Sightings Here and About

Your Boulevardier breathes a heavy sigh. He has much to report, but precious little time to sit and type it all out. Forthcoming are two longer items: one regarding the grand opening of the Castro Valley Sports Stadium, and another recounting a recent exploration of Forest Avenue. Until those items can be written and posted, he hopes that readers will be satisfied with a raft of short items.

Last Saturday -- that is, September 22, 2007 -- Your Boulevardier attempted to attend the outdoor showing of The Princess Bride that had been planned for the Fairmont Ridge Staging Area. Alas, the East Bay Regional Parks District chose to cancel the event at the last minute due to rain that had fallen earlier that day. Perhaps the ground was too wet for an outdoor activity, but it must be said that there was no rain falling from the sky at what would have been showtime.

On a recent weekend morning Your Boulevardier spied a father and daughter riding westward on Castro Valley Boulevard on tandem bike, customized so that the child could reach the pedals. They appeared to be carrying groceries in full panniers. The child wore a helmet that looked like Winnie-The-Pooh.

That same morning, a gentleman was noticed walking along The Boulevard, dressed as a Boulevardier of old might be dressed: in black slacks, a black shirt, a red necktie, a silk jacket, dark glasses, and shiny black shoes. The gentleman also wore a two-inch-tall pompadour and, incongruously, carried a shopping bag from Wal-Mart. Either he was returning home from a late night out, or he was heading for church. Your Boulevardier believes the latter, because the fellow looked too unrumpled to have spent all night in his spiffy duds.

On a recent afternoon, two pre-teen boys were encountered skateboarding through Castro Village, one talking on a cell phone. “Where are you? I’m at The Village,” he said into the phone, applying an appelation for our local shopping center that Your Boulevardier would have thought was only used by those with a few more decades under their belts. One hopes that Crosspoint, the current managers of The Village, make note of this deep and wonderful relationship that Castro Valleyans have with their center.

Speaking of belts, Your Boulevardier has been dropping a few excess pounds and has been pleased to find that Mel’s Shoe Clinic will punch new holes in his belts (to accommodate his shrinking waistline) free of charge. (One of the two belts that has been tightened was purchased at Mel’s, but the other was not; still, the same complementary service was given.)

Trucks and crews from AT&T have been working on telephone lines along -- or, more accurately, underneath -- Castro Valley Boulevard for the last week or so. They appear to have completed the replacement of the switchbox in front of Citibank near Santa Maria, save for the repaving of the sidewalk. More work is needed on the box near the Castro Valley Creek mini-park next to the KFC , and Your Boulevardier is skeptical as to whether the newly placed box is far enough from a neighboring tree for safe passage.

The Longs Drugstore is attempting to reconfigure its doors. This is overdue, since the leftmost door has been closed for some time now. One large center door is all the store has now, but it currently drops shoppers awkwardly into the store. Your Boulevardier assumes that the cash registers will be reconfigured to accommodate the new door alignment.

Parts of the Post Office -- specifically, the large curved pillars on the Santa Maria side -- have received a heavy coat of mailbox-blue paint. Since there are so few mailboxes in town anymore, one supposes that the Postal Service needed to find a use for the paint.

Your Boulevardier had an opportunity to visit The Flower Kottage in its new setting on Castro Valley Boulevard, and he must say that the new shop is very, very attractive inside. The kind lady working there said that the shop has more space in its new, very narrow site than it did when it operated from a shack across Lake Chabot Road from Eden Hospital.

Landscaping continues in front of Tony & Ted’s Liquors, and it appears that repaving of the disastrous parking lot may be part of the eventual plans. Also in the same building, work continues on the forthcoming Chinese restaurant. This makes three such restaurants on the near horizon on The Boulevard, the other two being next to Valley Inn and the other being a few doors west from Kragen Auto Parts in its shopping center.

On the Town

After a few days of walks, Your Boulevardier has a few observations to share. These are unconnected by anything except the fact that they happened around town.

The Primrose Bakery has a sign in its window saying it is closing its Castro Village store and will be open only in downtown Pleasanton (where it already has a shop). This is a huge loss for Castro Valley -- Primrose is the only custom bakery in town -- and is lamented.

Speaking of shop windows, the Spirit Halloween Superstore is outdoing itself with its window displays, much to the pleasure of Your Boulevardier. It really behooves one to get out of the car and give the windows a good look.

It's interesting to note that the California legislature is working on a law forbidding teenagers from talking or "texting" on their mobile phones while driving. This is particularly interesting in light of Your Boulevardier seeing a member of the Castro Valley School Board (who shall remain unnamed in this space) driving his dark green BMW while fumbling with his phone, and having trouble remaining between the lines on Redwood Road while doing so.

And speaking of BMWs, Your Boulevardier believes he saw Congresswoman Barbara Lee driving a black BMW on The Boulevard a few days ago. The sighting was brief and may have been in error, or perhaps the Hon. Ms. Lee has a stunt double.

And speaking of stunts -- my, how this journal's transitions are labored sometimes -- Your Boulevardier was in Peet's today, in line behind an East Bay Regional Parks police officer who was sporting a large holster on his left hip. The holster seemed to hold a bright yellow plastic weapon of some sort. Your Boulevardier asked if this was a taser, and the officer confirmed it was. Then Your Boulevardier made the mistake of telling the officer that it looked more like a cordless drill. The officer returned a look of stern displeasure, and Your Boulevardier apologizes if he was offended. By the way, Your Boulevardier also notes that the officer's cell phone ring tone is a version of Erik Satie's Gymnopèdie I, which is the most gentle, melancholy, and lovely of the composer's ethereal piano pieces.

Movie News

Your Boulevardier was pleased to hear that the East Bay Regional Parks will host a free ourdoor showing of one of his favorite movies, The Princess Bride, in Castro Valley later this month.

The movie will be shown at the Fairmont Ridge Staging Area (Your Boulevardier wrote about it here) on Saturday evening, September 22, 2007. Details can be found here. Your Boulevardier will be there and will submit a report afterward.

And speaking of movies, a recent conversation with Josh at the Chabot Cinema revealed that some 300 patrons attended the midnight showing of Grease on August 10. This level of enthusiasm explains why he ordered up the sing-along version of Hairspray for our local single-screen. The Chabot will host midnight shows once a month through the school year; Labyrinth is slated for September 28, and Ghostbusters will show on October 26. It's not known (that is, Your Boulevardier did not inquire) whether the every-Friday schedule will resume next summer, but it is hoped.