East Bay Magazine May/June 2021 by Weeklys

THE MAGAZINE OF OAKLAND, BERKELEY AND THE WORLD THAT REVOLVES AROUND US

May June 2021

Dynamic Design Duo: Lincoln Park Design

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May & June 2021

THE MAGAZINE OF OAKLAND, BERKELEY AND THE WORLD THAT REVOLVES AROUND US

Letter from the Editor 4

The Stats on Grills 36

Reckoning with Remodeling Rates 6

Convos with Cooks 38

Resources for DIYers 10

Permanent Housing Project 44

Lincoln Park Design 14

Interiority Complex 52

PUBLISHER

CONTRIBUTORS

ADVERTISING DIRECTORS

Rosemary Olson

Tahir Azam Christian Chensvold Jeffrey Edalatpour Lou Fancer Daedalus Howell Janine Marshall

Lori Lieneke Lisa Santos

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Karen Klaber

EDITOR Daedalus Howell

DESIGN DIRECTOR Kara Brown

COPY EDITOR Mark Fernquest

ADVERTISING ACCOUNT MANAGERS

Sean George

Danielle McCoy Ben Grambergu Mercedes Murolo Lynda Rael

SENIOR DESIGNER

CEO/EXECUTIVE EDITOR

PRODUCTION OPERATIONS MANAGER

Jackie Mujica

Celebrating over 30 years of helping clients invest and prosper

Dan Pulcrano

The Fine Art of Wealth Management

ON THE COVER Photograph by James Ellerker

AN EAST BAY EXPRESS PRODUCTION www.eastbaymag.com TELEPHONE: 510.879.3700 ADVERTISING: sales@eastbaymag.com

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DHR Investment Counsel, Ltd. A Registered Investment Advisor located in Rockridge

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PAINT I see a red door and I want to paint it black.

Home Is

Hammer Is

isn’t—for which you, me and he are surely grateful—but the notion does serve to underscore the anxiety over our own ignorance on the matter many of us might experience. Fortunately, in the East Bay, we’re surrounded by professionals—talented artists and artisans who know how to turn a hovel into a house and a house into a home. If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that home is not only where the heart is, it’s where everything is. From working at home to learning at home and everything in between, we’re using our residences like never before. This has even led some of us to discover we're handier than we thought. The desk at which I write

these very words began life as a wooden locker door salvaged from some ancient manufacturing facility. I liked the look of the wood so much—complete with patinated locker number—that I bought from an antique store and screwed some Ikea desk legs into it. A slice of plexiglass later and voila! I have a one-of-kind workspace and conversation piece. Don’t believe me? The last 100 words suggest otherwise. With a quelling of the pandemic soon becoming a reality, the prospect of home entertaining is becoming more tantalizing by the day. So, in the spirit of getting our homes in shape for summer, we hope you find some home inspiration in these pages. —Daedalus Howell, Editor

PHOTO BY ROSELYN TIRADO

ne of the peculiar side effects of the quarantine is the simultaneous appreciation for and extreme boredom with our homes. We’re grateful to have them and we’re also tired of being in them. This “reverse homesickness” is an admittedly first-world issue but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t buck up and beautify our personal environs. If you haven’t guessed it yet, Home Improvement is the theme of this edition of East Bay Magazine. That said, if you’re anything like me, you might assume that means there’s a feature on ’90s TV sitcom star Tim Allen tucked somewhere in these pages. There

Where the

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Superior Housekeeping Is Essential for anyone who values an inviting home in which to live and entertain. For over 33 years The Cooperative Cleaning Company has met this need for the Bay Area’s most discerning clients.

We meet or exceed Federal, State & Local COVID-19 prevention standards. Ask about our no additional charge disinfecting process.

The Cooperative Cleaning Company (CCC) delivers superior green housekeeping services while providing employees with compensation, health care, and paid time off benefits exceeding the industry average. A native of France, owner Sarah Neil holds a master’s in anthropology from the Sorbonne in Paris and speaks eight languages. Mike Neil, a fourth-generation San Franciscan, spent 30 years in IT before “retiring” to help with CCC. And when not studying at university, daughter Roxane Raphael rounds out the management team.

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Renovation How much does it cost to renovate a house in the Bay Area?

Revelations BY

Tahir Azam

EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MAY/JUNE 2021

online look-book for remodeling and design inspiration, found that San Jose and San Francisco metro areas topped spending in the country for remodels, with a median spend of $25,000. The estimated median cost of remodeling, according to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s 2018 survey, is anywhere from $25,000 for a bathroom to $200,000 to renovate

an entire home. Though this certainly is not cheap, it’s a fraction of the cost of an average East Bay home. According to the Mercury News, the median price of a single-family home in the region is close to $935,000, which is a 16% increase over last year. Here’s some unsolicited advice— stay put, and put your money back in your home. Not only will the return on your investment likely prove worth it in

PHOTO BY MARK DE JONG

t seems the inner monologue of a lot of locals might sound like the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” on repeat. Is the Bay Area, which is a notoriously expensive place to live, worth staying in? If you own a home, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”—particularly if you have plans to remodel it. Every dollar put into your home can yield many more dollars out as the housing market continues its inevitable climb. Most renovations will theoretically add value and increase your home’s equity. According to ComeHome, an online home valuation tool, remodeling a bathroom increases the value of the home by 12% and a kitchen redo increases the value of the home by 19%. And the investments don’t need to be mortgage-worthy endeavors, either. A recent survey conducted by Houzz, an

