My Town Shoot Out - Downtown (Part Two)

So, this is my post on Downtown Pleasanton which at one time had moonshine running under the streets! I chose to concentrate on Main Street between West Angela and St John Streets. This is a four block length and contains many of the older and newer Main Street businesses. Most of the businesses you will see (especially the older ones) have an apartment or two above.

This is C.R. Doodlebug, a very cool toy store, and above is the new location of Gary Patrick Salon. Gary cut my hair for a while, until he snipped the top of my mom's ear.This is Murphy's Paw, a dog toy and accessory store, and the dog bowls outside the door.

This is the post outside of Casa Madrid, a GREAT Spanish restaurant with excellent Paella.

Next up is a long brick building housing several businesses, including The Passionate Athlete, where we all get our swimwear for swim team.

This is the barber pole without a barber, and on the opposite corner is Baci a good restaurant according to my mom.

The view around the corner includes Hap's which used to be a dive diner, and is now an upscale Steak and Chop house with ala carte prices.

The next corner brings a view of Downtown Yoga. I have several freinds who come here for yoga and love it!

Cross the street and we have what was Kolln Hardware for as long as I can remember, and it was so much more. You could buy a yo-yo or a lamp with a stained glass shade.

The next block contains some vacant store fronts and then there's Round Table Pizza. I've eaten here countless times, and it's a popular after game hang out for teens.

This next place really takes me back. This is Dean's Cafe. This is a breakfast restaurant serving three pages of omlets. You can see their menu in the second shot. This place has been around forever, and used to only occupy the area under the first two awnings. The third awning used to be home to a sub sandwich shop. This was before Subway, before Togo's, before Quizno's.

This sushi place used to be my favorite restaurant, Cabana Dave's. Cabana Dave still caters and enters BBQ contests. It's too bad though because he had an AWESOME bread pudding recipe! Before Cabana Dave's, it was called The Outback Pub and Grill, that is until the Outback chain of restaurants opened and sent the owner a letter. Across the street is The Rose Hotel. On this site used to stand a St. Vincent DePaul. Now it is an upscale hotel, and the only one in downtown.

This is a sampling of the traffic at lunch hour downtown. Past the bank and yet another brick building is this cute little gift shop. It's been a gift or card shop since I was small.

Next is this tiny gas station, which has always been here on the corner.

Across this street, is another brick building, housing a pasta restaurant, and what used to be The Roxy Theater, which is now The Wine Steward.

This is next to teh Wine Steward, and is our Tack Room and Western Wear Shop. Yes, this used to be a ranching and farming community.

With the hats on the shelves.

This next place is now Blue Agave, a mexican restaurant and tequila tasting bar. I worked here as a bartender and cocktail waitress when I turned twenty-one, and it was called Hacienda Del Sol. The basement of this house has an entrance to the tunnels under the town. Originally, this was a hotel and brothel and also a moonshine running station.

This is the museum, and used to be the police station when I was a kid.

Towne Center Books is independently owned, and a great place to browse and buy books. The owner is very nice, and they love people coming in to shop!

This is a day spa, and relatively new.

And the bicycle shop, that has been a bike shop for a very long time.

Another vacant business, and this one specialized in some very cool and tropical home decor.

Pleasanton Jewlers is where I got my class ring in High School, and it still is selling them, along with other fine jewelry.

Pastime Pool is the dive bar. When I was younger, you could find the jockeys from the nearby racetrack hanging out.

In this building is Victoria's Salon, where I used to get my hair done. They are very nice, but my hair guy moved, so I did too.This is a new restaurant I want to try. The menu looks good, and I like Mediterranean food.

Mahalo Grille has Hawaiian cuisine and excellent cocktails. Main Sushi has very good food, and the main entrance is fancier, but I like this door better!

My Town Shoot Out - Downtown

This week I was torn. The town I live in doesn't really have a defined downtown. According to the Chamber of Commerce, Village Parkway between Dublin Boulevard and Amador Valley Boulavard is downtown. There have been various pushes recently to revitalize this area, with little success, and the idea I put forth has gone no where. Also, there is another participant who also lives in Dublin. I could shoot Pleasanton, that is the town where I grew up and has a yuppified, but historic downtown. This week, I decided to shoot both. Let me know your thoughts. All shots taken Thursday 4/9 between 12:30 and 2:30 in the afternoon when it had stopped raining enough to go out. First up is Dublin. I started at the corner of Village Parkway and Dublin Blvd. This is also known as the four corners, as you can see it has an abundance of fast food to choose from, as well as Chinese and a Car Wash.This used to be called Bubbles Car Wash, and they let us sit in the car while going through as kids - we LOVED it!Behind Shangri-la you can see the new freeway entrance.

