Actual Blog

Bicycle Bingo has a Bingo Bicycle!

2012-01-27T14:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks for our friend Jeff Tiedeken, aka Monkey Likes Shiny, aka Dr. E-ville, aka... (ok, you get the idea) - he built an awesome bike-driven bingo machine for Bicycle Bingo. Photos and videos here...check it out!

Bicycle Bingo - Launches in February

2012-01-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

We've been working for a few months on an event that I'm really excited about, and that will launch in February (next week! on Groundhog Day!). It's called Bicycle Bingo, and it's a weekly fundraiser. We've teamed up with several not-for-profit orgs active in our neighborhood, and gotten sponsorship from Trumer, New Belgium, Lagunitas, and Chinook Book. We built a bicycle-driven bingo hopper (with the help of our favorite mad scientist/fabricator, Monkey Likes Shiny). We signed up local ingenue Steffy Sue on the Uke as our emcee. We got donated prizes from Chinook Book, Mike's Bikes, the Berkeley Bike Station, A V erb for Keeping Warm, James and the Giant Cupcake, The Essence of Beauty, Kinks Beauty Supply, and all the beer companies. The cafe will provide some prizes as well (did I need to say so?).

We selected partners who are relevant to our own neighborhood:

- East Bay Bicycle Coalition (first Thursdays, starting 2/2) advocates for bike lanes and roadway maintenance, holds bicycle safety classes for new urban cyclists, and generally promotes bicycle culture in Oakland and the greater East Bay

- Rebuilding Together Oakland (second Thursdays, starting 2/9) provides free home repairs and safety modifications to economically disadvantaged clients, especially the disabled and older adults. They organize neighborhood-wide maintenance days across Oakland, including in the Golden Gate neighborhood in October 2011. Their office is in the Golden Gate District.
- East Bay College Fund (third Thursdays, starting 2/16) provides College Guidance Services in High School, Scholarships, Mentoring, and Career Development for underrepresented students from Oakland public schools.
- United Roots Oakland (fourth Thursdays, starting 2/23) provides exposure to, support of, and training in arts, design and media for Oakland Youth ages 13-24. They offer youth leadership training, career & workforce development and support many important community campaigns.

...With special one-off fundraisers in long months with five Thursdays (like March, for instance).

Although you may be familiar with one or two of our beneficiary partners, you probably don't know them all. We figure that we can introduce them to supportive people and help spread the word about what they're doing, so they'll be here to meet you and tell you about why they're relevant.

Cards will be got for donations ($3/each, 2/$5, 5/$10) which will go directly to our partners. On top of that, we'll be donating 10% of everything we take in during the event. Beer sponsors will donate $1 from each pint sold, and we'll match what they give - so that for each $5 beer we sell, $2 goes to our partners. Chinook Book will donate $3 of each Chinook Book sold, and we'll match that as well (so that out of every $20 Chinook Book sale, our partners get $6).

But, even while we do good, we don't forget the having fun part. We built the bingo bike so that folks from the audience could come on up and pedal to select the winning numbers. We have lots of awesome prizes from which winners may select. There will be beer (and coffee, and food, and good company). Steffy Sue will be charming and entertaining. What's not to love?

It is my fervent hope that this event be successful for us and our partners. We'd like this to be something we do every week forever, and we want to help folks who do good in our neighborhoods fund their projects. All we need is for lots of people to come out and have a good time for a good cause. So please do.

The salient facts bear emphasis here:

- Thursdays 7-9!

- No cover charge!

- All ages admitted!

- Win prizes!

- Enjoy refreshments!

- Support folks who do good in your very own community!

- Maybe get to ride the Bingo Bike (if you're real lucky)!

See you there.

sal

our first million dollars...what it means.

2012-01-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to sit down and write another 'year end reflection' sort of post, and haven't had the time. This isn't that post. I will write it. Soon. Pinky swear.

In the meantime...

I realized the other day while I was working on closing my books for the end of the 2011 that the cafe had crossed the million-dollar total revenue mark recently (we made a bit over $400k last year and about $600k this year). "That's pretty awesome," said I to myself. Then I looked at the profit over these years, which totals just under $0 (our opening loss in 2009 wipes out every dollar made in 2010 and 2011, and then a few more). "So that's not so awesome," thought I. And then I thought more about it. Every single dollar that's come through the front door of this cafe has gone somewhere, and every one of them has had some impact where it landed.

The biggest chunk went to our vendors - over $350k went to buy the stuff we sell; $50k went to supplies, $25k to repairs. Since almost all those vendors are local businesses, a chunk of their dollars are being spent somewhere in town, and then recirculating more.

The next biggest chunk went to our crew - we've paid out over $350k in salaries. Because almost all our employees live within about a mile of the cafe, it's a good bet that a chunk of these dollars reappear on the streets of Berklandville as well.

$70k went to rent. My landlord happens to be a partnership of guys who live in Oakland and Berkeley, so some of their dollars also go back into the local moneystream.

$5k went to entertainers. $1,500 went to charities. All local.

We've collected and paid $70k in sales tax (that's separate from the million bucks). Those dollars go to schools, police, firefighters, roads, and other useful stuff. (Granted, they do other less-useful things as well, but that's the nature of taxation.)

The rest went to things like insurance, utilities ($45k!), permits, taxes, and on and on. (Almost $20k went to credit card processing fees, depressingly.)

This constant recirculation of money is the sort of thing that people on the radio and the TV call 'the economy', but that's a bit abstract. Looking at real facts and figures helps make it a bit more concrete, at least for me. If I were a politician, I'd say that we 'created' a million dollars in 'economic activity' or 'increased the local economy' by a million bucks or some such. Since I'm not a politician, I don't know exactly how I'd say it, but certainly the fact of the existence of Actual Cafe has contributed to the movement of dollars, and the fact that we prioritize doing business in our own community means that activity happens more often in our own backyard. Of course, the nature of 'the economy' is such that streams of money flow all over the damn place in the end - there's no stopping them going literally all around the world and back.

I feel like an NPR reporter right now.

luvya,

sal

It's been TWO WHOLE YEARS!!! Come Celebrate with us!

2011-11-29T22:50:00.000-08:00

In December, Actual Cafe is celebrating two years of operation in Oakland’s Golden Gate district. On Friday December 9th from 5-10pm, we'll commemorate the occasion with the opening of a retrospective art show, entitled “We Are The People In Your Neighborhood”, and featuring our favorite artists who have shown at the cafe in the past year, along with artists from the Actual Cafe staff.

We'll have a repeat engagement of our free DIY s’mores stations on the sidewalk outside the cafe, and our friends at the East Bay Bike Party will be organizing a gathering during our party which will depart from the cafe for the start of EBBP’s regular monthly ride at 7:15pm. DJs Oze and Lifeone will spin records, and we'll have lots of other fun stuff that we haven't figured out yet.

Artists in the show will include: Jon Suzuki (bicycle photography), Eva Silverman & Querido Galdo (Oakland and other urban photography), Alexis Babayan (woodcuts of local street scenes), Nissa Nicole (photography), Lauren Aczon (street corner illustrations), along with two of the cafe crew: Kim Babnik (character illustrations) and Rachyel Puleo (photography).

We'll also be unveiling our new indoor mural (also entitled “We Are The People In Your Neighborhood”), by our own Kimbo Babnik! It'll be awesome. Trust us.

'We' means all of us, but especially you. So don't miss the party, K?

luvya,
sal & the whole actual crew

Eva Silverman - “Hair”

Nissa Nicole - untitled (Green Bicycle)

Querido Galdo - “Oakland Found”

Rachyel Puleo - “Cafe”

Kim Babnik - “Mermaid”

Lauren Aczon - “Oakland”

Jon Suzuki - untitled (vintage bike chain guard)

Press release for our Park(ing) Day weekend celebration

2011-09-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

9/5/2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACTUAL CAFE, GOLDEN GATE COMMUNITY ALLICANCE, A PLACE FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING
AND OTHER SAN PABLO & ALCATRAZ BUSINESSES
ANNOUNCE A PARK(ING) DAY WEEKEND CELEBRATION
WITH PARKLETS, NEW SIDEWALK FURNITURE, AND EVENTS ALL WEEKEND LONG

Actual Cafe, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO), the East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC), the Golden Gate Commmunity Alliance (GGCA), A PLACE for Sustainable Living, along with other neighborhood volunteers, will reconstruct the Actual Cafe parklet which debuted in May of this year, as well as creating three new sidewalk planter/bench combinations for other businesses (The Essence of Beauty, James and the Giant Cupcake, and Kinks Beauty Supply). All these elements will be built from reclaimed building materials (some of which were donated by the Re*use People Store in East Oakland), and will be installed in time for Park(ing) Day, on September 16th. The Actual Cafe parklet will remain in place through Park(ing) Day weekend (9/16-9/18). The new sidewalk furniture will remain in place permanently.

