Author name: Clairet

April 16, 2025. I was planning to be in Alameda one afternoon so I looked around on the map for a place to visit. That’s sometimes how these expeditions come about. I’ve been past this museum many times but the signage facing the street is not prominent and is usually hidden by cars in the […]

I was inspired to do this expedition after seeing photos posted by two sets of friends who recently visited Japan. My first stop was Pacific East Mall. Not strictly Japanese, it houses restaurants, shops and businesses from many Asian countries.  I admired the “My Neighbor Totoro” stuffies in the window of Kingstone Books along with

I was aware of the WPA (a New Deal project) of course, but until I did this expedition I hadn’t considered the huge scope of what it accomplished. Much was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), not to be confused with the California Conservation Corps, which was modeled on the original. Those workers built

This expedition happened on a Saturday, not the usual Wednesday. I keep adding to my list of places to explore and the number of them that aren’t open on Wednesdays is growing. The Orly Museum is only open one Saturday each month.  First I went to the Berkeley Art Center, which is nestled in the

A few years ago, the west end of University Avenue was repaved. That road was nightmarishly bumpy. This part of the marina was built over a mile of the pier. The road settling over the decaying pier below is what caused the bumpiness. They also installed this cool metal cutout sign which looks particularly nice

My plan was to take the self guided Cal Berkeley campus sustainability tour. This tour snakes through campus visiting sites devoted to water recycling, bike repair, waste reuse, and a pollinator garden. Unfortunately, many sights are on the first floor of the student union which is only open to students.  On Expedition 13, I investigated the

I went here Wednesday because it was the last day to see an exhibit of outdoor sculptures by Les Lalanne, a French couple who sculpt fanciful bronze animals and human figures. I also went because although the building has been closed since the pandemic, I think the redwood park next to it has been closed

My first stop was Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, founded in 1903. It’s been closed to new interments for quite some time but the crematorium is still operational and I saw markers from 2023 in the scattering garden. I’ve never heard of scattering gardens before but apparently they are common and they really are little garden

I started my journey in Emeryville, where you can pick up some reading material courtesy of Friends of the Oakland Public Library. I love how this route (which I took for my Martinez expedition in May) runs right along the bay from Point Molate to Martinez.  People ask me how I find places to go.

My friend Scooter invited me to help out on one of his new tours of the Oakland Fox Theater, so I used it as an opportunity to explore other art deco buildings nearby. I started in the north at the Sears Roebuck building on Telegraph. Sears had enormous buildings similar to this one (the Oakland