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EAST BAY MAGAZINE | EASTBAYMAG.COM | MAY/JUNE 2021

know how to keep your remodelling or renovation project compliant with local building codes, they often have expert knowledge of arcane zoning laws. For example, various jurisdictions have different regulations regarding what can and cannot be done during renovations on a heritage home. If your home is in a historic neighborhood, your renovations may require additional sign-off from your local planning department. “If your home is historic, your remodel will almost certainly need to go through a detailed planning-andreview process by city building officials,” writes Steve Branton, on wealthmanagement firm PrivateOcean’s blog. Branton reminds us that city codes will often try to preserve the historic aesthetic of single homes as well as the neighborhoods in which they are located. “...If your 10-year-old home is surrounded by structures that are 50 or more years old, you may be held to the same remodeling standards as your neighbors, even if the structure itself isn’t historic.” That said, historic homes listed on the National Historic Sites Register might be eligible for special subsidies to help preserve their historic value. In the end, any improvement you make to your home will likely result in your greater satisfaction with it. So, to answer Joe Strummer’s eternal question, you should stay—but try not to go—insane while remodeling your home. ❤

PHOTO BY JESSE ORRICO

of living in one of the best places on earth—without having to move. Two of the most common remodels in the Bay Area include kitchen and bathrooms. Often the busiest center of our homes, the kitchen isn’t just a place to cook, it’s often the de facto social hub for family and friends. As such, it’s also one of the most common areas for refurbishing—and among the most costly. Electrical work, plumbing, appliances and cabinets can all be costly individually, and together they can become a significant investment. As for bathrooms, the size, prospective materials to be used— stone, tile, glass, etc.—and the nature of the renovation—a complete redesign with plumbing and electrical changes versus a mere aesthetic reimagining that can be achieved with paint brush

and new set of towels—can span a pretty wide gamut price-wise. Bay Area residents can expect to pay anywhere from $6,500 to $40,000 on the upper end for a completely re-envisioned bathroom, according to BayAreaBath. com. When investing in a bathroom addition—and who doesn’t need an additional bathroom?—the price tag may be higher. The estimated cost of a mid-range bathroom addition in San Francisco is $65,360. The estimated cost in San Jose for the same midrange bathroom extension is $63,474. For those keeping track, a 5-foot-by-7-foot area is considered “midrange.” Berkeley-based HDR Remodeling estimates that the average cost of a kitchen remodel in the Bay Area is between $120,000 and $185,000. “To soften the sticker shock, take the long view,” the company says on their blog. “This investment in your home adds significant value—especially if you’re adding square footage.” Keep in mind that permitting in the East Bay can be an arduous process— especially right now, due to the added strain of Covid on city administrations as well as a spike in local construction. The City of Berkeley, for example, is notorious for the length of time its permitting process can take, which is often upwards of six months. Some veteran remodelers suggest working with a local architect who has prior experience navigating the city’s bureaucracy to expedite the process. Not only will they

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Hardware Handy What DIY dreams are made of

for the BY

ome of us realized during the stay-at-home lockdowns the real reason why we can’t croon any DIY home improvement theme songs or figure out which end is up on a hammer. It’s not because we’re too busy volunteering for charities or trapped at the office or marching for world peace. It’s because WE LOATHE, and want nothing to do with, DIY home improvement projects. But for others, sheltering-in-place during the pandemic was heavenly, and hardware stores, household reuse/ recovery warehouses and tool-lending libraries were meccas. Haunting the aisles or communicating online, handypersons waxed euphoric over hammers, nails, electric drills, hot glue guns, air compressors, light fixtures, paint, doors, windows, lumber, toilets,

sinks, fencing and oodles more. Projectminded people exchanged tips and links for binge-watching How To videos on YouTube and shared cell phone pictures of garbage disposals replaced, walls painted, entire rooms torn up and rebuilt from scratch, fireplaces and chimneys added, backyards converted to outdoor living spaces and garages transformed into ADA-compliant accessory dwelling units. So, for this unique category of handy folks, who likely have DIY tunes to croon and are stoked with relentless passion for perfecting untouched home spaces, we’ve selected a few favorite East Bay spots to visit. And don’t worry, if your favorite shop or lending library isn’t included here, we know we’ll hear from you. Just don’t expect us to whistle along or join the action: we’re just too busy. Pagano’s Hardware’s two locations

Lou Fancher

in Alameda have history dating back to their origins in 1950. Original owner Andy Pagano turned over the family operation in 1994 to Dave Giovannoli and Tom Tognetti, who’ve carried on the grand tradition of supplying islanders with a cornucopia of basic home improvement delights: plumbing widgets, drawer pulls, lightbulbs, power tools, paint and more. Grab cleaners, tea pots, storage bins and a Big Green Egg barbecue while you’re there. Want a bird feeder and some flowering plants to attract bees? This is the place. The staff is brighter than the highest-watt bulb they sell, and remember: hardware during Covid-19 is ESSENTIAL, although their free popcorn is not, so it’s strictly BYO when it comes to snacks paganoshardware.com If a jaunt to Alameda isn’t in the cards, locally owned Markus Supply

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PHOTOS BY DAEDALUS HOWELL

DEEP DIVE Urban Ore, near Ashby Avenue in Berkeley, is a treasure trove of fantastic finds.

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GET LIT Cole Hardware offers an array of lighting possibilities.

« Ace Hardware near Jack London

Oakland and Berkeley Public Libraries

have basic tool-lending libraries. Oakland Tool Lending Library

is located in the basement of the Temescal Branch Library and carries over 5,000 tools. The free service is available to Oakland, Emeryville and Piedmont residents and property owners. Berkeley residents or property owners over age 18 may borrow tools from the location from the Tool Lending Library at Russell Street and MLK. A similarly long list of tools is available, with recent additions, to repair bikes, smartphones and tablets. Be sure to visit the websites for both lending libraries, as borrowing guidelines and proof of residency documentation are diligently enforced. oaklandlibrary.org/locations/oakland-toollending-library berkeleypubliclibrary.org/locations/ tool-lending-library

