High Voltage Christmas in Castro Valley

Your Boulevardier notes flyers around town for High Voltage Christmas, a holiday light show on Carmel Avenue in Castro Valley. The lights, coordinated by local teenager Jeff Stevens, was written up in the ANG Newspapers last year. If readers have seen this year's display, please share your report in the Comments section.

Break-in at Valley Cleaners

Your Boulevardier took some cleaning to Valley Cleaners this morning (Thursday, December 20, 2007) and noted the absence of its front cash register. The worker there said the establishment had been broken into a few nights ago. No money was taken, she said.

Valley Cleaners, at the corner of Castro Valley Boulevard and Park Way, is one of the few local establishments that provides environmentally safe wet cleaning.

Trun on Mable?

Your Boulevardier spotted this sign on Castro Valley Boulevard this past weekend. Perhaps it was a response to last week's Castro Valley Forum article on the various spellings of Mabel Avenue.



And speaking of The Forum, its website has taken what is, to Your Boulevardier, an annoying turn. One can no longer find the archives or link to individual stories. Instead, one can only link to their blog, which has the first dozen words of the article and no photos. (A link to the article is available from the blog.)

Thought for the Day

High winds and trash day do not go together.

Hayward's Pet Parade

The Trusty BoulevarDog and Your Boulevardier marched in the Hayward Pet Parade this past Saturday, December 8, 2007. Entered in the "Pet and Owner Lookalike" division, no prizes were taken home -- one can't hope to compete against dogs and owners with matching sports jerseys, of which there were two pair -- but a good time was had. Most of the participants in the parade were dogs (ranging from pocket-sized animals to canines well over 100 pounds), though a few cats, rabbits, and one snake also participated. Your Boulevardier had expected to see a pony or potbellied pig among the menagerie. The weather cooperated and the mood was pleasant, though it must be said that the Trusty BoulevarDog is not entirely sociable among other dogs. Perhaps she was scarred by her early years in the impound.

Your Boulevardier did not take photos, but many, many digital cameras were snapping away. If readers come upon any pictures or videos on the Internet, please provide links in the comments section.

Next Wednesday: Photos and Music

Your Boulevardier is happy to announce two upcoming events, both happening on Wednesday, December 12, 2007.

Book & Brew. Local photo gurus Geir and Kate Jordahl -- they run HARD's PhotoCentral program -- will discuss the making of Geir's new photographic book, "Searching for True North," at The Bistro in downtown Hayward starting at 6:30 p.m. Immediately after the talk, listeners are encouraged to slip next door to The Book Shop to buy a copy of the book. Your Boulevardier has seen Searching for True North, which is a large-format exploration of 30 years of Geir's work, accompanied by poems by Norwegian poet Rolf Jacobsen, and it's a truly beautiful volume.

Strike Up The Band. The Castro Valley Community Band will play its winter concert starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for the Arts. It's free, family-friendly, and fun, he said alliteratively. (The concert isn't listed at the CFA website because no ticket is required.) A brass choir will start the evening, and a sing-along will finish it; in between, all manner of tunes (holiday music, show tunes, marches, and original concert band pieces) will be played.

A person could attend both of these events. Your Boulevardier wishes he could.

A Lot of Woe

Your Boulevardier has been remiss in not mentioning the parking situation at his beloved Valley Java. Regulars know that the parking lot at this Stanton Avenue institution is being re-done, a job long overdue. The lot is undergoing much more than a simple repaving; indeed, the entire front of the shop has been excavated to a depth of six inches or more. When combined with the current rains, this has created quite the mess. Currently the only access to the shop (and the neighboring Castro Valley Cyclery) is via an old bathmat crossing a slightly-less-muddy-than-the-rest patch. The work seems, to Your Boulevardier, to be proceeding at a languid pace. VJ owner Vincent seems sanguine about the current disruption in business (in his own high-energy way), and mentions improved outdoor seating as one of the benefits of the project. At the rate things are going, said seating should be ready when the weather is ready to cooperate.

Wet Thursday

Your Boulevardier braved the rain-slicked sidewalks to explore the City of Lite today. The motorists seemed to be on their worst behavior -- at intersections we pedestrians were routinely ignored in favor of mobile phones, fast-food meals, and cups of coffee. This, the rainbows of oil in the rain puddles, and the overall gloom of the day did not raise Your Boulevardier's spirits.

The rain seemed to dampen business in Castro Village. Terrence "Limbo" Lim sat reading the newspaper at the Village Barber Shop. (By the way, the shop's website seems to have been turned off.) Shelves of supplements were dusted at Health Unlimited. Chairs sat empty at the nail salon. Even the Starbucks had empty tables.

In general, the Village seems to be playing a game of musical storefronts these days. It began when the Village Toy Shop closed earlier this year; Eden Bicycles moved into its space (and, it must be noted, made it breathtakingly beautiful); then Aran's Ceramics moved into the bike shop's space (and lost its cafe). Now the Beauty Source is moving into the space vacated by Aran's. It's not known, at least by Your Boulevardier, what will go into the beauty supply's soon-to-be-former storefront. Also, the former Primrose Bakery sits empty. One wonders if another Village business will move or expand into either of these sites, or if the management will find new tenants. Wet or dry, empty businesses do not raise shoppers' spirits.

A quick postscript: it's common knowledge (though it cannot be readily backed up with a statistic) that bike shops do a large part of their business in December. So it's appreciated that Eden Bicycles gives up a good chunk of its floor space for Santa's chair. He offers the shop a tip of the beret.