Things seem to change quickly these days, both in the wider world and right here on our corner of Oakland. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up. I went away for two days and came back to a fifty-foot Lyft bike station flanking our building and a succulent disaster sprawled across the 40th street median. A nighttime driver had apparently lost control, catastrophically sheared the strip of flourishing cacti, which is tended by a local volunteer as a Sisyphean task, and left behind a jumble of plastic bumper bits and a pile of spiked and waxy leaves. If he hasn’t seen it already, the median minder is gonna be pissed.

Last month, orange and white construction signs appeared down Webster Street as far as we could see, and then the concrete cutting crew came, early and often, drilling deep caverns and trenches into the street and sidewalk early and often to lay us a new gas line. The workers have been friendly, and Claire reported feeling a little special when they would recognize her car, radio ahead her clearance with an earpiece, and wave her through the construction zone. As that crew must too, I now hear the phantom backhoes beeping in reverse.

And we’re working on having a new tree planted out front. The old plum tree on our sidewalk used to bloom pink flowers outside Julia’s second floor office window, but after many blows from delivery trucks, a considerable risk for urban flora, our tree stopped living, so this year we had it chopped down and the stump and roots removed. You may have noticed the vibrant splash of California poppies I’d planted as a placeholder. We’re hoping to get the sidewalk space widened a tad this weekend in preparation for a proposed planting on the 26th by volunteers, after which we will hopefully be the custodians of a hearty young crepe myrtle tree.

So you see, we’re undergoing a little cosmetic work, but we’re still the same cozy Oakland Yard on the inside. Come by for a bottle, for a glass, for a beer, for a Welcome Wednesday food pop-up, for a tasting flight, for the music, for the provisions - the chocolate, olive oil, tinned fish, chips and more. Come for the vibes, the company, or just a moment to yourself.

Tonight...THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS: Spanish Whites and French Gamay - Taste three whites from Catalunya, Valdejalon, and Mallorca, or three reds from Beaujolais
2024 Vins El Cep Ot De Vins El Cep Xarel-lo
2024 Mesquida Mora Sincronia Blanco
2023 Frontonio Microcósmico Macabeo
2023 Domaine Yohan Lardy Poppy Gamay
2023 Petit Perou Tu m’tiens au jus Beaujolais Villages
2022 Château Javernand Les Gatilles Chiroubles
Tasting Flights $15 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until close

SATURDAY 10/18: ALSACE WINE FLIGHTS - Sample four wines from this historic French wine region located between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine River.
NV Hubert Meyer Crémant d'Alsace
2023 Domaine Mann Le Mouton Bleu Sylvaner
2022 Albert Mann Gewurztraminer
2023 Charles Frey Bien dans sa Peau Rouge
Flights $20 from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm

Cheers,
Max