chopped Chevy

I wish I had asked the owner more about this car.  I have no idea if this is an original design or it has been modified to cultivate a cool look.  Taken when there were leaves on the trees.  Linked to ABC Wednesday.

cafe zone

Oakland seems to indulge in the bottomless coffee cup given the number of coffee houses and coffee trucks that abound in our town.  The Fountain Cafe can be found in the City Center.

Monday Mural: more glamour girls

Mags as another bathing beauty up only a block from the ones I've previously shown you.  They really grow on you.

Welcome to Monday Mural:  if you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

BART station

Standing on a BART platform waiting for the train to San Francisco.  It doesn't look busy, but you'd be surprised how quickly the platform fills up just before the train arrives.  Linked to ABC Wednesday.

Monday Mural: remembering Dr. King

Found on a construction fence in West Oakland.  Today is a national holiday where we honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and work.  One of my favorite quotes from  him:  We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Welcome to Monday Mural:  if you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

lovely old house

This graceful old house anchors a corner in the Bella Vista neighborhood of East Oakland.  Love that oval hallway window.  Oakland has tons of old and pre-1906 earthquake houses.  The skies are still blue and dry.  The temperature reached 75 today.  Hardly a typical winter, and a harbinger of drought.  Linked to Skywatch Friday.

A is for Automania

Those wacky guys at Automania have cut up another car and placed it facing one of their walls.  Their stuff always makes me laugh.  Linked to ABC Wednesday.

bike lanes

These green swaths are showing up around town.  They indicate dedicated bike lanes---no cars allowed.

Monday Mural: culture is a weapon

Photographing this mural took some gymnastics because it is behind fencing on all sides.  A lot of the murals in Oakland reference cultural pride by marginalized groups.  Here we see symbols of Latino and African-American cultures both past and present.  This mural is off the traffic corridors and peeked out at me while I was driving down E. 12th Street.

Welcome to Monday Mural:  if you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

the estuary at dusk

Dusk at the MLK Jr. Shoreline Park.  Some days the skies can get gray and misty.  And then the sun breaks through.  Linked to Skywatch Friday.

submarine crossing?

I'm not sure what this is about but it sends the mind reeling at the possibilities.  Linked to Signs, Signs.

sights along the shoreline

While much of the shoreline around the Bay is being rescued and resuscitated, you still find a lot of industry.  Next to the shoreline path is this storage "facility" for heavy industrial trucking equipment.  It looks like so many building blocks stacked before the setting sun.

union hall with axe

Had to laugh at how the firefighters designed their union office.  Spotted downtown.

Monday Mural: more love Oakland

This is one of the larger Love Oakland murals on 15th Street.  Included is a shoreline image of Lake Merritt which is only a few blocks away.

Welcome to Monday Mural:  if you like murals or have a mural you'd like to post, this meme's for you.  Just follow the Linky steps below.  You get to decide what constitutes a mural.  Once you start looking, you find them everywhere.  Be sure to link back to this blog and to visit your fellow posters.  Looking forward to the mural finds posted this week.

shoreline reflection

Did you know Oakland established the first bird sanctuary in the nation?  We are fortunate to be along the migratory path of many species and our waters are filled with hundreds if not thousands of birds during their migratory flights.  Egrets abound in the estuary, at Lake Merritt, and along the East Bay shoreline.  They don't seem particularly bothered by traffic noise or the rumble of a nearby freeway.  Adaptable creatures they are.  This one is poking along the estuary shoreline where remnants of a pier still jut from the water.  Linked to Weekend Reflections.

Shoreline Park sunset

The air quality has been poor lately and we've had several days where burning in the fireplace has been prohibited.  Ironically, particulates in the air frequently lend themselves to lovely sunsets.  Taken at the Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline Park on the estuary.  Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Oakland Stonehenge

A massive sculpture in the City Center complex.