PHOTOS BY DAEDALUS HOWELL

Square in Oakland and longtime favorite Ellis Ace Hardware on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in North Oakland are solid seconds. In addition to supplies, the shops offer services like glass cutting, paint matching and rescreening. markussupply.com and acehardware.com/store-details/02015 While a true hardware-shopper’s heart is hardwired to go pitter-patter in the aisles of any of these stores, the altruistic home improvement junkie demands more. For those folks, Urban Ore in Berkeley is a prime spot; even getting there will help save the planet from climate change. Ride your bike on the new Bay trails or take BART and hike down Ashby to reach the Ecopark store just off Highway 80 where rescued/recyclable/salvaged goods can

be donated or bought. The retail store is zero-waste and carries reusable cabinets, hardware, lighting, furniture, doors, wood, tile, stone, bathtubs, sinks and toilets … but also clothing, art supplies, jewelry, vintage cookware, gift items and other repurposed, still-in-greatcondition goods. If a home is “vintage”— read old and incompatible with any items made after 1924—it’s likely Urban Ore will provide the perfect medicine cabinet, hanging lamp, window sash or clawfoot bathtub. urbanore.com Let’s say you have all the stuff, then realize the budget’s blown and the right tool is not in that junk drawer where you could swear you put it just last week. Do not despair! The

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Design for Living An interview with Brook Bradbury of Lincoln Park Design

uring a phone call to arrange this interview, Lincoln Park Design’s Jennifer Walker and Brook Bradbury are quick to remind that their firm’s name is spelled like the 16th president, not the alt-rock band. This naturally elicits a laugh since it’s difficult to imagine the winners of the East Bay Express’s Best of the East Bay 2021 for Best Interior Designer could ever be confused with an early-aught’s avatar of nu metal, yet it does say something about the duo’s fastidious attention to detail. In a word, their vision is fractal, which is to say it appears the same at different scales—consistently inspired and frequently genius. What follows is a deep-dive into Lincoln Park Design’s creative process

as described by partner Brook Bradbury via a recent email exchange. It will illuminate, educate and hopefully make you rethink that Tuscan kitchen. —Daedalus Howell How does an interior design project start?

It starts with a story. Really we are trying to create a narrative for the client. There’s a lot of psychology involved in creating a space that’s livable and functional. At the end of the day we are interpreters—bringing someone’s vision to life. Our clients are putting their trust in us and we feel compelled to develop a design that’s both beautiful and practical. It’s important that we not only understand the client’s style and

taste, but also their lifestyle needs. Do they have a large family, young kids? Older family members who have special needs? Pets? Do they cook a lot? We try to get a feel for their style preferences, take lots of photos and discuss a design direction. From there we put together a digital storyboard—focusing in on colors, textures and materials—to present to the client. If the project involves any sort of remodeling or construction, we create a 3D rendering to spec.This makes it incredibly easy to envision the space as it will appear upon completion, and it’s especially handy for those who have trouble visualizing spatial planning. We try as much as possible to align expectations for the client. Everything in the design and budget process

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TEAM Lincoln Park Design partners Brook Bradbury and Jennifer Walker.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LINCOLN PARK DESIGN

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STORY The firm’s design projects start with a storyboard.

« is presented and approved before

moving forward. We keep in close collaboration with the client to ensure they are getting exactly what they anticipated. From where do you draw inspiration?

We come from very disparate backgrounds—Jenny grew up in urban Chicago, and I grew up in bucolic Montana. However, we’ve both traveled extensively and moved to inspiring new environments. I’ve lived in Vegas, New

York, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands before moving here to the Bay Area. Jenny garners influence from her time residing in Hawaii, St. Thomas and SoCal. I think it’s this sense of wanderlust that fuels our creative juices. So it’s TRAVEL that’s our primary inspiration. In fact, our families vacation quite often together. Jenny and I always take the opportunity to check out the local design scene wherever we may be. Munich, Barcelona, London, Todos Santos—no matter the place,

we always get super excited when we discover a local artist or small boutique and discover new designs. DESIGN SHOWS are another great resource—Salone del Mobile, in Milan; 100% Design, in London and Tokyo; ICFF, in New York; Maison de Object, in Paris. Showcasing the latest and greatest in the design world, these events are indispensable for keeping up with trends, discovering new talent and creating a catalog of resources upon which to draw ideas.

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There are a number of DESIGN BLOGS which feature up-and-coming

designers, trending innovators and new products emerging in the marketplace. A simple Google or Pinterest search will align you with some pioneers in the industry. The interwebs. I can’t tell you how much ETSY has changed and influenced the design market. It’s really an incredible resource for those looking for unique items—quite often at very reasonable prices. Also, sites like 1ST DIBS and CHAIRISH. Featuring a wide-ranging variety of boutique, hand-made and vintage designs—these curated forums are a boon for those looking for one-offs and unique finds. Can you describe your creative process?

Well, it generally starts by popping open a bottle of rosé…! LOL But in all honesty, once we get a feel for the space, things generally come together quickly. We have a mental catalog of vendors and fabricators from which we draw insight. We start pulling pictures and inspiration, hitting design centers and pulling samples. From there we pull all of our ideas together; we give the client a variety of options that fit within the design vision, and we’re off to the races! What trends are on the horizon?

ILLUMINATING A custom chandelier and matching table designed for a client.

Beige is Boring: Look for more color in the kitchen. People are getting tired of safe, white kitchens and bathrooms, and are beginning to experiment with color. Rich, dark jewel tones are coming into cabinetry; there are some

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« gorgeous hues emerging in the

appliance market. Colored sinks and even faucets are popping up. We love this new, bold direction! Nature is Nurture: We are seeing an abundance of plants and greenery in the home. Also, foliagethemed textiles and natural materials— like rattan and seagrass—are increasing in popularity. Some Concrete Solutions: Concrete tile, concrete countertops, concrete sinks, even concrete lights! A lot of people used to think of concrete as cold and minimalistic, but today’s options are colorful, tactile and can really warm up a space and add some much-needed pizzaz. Things Are Getting Graphic: An incredibly effortless way to add “WOW” factor to a room is an oversized wall graphic. More customizable than wallpaper, it’s a great way to add some personality without breaking the bank. What’s definitely OUT?