Actual Cafe has been an advocate for parklets since its opening in 2009. The cafe abuts a no-longer-operational AC Transit bus stop, which creates a long stretch of vacant (and unusable) pavement immediately outside its window. Hosting a permanent parklet in that bus stop is a dream of Sal Bednarz, owner of the cafe, which appears increasingly likely to become a reality in the near future. On Park(ing) Day from 5-8pm, Actual Cafe will host its regular Friday evening DJ happy hour in the parklet (weather permitting). The cafe will be asking visitors to sign a petition to the City of Oakland to grant a permanent permit for the Parklet, as well as hosting a guest book and inviting comments through the weekend. WOBO parklet passport holders will receive stamps at the cafe, as well as a 10% discount all weekend long; all other businesses on the block will also offer discounts to passport holders.

In addition, on Saturday, 9/17, from 9am-6pm, a block party will be held on 64th Street between San Pablo Avenue and Marshall Street. Sponsored by A PLACE for Sustainable Living coordinating with its neighbors, including St. Columba Catholic Church and Rebuilding Together Oakland, it will feature a flea market in St. Columba's parking lot from 9AM to 2PM, along with music and other activities. The party will be held entirely in what would otherwise be parking spaces on the block. Performances include: Korean Drumming, children's theater by Marin based sustainability education troupe Next Generation and folk/blues by Ariel Eisen and John Bennet.

The new San Pablo Avenue sidewalk furniture will follow the same construction style and methods as the Actual Cafe parklet, and is intended to integrate the entire block between Alcatraz Avenue and 63rd Street into the parklet experience. In addition to providing seating in the form of benches, planters in the structures will contain plants provided by A Verb for Keeping Warm (another block business) who will use them to create pigments for their yarn dyeing studio. The planters will incorporate an ingenious self-watering design using recycled plastic bottles and a water reservoir to provide constant water to the plants above and reduce the need for regular watering.

Many of the original Actual Cafe parklet components were taken after its debut in May after being disassembled and left outside the cafe, to the disappointment of neighbors and volunteers who contributed to its construction. Says Sal Bednarz, owner of Actual Cafe, "I can't wait to have the parklet back in place so neighbors can experience it again, and for the day when it becomes a permanent fixture of the neighborhood. I'm also really excited to be expanding the parklet through the installation of sidewalk furniture for our neighbor businesses." During its first incarnation, the cafe's parklet was admired by literally thousands of visitors in just a few days, at the EBBC Bike After Work Day party, and during the following weekend at the cafe. Says Bednarz, "It also had a substantial traffic calming effect on what is normally a really dangerous intersection - people were slowing down to look, and also just taking it a bit easier because they saw the parklet in the street."

The City of Oakland is within weeks of issuing its first RFP for parklet proposals, and intends to grant eight parklet permits this year, in a pilot program that will hopefully expand into a regular parklet process in early 2012, according to Blair Miller, chair of the cross-functional task force at the City of Oakland responsible for developing a parklet process in the city. Actual Cafe intends to be a participant in the pilot program, and will use materials developed during this weekend event to show neighborhood and area-wide support for its parklet and parklets in general. "There is no doubt in my mind that the commitment of the community to help Actual Cafe build one quality parklet, let alone two, motivated the City of Oakland to start taking parklets seriously," said Ruth Miller (no relation), parklet program coordinator for Walk Oakland Bike Oakland. "I look forward to seeing the other parklets imagined and built all over Oakland and San Francisco, but there's something really special about taking your friends into the Golden Gate neighborhood and saying: 'that parklet that's full of people and activity - I built that!' Building a parklet is a unique and wonderful way to support your community."

Park(ing) Day and the following weekend will be observed by other Oakland businesses with various temporary parklet installations. These include Farley's East on Grand Avenue, Arizmendi on Lakeshore Blvd., and another Lakeshore location hosted by the Lakeshore Merchants Association.

CONTACTS & MORE INFO:
Park(ing) Day: www.parkingday.org
Actual Cafe: www.actualcafe.com / Sal Bednarz / actualcafe@gmail.com / 510.735.6016
Walk Oakland Bike Oakland: www.wobo.org / Ruth Miller / ruth@wobo.org / 770.312.9295
A PLACE for Sustainable Living: www.aplaceforsustainableliving.org / Takahiro Noguchi / takahiro.noguchi@gmail.com / 510.213.8252
Golden Gate Community Alliance: www.goldengateoakland.org / Dan Woloz / dan@bikemandan.com
A Verb for Keeping Warm: www.averbforkeepingwarm.com / Kristine Vejar / kristine@averbforkeepingwarm.com
The Essence of Beauty: www.4theessenceofbeauty.com / Andrea Abdullah / andreaabdullah7@yahoo.com / 510.601.1972
James and the Giant Cupcake: www.jamesandthegiantcupcake.com / Eurydice Manning / jamesandthegiantcupcake@gmail.com
Kinks Beauty Supply: 510.655.7002
twitter #oaklet

more...of just about everything.

2011-08-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

The months just fly by, and there's a lot that I'd like to blog about in order to keep a record, and always lots to communicate to all of you. But it just doesn't work out that way so much. I (rightly, I think) prioritize keeping the day-to-day operation here under control, which is a growing job as our business grows. We had an unexpectedly busy summer, in terms of customers and revenue - where last year we got less busy in June through August, this year we're busier every month. This is partly a function of having new neighbors with growing businesses, who attract more people to the block (who sometimes want a coffee or a waffle or whatever), and partly just us attracting new customers through word of mouth. Honestly, since we opened, it's been all we could do to keep up with growth, and that's still the case. Good problems to have, they say. Someday, I'll be trying to figure out how to get more customers through the door, but right now, you all just keep on coming. Thanks for that. :)

Growth means constant adjustment - we built systems that worked reasonably well at the beginning, but every few months we've had to re-engineer what we're doing to make our operation more efficient and consistent as more customers decided they wanted to spend their money here. We've had some problems along the way - some things haven't worked out as well as we'd hoped, and sometimes staff and customers suffered for it. But on the whole, we've been doing pretty OK. We've also managed to build a stronger crew over time - each time we grow the staff, I feel like we improve. We're at a point where three quarters of our staff has been here for over 6 months, and almost half have been here a year or more. This in a business which has only been around for a bit more than a year and a half in an industry known for high turnover - I think we're doing pretty well on that front, and hope we continue to.

We've spent a lot of the past 9 months adjusting our food menu, adding new bakery goods, establishing rotating specials (and adding new things to the menu as we went). Also, we've had to improve the speed and efficiency of our counter operation - turning out food and drinks faster, ringing sales faster, setting up stations so that two people can work side-by-side when things get really busy, improving our inventory and prep schedules, etc. We've also really beefed up our entertainment calendar - we've got live music every Saturday, and most Sundays, and our standing Friday evening happy hour (with DJs, movies, and other fun stuff). We're getting more great performers, more great art, and more great folks to throw their events here, and have even more coming. We've already planned out the remainder of our arts calendar for the year, and have some exciting stuff coming that we think you'll all really love.

We're focused right now on making some adjustments to our coffee program - we recently switched our decaf to a new product that we like a lot better, and we're making some minor recipe changes as well (watch for those over the next month or two). We're also improving our general drink quality and consistency - although we've always had some great baristas, we also had to hire folks who could handle food, and they haven't always had the best coffee chops. I'm happy to say that we've made some good progress on this front in the past couple months, but there's more to be done - we'll keep at it.

