InBerkeley

Berkeley’s own Open Opera will present two free outdoor performances of W. A. Mozart’s most popular opera, The Marriage of Figaro, July 25 and 26 in Berkeley’s John Hinkel Park (map) at 3:00 p.m.

The Marriage of Figaro is considered Mozart’s most popular work. Vivid characters, glowing wit, dizzying ensembles, mistaken identities, and carefully constructed intrigue make for a miraculous marriage of music and drama in this sublime comedy of manners as touching as it is funny.

Open Opera will stage Mozart’s famous work outdoors in John Hinkel Park’s historic WPA-era amphitheater. The park is at 41 Somerset Avenue (between Southampton Avenue and San Diego Road) in Berkeley.  Sylvan Mishima Brackett, formerly of Chez Panisse, will offer catered Japanese box lunches and snacks with organic, locally grown ingredients for $5 – $15.

Bring the whole family, a picnic basket full of goodies and a blanket to lie on.

And did we mention, admission is free!

General

A pole with a business model.

It’s near the intersection of Vine and Walnut, across the street from Peet’s #1.

General

Starbucks Corp. said it will be giving a free pastry to customers buying any beverage on Tuesday, July 21, before 10:30 a.m.   Simply purchase any handcrafted beverage and bring this invitation to a participating U.S. store, or show it to a barista on your mobile device.

Pastries included in this offer are:  Muffins, scones, bagels, croissants, rolls, breads, pound cakes, morning bun, coffeecakes, cheese danish, apple fritter, doughnuts, tarts, pies, gluten-free orange Valencia cake and tropical paradise bar.

Starbucks claims its new pastry items are healthier because they’re made without artificial flavors, artificial dyes, artificial trans fats or high fructose corn syrup, but let’s face it, “healthier” is a relative term here, and these will still make you fat.

General

Peet’s on Solano still waiting on permit for patio furniture.

I stopped by Peet’s on upper Solano the other day (getting my free tea freddo!), and as I stood in front of the store I noticed a familiar yellow sign from the City of Berkeley hanging in the front window. It was the official notice of Peet’s request to be able to put out tables and chairs on the expanded sidewalk in front of the store, and it jogged my memory that I had seen this sign there before, many months before.

I asked the cheerful fellow serving the free tea freddos about this, and asked him when he thought the store might finally get approval for its little outdoor cafe request. He kind of laughed and said, oh, probably never. He told me they even have the furniture stored in a back room while they’ve been waiting for Berkeley to approve the permit they need to do this legally.

And so today I spoke with the assistant manager of the store to get the lowdown on why it’s taking so long. I was told that Peet’s originally applied for the permit about a year and a half ago, but was denied approval because their original plan utilized moveable tables and chairs, and the city was concerned about their potential for blocking access to the crosswalk there. To assuage these concerns, Peet’s revised their plan, this time specifying furniture that will be bolted to the sidewalk so it remains where it should, but they have still not received their permit.

Based on my own observations of the way people move the tables and chairs at the Peet’s on Fourth St., I think the city’s concern is reasonable. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out and come up with a suitable alternative in, say, about an hour. Folks, we’re talking about a few patio tables and chairs here, not the construction of a 25-story office building.

Peet’s originally wanted to have the permit approved by the beginning of the summer, for obvious reasons. Now, the assistant manager is cautiously optimistic the permit will be approved next month, but there are no assurances.

This isn’t the first time Peet’s has had to deal with the city and its permit process. I was told that Peet’s waited a year to get all the permits it needed to open their new store at Shattuck Ave. and Kittredge St. in the center of downtown Berkeley, and had to pay rent on the storefront during all that time.

General

Berkeley police released sketches of two men sought in connection with assualts on women in two separate incidents in Berkeley. Police say it is possible the two attacks were commited by the same man.

The first incident occured at 2:30 a.m. on the 2100 block of Cedar St., while the second attack happened at about 7:20 a.m. on the 2600 block of Hillegass Ave.   In both instances the attacker fled when he met with resistance.

The attacker is described at black, 19 to 22 years old, 5-foot-6-inches tall and weating a grey sweatshirt (without a hood) and jeans.

Similar attacks occurred in Berkeley about a year ago, and there has been some speculation about whether or not the recent attacks are related.

General

When I was ordering my sandwiches today at Star on Claremont Avenue, I noticed one of the featured sandwiches had undergone a name change to The Fugitive. “Why The Fugitive?” I asked. “Well, the guy who it was named after is now a fugitive from justice,” was the reply. I don’t think he was kidding.

Star does make the best sandwiches around.  I particularly recommend Jesse as a sandwich maker.

Photo by Hitchster from Flickr

Food

[Photos: Urban Bay Properties.]

Architecture, Property Architecture, Berkeley real estate, Property

Berkeley has a reputation for being business unfriendly. One of the issues we’d like to explore on InBerkeley is whether that’s true, but the announced move of organic energy bar pioneer Clif Bar’s headquarters from Berkeley to Emeryville does make the heart sink.

Clif Bar was founded in 1992 by Gary Erickson and remains privately held. It will move from its west Berkeley base to the EmeryTech building on 65th Street. It will take 115,000 sq ft in EmeryTech. Improvements to the space will include a wellness center with state of the art fitness facilities, bike garage, hair salon, kitchen, full-time day-care facility, and theater for employee meetings and community events.

Berkeley was once the world capital of energy bars (insert joke about granola-eating and Berkeley here). PowerBar had been launched in Berkeley in 1986, but it was acquired by Nestle in 2000 and moved out of Berkeley in 2007.

InBerkeley has contacted Clif Bar for a comment.

Photo by ykitty from Flickr

Business

Twitter founder Biz Stone loves his Berkeley cottage at 1409 Greenwood Terrace (or so he tells us, on Twitter of course), but he’s putting it on the market for $575,000.

Designed by noted California architect William Wurster as his own studio in 1960, the cottage has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and is located just above Cordonices Park.

See photos here.

Architecture, Property