This Wonder shop carries day old bread and close to expiration bakery items for very little money. It's where my mom shopped for bread my entire childhood, and I'm getting mine there now too.This Vet has been at this same location for a very long time. This used to be the emergency vet hospital, where we took our animals as children when it was out of regular hours (which seems to be the only time animals and kids get truly sick).This is the only Post Office in Dublin and is nearly always packed!
If you need your car worked on, there is an abundance of repair shops, including Midas, Oil Changers, Parkway and Shuck's.
This is Corwood Car Wash, and until Bubbles moved in in the seventies, was the only car wash around. they still have Ladie's Days for a dollar less, just like when I was a kid.This building houses many offices, including Runzo's Music and The Dude's dentist.
This is Hunan House Chinese Restaurant. A old boss of mine refuses to eat here because she went into labor immediately after lunch the last time she was here. I think the food is good! Behind, you can see Taco Bell (more fast food). This is an Earthquake Safety store that used to be colocated with a water filtration business across the street.And of couse Cafe Art, where my kids love to go, and I will probably be at some time during their Spring Break. There is also a Beauty Supply and a Starbuck's in this building, and that brings us to the end of the street. Now, across and we'll continue.Oil Changers is on the corner of Village Parkway and Amador Valley Blvd.

Next is a strip that includes 2 empty spaces, one of which looks like it might be an Indian restaurant soon, and Evie's a bar. This has been a bar of some sort forever.

This is where Wold's Hobbies used to be. Wolds is where you went for model cars, Railroad stuff, rocket engines, and all sorts of stuff. It was sad when they closed. This building also used to house Red Wing Shoes which has moved to another location in Dublin.Behind this building are several other businesses, including Veronica's Crystals, where you go for chakra cleansings, palm readings, medium readings and all of your new age, or ancient Native American items.Thisis probably the newest shop in Dublin and houses very cute gifts. One of my friends loves this place! It occupies a portion of the Frame Shop. The very next building houses Dublin Tophies where we all go for all of the Little League, Soccer and other sports trophies.And Box World, where I go every year to ship Christmas gifts, and buy storage boxes.I've written of my love of Caspers previously, and I think you know I'd photograph it.

Following Caspers is this building which has an ancient elevator, insurance people, a nail salon, and my friend Nicole's Salon - Salon Rouge. Need a good haircut or a great esthetician? Call them - they totally rock.I haven't been in Western Tile, simply because I haven't needed tile, but this was the water filtration place that also had the earthquale preparadness place.Direct Appliance is where everyone bought their Fridges, Washers, Dryers, etc. before Sears came to the mall, and Best Buy opened on the other end of town. This Indian restaurant has a really cheap and good lunch buffet. This has also been a Del Taco, and a Taco Bell.And this takes us back to the original corner where we started.I hope you enjoyed this walk in Downtown Dublin, Ca. My next post (tonight) will be Downtown Pleasanton!

Tableau Tuesday 4/7/09

This week's Tableau brings pictures of a farm, some chicks, a cool sculpture, a creek, a tractor, and Tibetan Prayer Flags.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Late Monday Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was busy and good. Saturday, The Youngest had an early baseball game, and it started kind of chilly, but ended pretty warm. They actually played 40 minutes more than scheduled because both teams were doping really well and the kids were having fun. That left me no time to go home before my three hour snack bar shift. We had a huge run on nachos, which are the best deal and the most artery clogging of the snacks. You get a large clam shell (similar to take out container) with chips, cheese, chili and jalapenos for only $3, which is the same price as a hot dog. Granted, they are the foot long ones, but still the nachos are about 3 times the amount of food. Afterward, I went home and did some laundry, picked up both boys and took them to my Nephews' game. They are both on the same team this year, and they play really well. They played in the sand at the playground after, and we went home and had dinner.
Sunday, each of the boys had a birthday party to attend, one at Pump It Up, the other at Build-a-Bear. The Dude took Build-a-bear, and I took Pump It Up, dropped off the boy and went to my folks to finish the job of removing the Malware from last week. It didn't take very long, and actually had time for lunch. The rest of the day was spent on laundry, and made a Pork shoulder and broccoli slaw for dinner. Oh, I also started taking my blood pressure medicine, since I hadn't called for an appointment with my acupuncturist, and decided it was better to go on it, and then come off of it when I can naturally reduce my BP, than to not go on it at all.
Today the Youngest had a friend over for a play date after school, and my folks brought over a couple of chairs they'd refinished for me into plant stands, along with plants for them. Pictures on those later. My boss today asked that I consider adding to my responsibilities something that I'd rather not do. Trying to be a team player, and come up with a diplomatic way to not have to do it. So far, only have a minimal answer of I'll thin about it, and take the necessary training.
My company has not yet gone on strike, and I am relieved so far. My personal opinion is that they will wait until August, when there is the potential for an improved economy, and greater impact in number of people striking.