We're really excited to be hosting our first multi-venue art show in September: Fuzzy Logic - Oakland Threads is a group fiber arts show that will be hosted here and at James and the Giant Cupcake, and Threads of Transition, Patterns of Change - Rabari Textiles of India will be hosted by A Verb for Keeping Warm. We'll be opening both shows on September 9th, from 5-10pm, with DJs, free cupcakes, popcorn, happy hour specials, and a screening of The Muppet Movie. It looks to be a real swell time, so make a point of dropping by.

But, maybe the most exciting news...right now, we're working on re-building our parklet! Park(ing) Day is next month (September 16th), and we're one of many Oakland businesses who will be deploying temporary parklets during that weekend. Ours will be the most permanent of the crop, and we're told by the folks at the City of Oakland that there will be an RFP issued in the next several weeks which will allow us to apply for one of eight parklet permits to be granted in a pilot program. I see no reason why we would be denied a permit, and I can't wait for the day that the parklet becomes a permanent fixture of the block.

As part of the Park(ing) Day brouhaha, we're helping the Golden Gate Community Alliance build new sidewalk furniture for several businesses on our block (The Essence of Beauty, James and the Giant Cupcake, and Kinks Beauty Supply). We're using a design similar to what we did for the parklet for sidewalk planters and benches, and really trying to integrate the entire block in the parklet experience. I can't tell you how excited this makes me. I hope you feel the same. The planter/benches will become permanent fixtures of the block immediately - although we'll need to take the parklet away after the weekend, the sidewalk furniture will remain.

Park(ing) Day weekend is shaping up to be a three-day block party here at SP/Alcatraz: we'll be listed in the nationwide Park(ing) Day directory, and expect lots of folks coming by on Friday to check out the parklet. We're having our regular Friday night happy hour that night on the sidewalk adjoining the parklet, which ought to be fun. On Saturday (9/17), St. Columba Church (across the street from us) is having a big yard sale in their parking lot, and the folks at A PLACE for Sustainable Living are planning a street closure and block party on 64th and San Pablo for the day (details soon...). On Sunday (9/18), we'll have a sidewalk party with entertainment from noon-4:00, and will again invite press, politicians and other folks from the area to soak up the parklet vibe and get excited about our parklet and Oakland parklets in general. We'll be circulating a petition for signatures which will help ease us through the permit process, and also stamping Oakland parklet passports all weekend long. Passport holders will receive a 10% discount all weekend as well (more details about passports coming...).

We've got more in store...Halloween/Dia de los Muertos things in October with a great solo photography show by Varese Layzer; a group food-themed art show in November, with a special Plaid Friday party, and more, more, more!

Also, I think we can officially declare Laptop-Free Weekends a success, thanks to all of you. We've managed to do something a little different here, and our customers love us for it. I hope some of the folks who harassed me and us in the early days have taken the time to stop by and experience what we're doing, and that maybe we've helped a couple people see things in a new way.

So...

Stop by and share the love. It's real.

-luvya,

sal & the actual crew

parklets, built, enjoyed, now missing...

2011-05-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy spring for us here, and for me personally. I've been training for AIDS/Lifecycle, and I'm leaving in just a couple weeks to ride my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise funds for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (www.tofighthiv.org/goto/salbednarz for more). It's been a lot of work, finding time to train and run the business, and getting prepared to be gone for 10 straight days in June. I agonized over the decision for a while, and recently decided that it was time to hire a manager; once I did, I spent a couple months trying to find the right person. I think I did - Chris is his name, and he's been here for a couple weeks now. If you see him at the counter, welcome him. I'm looking forward to many improvements in the operation once he gets settled in - stay tuned for that.

But on top of all this, I have been working with Walk Oakland, Bike Oakland, the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and others, trying to get permission to install a Parklet (http://sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/ if you don't know what a parklet is) in the defunct bus stop at the end of Alcatraz (right outside our window). Although parklets have been deployed in San Francisco for a couple years now, there's no process to do the same thing here in Oakland. We spent time speaking to various City departments, and couldn't get a clear answer about how to proceed.

So we built one.

We spent just a few hundred dollars, and used mostly reclaimed and donated materials, and only volunteer labor. Our friends at WOBO and EBBC, and especially the PLACE for Sustainable Living contributed tons of hours to help us get all the construction done. It was beautiful, I think.

It went to EBBC's Bike After Work party in Old Oakland, where it was a big hit, then came back here for our Parklet Love-In, which was tons of fun - we had lots of friends and neighbors come out, and everyone had great things to say about the parklet. It got well used that day.

After the weekend was over, I disassembled the parklet into its components, and stacked it up on the sidewalk to get it ready to move into storage until we had another event or could get a permit for permanent installation.

Then the bad thing happened. I was so wiped out from all the parklet building, and other Bike Month things we'd been working on, that I left the parklet pieces sitting on the sidewalk for longer than I ought to. Someone (and maybe multiple someones) helped themselves to the pieces before I noticed and could do anything about it.

So we're out a parklet. Which is sad. It's not the money, or even the time I spent, that I'm sad about. It's the fact that so many other folks gave their sweat and blood (literally) to get the thing built, moved, re-built, etc. I don't want their work to have been wasted.

So, I'm trying to spread the word as widely as I can, and enlist whatever help we can get, to find and get the parklet returned to us. I'm relatively sure that the folks who took it didn't think they were doing anything wrong, and if they get wind that we're looking for it, they'll bring it back home.

Please, if you've seen our parklet, let us know. If you took it, please bring it back. I'll make it worth your while - no questions asked. No one here is angry - just sad and hopeful.

luvya,
sal

musings near the end of Daylight Saving Time...

2011-03-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

It's almost spring. Which always makes me look at the world a bit differently. Days get longer, flowers start blooming, and we sell more salads and less soups.

It seems like an appropriate time for reflection and planning, and we're looking forward to an exciting year ahead. We have new neighbors moving in across the street - a (still unnamed) sustainability center, which includes lots of our friends (the Sustainable Living Roadshow, B Spoke Tailor, Spokeland, and many more). They're doing interesting things already, and they're not even really open yet. Stop by if you're in the area and say hello - they're friendly, and almost always there.

Daylight Saving Time ends next Sunday, and we'll be looking at extending our mid-week hours again. Immediately, we'll be open until 9pm on Wednesdays, to allow us to start movies when it's dark enough to actually see them.

We have a ton of exciting stuff going on this month, and it's just a little piece of what we're working on for the upcoming year.

First, we'll be opening an art show of photography and illustration this month - Osmos, by Japhy Riddle. We're doing what we can to fill the cafe with interesting art that has something to say about the people and places in our very own neighborhood, and we think Japhy's photography fits the bill nicely (his illustration says more about what he sees when he closes his eyes, but it's also cool). The opening will be next Saturday, and will include music by Japhy's band, Cadet. Looks to be a fun party.

On the 13th, we'll have another edition of Second Sundays with the Songwriters Collective, which is becoming quite the popular and well-received event.

Also this month (on Sunday March 20th), we'll be hosting another Men's & Women's Clothing Swap. The last time we did this, it was a huge success, and folks had a ball. We're looking forward to more of the same.

On the 25th of March, we'll be hosting a very special fundraiser for AIDS/Lifecycle, to raise money for the SF AIDS Foundation, which provides essential services to people with (and at risk to contract) HIV - not just in San Francisco, but all over the state (they're also involved in AIDS projects worldwide). We'll be doing these events for the next three months (until the ride itself). This month, the event will be sponsored by our friends at New Belgium Brewing, and they'll be doing live silk-screening during the event (which is kinda neato), as well as donating a bunch of raffle prizes and matching the first $500 we raise during the event. We'll be joined by another special friend, the LIBA falafel truck, which will be parked outside selling delicious falafelness. DJs Sixty4K and Kid Frostbite will dish tasty records, and we'll be raffling off all sorts of cool prizes. A portion of everything sold during the night will go to the ALC fund, so all you have to do to support the cause is show up and spend a couple bucks.

On the 26th, Rad Dad Zine will be having their zine release party, with live music, readings from the zine, and more.

