East Bay Magazine

30/10/2024

Our November issue is here! Flip through the e-edition below. 🎊

Read East Bay Magazine November 2024 by Weeklys on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

18/10/2024

Elizabeth Rosner‘s new book, “Third Ear: Reflections on the Art and Science of Listening,” is by no means a prescriptive, how-to, self-help book. But it could be. Focused on listening and hearing, the Berkeley-based writer remembers and reflects on past and current auditory landmarks and their impact on health and wellbeing.

Taken as a guidebook, “Third Ear” maps a wide-ranging journey encompassing everything from molecular aspects of hearing to the negative effects on humans of noise; the benefits of music; of listening to whales, pods of dolphins or birds; the complexity of different languages; the nuances of expression; and the most profound interstitial or vast elements of hearing, such as silence or words left unspoken, but nonetheless, absorbed…

Read more below. 📖

Cover image courtesy of Counterpoint
Author photo by Tora Smart

Berkeley author Elizabeth Rosner says listen and learn in her latest book, ‘Third Ear: Reflections on the Art and Science of Listening.'

15/10/2024

“When you do aerial, you’re doing something that you think is impossible,” says Drago Nesa, entrepreneur, international circus performer and longest-body-burn-while-hanging-from-their-teeth world record holder. “And when a person can conquer their ability to do the impossible, they get this amazing sense of empowerment.” Drago teaches aerial silks at SkyHigh Odditorium, a Richmond-based aerial arts and acrobatics school where strength training and choreography fuse in midair…

Read more below.

14/10/2024

A new East Bay specialty market is redefining the meaning of the word bodega. Celia and Joe Catalino’s Of All Places in Berkeley has recently joined the ranks of small markets such as Preserved and Benchmark Portavia. Instead of a neon Miller High Life sign or a fading portrait of the Marlboro man, their customers are greeted by a framed poster of the late Italian actress Monica Vitti. During the 1960s, Vitti was the muse of filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni…

Read more below!

Solano Avenue's specialty market Of All Places elevates the bodega with local goods and a global flair, from origins in a pandemic wine club.

09/10/2024

When husband-and-wife team Sage and Tari Loring started their arts consultancy agency, Local Edition Creative, the vision for their company wasn’t fully formed. It didn’t matter. They had been sketching it out, year by year, with the very act of keeping their eyes wide open and their feet on the ground.

That’s how they filled up Oakland with dozens of murals to rival its sibling city across the bay. That’s how they brought a sleepy Concord to life with a vibrant arts festival. That’s how they collapsed and expanded companies to give artists a lifeline and communities new life. And that’s how, more than two decades later, they’re still moving forward...

Insert Art Here: Local Edition Creative sees where art belongs in East Bay communities, from Oakland to Concord.

04/10/2024

Much like the natural perfumes that owner Mandy Aftel made her name creating, the Aftel Archive is a museum of subtlety.

“I think people come to the museum and think it’s going to smell like Macy’s,” Aftel shared with me in a Zoom call a few days later. “Natural perfumes don’t radiate. You have to be intimate with someone to smell it. It doesn’t have the trail that synthetics do.”

Intimacy, I discovered, is difficult to conjure up in an instant, especially in a museum full of so many unfamiliar elements, though Aftel designed every interaction around it. Open a drawer and pluck a rocky piece of opoponax resin to roll in the palm of the hand. Uncap one by one, a dozen vials of hefty glass and lean in to unearth the secret of a fig-less fig perfume. Pick up the weighty handle of a magnifying glass to decipher the pages of “The Book of Perfumes”…

Read more below!

Tracking the scent at Aftel Archive of Curious Scents—whatever you think you’ll find, prepare for a second visit.

03/10/2024

Our editor believes that the key to good health is a balance of pleasure and diligence. Of consuming fresh veggies mostly, but having the occasional burnt honey cream sourdough donut (looking at you, !)…

Read the letter from the editor — our intro to October’s issue with a focus on health and wellness— at the link in our stories or OCT 2024 highlights in our bio.

Photo and video by

What's good for you? Being healthy involves many things, says our editor. An intro to this month's issue with a look at health and wellness.