Matchy-matchy sets of anything— bedroom sets, living room sets, etc. Not only does it exhibit a lack of creativity, but it makes a room look instantly dated. I think we all remember those matching headboards and dressers our parents used to have. Cute sayings on signs. Just because you see Joanna Gaines do it doesn’t mean you should. And on that same note, no more shiplap please! No, just no. Tuscan kitchens. You don’t live in Tuscany; don’t pretend your kitchen resides in an Italian villa. That being said … every rule is meant to be broken! For every design trend that is “out” or “in,” there is always

GO GREEN An example of concrete tile recently used for a bath-install in Berkeley.

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« a counternarrative. The bottom line is: If you REALLY love something, we can find a way to work with it. What range of budgets do you work with?

To be honest, we can work within the confines of most budgets—sparse to limitless. For us it’s more about if the project is interesting and allows for some creative freedom. But most importantly it’s about having a good rapport with the client. Our natural inclination is to incorporate varying price points, even for those clients with extraordinary budgets. We love creating spaces that are visually appealing, yet functional. Beautiful, but not imminently precious. How often do—or should—people consider redesigning their home’s interior?

ROOM WITH A VIEW A Berkley cottage with a custom wall mural designed by the firm.

We don’t necessarily feel like there is an exact timeline. Clearly trends change, but it’s when your living space no longer works that it’s time to rethink the design. It can be as simple as just changing out some pillows and throwing down some new rugs. Or it could be as extensive as an entire home remodel. We always take into consideration the lifespan of a design when we are creating a space. Our aesthetic is just naturally eclectic— mixing hi and low, old and new, funky and formal. Timeless design is all about balance. How did Covid affect people’s interest in interior design?

I think a lot of people realized that their spaces really didn’t work for

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SPONSORED CONTENT

Clean and Neat Becomes New Normal

ust as it has altered so many things, the pandemic has changed how apartment complexes, multi-family buildings, and commercial sites deal with their trash and recycling. And Bay Area Bin Support (BABS) has been there to help property managers and commercial property owners upgrade cleanliness and neatness. Nancy Fiame, co-founder of BABS with husband Junior, sees this “home improvement” trend continuing as California and the Bay Area see a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. “If anything, we’ve seen an increase in demand for our services,” she said. The waste maintenance services provided by BABS are customized for the properties it serves. Services include “pushing or pulling” bins and/or trash compactors to proper street pick-up positions, returning them after being emptied by city trucks, and ensuring areas are clean afterwards. The junk hauling service BABS introduced in spring 2020 has now become a vital part of their offerings, as tenants and residents use time at home to clean out their residences, always a big part of spring cleaning, and even more evident this year. “There’s a lot of building renovation going on as well, and that means a lot of construction debris,” said Fiame. “We are able to dispose of that properly.” As people stayed home during the pandemic, the amount of recycling has incrementally increased. People ordered much more online and discarded the packaging, many times not breaking down the cardboard correctly, causing pile-ups. Property managers and commercial property owners face multiple fees and fines if their trash and recycling are not stored and disposed of

Bay Area Bin Support is part of “home improvement”

correctly. “By bringing in a professional service that knows the laws, they have stayed in front of the situation, saving time and money,” said Fiame. She cited a multi-unit building in Oakland that was struggling to keep up with waste disposal before employing BABS. The company began servicing the property every day, resulting in huge improvement. “Residents approach our guys and share their appreciation for how much better it is,” Fiame reported.

H Before

When property representatives first contact BABS, multiple questions assess how many bins, dumpsters, compactors or trash rooms are involved. This may be followed by a site visit to determine frequency of service and solve individual issues. Once service begins, follow-up communication ensures any adjustments or additions are taken care of. “If there are unexpected challenges, we find a way to deal with them,” said Fiame.

H After

Senior living facilities can benefit from BABS’ “trash valet” service, which brings trash and recycling from residents’ units to be properly binned or compacted. BABS can also transport bins to on-site compactors on a client’s property, freeing up maintenance staff time. Pressure washing is also available. BABS was first of its kind in the Bay Area, and now covers 18 Bay Area cities and serves more than 400 clients. California legislators are currently working on laws that will lessen recycling contamination and increase proper diversion. Fiame knows BABS can be part of ensuring compliance with the upcoming regulations. “We have learned during the pandemic just what an essential service we offer,” she said.

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BATHE A handsome bathroom design.

« them during the pandemic. All of

a sudden people were working from home, schooling their kids, cooking dinner every night, etc. They needed to readjust their living spaces to meet the needs of an altered lifestyle. For instance, ergonomic home offices with sound privacy and pretty backdrops for video conferences became a necessity almost overnight. Those with open-plan living had a need to compartmentalize and divide spaces. And then you can’t discount the stir-crazy factor! I think we’ve all been there at some point over this past year … being stuck inside the same set of walls tends to really exacerbate things. Something that may have mildly bothered you before becomes unbearable when you have to live with it at it all day, every day.

What do you do if a client has a completely misguided taste? Or is there such a thing?

Oh for sure, there are some hot messes out there! No, in all actuality, we try to work with clients who we think are on the same page aesthetically. All things considered, it’s important to keep in mind that we are creating spaces that will bring joy to our clients. At the end of the day if they are happy with the result, then we’ve succeeded. So, while we may try to steer the design in a certain direction, if our client is thrilled with the outcome, that’s the most imperative consideration. What are some interior design considerations that are particular to the East Bay?