Wow. And that's not even everything. Some great movies on Wednesdays this month, more music on Saturday nights, more Decompression Sessions on Friday nights, and of course, our popular weekend brunch.

working hard for it, cause we luvya
-sal & the actual team

we're changing some things...

2011-01-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

we've had an exciting holiday season, and wrapped up an excellent first year. thanks again to all of you who have been a part of our thing, helping us in every way, every day.

now, to kick off the new year in true corner-shaking style...

we've got some exciting new things rolling out this week:

our morning pastry baker (artisan foods of berkeley) has given up their pastry business, and we’re forced to adapt. we’re taking the opportunity to freshen up our baked goods, and to do some new things ourselves. here’s the deal:

we’re doing some more stuff inhouse:

we’ve started baking delicious frittatas, to replace the quiche we were buying from artisan. this lets us expand variety, and introduce seasonal flavors as we go. we’ll be putting out a veggie and a meat frittata every day, at the same price as our quiche/quiche plate used to be. we like the frittata better because it’s more protein, less fat, and wheat-free.

we’re also baking fresh fruit scones every morning. we’ll start with just a couple flavors (pear/almond and lemon/currant for now) and play with others once we get comfortable with them. once we’ve got these nailed, we may start experimenting with other baked goods (muffins, etc.). we started selling these yesterday, and got a lot of smiling customer feedback, so give em a try.

we also started baking our own brownies, to replace the artisan brownies we used to have. they're a bit different, but also really delicious - sticky and fudgy...yum.

and, we’re bringing in some new yummy baked stuff:

as of today, we’ll be taking croissants and morning buns from our awesome bread bakers, hopkins st. bakery. the product is a bit different from what we’ve been getting, but really good. we think hopkins st.’s morning buns are the most delicious we’ve tried (especially the cranberry ones)

we’re taking some new stuff from zazou’s bakery, experimenting with their delicious new coffee cakes, banana and zucchini bread, as well as some fruit tartlets. these are superb, and we’re excited to be carrying product from another small local baker.

AND...we've got almond milk!

recently, a lot of people started asking for almond milk. now we have it. :)

ask for it in your drink - it's the same price as soy for an espresso drink, and no charge on a granola.

we’re keeping all our prices the same.

we’d love your feedback. please try our new items and let us know if you love (or hate) them. if you thing we’re missing something, tell us that, too.

stay tuned...as always, there's more to come...

luvya,
actual staff

one year in...and surely thankful

2010-12-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

Firstly: it's been a helluva long time (again) since I've posted anything here. I'd like to say that I've meant to, but that's not even true. I've been so busy that posting to the blog hasn't even made the list.

But, it's just about our one year anniversary - we opened our doors on December 14th of 2009! That's a milestone that I think deserves a bit of reflection. It's a couple weeks after thanksgiving, but I've been thinking about what I'm grateful for in relation to this business, and also not-so-grateful. As with any project, things rarely look like their plans, and this seems like a good time to take stock of our first year, pass on some thanks, and talk about this neighborhood, this business, and my life over the past year. So, here goes...

Things I'm grateful for:

1) our customers
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - we have the best customers I could have ever hoped for. A combination of neighborhood folks, bicycle enthusiasts, and those who go out of their way because they think we're doing something interesting here. When new employees start, they almost invariably mention that customers are friendly, patient, interesting, and good tippers. Most of these employees have worked in many other similar places, and are used to a different experience when dealing with the public.

Actual Cafe would not be in business today, and won't be in business in another year, without you all. Thank you for your support, your tolerance of our rough edges, your friendly attitudes, and your smiling faces. You're why we're here.

2) our staff
In a business like this one, it's difficult to pay folks much money. Our margin is small, and what we do is very labor-intensive. Payroll cost is our highest non-goods expense, by far. It's about four times as much as our rent, utilities and insurance combined. Our employees make much of their income from tips, and this will always be the case (so be generous when you can and when they deserve it).

So, there need to be other things to motivate employees to do a good job. Here, it's our customers (see #1), the neighborhood mission (most of our folks could walk from home to work, and many ride their bikes here every day), the character of the place, and the others they work with. On our windows, it says 'friendly folks' - these are them.

We've got a strong staff, that cares about supporting each other and at making the best food and drinks they can, smiling as they go. This is not trivial, especially keeping in mind that things have evolved quickly here, and we're still figuring things out. Job responsibilities and hours change, and it's a rare group of people who can thrive in an environment like this one, and not wear out. Especially with a nut like me as a boss.

Even so, we've lost many employees along the way, and not everyone has worked out well here. Over the course of the year, we've lost 13 people. The chaos of the early months wore some folks out. Others left for other things - moving out of the area, having babies, new jobs. A few I let go. We started the year with 6 employees. We're ending the year with 16 (maybe 17)! This means I've hired a total of 29 people along the way, which averages about 2.5 per month. If you figure that the average stay of a cafe worker is in the neighborhood of six months, I figure we'll average about the same for every month going forward - 2.5 employees leaving, 2.5 new ones to interview and train.

(Maybe we can improve on that 6 month average stay...whew! :) )

I've been working on growing some management out of the existing staff, to give them the opportunity to get more experience and get credit for their hard work. Anyone who stays here for more than a couple months leaves a bit of themselves behind in the character of this place - I want the people who have done so much to build what we've got to reap the benefits, rather than bringing in new folks to boss them around in some new way.

In any case, our staff is only getting stronger as we go. We'd be nowhere without all the quirky and wonderful individuals who have sweated their little butts off for you, and you'd love us a whole lot less without them. Where customers are the 'why,' they're the 'how.'

3) our impact on the neighborhood
In so many ways, the cafe has already fulfilled it's mission. If I were hit by a truck tomorrow, I'd go to the afterlife knowing I had accomplished something important here; I hope that it endures and grows even more over time.

I wanted to provide a place in my own neighborhood that would serve as a community hub. I wanted this area, which felt disjointed and under-serviced, to feel like a real neighborhood. I wanted to live somewhere where I could walk to places that I liked. We're becoming that place, even though there's still a lot more to do.

Before we opened, our intersection was a full-time hangout for neighborhood pimps and prostitutes. There were fights on the street. There was trash. San Pablo here was a stretch of road that people avoided. That's changed, and really quickly.

In the first few months we were open, we had our share of pimps and girls coming in. There were a pair who would sit at our front counter and text the girls on the sidewalk outside for hours. I had to ask them to leave multiple times. Every once in a while, one of them shows up and I have to chase him away again. But in general, that activity just doesn't happen much here anymore. (To be sure, it hasn't gone away, it's just moved somewhere else...but I'll take a selfish victory point anyway.)

We've had some trouble with thieves - I caught a guy inside my office once, going through my things. We had a couple customers who had their laptops snatched. We probably lost some counter tips a couple times. Someone stole some of our chairs, and someone else vandalized one of our awnings. I'm not happy about any of these things, but on the whole, it hasn't been too bad - no one has been hurt (or even come close to it), and I'd expect similar sorts of disruption in any neighborhood around here.

What's really exciting to me is that now other businesses are considering moving into this neighborhood, and they're the kind of businesses that can really make even more difference. There were already several art spaces around before we opened, and we've had a few more join the ranks during the year. Our new friends at A Verb For Keeping Warm moved into the space next door to us just a couple weeks ago, and they've added a splash of light and color to the block, as well as lots of new smiling folks. One of our customers has been working on a project for a sustainable technologies compound really nearby - I hope it works out for him and that project happens (last I heard, he was waiting on some grant applications and otherwise trying to raise money for the project).

I always knew that this area was full of all kinds of interesting people - young folks and old, artists and professionals, students and families, black, white and otherwise, rich, poor and everything in between. But until I started working on this project, we had nowhere to gather and meet each other. That's changing, and I'm proud to have been a part of the change. I'm happy to have met so many of you. My favorite part of this job is meeting someone new who's enthusiastic about what we're doing, or meeting someone from my neighborhood with a story to tell. It's the thing that can get me through the hard times and remind me how far we've come.

4) the support of my wonderful girlfriend
I am clearly insane.

