Plus de Aléatoire

Your Boulevardier does not really think that the title of this post means "more randomness," but that was his intention. To wit, a handful of short items are presented. Yours Truly is Castro Valley's answer to the late Herb Caen, only without the talent. Fortunately, there is no shortage of material.

• Well, well, well: Your Boulevardier has noticed that fresh water has been bubbling from a hole in the street in front of Lucca's Delicatessen for at least two weeks now. (He assumes it is fresh water, but has not stopped to check it personally.) Should one call East Bay MUD or the Castro Valley Sanitary District? The leak will be much harder to spot once the rains arrive in earnest, and we do hope they arrive soon.

• Grave Situation: Posters have been spotted on telephone poles around town announcing "Nick's 6th Annual Haunted House and Graveyard." Held on Halloween evening from 6-9 p.m. at 4389 James Avenue in Castro Valley, its tagline is "Come if you dare."

• Pricey But Tasty: The Trusty BoulevarDog finally mustered the brio to visit Pawsitive Karma today. She purchased (with help) a fresh-baked dog treat that strongly resembled an Oreo cookie. The cost: $2.99 plus tax. Goodness. It was savored over several bites.

• Culture Wars? Your Boulevardier has been walking on Redwood Road north of The Boulevard for a few weeks now and has noticed that the campus for Redwood Chapel and Redwood Christian Schools surrounds on three sides the offices of McKinney & Co. (accountants) and Bernie Kempen (family law attorney, famous for his phone number and URL -- (888) ITS-OVER and www.itsover.com). No comment is offered about throwing moneychangers and adulterers from the temple.

• Smile for the Google: A car with a logo for Google Street View was seen cruising our streets this last Saturday. Your Boulevardier has not been able to determine how long it takes from the collection of Street View photographs and data to their appearance on the Internet. Weeks, certainly; maybe months. When it does appear, he will be seen walking on Norbridge Street.

• Brakes are Tapped: Crews on Saturday morning, October 27, were laying speedbumps in the drag strip -- sorry, parking lot -- in front of the new Trojan Stadium. (Is that what the new sports complex is called?) Speaking of the lot, Your Boulevardier notes that many of the non-palm trees in front of the stadium are still wearing their nametags: Platanus Acerfolia Bloodgood. It is a name worthy of a character created by J.K. Rowling.

Nine Nibbles and a Scoop

Nibble One: Several downtown businesses are spiffing up their exteriors. Big O Tires is getting a new paint job; new animal portraits are painted on the walls of Boulevard Pet Hospital and bright flowerboxes are abloom; and the World Savings building is sporting its new Wachovia signs. (A clerk at the rechristened Wachovia has assured Your Boulevardier that the company plans to keep the building -- one of Your Boulevardier's favorite structures in Castro Valley -- and will retain the spectacular abstract sculpture that hangs from its ceiling.

Nibble Two: This wonderfully nonsensical sign was spotted in a Castro Valley storefront. (Readers can click on any photo for a larger view.)



Nibble Three: Your Boulevardier mis-spoke -- mis-blogged? -- earlier when he said that three Chinese restaurants were under construction along the Boulevard. One of the three is to be called Saigon Bistro, and thus is presumed to be a Vietnamese restaurant. It does not appear that much progress is being made on its construction.

Nibble Four: Your Boulevardier has decided not to rist the soda machine in front of Safeway.



Nibble Five: Your Boulevardier attended the Castro Valley High School Spirit Week parade to watch one of his youthful associates, Neveau de Boulevardier, march with the band. Classes were working within a board-game theme, and particularly impressive was the Junior Class float, modeled after Monopoly and sporting a silver car, a silver boot, a huge pair of dice, and an oversized Chance card reading "Take a Walk on Castro Valley Boulevard." Need Your Boulevardier say it? He heartily approves.

Nibble Six: This pocket cornfield was spotted behind the 76 Station at the corner of Strobridge Avenue and The Boulevard.



Nibble Seven: Trick-or-treating will occur from 3 to 5 p.m. on Halloween afternoon at Castro Village. But parents already know this.

Nibble Eight: Your Boulevardier is on the lookout for public murals and front-yard garden sculptures around town. If readers would like to recommend artworks, please send tips to your.boulevardier@gmail.com.

Nibble Nine: a World War II-era B-17 was heard, then seen, flying over Castro Valley this morning. It is believed to be the Liberty Belle, which will be offering flights out of Hayward Airport next weekend. (The rate is steep -- $430 for a half-hour -- but with only a dozen of these planes still flying of the 12,731 produced for the war, perhaps it's not too much.)