In terms of working in the East Bay, Jenny and I really try to utilize local

artists and craftsmen. There is a wellestablished design community in the Bay Area and we try to source as many products as possible from Oakland and the East Bay Area. We work with Slow Burn Glass, Niche Creative, Malder lighting, Apache Stone, Mike Farruggia Woodworks, Niche Creative, Luker Upholstery, Truck and Crane Graphics and so many others! We really believe in supporting local businesses. Some advice for someone looking for an interior designer? It’s not a one-size-fits-all. I think it’s essential to find a designer that fits your style—and budget, of course. It’s often a long-term relationship. Some of our projects are ongoing for months, or even years. Finding someone you have a personal synergy with is almost as important as hiring someone whose work you admire. :)

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PHOTO BY VINCENT KEIMAN

GRILLED How to make chiles hotter.

HEATING UP Consumers purchased more than 14 million grills and smokers between April 2020 and February 2021.

PHOTO BY VINCENT KEIMAN

ager for a change of pace during the pandemic, many consumers made outdoor cooking their go-to activity, extending the art form beyond traditional grilling, or even the traditional grilling season. Consumers spent more than $4.9 billion on grills, smokers, camping stoves, accessories and fuel in 2020, according to new Enhanced Retail Tracking Service information on the home improvement industry from The NPD Group, which blends retailer point-of-sale data with insight from NPD’s receipt-based checkout information and additional data assets combined with advanced modeling. “The need to cook more meals at home, combined with the desire to experiment with new ways to create those meals, helped fuel growth for almost all types of grills,” said Joe Derochowski, home industry advisor at NPD. “Layer on our cravings to be less confined, safe and create an experience during the pandemic, and we get sales growth not only in the core grilling months, but also before and after.” More than 14 million grills and smokers were sold between April 2020 and February 2021, amounting to a 39% increase in dollar sales during the pandemic, compared to the same period a year ago. Beyond the peak grilling sales season between April and June, which accounted for 43% of the year’s sales, the

second half of 2020 saw a continuation of strong performance with dollar growth in excess of 50%. October and November had stronger year-overyear sales growth than the 58% dollar increase seen in May 2020. The popular gas and charcoal options made up two-thirds of the units sold, but nearly every type of grill or smoker saw growth between June and December last year. Gas grills led the way, accounting for 54% of dollar sales in the back half of 2020, growing 37% compared to the same period in 2019. Charcoal grills and horizontal smokers both saw significant growth compared to the second half of 2019. However, after gas options, pellet grills drove the most dollar gains, reaching $189 million in sales with 52% growth over the prior year. Products with specialized uses and

smaller investments also contributed significantly to sales. Portable grills and the outdoor cooking segment, which included products like pizza ovens and turkey fryers, were among the fastest growing in the category in terms of unit sales. Similarly, sales of camping stoves more than doubled in the second half of 2020. “Camping vacations, Friday-night pizza, trying a new roast recipe and smoking the Thanksgiving turkey are the kinds of activities helping to fuel growth beyond the core gas and charcoal grill options,” Derochowski says. “Consumers have turned pandemic-driven boredom into an opportunity to experiment with cooking, and the wide range of grilling and outdoor cooking options are helping them do it.” ❤ MAY/JUNE 2021 | EASTBAYMAG.COM | EAST BAY MAGAZINE

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ChefTalk FIRED UP Anthony Salguero in action at the grill.

Jeffrey Edalatpour

PHOTO BY JOSH FELISE

Dominica Rice-Cisneros’ Bombera and Anthony Salguero’s Popoca

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hile many home cooks began pandemic obsessions with sourdough starters or experimented with varieties of banana bread, two East Bay chefs launched new ventures. After 10 delicious years, Dominica Rice-Cisneros closed Cosecha in Swan’s Market. The Old Oakland market hall accommodated packed crowds, who ate alongside each other on community tables. Covid-19 altered that public way of eating, forcing chefs like Rice-Cisneros to sell to-go meals. Cosecha, she says, began taking on water financially. More and more money went to vendors, which left her with diminishing profits and savings. Additionally, the restaurant’s refrigeration system broke down, as did the 20-year-old, roofmounted compressor. Rice-Cisneros quickly understood that she couldn’t keep investing in Cosecha with her new fullservice restaurant, Bombera, in development. “I used to have great Friday and Saturday night dinners,” she says. “Monday dinner was our biggest night. Now, you can’t get anybody down there.” In 2017, she applied to the Oakland City Council

BOWLED OVER Dominica Rice-Cisneros’ next culinary venture will feature fava bean soup.

to open a restaurant in the Dimond District’s abandoned firehouse. The neighborhood association there had requested that the new business taking over the space serve dinner and brunch on the weekends. Having margaritas as the crux of her brunch proposal must have sealed the deal; Rice-Cisneros’ concept was chosen out of 16 other applicants. Although they don’t live in the neighborhood anymore, she and her husband purchased a home on Coolidge Avenue in 2005. “My daughter went to preschool and elementary school there,” she says. At the time, they noticed new businesses moving into the abandoned buildings. Farmer Joe’s became a

neighborhood anchor, along with La Farine and Peet’s Coffee. “We don’t live in the Dimond anymore, but we’ve always wanted to get back to living and working there,” Rice-Cisneros says. She was so happy when her proposal was chosen, that she and her husband went ahead and purchased the building. Then they began the long process of securing permits and complying with city codes to convert the disused firehouse. Since October 2019, they’ve been in construction mode. Bombera is set to open a to-go service in May, and will expand to full-service by July. One of the dishes the chef plans to include on the new menu is a fava bean soup. She started cooking it in January because Mexican grocery stores like Mi Rancho in Fruitvale and Mi Ranchito in Berkeley were carrying a dried yellow fava bean. “It’s one of those dishes they don’t sell at restaurants,” Rice-Cisneros says. “It’s very comforting. I would cook the favas down with epazote, simmering them with garlic, onions, a little olive oil, a bay leaf or cilantro.” Across town on 26th Street, chef Anthony Salguero opened Popoca, a Salvadoran pop-up restaurant that brought him several thousand followers and a feature in Bon Appétit. Now closed while he looks for a permanent location elsewhere in