I know this because I got involved with a woman while I was preparing to launch the cafe, and (even crazier), she was preparing to launch her own new business. Her name is Gail, and she's awesome. She owns the Liba Falafel Truck (libafalafel.com), which makes the best falafel I've ever had (for real), and we've been together for a year and a half (give or take a month). It's been the best year and a half I've ever spent with anyone.

I've lost a lot of sleep this year, but I would have lost a whole lot more if I hadn't had Gail around to talk to, to encourage me, to make me delicious and nourishing meals when I was so exhausted I would have eaten anything (or nothing). She's been an invaluable voice of reason, and a problem solver when I've been in a bind. She's been a source of comfort when I needed it, and a good swift kick in the ass once in a while as well.

I hope that I've been half as much to her.

things i'm less grateful for:
1) the laptop policy kerfuffle
In February, we launched our laptop-free weekend experiment. It stirred up a whole lot of controversy, and was one of the harder things for me personally to manage over the course of the year. The policy has been, by and large, a great success, but I've been weathering the slings and arrows of outraged technophiles all year, and that's made the entire experience feel a bit tainted.

It was so important to me (and it remains so), that this place be different from most other cafes in the area. I wanted to imbue it with a personal touch, and encourage our customers to relate to it in a way that they had forgotten they could. I have no affection for chain stores. It's impossible for me to form a real relationship with a place where the owners don't make their presence felt. Impersonal places that feel like every other place remind me of airports and strip malls - the least charming parts of the American landscape.

So, we did it - we asked people to leave their laptops at home on the weekend.

And we got a lot of publicity. Maybe too much. The fact of our being in everyone's faces for a couple weeks meant that anyone who didn't love what we were doing had their opinion galvanized. It set folks against each other. It brought out the worst in some. I was sworn at, glared at, personally insulted, and generally harangued. And, of course, it's my own damn fault - I said and wrote all the things that I said and wrote. No one put words in my mouth. I might have said or written some different things with the benefit of a bit of time to reflect. Oops.

In any case, the criticism stung. For a period of a several months, I couldn't read our yelp reviews (which, by the way, caused me to miss some cues and not fix other issues that I could have addressed more quickly) - they anger I saw got me really twisted up inside. Even now, it's difficult for me to read the stuff that got posted back then.

On the other hand, the policy has had the desired effect in many ways. We have what I consider to be a much better balance than a lot of local cafes.

Weekend days are now our most financially lucrative days of the week, and folks regularly go out of their way to mention to me or the staff that they're grateful about the lack of laptops on the weekend. On the weekends before we implemented the policy, we were usually crowded (and often full to capacity), but we spent our days slinging two-dollar coffees and teas, and not making all that much money. We saw so many people come in, look around, see nowhere to sit, and leave. Now, the place is busy, but usually not full, and our weekend brunch menu has been encouraging folks to come for a meal and linger for a bit of conversation or reflection, instead of burying themselves in a project (or in their facebook) for the entire day for the price of a cup of tea. We make more money, the staff and I are happier doing it, and the folks who come here on the weekends love it. So, that's good, right?

And on weekdays, we've achieved a better balance as well. Although we still have laptop users, and free wifi during the week, we don't have the same concentration as many other places. Generally, it feels more lively inside to me, and that's what I wanted to achieve. We continue to offer a limited number of outlets, and ask people not to string power cords all over the place or climb our walls to get to the ones that aren't intended to have laptops plugged into them.

The policy has become self-selecting. Generally, folks know what we're up to, and they come here if they like it, and go elsewhere if they don't. This is perfectly reasonable and respectable behavior. Ask any economist.

But, here's the real thing that gets me going when I think about it: What is it about cafes that makes people feel entitled to demand a certain experience? And I don't mean asking politely, or making suggestions, but becoming outraged when we're not exactly like the guy down the street? Why, instead, do we not support and encourage heterogeneity in our local business experience?

To those people: Would you demand that a sushi place serve a hamburger? Would you demand that a fancy restaurant let you in in your cut-offs and flip-flops? Do you smoke inside public buildings? Do you yell at the folks at Fairyland because they won't let you in without a child accompanying? What about parks that don't allow dogs? We tolerate electronic strip-searches and pat-downs in the name of security, but can't tolerate being asked to leave our laptops at home in the corner cafe on the weekends? It all seems a bit skewed to me. Get over it.

What it really boils down to is that some folks get it and love it, some folks don't get it and don't care, and a few folks don't get it and get angry. C'est la vie. If I had to do the whole thing over again, I'd probably end up with the same policy, but I'd handle the communication a bit differently. Maybe.

2) yelp
Until I opened here, I mostly thought of Yelp as a good thing. I used it (and still do) to find businesses, and to get some idea of what they're about. I posted a handful of reviews over the years. I had read about Yelp sales trying to strong-arm small businesses, and other questionable tactics, but I didn't pay them that much attention.

Once we opened, I started to see Yelp differently. Especially since we were trying to be a different kind of place, and really wanted to focus on our neighborhood and neighbors. When I look at our Yelp profile, I see a different picture from what I see and feel inside the cafe. To be fair, we've gotten criticism for poor food (which helped me to tune recipes), poor service (which helped me identify and fix some personnel problems), and other faux pas that customers would have never brought to my attention otherwise. On the other hand, there's a bias toward technology folks on any online system, and folks who are (or were) angry about our laptop policy make up a good chunk of our negative reviews.

In February, I changed our Yelp profile - under wifi, it used to say 'free'. Now it says, 'don't know'. (There isn't a better option for us - 'free', 'paid' and 'don't know' are all that Yelp offers). February was our biggest month in terms of Yelp profile hits - over 1,000 for the month. Immediately after changing that configuration, Yelp hits dropped by half. I figure this is because of folks doing a Yelp search for 'free wifi'/'open now'/close to me, and seeing/not seeing us in the search results.

Today, we have a total of 8 one-star reviews, 4 of which are related to our wifi policy; we have 13 two-star reviews, of which 4 are negative about the same thing. At least one of those reviews looks like it was a person who never even set foot in the cafe. If you took those 8 reviews away, our Yelp rating would be 4.5 (or maybe even 5) stars, rather than the 4 that it is today.

Que sera, sera, I guess. I'm glad that we have loyal customers who say nice things about us, and that there's still real value in word-of-mouth. I'm glad we've gotten positive press attention, and have allies in the community, and that these things will continue to serve us for a long time. But yelp...meh.

3) my poor life balance
I went into this project with eyes open, and I'm not surprised that it's been a difficult year for me from a time-management perspective.

I started out the year working over 100 hours a week. Every hour that the cafe was open, I was here. I spent countless hours behind the counter, from morning to night. I worked and slept, and not much else. Today, I'm working more like 60 hours a week, but still don't have days off. In fact, I've had a total of less than a dozen days off all year long. This has been a strain on me, but even more so a strain on my relationship. I need to fix it.

Before we opened, I rode my bicycle over 100 miles a week, and did yoga three times a week. I was in excellent physical and mental shape. I could reliably form full and complex sentences without struggling to remember the word for 'shelf,' or 'table,' or 'door' - I said 'thing' and 'stuff' a whole lot less often. I was calm, and slept well, and had a bit of a tan, year round.

Now, I ride my bike sporadically (sometimes I can get in 100 miles in a week, but often I go a whole week without a single ride). I haven't been to yoga since the spring. I stutter a lot. I forget things. I'm pale, flabby, and 25 pounds heavier. Crap.

In the next year, I intend to get my life back into balance. Two days off every week would be awesome. Riding my bike regularly would be even better. Yoga, too. And, of course, a weekend off here and there to go out of town with my excellent girlfriend, who's been so patient with me so far. Of course, it will be hard to achieve this, but I've done harder things already, so I'm optimistic about my chances for success.

things that surprised me
1) people love us for our food
I thought we'd be primarily a coffee shop. I didn't expect for us to sell so much food. I didn't design the place to accommodate lots of cooking, and we don't have a ton of storage, so it's been a challenge for us to make the menu delicious, diverse, fresh, and a good value. We've adapted well, I think. There's still more for us to do.

Special thanks to those who helped out with menu development in the early days - Gail & Donna especially, but also everyone else who contributed little bits of advice, and employees who put together things in new ways.