02/10/2024

October’s issue is here! 🎉

Like the shelves of a gourmet market, this month’s issue of East Bay magazine is filled with local delicacies. Whether we focus on creative approaches to health and wellness, highlight nonprofit organizations uplifting women in leadership, showcase public arts projects or engage our senses at specialty vendors and museums, we’re dedicated to exploring and celebrating the region’s tastiest treats... ❤️

ON THE COVER: Joe and Celia Catalino, Of All Places, Berkeley — photo by Lucía Catalino

Read East Bay Magazine October 2024 by Weeklys on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

19/09/2024

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 30, flames engulfed the 1940s-era building at 5433 College Ave. in Rockridge. Thankfully, no one was injured. But dozens of offices and the independent bookstore, East Bay Booksellers, were decimated. Neighboring residents were also displaced. As of this writing, the cause of the fire is unknown.

In the aftermath, friends of the bookstore initiated a GoFundMe campaign in its honor. East Bay Booksellers posts regular updates to its Instagram account and states on its website that future plans to rebuild are in development. They are fulfilling online orders, as well as gift card purchases. Already scheduled author events are to continue, with the support of other local businesses, like City Lights Booksellers & Publishers , Point Reyes Books and Gilman Brewing Company…

Read more below!

East Bay Booksellers turns the page, as the beloved independent bookstore rebounds after a devastating fire in Oakland's Rockridge District.

16/09/2024

Theoretically, diners crossing the eastern span of the Bay Bridge have two opportunities to eat at Linda Edson’s Aracely restaurants…

Adding a second location, Aracely Lounge opens in Danville, where Argentinian flavors abound on Linda Edson’s menu.

09/09/2024

Out of the ashes of a groundbreaking Bay Area music collective comes another group. Musically different but built upon the same creative values, Daggerboard is forward-looking and rooted in tradition. And at the same time, its founder helms an important indie record label.

Applying a punk musical aesthetic to the jazz idiom, Gregory Howe launched Throttle Elevator Music in the early 2010s. Over its lifespan, the collective featured a rotating cast of musicians, but at its core was a rising star: tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington.

Howe handled songwriting, arrangements and production; his label, Albany-based , would release no less than seven albums between 2012 and 2021. Parallel with that project, Washington’s status as one of the most innovative and compelling forces in jazz was solidified. Inevitably, there came a point at which Washington would move on to focus on his own work as a bandleader.

Read more below!

Sailing against the current, local independent label Wide Hive Records and Daggerboard collective make music outside the mainstream.

06/09/2024

There’s a robot takeover happening in some American schools. Don’t worry; they’re not the Hollywood anthropomorphic bots that respond in “beep boop.” These ones are far more intelligent, and they’re making teachers’ lives easier.

When Oakland-born educator Sam Anderson-Moxley began building his first essay grading app, he had envisioned a more streamlined workflow for his colleagues. A 2022 study published by the EdWeek Research Center found that teachers spend an average of five hours per week grading papers, totaling 140 hours for a 28-week school year.

Read more...

Local educator launches Roborubrics for the classroom, introducing the AI grading assistant combating teacher burnout.

05/09/2024

Our Best of the East Bay issue is here! 🥳

We celebrate the winners of our annual readers' poll, and offer our editorial picks for all categories, including Arts & Culture, Food & Drink, Goods & Services, and more. Plus, we discuss the California-Colombian magic made by Chef Mark Liberman at Mägo in Piedmont; local independent label Wide Hive Records and Daggerboard collective make music outside the mainstream; and an Oakland-born educator launches an AI grading app to help teachers avoid burnout.

Read East Bay Magazine September 2024 by Weeklys on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

19/07/2024

At Temescal Brewing, Monday night is “Society Night,” dedicated to the “distinguished members” (their words) of its new Summertime Drinking Society.

Read all about it at https://www.eastbaymag.com/temescal-brewings-unstuffy-drinking-society/

23/01/2024

As one walks through the aisles of the .in.the.morning store on Camelia Street in Berkeley, one is transported into a world of music. The store features instruments from Africa; China; Balkan countries; Russia; Southeast Asia; Native cultures from North, South and Central America; and much more.

“At any given time, we’ve got about 1,500 instruments,” said store owner Eric Azumi. “Many of them are available in the showroom for trying out.”

Read more at the link in our stories or Jan/Feb 2024 highlights!

18/01/2024

Bentley School’s joyful learning culture continues to inspire students across its Oakland and Lafayette campuses, with a curriculum that instills academic and social-emotional goals to help students thrive.

Despite the ambitious program and significant investment required from families, one in four students receive financial assistance. ’s lower school incorporates movement, dance, gardening and three different languages—French, Mandarin and Spanish—giving students a dynamic and experiential learning experience. The middle and upper schools have advisory divisions to help students navigate academic and emotional changes.

Amid the pandemic, Bentley has embraced remote learning and the mindfulness program to benefit students’ physical and mental wellness. Bentley strives to be more inclusive and diverse, with students from 72 different zip codes and 55% students of color.