MAY/JUNE 2021 | EASTBAYMAG.COM | EAST BAY MAGAZINE

« Oakland, the story of Popoca aligns

with Salguero’s own transformation as a chef. After establishing the Bardo Lounge & Supper Club menu on Lakeshore with Brian Starkey, Salguero decided he wanted to do his own thing. “I’ve always wanted to dig further into my family’s background,” he says. “To learn about the history and the food and everything else Salvadoran.” The more he delved into his heritage, the more he understood that this was exactly the kind of cuisine he was meant to be cooking. His research led him to travel to El Salvador on more than one occasion. “The goal right now is to go back and forth, to learn as much as I can over there and come back here to show what I’ve learned,” he says. In the town of Suchitoto, his next destination, they make cheese and they still grind masa using a pestle and mortar. And for some reason, he says, there are a lot of ducks there, some of which will likely make the list of ingredients in his next batch of tamales. Growing up in the States, Salguero’s experience of Salvadoran dishes was limited to “amazing” rice and beans. What he noticed after his first culinary expedition there was the range of tropical plants and fruits, from pineapples, plantains and melons to peanuts and sesame and pumpkin seeds. Seeing the variety of spices was eye-opening for the chef. He also discovered that the texture of the maseca—corn flour—was noticeably different. Corn mills are a central part of the community there, and

40 EAST BAY MAGAZINE

| EASTBAYMAG.COM | MAY/JUNE 2021

BRIEF BREAK Dominica Rice-Cisneros is involved with the construction of a new restaurant in the Dimond District’s abandoned firehouse.

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HUSKY Tamales are one of Anthony Salguero’s specialties.

« the texture of the flour can’t be

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Popoca opened a few months before the pandemic. Salguero recalled that switching to a take out model depressed him. “I wanted to show the food. I wanted to provide a different experience,” he says. When the brief period of outdoor dining occurred, that’s when Popoca really started to gain a following. When that window closed, he says, it was soul-crushing to know that, for example, once the cheese inside of a pupusa cools down, it solidifies. “I love takeout food but my food was never meant for that

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recreated here without them. The pupusa is a staple in El Salvador, like pasta in Italy or the taco in Mexico. “El Salvador isn’t the richest country and I think it’s pretty inexpensive to make if you’re using local corn,” Salguero explains. He thinks Americans like them because they’re cheesy. A harder sell is a version made with pig’s liver. The chef, who says they’re a hundred percent delicious, had them on the menu a couple of nights and felt like it was a victory when someone actually ordered it.

situation,” adding, “Part of cooking for me is really interacting with people.” Until he finds a new home for Popoca, Salguero is glad he’s hit his creative stride. In the interim, he’s focusing on new Salvadoran flavors to include on his menu. When he’s cooking for his girlfriend and their son, they don’t eat a lot of meat. But when they do, Salguero will pick up a ribeye cut and cook it on an outside grill. He’s also been making homemade tortillas with masa from Bolita (@ BolitaMasa), a new “micro molino and tortillería” based in Oakland. Adding peppers and onions, chili flakes and lime, the dish becomes an at-home platter of fajitas. To finish it, he blends tomatillos with serrano peppers, three cloves of garlic, a little grape seed oil, a nice bunch of cilantro and lime. “It’s a bright green velvety salsa. You pour that over the steak. With a stack of family style tortillas, it’s delicious.”

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LEAD Noni Session at the co-op’s launch in 2018.

Permanen The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative BY

ast Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative Director Noni Session is rarely asked to describe her dream landscape for Oakland and the broader Bay Area. Having demonstrated housing crisis foresight by founding, and in 2018 launching, the community-centered development cooperative known as EB PREC that permanently removes land and housing from the speculative real estate market to establish affordable, community-controlled co-op housing

Lou Fancher

and mixed-use projects, the assumption is of a pinnacle reached, a vision fulfilled. EB PREC began with the ability, under California law ABA 16, to sell limited, five-year term shares invested in equity housing cooperatives and community land trust projects. Sold to non-accredited individuals with a projected 1.5% return over each fiveyear term, the original model aimed to purchase properties primarily in Oakland, but extends in 2021 to encompass the East Bay and includes

varying levels of participation: investors, community members, resident and staff owners, and board members. Created with the People of Color Sustainable Housing Network—a network for people of color building collective, affordable Bay Area housing communities—and the Sustainable Economies Law Center—a group providing legal tools to communitydeveloped projects connected to food, housing, energy and jobs—EB PREC recently earned SEC approval as a Landed Housing Investment fund. This

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE EAST BAY PERMANENT REAL ESTATE COOPERATIVE

ence allows them to raise up to $50 million over the next three years by selling unlimited $1,000 shares to accredited and non-accredited individuals who live in an expanding number of states in addition to California. Having in two years established that EB PREC “has legs,” the organization— according to Session—has close to 400 investors and just over 100 community owners. Their first project, COOP 789, successfully entered into collective ownership in 2019. Early investors helped EB PREC build infrastructure

while simultaneously investing in future projects. A second project in Berkeley, Prince Street, pivoted the group’s first donated residential property into affordable, permanent co-op ownership with resident owners consisting of teachers, artists and culture-sustainers. A third project, 7th Street Cultural Cooperative Corridor in West Oakland, is currently in a capital campaign phase to close a $1.3 million gap in the $4 million mixed-use project. “We will be bringing three units of commercial, collectively-owned units

onto the market at 50% of market rate,” Sessions says. “We call it a cultural revival project. It’s meant to be a community acquisition to reactivate and reignite a deserted, historic business corridor in West Oakland.” Anchored at one end by the Esther Orbit Room, a historic venue in a corridor once known as “The Harlem of the West,” the building was the nexus on a block that once had thriving businesses: dry cleaners, cobblers, tax accountants, cafes and restaurants. “That corridor has been decimated

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GIVE Carolyn North’s home of 56 years, which she donated to the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative.

