or $10 for three. Plates of food will cost $10 and include bratwurst, pork and chicken, as well as side dishes and vegetarian options. There will be mint julep iced tea and fresh fruit ambrosia for children and others not drinking beer. Organized by Rotary member Tom Schmitz of Piedmont, Saturday's entertainment will be provided by blues musician Rick Baskin, a harmonica player. Baskin is donating his time, as is the brewery's neighbor, Swank Audio Visuals, for setting up equipment. Oaklandish is also a sponsor.
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POPSHappy (belated) 95th birthday to Jack LaLanne! More: The seeming futility of shaping up the world does not daunt him. "I never think about that," LaLanne says. "I think about things that I can improve." One thing he can always improve is himself. LaLanne works out two hours a day, mostly swimming and lifting weights… "I work at living," he says, leaning close and squeezing an arm. "Most people work at dying. Dying's easy." One of LaLanne's most effective sales devices has been his amazing feats of strength. When Arnold Schwarzenegger came to America in 1968 and became an instant sensation on the Southern California muscle scene, LaLanne challenged the kid to a duel at Muscle Beach. The Austrian Oak was 21; the Oakland Oak was 54. "I beat him in chin-ups and push-ups," LaLanne says. "He said, 'That Jack LaLanne's an animal! I was sore for four days. I couldn't lift my arms!' " At age 70, handcuffed, LaLanne towed 70 loaded boats 1.5 miles in Long Beach Harbor.
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POPSOakland man turns 111, insists it's no big deal More: Yes, Hatch is a cool dude. Just the nicest, sharpest, spunkiest, friendliest, most capable man you'd ever want to know. Age really has nothing to do with all that, other than to provide him with a vast array of stories to pepper any conversation. Like when he used to go hunting for jack rabbits in the "country" of Castro Valley and Hayward, back before all the freeways and houses and BART. He even hunted bear in Alaska until the time he saw another hunter kill a mama bear with cubs and it broke his heart, so he hung up his shotgun. "That got me right here," he said, touching his chest. He traveled for years as a merchant marine, working on cargo ships all over the world. He taught himself Spanish when he was in Mexico City. He survived an apartment fire in 1971 in West Oakland, though he lost a couple of fingers dangling from a burning window. He worked as a blacksmith, an auto mechanic and a taxi driver, and even drove Jimmy Carter to the Oakland airport one time.
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POPSEast Bay Front Runners - Saturday run and brunch schedule Click through for directions on where to meet. And the critical information: Alameda - Brunch is at La Piñata , 1440 Park Street (at Santa Clara), Alameda. 510 769-9110. Oakland - Brunch is at Lynn and Lu's Escapade Cafe , 3353 Grand Ave. Oakland. 510 835-5705. Emeryville - Brunch is at Doyle Street Cafe , 5515 Doyle Street, Emeryville. 510 547-3552. Berkeley - Brunch is at Chester's Bayview Cafe (in Walnut Square), 1508 Walnut Street (at Vine), Berkeley. 510 849-9995. Lafayette/Moraga Regional Trail - Brunch to follow. Location and directions announced at the event. :-D
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POPSStudy shows longer parking meter hours good for city, businesses More: In the East Bay, Emeryville meters operate 24-7, and Walnut Creek runs some meters until 11pm, according to jaded's comment on a previous InOakland blog . And while not every commercial district in Oakland is as successful as those in San Francisco, an Oakland study would certainly find that many streets need parking meters to operate well after 6pm to ensure available parking for customers. Last night I had dinner in Old Oakland at a restaurant that was almost empty. At 10pm, the more than 100 street parking spaces visible from 9th and Washington included exactly one vacant space. It doesn't appear that the Oakland City Council will have a report and data-driven study on parking practices before their Oct. 6 meeting, when rolling back meter hours will again be discussed. But I think we all know what a study would say.
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POPSDid bad care spur a mother to kill her disabled daughter? More: She wrote that the aides bathed Yvette "like a car," with cold water at times to punish her. When Yvette would scream, the aides would turn the hot water back on before the nurse in charge could arrive, according to the letter. "There's much more but you can ask my family. "... They can tell you. I can't go on like this. She has been begging me to end it for two years," Diana Harden wrote. "My health is failing and I don't want to leave her alone."… Because she was partially paralyzed, Yvette Harden could get around only with a wheelchair. But staff took away the motorized chair after Harden broke a glass patio door and bent the metal on a gazebo fixture in July 2008. She was given a manual chair that she had to be strapped into because it was too small and made the pain in her legs and back worse, according to Department of Public Health records. She told her mother, "I want to die; I don't want to live without my wheelchair…"
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POPS"An outgoing, confident, people-loving dog that puts his heart & soul into everything he does." More: "That includes climbing into your lap, digging out of an inadequately fenced yard, competing in canine agility trials or just following you around the house," Reynolds said. "Intelligence, determination, trainability and a good sense of humor are the hallmarks of the breed." Pit bulls may be crazy about people, but that's not always the case with other dogs. "They're terriers, and like all terriers, aggression towards other animals is not uncommon," she cautioned. "And like all dogs, pit bulls and their owners need training to become a good people/dog ambassador team." The reality is that even pit bulls from known fighting backgrounds, covered in fight scars, often turn out to be complete sweethearts -- even with other dogs. One of the best-known examples of this is Hector, a squirming, face-kissing bundle of love who is a certified therapy dog today, but started out his life as a fighter at Michael Vick's Bad Newz Kennels.
