OAKLAND

Spencer, did you know that Fenton's burned down? My XGF lives right by there and we heard the sirens one night and the cops were there taking the manager and 2 workers away in cuffs in the parking lot while the place erupted in flames despite several firetrucks on the scene (must have been gasoline).

The employees had a rental truck filled with the safe and the jukebox (?).

It reopened after a year but I never went back.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 3 May 2004 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

wow! I had no idea. when did this happen???

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 3 May 2004 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

mmmm... summer 2002-ish.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 3 May 2004 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

actually, just looked it up. November of '01 and reopened in '03

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 3 May 2004 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

haha, so much for my memory.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 3 May 2004 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.theprimalscream.com/images/star-cover.jpg

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 3 May 2004 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I will be at Oakland airport Sunday morning for two hours close to 10am. Anyone wanna come over and have breakfast with me?

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 3 May 2004 21:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 1593 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I have no idea.
I mailed my ballot on April 15th because my local polling place was not open to drop it off - in fact, very few were - so I think there's gonna be a lot of mail-ins still coming in

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 18 April 2025 21:07 (one year ago)

i think the sense is that progressive voters voted absentee and later, or at least that's what I read.

FWIW there are not miles of daylight between Lee and Taylor, policy-wise.

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 18 April 2025 21:07 (one year ago)

yeah, I actually voted for both of them

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 18 April 2025 21:12 (one year ago)

Lee has won

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Saturday, 19 April 2025 00:45 (one year ago)

two weeks pass...

This situation with Eli's sounds like a clusterfuck.

"“You remember Ghost Ship? This is Ghost Ship again"

https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/07/elis-mile-high-club-patio-illegal-claims

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Wednesday, 7 May 2025 23:06 (one year ago)

lol at that guy:

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/burningman/article/Burning-Man-Alameda-building-equipment-fines-13851981.php

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 7 May 2025 23:15 (one year ago)

I've heard about Eli's patrons throwing garbage over the fence, but I haven't been there in quite awhile.. seems like it's barely open these days

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 7 May 2025 23:21 (one year ago)

i haven't been there since the 90's

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Thursday, 8 May 2025 14:53 (one year ago)

Loved that bar, will always love that bar. The day after Ghost Ship, that was where everyone went to gather and mourn together. A lot of good memories there.

― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Thursday, 8 May 2025 18:04 (one year ago)

I spent many hours going through the building records and permit history for Eli’s … the City is doing it’s customary thing where they find a legal violation and then add bullshit violations that end up distracting the operator/owner/tenants from dealing with the real problem.

― sarahell, Thursday, 8 May 2025 18:13 (one year ago)

The noteworthy thing is that the Oakland Fire Department has not cited it … so it is far from Ghost Ship …

― sarahell, Thursday, 8 May 2025 18:14 (one year ago)

Late checkin but if anyone is going to see Slowdive at the Fox tonight, maybe I'll seeya there!

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 12 May 2025 01:36 (one year ago)

one month passes...

someone come save me, it's a mad-max style hellscape

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14817899/Oakland-California-street-car-sideshows-fire-cops.html

― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 17 June 2025 00:26 (one year ago)

I think Oakland still hasn't learned the lesson that SF finally (I think, maybe?) has learned. What good is Barbara Lee going to do for it? I liked her in congress, but Oakland is falling apart, and at this point I think she's just another self-serving national politician not really interested in fixing its problems.

I don't know, maybe Oakland should have elected Loren Taylor as mayor instead? We'll see. The city needs some tempering and moderation, that's for sure

― Dan S, Tuesday, 17 June 2025 01:17 (one year ago)

I don't really think either of them can fix the city's budget problems.

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Tuesday, 17 June 2025 11:29 (one year ago)

Dan - one of my best friends and I agreed that Barbara would likely be the same kind of mayor as Dellums was … we lived here for Dellums. He voted for Barbara based on feeling the alternatives were worse

― sarahell, Tuesday, 17 June 2025 20:57 (one year ago)

ranked choice brought us Sheng Thao

― Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 17 June 2025 21:03 (one year ago)

Were you a Loren Taylor voter?

― sarahell, Wednesday, 18 June 2025 01:58 (one year ago)

I honestly don't understand why people like ranked choice voting.

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Wednesday, 18 June 2025 15:19 (one year ago)

I did vote for Loren Taylor.. twice

I like Barbara Lee but as I said upthread, I'm worried she views this as an emeritus landing pad (like Dellums)... but we shall see, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for now

― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 18 June 2025 16:33 (one year ago)

six months pass...