« by cycles of municipal neglect, eminent

domain, economic displacement and construction of a postal office, BART station and the 880 freeway,” Sessions says. “It’s been starved of goods and services for over 30 years.” The devastating effects impact multiple generations: everyone from the elderly, who migrated to West Oakland in the 1940s, to children born and raised in the area today. The revitalization design therefore has intergenerational appeal: a restaurant/bar for adults; a cafe/ juice bar where millennials can foster

community-building relationships; and a fine art/movement/healing arts gallery space to preserve Oakland’s precious artistry and culture for all ages. Residential housing above the commercial spaces will recruit artists/ owners to live in/own the units. At the end of the block opposite the Esther Room, a partnership with the Blackrun Mandela Grocery guarantees the project’s footprint provides a reliable food resource. “We’re reviving this mixed acquisition to serve the community,” Session says. “The big commercial footprint, plus the co-artist

housing above, are meant to attract and serve a wide demographic of folks who still live and work in Oakland.” Essential to EB PREC’s admittedly complex projects, and central to their mission is one word: permanence. “Our [protection of properties] lasts into perpetuity, not 99 years [like typical land trusts],” Session says. “Communities need permanence to be able to build their vision. Even 99 years is a relatively short amount of time to have your collective land protected.” Specifically, generational wealth building relies on confidence

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SIGNED Carolyn North completes the paperwork for her home donation with an EB PREC staffer.

« that ownership will not be taken

away by economic loss, poor property management or exploitative lending practices that lead to foreclosure. Collective ownership at 50% of market rate means owners avoid pouring their entire income into housing and can launch businesses, build careers, gain education and support their community. Session says, “You can create a 100year plan when you’re not worried about your foundation being sold out from underneath you. The critical part

of wealth building in resource-starved communities is permanence. That’s the concept that EB PREC is advancing: acting as the first entity to create access to the land intergenerationally and protect it in permanence so people can draw value from it.” Session’s vision matched that of Carolyn North’s to a “T.” A writer and dancer who lived for 56 years with her late husband, Herb Strauss, and their children in the Berkeley house they bought in 1966 for $28,000, North

donated the family home, which is valued at approximately $1.3 million. She wanted the home to provide affordable housing for artists being forced out of the area. “I felt we’d gotten more than our value from it and was not willing to make more money from it,” she says. Her now-adult children no longer live on the West Coast and weren’t interested in keeping the home. “They were fine with it,” she says. “They came and saw Wild and Radish Farm in El

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farmland where I now live. They thought, ‘chutzpah, there goes mom again,’ but I was committed to not end up in a nursing home.” North, 83, says she was “put on the planet to push the envelope” and to demonstrate new ways of thinking—about what it means to live in a multicultural community, about the diaspora of BIPOC artists chased out of their communities by inflated housing rates, and about ethical investing and living, and dying consciously, with dignity. The EB PREC Communications Director, Lauren Jones, says people like North who have land to donate or sell below market rate are “very much desired and can help move our vision forward.” For naysaying real estate investment tycoons questioning profit viability even in the light of EB PREC’s status and track record and Session’s credentials— doctoral work in anthropology at Cornell, a Black Studies degree from San Francisco State University, international internships, a close run at a seat on

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Oakland City Council in 2016 and more—Session has a reply. “It’s inbred that 6% or above is the only way to bring commercial property into ownership,” she says. “We’re talking about billions of dollars that have come out of an abstract financing housing industry that is, every second, making billions more. If it’s mission-based dollars, expectations around interest rates can shift.” Session says the 2008 housing crisis wave that caused her to create EB PREC caught many people by surprise. “The number of homeless people flowing into cities, the renters who were rent-burdened; both increased and there were no solutions coming.” During the pandemic, housing inequities, especially for Black and Brown people, “really became barenaked,” she says. Again, people weren’t prepared. “People are relieved that EB PREC and others had already been in the works. We were not working from scratch at this moment that has landed heavily with folks,” she says. “We had already blazed the trail.” Because of that, she says many people

now understand that the speculative inflation of real estate values is causing communities to fall apart. “Only the most affluent communities are thriving under those conditions,” she says. “Does that mean we have to build walls around ourselves to protect ourselves from those who are resource-starved? This rate of greed has left more than half of us without our basic needs.” Often asked questions about the cooperative housing process, Sessions says two things people don’t ask, but could, are, “How can I reimagine my practices to support collective ownership in other areas?” And, “How can my techniques, approaches, convictions and assumptions be transformed to support this outcome in more places, for more people?” And Session’s dream? “My dream landscape is: no empty houses or commercial spaces held back from the market in service to speculative profit,” she says. “Paired with no empty spaces, there are multiple organizations like EB PREC that have landed housing funds, that are ready to buy units, buildings or plots of land and bring them into collective and cooperative ownership. There are technical assistance and real estate support organizations recruiting and training community owners to build out projects that are investable, strong and contribute to the community in which they’re planted.” The final comment she makes, her voice glimmering with forward-thinking energy and confidence, is: “We’re definitely modeling this out for replication.” To learn more, visit ebprec.org.