Sunday Stills - Animals of Husbandry

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge is Animals of Husbandry. I actually looked it up because the only animal I could immediately come up with was cattle, and there just aren't many cattle ranches within easy reach. Ironically, The Oldest was cast in Hans Christian Anderson's "The Swineherd" during drama class.

I started with the Sheep that are pretty close to my house. This is Forest Home Farms and they will be sheared soon according to the calendar.Not sure if these sheep are also a part of the same herd. They were grazing on a patch adjoining the farm. My boys wanted to go out and chase them, but I didn't want to start a stampede, and there were no ranch hands nearby to ask.

The next two shots are of a small cattle herd I caught while driving around the back roads of our area. Specifically, this was at the crossroads of Sunol and Foothill, across from the entrance to the water temple.

This last shot is for all the horse folks out there. This is about as close as I get to horses. They make me nervous!Happy Sunday everyone, and now off to see the other challenge participants!

My Town Shoot Out - Wild Animals

So this week B&B challenged us to find wild animals in our home towns. This was not an easy one, as I live in suburbia and had to venture to unincorporated Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. None the less, I did find some wild animals. Please to enjoy.

This first one is from the archives. In my neighborhood, this person hangs a feeder in their front yard. Kind of cool, because I can see the birds when I walk by.

This next one was in my neighborhood as well. There are many squirrels, and some are more wild than others. One of my friends feeds her backyard squirrel and has named her ChiChi.There were quite a few wild turkeys out this week when I went looking for animals.The goslings are just starting to hatch at my work, and I bring my camera in just to catch the action.As you can see, this is a very busy street, and I was admonishing the mom goose for letting her goslings so close to the road. I think B&B had stated something about how wild animals survive in our towns, and with acts like this, these goslings may not live the week!I found a new neighborhood called The Preserve, which is ironic as it is built among the beautiful rolling hills. I shot the flock of turkeys there, as well as the next two. I was driving in front of some houses, and there on the opposite side of the road - a doe!When I got out of the car to shoot the turkeys, I spied this little blue belly lizard, missing a part of his tail. We used to catch these as kids, and you can put them to sleep by rubbing their bellies, which have blue on either side. And their tails grow back.

Happy Weekend all!

I like my Dr.

So I went to the Dr. yesterday to look at my nose and declare that it looked infected. I already knew that, and by then it had started to crust over and look suspiciously like impetigo. He prescribed and antibiotic ointment, and oral antibiotics in case it gets worse. It's getting better, smaller and it itches like hell today, which is a good sign that it is healing. I looked for an image of impetigo to put up here, but everything I found was really making me want to barf, including Amy Winehouse with her face covered by it - ick. Oh, and the PA asked if it was a botched nose piercing. So either I look like I'm trying to recapture my youth, OR I do look as young as I feel.

I also ended up with blood pressure medicine, as my blood pressure has been elevated for a while now. I was chalking it up to stress (of potential job loss, potential foreclosure, The Dude not working, having two small kids, a major car accident and associated hospital stays and paperwork stresses). But I have yet to actually DO anything to help alleviate those stresses. I often say that I need to meditate, do Tai Chi, Yoga, hike, ride my bike, get in better shape, eat better, but was not particularly motivated to do so. Guess what? I'm motivated now! The thought of having to take meds for the rest of my life, starting now bothers me. So I am having a fresh fruit smoothie as I type. This is my breakfast/brunch and contains a frozen banana, some frozen raspberries and blueberries, apple juice and soy milk. Oh, and no more snacking on pretzels dipped in Port Wine Cheddar Spread either - I'm checking sodium levels on all that shit now! No lie, I am a salt-a-holic. The Dude has often stated that we should just put in a salt lick. And I'm going hiking with the dog to get some killer Photos for this week's challenges too! I will not go silently into the abyss, I'm fighting this shit tooth an nail! I also told my Dr. that I was going to see if my acupuncturist had anything for high blood pressure - he actually said ok, but see me in 3 months if you decide to take the meds or not. He's a cool guy!