Read more at the link in our stories or Jan/Feb 2024 highlights!

17/01/2024

As schools navigate the post-pandemic normal, East Bay campuses prioritize student wellbeing with increased counseling and support services. Examples include ‘s focus on self-awareness and healthy relationships, ‘s GO GIRL program promoting leadership and compassion, ‘s advisory program fostering social-emotional learning, ‘s resiliency-building curriculum, and mental health support at and .

Read all about it at the link in our stories or Jan/Feb 2024 highlights in our bio!

11/01/2024

🍽️Food deserts (or more accurately, food apartheid) in the US are a major problem, but top-down approaches have failed. Discover how community-based organizations in the East Bay are taking a bottom-up approach to solve this issue. Click the link in our stories or Jan/Feb 2024 highlights to learn more. 🌱🌽🥦

Featuring:justice (photos by )

oakland.punks.with.lunch 🙌

09/01/2024

Love chocolate? 🍫 East Bay’s and are leading the way in crafting artisanal chocolate! Read about these obsessed chocolatiers at the link in our stories or Jan/Feb 2024 highlights.

Photos:
1-3) courtesy of
4–7) courtesy of

04/01/2024

🌧️🐸 Did you know that winter in the East Bay brings out the fascinating newts? 🔎Discover the incredible migration, toxic secretions and unique courtship rituals of these enigmatic creatures…

Read ’s story at the link in our stories or Jan/Feb 2024 highlights! Or visit eastbaymag.com.

Photos courtesy of :
1) by Kevin Fox
2) by Ilana Peterson
3) by staff
4) by Joe Di Donato
5) by Tammy Lim
6-7) by Morgan Evans

03/01/2024

Coming to UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall in February, Taylor Mac and Matt Ray’s latest is a four-hour “rock opera meditation on queerness” featuring 55 songs—one for each year since the Stonewall Uprising! 🎶🏳️‍🌈🎭

Another coming to Zellerbach in February: a double-bill dance featuring a collaboration with , and — read more at the link in our stories or Jan/Feb 2024 highlights! Or visit eastbaymag.com/queer-history-bark-millions-pina-bausch/. 💫

28/12/2023

📚 Discover the joy of learning and exploring in our first issue of 2024! From the transformative journey of newts to the fascinating world of handcrafted instruments, there's so much to uncover. Plus, find out how local nonprofits are making a difference. Flip through the e-edition at the link in our stories or bio.

Stay tuned for more!

ON THE COVER: Rachel Adriano at .justice, photo by

This issue also features:
.oakland.punks.with.lunch
.in.the.morning

15/12/2023

Hospice care was once the work of charities and nonprofits, but it has more recently become big business. More than half of Americans now die in hospice care, which is often paid for by Medicare. Last year, Medicare spent nearly $24 billion on hospice care, a jump of more than 24% from five years earlier. For-profit companies make up more than 72% of the hospice industry, with more than 100 new for-profit companies entering the field each year. And these companies, though funded at the same daily rate per patient as nonprofits, enjoy more than three times their profit margins.

Read more of on how and why hospice workers are organizing at the link in our stories or DEC 2023 highlights! Or visit eastbaymag.com/protecting-end-of-life-care/

13/12/2023

Dennis King began collecting posters and comic books during his teenage years and started selling them at the Alameda Flea Market in 1971. Over the years, his buying and selling of posters became a full-time job. Today, he owns the on Fulton Street in Berkeley. The shop sells posters, baseball cards and comic books, both underground and mainstream...

Read more about Dennis King and his collection at the link in our stories or DEC 2023 highlights! Or visit eastbaymag.com/d-king-gallerys-rock-posters/

Photos by Akiko Nabeshima.

12/12/2023

Lately, I’ve been asking family, friends and even near-strangers if they’ve ever experienced loneliness and if the pandemic made it worse. If one is seeking a universal “yes,” those are the perfect questions to ask. I did not take joy in our shared suffering but did begin to think maybe I wasn’t neurotic—not to mention immunocompromised and fantasizing life would be different.

And then, a few months ago, listening to the nightly news, I heard United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy referring to our loneliness as a “national epidemic” and felt even more validated. Murthy even issued an 85-page advisory. In an April 2023 essay in The New York Times, he wrote, “At any moment, about one out of every two Americans is experiencing measurable levels of loneliness.”

Read more of Lou Fancher’s article by clicking the link in our stories or DEC 2023 highlights, or visit eastbaymag.com/the-loneliness-epidemic/