It's hard to have really interesting and high-quality food in an establishment like ours. We don't have chefs, or even line cooks. Our counter staff need to be able to do everything, and the physical space makes what seems like simple things even more challenging. I'm committed to continuing to evolve based on customer needs and wants, but we'll just never be able to do all the things that even I want to.

2) so much press...
A double-edged sword, to be sure, but one that's been mostly in our favor. At the beginning, it was a lot of coverage about our bike-friendliness that got our business off the ground. Soon afterward, it was the laptop policy that got everyone writing about us. They say any publicity is good publicity, and by that yardstick, we've been wildly successful.

This is an indicator that, right or wrong, we're doing something different, and many people find it interesting. For my own part, I think the most interesting thing is what this says about the state of businesses like ours...by doing a just a couple things (putting some bike hooks on the walls and expressing opinions about laptops), we stand out. I understand that standing out is challenging, but I'm surprised that more businesses aren't more diverse, especially in a city like ours, which is full of folks who might find that interesting. I hope our example encourages others, here or elsewhere, to challenge conventional wisdom and be creative.

things i want to do better
1) attract a better cross-section of the neighborhood
Our customers are certainly local, and they're diverse, but they're not exactly entirely representative of the area. We have a couple hundred units of senior housing within a few blocks, and it's rare that we see the residents here. There are families who have lived in the area for decades, and many of them just don't come in. We primarily attract young folks, creative folks, students, teachers, young families. Most are white. I'd like to see more of my neighbors inside.

2) more interesting evenings
We've tried a lot of things this year - games nights, craft nights, happy hours, movie night, music, readings, etc. Some have been really successful - our Saturday music shows usually draw at least a few dozen people, during a time when we would otherwise be really sleepy. Our Friday Decompression Sessions just started a couple months ago, but they've already turned into a really fun, family-friendly, laid-back little gathering every week. On the other hand, games didn't work. Crafts petered out. Movies have been inconsistent.

People periodically approach me and ask whether we'd be willing to host some sort of public event. The answer is almost always, 'yes, please.' It's hard to be a neighborhood gathering spot and not be open at night, and without sustained business, we can't be. We just reduced some of our nighttime hours for the winter, but I'd rather kick off some new nighttime activities. I'm open to ideas if anyone's got them.

and finally...the party!
It's time to celebrate all we've done. I hope to see so many of the people who have made this business survive and thrive come out to celebrate with us this Friday night. If not, you have my sincere thanks. The list is too long to thank you individually, but so many of you have made contributions, large and small. This cafe is not about me, or any individual. It's about this place, this neighborhood, this city, and the people in it.

Thank you.

luvya.

-sal

our anniversary party press release...

2010-11-29T15:26:00.001-08:00

11/29/2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACTUAL CAFE CELEBRATES ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

WITH A JUMPING-UP-AND-DOWN, SIDEWALK-SHAKING, BOOTY-MOVING, DOWN THE CORNER YES-FEST, AND HOLIDAY GROUP ART SHOW

Actual Cafe, located at the corner of San Pablo and Alcatraz Avenues, in the tiny isthmus of North Oakland bounded by Emeryville and Berkeley, is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a party and group art show. The cafe’s neighborhood, known as the Golden Gate District, Triple Point, Oakleyville, and Paradise Park, among other names, has been undergoing a renaissance, and Actual Cafe is proud to have been a significant part of it.

“We want to say thank you to all of our friends and neighbors who have made us the place we are today, and just make a bunch of noise because it’s fun,” says owner and manager Sal Bednarz about the event.

The anniversary party will be held at Actual Cafe, 6334 San Pablo Avenue (at the corner of Alcatraz Ave) in Oakland, from 6:00-10:00pm on December 10, 2010.

The party will feature a group art show, featuring the work of many artists who have shown during the year at the cafe (Brian Richardson, Eva Silverman, Alexis Babayan, Rachel Duffy), as well as that of Lauren Aczon. The subject matter of the show will be primarily the people and places of Oakland. Because of the holiday season, many items in the show will be priced below $50, to encourage the purchase of local art for holiday gifts.

Entertainment will be provided by The Vultures and For Fear The Hearts Of Men Are Failing, two local bluegrass-and-silliness ensembles, both of whom have performed at the cafe this year. In Addition, DJs Oze, N!k, and Josh Bergman (all of whom perform at the cafe’s every-Friday-night Decompression Sessions) will be spinning excellent and eclectic records.

There will be food and drink specials, the unveiling of the new Actual Cafe t-shirt (designed by Eva Silverman of Pushcart Design), and a make-your-own-s’mores station.

Over the year, Actual Cafe has become known as a bicycle friendly East Bay destination, garnering the East Bay Bike Coalition’s Bicycle Friendly Business Award. It has also received much attention (and controversy) because of its laptop-free weekend policy. It has been awarded Alameda County Green Business certification, due to its local and sustainable practices. It was recently awarded “Best Cafe Food” in the East Bay Express Bar and Cafe Special Edition Reader’s Poll. It hosts monthly openings for local artists, weekly (and sometimes more often) shows for local musicians, fundraisers for local organizations like AIDS/Lifecycle, Girls Rock Camp, Berkeley Maynard Academy, the East Bay Free Skool, and more.

From a business standpoint, Actual Cafe has created new jobs for 17 local residents (all of whom reside within a couple miles of the cafe), and has been part of the attraction for new businesses who would not have otherwise considered moving into the area. It does its purchasing almost exclusively from local producers, including McLaughlin Coffee, Hopkins St. Bakery, Artisan Foods of Berkeley, and the Berkeley Bowl.

In the month of November, Actual Cafe was joined on San Pablo by A Verb For Keeping Warm, a fiber/yarn/spinning/knitting store, which has further contributed to the emerging neighborhood’s character. In a down economy, Actual Cafe is a shining example of local business creating economic opportunity, and its commitment to doing business locally means that most of those dollars stay in its own neighborhood.

Yeah. Why wouldn’t you come?

percolating along...

2010-04-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

It continues to be a fun ride over here in the north o. We've been working on a bunch of stuff, and I'm really excited about the coming months.

Firstly, our May first Friday show (May 7th) is going to be a great one. Brian Richardson, a longtime local, is showing a new exhibit of his photography entitled "Spirited Decay". He makes crumbling structures and junk-strewn fields look like colorful shrines. Great stuff. DJs Garlynn and Joe Rice will be slanging discs, and Comfy Chair (www.myspace.com/comfychairband) will be providing the live entertainment. Yessir.

Next, on May 15, we'll be screening a series of short films made by Charlotte Buchen for streetfilms.org, of a series called Street Portraits. One of the films is about me and the Cafe, filmed shortly after we opened. Blurbs for all three are below.

TERRI
Terri Saul paints impossible childhood fantasies on canvas. Inspired by her Choctaw-Chickasaw roots as well as memories of childhood bike rides through the outer edges of Los Angeles, many of Terri’s paintings combine classic Tour de France imagery with the regalia of Native American dancers. And now, her daughter Lydia, too, is taking to the magic and independence of the bicycle.

SAL
Sal Bednarz believes in creating community, so when he opened a new café in his beloved neighborhood in Oakland, he gave it bike-friendly features. But Sal’s not trying to make a statement – he just thinks bike parking should come standard.

ANTONIO
Antonio Mendoza has been living in Oakland and sending money home to Mexico for 13 years, but these are especially hard times. For him, riding his bike is a way to relieve stress, get around, and stay fit at the same time. Bicycles are also one way he can stay connected to his son in Mexico: They haven’t seen each other in over a decade, but whenever he can, Antonio fixes up a bike and sends it home so that his son can have something that his father’s hands have touched and loved.

We'll have live music by The Marshmallows (featuring Elliot Warren, who composed some of the soundtrack for the films), and Even Taylor.

The screening will also serve as the kickoff for Saturday night live music at the Cafe. I'm frantically listening to and booking bands in pretty much every free moment these days. In the month of May, we've got Go Kart Mozart (http://www.myspace.com/gokartmozartmusic) on the 22nd, and Annah Anti-Palindrome (http://www.myspace.com/annahantipalindrome) on the 29th. More to come.