And the Scoop: Your Boulevardier has learned that Cinelux plans to upgrade the seating in the Chabot Cinema later this year, and in 2008 will install digital projection equipment capable of displaying 3-D images. These upgrades are being done to preempt competition that is expected from the theater complex now under construction (after many delays) in downtown Hayward.

Nouvelles en provenance de France

Your Boulevardier has not formed an opinion on the impending divorce of Mr. Sarkozy, president of France. But in attempting to learn about the unblessed event, he came across a grand article on the president's exercise habits in the quirky and entertaining online newspaper The Morning News. The French president's penchant for jogging has, apparently, been greeted with some trepidation by some of his constituents. One complaint (and this is a paraphrase): His jogging shows that Mr. Sarkozy is not a Boulevardier.

On television, a French philosopher said, “Western civilization, in its best sense, was born with the promenade. Walking is a sensitive, spiritual act. Jogging is management of the body. The jogger says I am in control. It has nothing to do with meditation.”

The complete article, by one Rosecrans Baldwin, can be found here and is well worth reading.

Your Boulevardier will share his own peculiar reason for not trusting Mr. Sarkozy: that letter "k" in his name. It seems, somehow, not French. It was, for a while, one of Your Boulevardier's rules while traveling in France: never patronize an establishment with a "k" in its name, including the notorious and ubiquitous Quick Burger.

The Safe Way to Take a Pie

Your Boulevardier happened to be in the Castro Valley Safeway store on Tuesday afternoon (October 16, 2007) when an announcent rang out over the store's loudspeaker. Although the specific words can't be recalled, the gist was that all employees should report to the front of the store; because they had raised a certain amount of money for a good cause, the store director wanted to acknowledge their efforts.

It turns out that his acknowledgement was to happen through his having a pie -- from the store's own bakery, of course -- thrown in his face. Quite a hubbub ensued; eventually, the boss removed his shirt, and a slender young employee was chosen to do the deed. (He danced about like a welterweight before delivering the goods.) The result clearly delighted the assembled employees and confused my fellow shoppers.

If readers have more details on this event, Your Boulevardier welcomes them.

The Castro Valley Pub Crawl

For some time now Your Boulevardier has been aware of the Castro Valley Pub Crawl, an annual pedestrian pilgrimage through the bars of Castro Valley, with a drink purchased at each. The event has grown from a handful of young men in 2002 to a seasonal event garnering some two hundred participants.

But Your Boulevardier has not participated. There are several reasons. He cannot afford to ingest the empty calories; nor can he afford to sacrifice the brain cells. He is approximately twice the age of the target demographic. But most of all, Your Boulevardier is simply not a habitué of the public house; he prefers to patronize pet shops and picture shows.

This year, it was decided, would be different. Tonight, October 6, was the date for the crawl, and Your Boulevardier was determined to join the fun. Now, Your Boulevardier could not muster the courage to participate in the entire event, but he would partake of its shortest leg, from the Brass Boar (the bar at Castro Village Bowl) to Don Jose's, some 20 yards away. He set out from home -- on foot, of course -- around 9:45 to do so.

The event must have been running ahead of schedule, because when the Boulevard was reached at 10:00 p.m., groups of pedestrians were buzzing westward past the Chabot Cinema and JD's. Your Boulevardier thought that it could not be, that refreshments at four establishments (Dino's, Krayon's, Brass Boar, and Don Jose's) would be completed in just two hours. (The crawl began at 8:00 p.m., and organizers had estimated 45 minutes per bar plus walking time.) So he headed eastward, against the flow, toward the Village.

This provided an opportunity to scope a portion of the crowd. (It must be said that one does not know if this was a representative sample of the Castro Valley Pub Crawl's participants.) They appeared to be overwhelmingly male and youthful. Costumes were rare, in spite of this year's stated intention; a kilt here, scrubs there, an occasional cowboy hat. (No berets were sighted.) While the participants were tipsy, they were not unruly. Most surprisingly, they were clustered in twos and threes; for some reason, Your Boulevardier had expected larger groups.

When it became clear that the Pub Crawl had left the Village -- and that the next stop, should Your Boulevardier want to participate, would be Spanky's -- a decision was made. A cowardly decision, one that may be regretted in the morning. Your Boulevardier decided to walk home instead of to a bar. While he thinks the Castro Valley Pub Crawl is a wonderful, positive thing, he realized then that it is not his thing. He prefers to walk Castro Valley Boulevard in the daytime with his Trusty BoulevarDog, rather than in the evening with intoxicated strangers.

Reports from the Crawl are welcome in the comments.