Saturday looks better for me, but I'll probably sneak in both days

https://mosswoodmeltdown.com/lineup/

― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 15 January 2026 22:32 (six months ago)

Will be there Friday, but hoping and praying that the Dirtbombs play a standalone show.

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Friday, 16 January 2026 19:03 (six months ago)

They'd be perfect for Thee Stork Club, that's for sure.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 January 2026 19:17 (six months ago)

six months pass...

love this story

‘The pigeon came to them seeking help’: California firefighters give oxygen to suffering bird
A crew in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Oakland spotted a pigeon ‘in distress’ after a vehicle fire

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/16/pigeon-california-firefighters

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 17 July 2026 00:27 (six days ago)

That's great!

Andy, would you happen to have a recommendation where I should eat late lunch (~2:30pm) tomorrow near MacArthur BART/Mosswood? I'm a fan of most foods.

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Friday, 17 July 2026 04:27 (six days ago)

I’m not Andy but I actually live near the place you are going, whereas Andy lives across town afaic, two spots that are walking distance to the festival entrance that I would recommend are — Judoku sushi (Piedmont ave at Broadway) and Teni East (41st and Broadway) which is lowkey better than Burma Superstar in the roti department.

― sarahell, Friday, 17 July 2026 05:27 (six days ago)

I will take note of that. (I’ll be at Mosswood too, see folks there — weekend only.)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 17 July 2026 05:39 (six days ago)

If you are BART-ing you could walk up Telegraph to the Soul Coughing earworm place … er … K Bonchon chicken lol

― sarahell, Friday, 17 July 2026 05:50 (six days ago)

doña on piedmont ave is pretty solid as well

https://www.donaoakland.com/

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 17 July 2026 16:33 (six days ago)

If you liked Doña Thomas when it was on Telegraph… I didn’t, though I am possibly in the minority

― sarahell, Friday, 17 July 2026 17:41 (six days ago)

I like it, and it's really close to Mosswood Park

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 17 July 2026 18:53 (six days ago)

For sure! It’s also big, so less likely to be full

― sarahell, Friday, 17 July 2026 19:04 (six days ago)

I also like Brenda’s and the spot that took over Art’s Crab Shack, which was also awesome.

― sarahell, Friday, 17 July 2026 19:06 (six days ago)

Ensarro on Grand Ave is a little bit of a trek from there but it's one of my favorite ethiopian restaurants. It's been there as long as I can remember.

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 17 July 2026 19:25 (six days ago)

Yeah, that's pretty far. They have a sign that they're moving to Rockridge but they're still there on Grand as of yesterday

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 17 July 2026 19:30 (six days ago)

Damn, moving to Rockridge? That blows, it was so nice to have a reliable, reasonable spot on that stretch.

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 17 July 2026 19:32 (six days ago)

A friend just took me to Cafe Romanat, which is right by the Grand Lake Theater... a place I had walked by a thousand times but had never visited. It was great! We only had vegetarian so I can't speak the meat dishes, but I'll happily go there again

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 17 July 2026 19:37 (six days ago)

sorry, also Ethiopian ^^^^^^^^^^^^

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 17 July 2026 19:38 (six days ago)

I loooove Cafe Romanat but it's only open in the evening

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 17 July 2026 19:44 (six days ago)

* except Saturday and Sunday!

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Friday, 17 July 2026 19:45 (six days ago)

Looks like my sis and her crew and I will be at Doña very late morning tomorrow so if anyone's around then, say hi, otherwise catch ya at the festival itself.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 17 July 2026 19:54 (six days ago)

I just got offered a free friday Pavement pass this morning.. I'm not the biggest fan but I'll go for the spectacle

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 17 July 2026 19:57 (six days ago)

I much preferred Dona Thomas when it was on Telegraph, I don't much care for the fast-casual version they opened though I get why they did it (money).

I'll be at Mosswood today, but not the rest of the weekend unless we find some cheap tickets and decide to go see Iggy tomorrow.

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Friday, 17 July 2026 20:15 (six days ago)

There’s an Ethiopian place on Telegraph near 41st … it is great iirc … it’s next to the woowoo store.

― sarahell, Friday, 17 July 2026 20:40 (six days ago)

https://imgur.com/a/8rsLrfg

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Friday, 17 July 2026 21:41 (six days ago)

Hmmm

https://imgur.com/a/FoF9x1a

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Friday, 17 July 2026 22:02 (six days ago)

I give up. I’m wearing a vintage my bloody valentine shirt …

And nothing else

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Friday, 17 July 2026 22:10 (six days ago)