Also in May, we'll be starting to do some workshops on Thursday nights. Kendra Poma (aka girl on bike, whose recycled bike-tube earrings have been selling here for a couple months) will be doing a workshop on making jewelry from recycled bike tubes. Alison Tharp (yay, Alison) will be doing a shadowbox shrine-building session. More of these coming as well. If you're interested in hosting a workshop or group activity, say so. There are a helluva lot of Thursdays lying around here.

We've got some fundraising activities happening, too - on May 1, we'll be hosting a jewelry sale to benefit Team in Training. I've spoken to a couple AIDS/Lifecycle riders who are interested in doing some fundraising activities here as well. I've got a particular soft spot in my heart for physical challenge fundraisers like these, because they serve the dual purpose of raising money for folks who need it and helping motivate people to push themselves physically farther then they think they're able to go. I'm a four-time ALC cyclist, and I'm sad to not be riding this year. ALC was the thing that turned me from a casual, around-town rider into a pretty strong long-distance cyclist. If you're participating in these or other events and want to host a fundraising activity here, I'd love to hear about it.

All the above stuff is on our calendar (http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=actualcafe%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles), which you can subscribe to with RSS/iCal or Gmail. It gets updated more often than the Facebook event pages, for various reasons.

We made a couple minor adds to the menu recently - bagels and bacon. Yum.

This weekend, we're also kicking off our new brunch menu, featuring belgian waffles (including our delicious bacon/parmesan version), mimosas, and a thing we call the Bloody Tire, with our housemade bloody mary mix and Fat Tire ale. 9-3 on weekend days.

We're making some minor changes to the interior of the cafe - adding a couple more seats, shuffling some things around - trying to make it a bit easier for us to do music without moving too many things every time, and just making the place more comfortable and usable.

Our Sparkle Motion bike-powered video player is on its way to Rock Paper Scissors for the month of May; it will be part of a show called Beyond Bikes (http://oaklandartmurmur.com/beyond-bikes/), full of human-powered things that will probably be pretty darn cool.

The weather is beautiful. Great for bike-riding, which I'm actually managing to do once in a while these days. Hope to see you all out there, and in the Cafe.

k
sal

life goes on, and we build more stuff

2010-03-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Until just about an hour ago, I hadn't been keeping up with online comments to the blog (or anywhere else) lately - I've been busy actually running the Cafe. We hired a couple new folks (stop by and say hello to Rosy and Even), and are hiring more again. Business continues to grow, and the addition of new events (game nights on Sundays, craft nights on Thursdays), along with our Wednesday movies and First Friday parties isn't hurting. Inside the Cafe, it feels like we're doing all the right things.

But then, I did read the comments. And there are still a lot of people posting who don't like what we're doing. And I guess that's how it will be.

I'm still surprised at the vehemence of people who think that they have the right to have unfettered network access and a seat for as long as they want it for nothing more than the price of a cup of tea. They don't. Cafes are for-profit businesses, and will make decisions about the services they provide to their customers at least partly based on their revenue impacts. If I thought I'd make a lot more money by catering directly to laptop users, I might install more outlets, put in a faster internet connection, add printers, sell subscription wifi - whatever. Lots of Cafes do this already. Instead, I made a different decision, by limiting the available outlets, and restricting laptop use on the weekends to try to create another kind of environment. I believed that there were enough people who would appreciate this to support the business. This was done consciously, and is achieving the desired effect. If it weren't, I'd change it.

Enough dead-horsing. I don't want the entire online conversation about the Cafe to be about our laptop policy. It feels like time to move on to some other things.

So...here are some other things:

We just finalized the calendar for our next art show. On April 2 (the first Friday in April), we'll be having a little party for the opening of Dave Glass's exhibit titled 'Oakland: Study in Contradiction'. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=408299225850&index=1 for more on that. Great photos from Oakland in the 70s and 80s, along with great music, etc.

We're launching our craft night THIS VERY NIGHT! I asked customers and fans what sort of activities they'd like to see in the Cafe, and got lots of great suggestions. Craft night is the one that I got from the most people, and the one that people went out of their way to track me down and talk to me about. So, it's on. Come check it out. I'd like to add some workshoppy-sorta things as we go forward, so if you're interested in teaching or participating in a particular workshop, let us know. We'll do our best to accomodate.

We're also starting to think pretty hard about doing music on a more frequent basis than just monthly. This is a bit challenging for us because of the layout of the space, but we'll figure something out. If you're playing music or want to recommend someone to play here, please tell us so.

We're also shifting our menu out of winter things and into spring ones. We've got a really delicious roasted asparagus soup on today, and have swapped out strawberries for pears in our fruit palette. We're experimenting with more syrups, and have turned out pretty great cucumber and mint ones this week. We're also making fresh limeade along with our fresh lemonade.

I've also been noodling on extending our hours on Monday and Tuesday (and maybe Sunday too), now that the sun is up a bit later. Stay tuned for more.

And, we'll be a morning energizer station for EBBC's Bike to Work Day: ebbc.org/btwd.

Speaking of which - now that all you cyclists are out on the roads in the nice weather, stop by and say 'hello'. Maybe I'll actually see you out on the road someday soon.

Gotta run and pay the bills.

k
sal

laptop-free weekends. for good and for real.

2010-03-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to announce that our laptop-free weekend experiment, while not without it's bumps, has been on the whole, a huge success, and that we'll be keeping weekends at the Cafe laptop-free indefinitely. The Cafe has become a different (I think nicer) place on the weekends, and many people have told me that they go out of their way to come here on the weekend because of this policy.

To see the reasons why we're doing this, check out my original post on the topic.

We'll be making more prominent mention of this on the website and also making some better permanent signage to prevent folks from getting surprised on the weekends when they take their laptops out and I come visit (which has happened a few times, I'm sorry to say).

I had a couple people suggest that we just turn off the wifi on weekends, rather than restrict laptops. I don't think this achieves the same effect, and so we won't be trying it at the moment. I am sympathetic to people who need to work on their laptops on the weekend, but it's not what we're trying to do here.

I'm also really happy that Sunday game nights have been going really well, and that we intend to make these a permanent feature of the Cafe. Folks have been bringing their own games, as well as playing the (not tiny) assortment we've got here. People are playing with their own friends, as well as with people they don't even know. Which is cool, right?

And there have been unicycles.

We're looking for another activity for Saturday nights. I'm open to suggestions. Ideally, it would involve some interactive component, rather than just passive participation. Cause that's how we do here at Actual.

And, btw - don't miss our new opening this Friday. Just like every first Friday, it will be a party. Great local photography by Eva Silverman, along with her WPA-style illustrations, and a slideshow of photos that she inherited from her father, taken in Chicago, Brooklyn and NJ mostly in the 70s. DJs Oze and Kid Frostbite. Live music by Loretta Lynch. Snacks...drinks...music.

Yep.

Making waves on San Pablo since 2009...

-sal

more time elapses...laptop-free weekends continue

2010-02-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting few more days over here. We continue to have lots of people coming through the doors who are really excited about laptop-free weekends, and also creating a space that's a bit different from the average cafe.

On the other hand, I've steeped myself in the negative opinions about what we're doing, and I'm sad to see that the one thing I wanted to avoid has come to pass: people have become polarized, which doesn't lead to any kind of solution.

The negative feedback I've seen and heard about seems to fall into a few general categories:

1) Technology is unequivocally good, and I'm crazy to want to limit it

This is an argument that I expected, and it's surprisingly a very small part of what folks seem to be upset about.

2) I am an annoying publicity-hound, and should shut up.

There's something to this, honestly. I did want attention on what we were doing here. I had been interviewed for a piece on oaklandnorth just after I had announced the laptop-free experiment. I sent out a press release about it, which I expected would be largely ignored.

I was interviewed by the Chronicle on Friday, and knew there was going to be a story in Saturday's paper. I had no idea that story would end up on the front page. I'm not sure it belonged there. I had no idea that that front page story would lead to so much other press. To be sure, I didn't turn down any interviews, and I took the attention to mean that there was a positive interest in what we were doing, which made me excited about it. Who would have thought that a brand-new little cafe in oakland trying out a slightly different technology policy would garner so much attention so quickly? Clearly, what we were doing struck a chord with some people.