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POPSrestaurant: Pho Ga Hai Phong, Oakland New restaurant in our neighborhood. Tasty food. More: Since age 9, Mommy had to cook all the meals for her entire family of eight, because her parents were out working hard to catch fish on their boat all day. She learned to make soup broth and other simple meals by wandering around and watching the neighbors cook. When she was 13 years old, she learned to make pho and honed her Vietnamese culinary skills…Mommy often worked in various restaurants…as a dishwasher or assistant in the kitchen, where she observed the chefs preparing exquisite dishes…It was Mommy’s dream to be the head chef of a restaurant where she could determine the menu items and share her home-style cooking and serve her family's favorite dishes, such as Pho Ga, Bun Rieu (vermicelli noodles with shrimp, crab, and egg soup), clam chowder, BBQ short ribs, and New York steak with everyone. This is why the Pho Ga Hai Phong menu offers 3 distinct cuisines: Vietnamese, Chinese, and American.
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POPSOakland's Chinatown StreetFest is this weekend - 8/22-23 More: The Great Wall Youth Orchestra, young musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments, will perform on the Cultural stage Saturday afternoon, while the ska band Uptones takes over the Popular stage. Both venues offer abundant performances, including Taiko drummers, Hawaiian and Polynesian dance troupes, and a range of music including jazz, dance rock, Latin, soul and R&B. Also scheduled this year: Leung's White Crane Lion Dance, the highly entertaining and acrobatic lion dance team from San Francisco.
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POPSFederal court: Yes, SF can ban sale of tobacco in drugstores More: "The problem with your argument is that any time the government bans the sale of anything, it becomes a First Amendment issue," Kozinski told Collins. The ordinance, the first of its kind in the nation, prohibits sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products at San Francisco's nearly 60 drugstores. It exempts supermarkets and big-box retail stores that also have pharmacies, the basis of a separate suit by Walgreens claiming unconstitutional discrimination. A San Francisco Superior Court judge denied Walgreens' request for an injunction to keep the ban from taking effect. A state appellate court is preparing to hear the company's appeal. Philip Morris also sued unsuccessfully to halt the ordinance. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland ruled in December that San Francisco was free to prohibit conduct, such as tobacco sales, and was not trying to regulate speech. The appeals court did not say when it would rule on Philip Morris' appeal of Wilken's decisio
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POPSRestaurant review: Burma Superstar's new location in Oakland's Temescal District I so want to try the tea-leaf salad: Left to my own devices, I went for the obvious - starting with the tea leaf salad ($9). The pile of pungent, soft, fermented tea leaves is so alluring I might follow it into a dark alley some night. Arrayed around the tea leaves are small heaps of ingredients of all different textures and flavors - potent dried shrimp and fried garlic slices (too many, really), crunchy split peas, nutty sesame seeds and peanuts, tomatoes, lemons, and on and on, all over a bed of chopped romaine. Tossed tableside, it's a three-ring circus in your mouth.
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POPSFiending for tacos in O-town! Now I'm hungry. Tacos Sinaloa – best taco truck around, IMO. (That last photo isn't from Tacos Sinaloa, though. I dunno what all that foo-foo fancy stuff on top is. It looks like pureed salsa. Weird. :-D)
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POPSWhy Oakland's increased parking rates are beneficial Much more in the original. More: Given how hard it is for people (all of us, not just automobile drivers) to imagine that a change in lifestyle might actually improve our lives, I can’t help but wonder how many of the people who are outraged about having to pay more for parking in Oakland live within walking distance of the destinations that they currently drive to, and whether they might discover that spending 20 minutes strolling to the Grand Lake Theatre for a movie, or to Arizmendi for coffee and pastry, or to Walden Pond Books for a used paperback is actually a much more pleasurable experience than driving there and looking for parking (even free parking)… if some significant number of people start walking and biking to those Oakland neighborhoods instead of driving because they don’t want to pay $2/hour for a meter, or because they fear getting a parking ticket from an overzealous parking enforcement officer, then I would consider that a feature, not a bug.
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POPS"R.I.P." t-shirts becoming part of Bay Area's cultural fabric More: Cha Cha Starks' daughter, Shaneice Davis, was killed while asleep in her bed April 7, 2008, when a stray bullet went through their East Oakland apartment. Starks says, "I wear my shirt and have it done because I'm never going to forget my daughter, and I don't want anyone else to forget her. So as long as you know someone can see her face, they can hear her story."
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POPSOakland is 4th greenest city in US (San Fran is #2, Berkeley #7) More: Since there is as yet no official criteria set by the Environmental Protection Agency for determining a city's "greeness", Mother Nature Network considered several key areas to measure the effectiveness of a municipality's efforts at carbon footprint reduction. These included air and water quality, efficient recycling and management of waste, percentage of LEED certified buildings, acres of land devoted to green space, use of renewable energy, and easy access to green products and services.
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