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welcomed me inside, I immediately thought of Gertrude Stein’s celebrated quip in reference to the city of Oakland: “There’s no there there.” She was known around the office for being—how shall we put it?—a little high strung. A graphic designer who’d just graduated art school, she was one of those people who use the word “aesthetic” compulsively, which has given me a lifelong aversion to the term—notice how I only used it with quotation marks? She was also depressive by nature, and so it really wasn’t surprising to discover that Miss

Postmodern Aesthetic Highbrow lived in an almost entirely empty apartment. It was the year 2000, and she had already gladly accepted an arid futuristic utopia/dystopia. I wouldn’t be surprised if by now she’s living in a pod. The main room featured only an industrial desk topped with a Mac computer that served as the stereo for playing melancholy Britpop, and an 18th-century-styled chaise lounge, lest a visitor conclude the minimalist scheme hadn’t been arrived at by anything other than laborious deliberations. The walls were rental-unit white without a single

PHOTO BY DAEDALUS HOWELL

’d just finished introducing a coworker to the pleasure of dancing in formal dress at one of the Gaskell’s Balls held at the Scottish Rites Temple on Lake Merritt. At the stroke of midnight we walked back to her Deco-era apartment building with only the most platonic of intentions. She was cute as a bug’s ear, as my grandpa would say, but we were certainly not compatible. For starters, there was the matter of home decor. At that time I was an advocate of late Victorian clutter, while she was an arch minimalist. As she turned the key and

Christian Chensvold

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picture, and the bedroom door left ajar revealed a mounted mattress with no headboard, plain white comforter and a few items of clothing strewn about. For me it was a soulless and nihilistic living environment, suggestive of an inner emptiness, confusion or angst. I’ve always been the opposite: too many interests, too many ideas straining for realization. If the personality is structured like a great temple, mine has too many rooms. Think of the movie Auntie Mame with Rosalind Russell, the vivacious archetypal “wine aunt” who changes her apartment from one

extreme to the other throughout the film, indicative of a drama queen with ample Leo energy in the Fourth House, which rules over the home. Over the years and on a freelance writer’s budget—sometimes broke, sometimes flush—I’ve tried to emulate Belle Epoque Paris, an Art Deco gentleman’s pad whose press release would announce “Bertie Wooster meets Ralph Lauren,” and even a swingin’ ’60s James Bond supervillain’s lair. I enjoyed pondering home and office environs so much I even founded a website for men called MasculineInteriors.com, which I

sold for the equivalent of a nice dining room set—as if I’ve ever had a dining room—and which the owner seems to have done nothing with but render it a kind of digital public storage unit filled with somebody else’s stuff. But my homes only really started to feel like home when—older and wiser, the former being inevitable, the latter hard-earned—I stopped trying to scream some aspect of myself that was trying to come out, as well as nixing the urge to approach decor as if it were a math equation requiring the most rational and task-oriented part of the

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It is better to have a sparse home filled with a few things one really likes than a home filled with useless rubbish. « brain. This area is not the wellspring

of wellbeing, of the soul’s sense of beauty and what it needs for a happy home, and when I recently moved back to California after a decade in New York, starting from scratch once again, I downshifted my mind out of its usual manic new-project mode and let the deeper, subconscious energies create a humble dwelling at a slow-and-steady analog pace. So here are a few things I’ve learned after decades of being a tireless tinkerer with my apartments, and wiping the slate clean more than once: First off, I think of my home decor as a kind of wardrobe that surrounds my body but is nevertheless attached to it. As with clothing, the best way to become immediately better dressed is to edit, which means purge everything that isn’t “perfect.” Distracted by outside influences and passing caprices, we tend to accumulate things that upon reflection we don't really like. To find out whether an object truly belongs in my life, I touch it, close my eyes and ask myself if I “love” it. If the answer doesn’t make my whole body vibrate with warmth, as if I were arm-in-arm

with my best friend, then I get rid of it. It is better to have a sparse home filled with a few things one really likes than a home filled with useless rubbish. Also, there’s a huge difference between a home filled modestly with items cherished by the heart, and a home that doesn’t need anything edited because nothing was ever put in it in the first place … which suggests the person inhabiliting the dwelling either cannot find their heart, or doesn’t know what it’s trying to say. Next, for those on a budget, consider the notion of “shabby chic,” the ’90s trend for thrifted furniture artfully painted to look vaguely like it came from a French country cottage. This approach can emphasize the chic just as much as the shabby. I’m always surprised by how good a $15 piece of furniture turns out with a coat of paint and a couple of dollars worth of new hardware. It’s also immensely satisfying, and the apex of achievements is the successful restoration of a scavenged piece left on the sidewalk, which is the home furnishings equivalent of finding a stray dog. Finally, we come to the art on the walls, crucial for providing the soul

with the nourishing images it needs. And as our inner state is always in flux, since all the universe is in a state of perpetual motion, it may be necessary to regularly change the pictures on our walls. Sometimes we may feel drawn to bold and colorful pictures, other times black-and-white photography; sometimes images of action, other times images of tranquility. And since the odds of stumbling across such perfect images is exceedingly rare, and customframing even small prints can be quite expensive, try this trick. Find images on the web, and have them printed on 11-by-17-inch paper for a dollar. Then mount them in frames sourced from thrift stores or garage sales; the worstcase scenario only requires the purchase of a custom-sized matting board. Get into the zone, and it’s easy to collect enough frames and images to allow for swapping them out at any time. There’s a curious linguistic gem that goes by the name “abulia,” which is defined as the inability to act or make a decision. Those postmodern minimalist types who think they’ve reached some sort of style apex are more accurately stuck at the bottom of the mountain, suffering from paralysis by analysis and having gotten absolutely nowhere. And as the truest actions we make are those that come not from reactions to external circumstances, but from the core of our own being, I urge us all to take action by becoming the king or queen of our own home. Let us banish all that which serves no purpose, while welcoming in our own personal pageantry, since, as the old saying goes, our home should be our castle. ❤

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Be unique, Be you. At St. Paul’s Towers, at this unconventional time, you can define community living in your own way. Even with physical distancing, you can be a vital part of a community that solicits opinions, listens to all voices, and respects individuals. Join a community that supports and stimulates, communicates and cares. Engage your way at St. Paul’s Towers. For a virtual tour or to learn more, please call or visit our website. 510.891.8542 www.covia.org/st-pauls-towers

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