With the space of a couple days, I feel like all the attention just got on some folks' nerves. For which I don't blame anyone. It probably also swelled up my head some. Sorry about all that.

So far, I have had great success with this project by being really open and direct. I don't plan to change that, at least not yet.

3) I don't have the right to make people talk to each other.

This is true. I can't make anyone talk to anyone else. I like it when it happens, but it's not something I can compel, nor do I want to. I'm only trying to create a balanced environment inside this place. Talking, working, reading, eating, whatevering all together, like ebony and ivory. Or something less corny.

4) I don't have the right to ask them to turn off their laptops, either.

This, I'm going to have to disagree about. There's a libertarian argument that crops up whenever there's the threat of regulation limiting some behavior (like smoking, for instance): that business owners can restrict behavior and customers can decide who to patronize - the market will sort everything out. In this case, I'm the business owner making a decision about how I run my business. I'm doing it for community-minded reasons, but the community won't fail if I do the wrong things - the cafe will.

Businesses restrict all sorts of activity all the time: no eating in your favorite boutique, no outside food or drink at the movie theater, no kids during school hours...I can go on and on. What's so different about limiting laptop use?

5) I'm a hypocrite.

I'm a technology guy. No doubt about it. I run my business on technology. I promote it using technology. I think the world is a better place in a lot of ways as a direct result of the widespread dissemination of technology. I think that the developing world's increasing access to technology is a great thing. I think my personal access to information when I need it is a great thing. It's so much easier to settle bets these days than when I was a youngster.

And, by the way, I first programmed a computer in something like 1978. I've been around and used computers most of my life. I managed a messaging hub for a thing called Fidonet back in the early 80's, out of my bedroom. I've evangelized broadband access, and helped build it. I've evangelized cheap cell phones, and helped build them, too. I've also spent a lot of time doing non-technology things along the way.

What's hypocritical about a guy like me wanting to create a space that's not all about technology? If anything, my experience should give me the right to have an opinion that includes some critical views. No?

One solution to this problem would be to turn off wifi altogether - like every day, not just weekends. I don't want to do that because there's utility in having it, and because lots of folks appreciate their ability to come on in and do wired things sometimes. Because I think technology is often a good thing, I want to create that balance that I think most other folks also appreciate.

6) I'm an idiot, and my business will fail because of it.

Possibly true on both points. The fact is that I (like any business owner) make great decisions and stupid ones constantly. When the great decisions outweigh the stupid ones, a business thrives. When the opposite is true, the business fails. Only time will tell which side I'll fall on.

7) Cafes should be wifi shacks. Period.

This strikes me as completely wrong. Cafes should be diverse and interesting, and should serve their own respective markets. There's room for all sorts in this little world of ours. I think we've experienced too much of the same in the last decade or so, and that a bit of variety is long overdue. For those that just want more of the same, it's easy to find out there as well.

---

I'm sad (although not surprised) to see that some faces that I used to see around here every day have stopped coming by. Obviously, they believe one or more of the seven things above. There are some new faces, which is nice, but I'll miss the old ones. I never wanted to drive people away - I just wanted them to leave their laptops at home a couple days a week.

Someone called me on the phone the other day, cursed me out, and hung up. This was a bit unnerving.

I've had angry comments on the facebook page, have a couple nasty emails, got some bad yelp reviews. Many from people who haven't been here, and maybe never will. I wish they'd stop by before they complained.

A guy came in the other night to pick up a friend who had been in the Cafe working for a while. When he walked in, he pointed the laptop-free weekend sign out to his friend, and without looking in my direction, hustled her out the front door. Which was a bit strange.

Apparently, a bar in SF had a trivia night last week, and one of the questions was about our new weekend policy. Lots of people knew the answer, and a heated discussion broke out afterward.

I don't want a fight.

We're going to continue our experiment, a bit more quietly, for the rest of the month. Jury's still out on the relative merits of this approach, and I'm still open to others. Cue the suspenseful music...

the first laptop-free day - a status report

2010-02-06T23:16:00.000-08:00

What a day.

We had an incredible response to our laptop-free weekend experiment. Not everything went perfectly, but a lot went really well, and I'm excited about what comes next.

First of all, we had a really great first Friday party last night - a great turnout of neighborhood folks, photographers, musicians, cyclists, and other art murmurers. Great DJs, great accordion, great sewing, great photographs. I'm so excited to see that we *can* throw a party on San Pablo, and people *will* come. I'm really looking forward to next month's party and show - it's going to be a special one, I think. Stay tuned for more on that.

And then today. I walked into the Cafe this morning, and found a copy of today's Chronicle, which had a story about us on the front page. Big pictures, and really interesting. The reporter talked about how our laptopless weekends echo the idea of the jewish sabbath, and of leaving work behind for one day a week. She also said that we're revolutionary, which I'm not sure I agree with. But anyway...

That story led to all sorts of other press - I was interviewed for two different TV news shows and one radio show today, and I have another radio interview in the morning. Clearly, we've hit on something. People are really interested in the problem of ubiquitous technology, and the adverse effects it's having on our human lives.

And, of course, we had lots of new visitors today. Customers who drove from other cities to come see the freaky cafe with no laptops. A lot of them expressed their support and excitement. Which was nice.

I had one interesting conversation with a couple who was leaving after they had finished their meal/snack/coffee...I asked how everything was, and they came back to the counter and said, "it was a bit quiet - we thought there'd be more conversation." They went on to say that they wanted to talk to people in the Cafe, but they were shy, and didn't quite know how. Which I thought was really interesting, and started me thinking about all sorts of things.

I had to tell exactly one person that we were laptop-free today, and that he needed to close his laptop. After which he left (and not so happily, I think). I saw a few other people read our sign on the door and leave. And one person asked if we had wifi, and when I said 'not today,' he ordered a drink to go, and went elsewhere. These things didn't make me happy, but I wasn't really surprised by them.

A woman posted on facebook something to the effect that we *are* just another wifi shack, and that all this stuff is just hot air. Which hurt my feelings a little bit, I have to admit.

I also just saw a blog post by a woman who was a bit worried that we would somehow force her to be social, even though she's a bit introverted. And didn't love the idea.

And, after reflection on all this, and a few other things, I wanted to quickly jot down some thoughts:

1) The removal of laptops from a room which might have otherwise been full of them does not result in a magical cafe wonderland. It only creates space in which other (I think more interesting) things can happen. And it's up to all of you people to make them happen. If you want conversation, start one. If you want art, make some. If you want smiles, give some. It takes effort to build a community. Expend some.

2) I can't (and don't really want to) force anyone to socialize with anyone. But there's nothing I love more than watching strangers find something in common. And I've seen it happen so many times in the Cafe. Some may find it difficult to believe that I'm actually pretty introverted, and that's it's really difficult for me to strike up a conversation with a stranger. But it's important. Technology has made it much easier for natural introverts (like me) to feel social without making much effort. But it's a false sociability - in the end, it's not really fulfilling, and by not practicing social skills (which, like all skills, work best when used often), we make it increasingly more difficult to make real connections. Which leads to all sorts of bad stuff in the long run.

3) I am not anti-technology. I am anti-isolation. I think we have lots of great tools and that we often misuse them. I also think that our obsession with staying constantly abreast of whatever interests us is silly, and leads to a crappy quality of life. Sometimes, it's OK to wait. I also think that we (and I say 'we' because I'm guilty of this as well) forget that we have certain obligations to each other when in public spaces - that we've forgotten good manners. Shame on us all.

4) We may not be doing everything right, but we're trying. If nothing else, this experiment has led to a ton of conversation. I've made new friends along the way. I've seen customers engage each other over this issue. Just like having parties on first Fridays, we're doing this experiment and others, trying to find ways to bring people together. Excising laptops and wifi entirely from the Cafe is something that some people seem to be advocating for, but I think that's a bit extreme. Why can't we create a balanced environment, where our devices are tools, and don't run the show? Does it have to be so black-and-white? Are we so dependent on these gadgets that we need to keep them out of sight so we don't fall under their spell?

So, anyway...I'm interested to see what happens when all the hoopla blows over. Will the place turn into a ghost town on the weekends? Will conversations spontaneously erupt? Will folks post lots of annoyed yelp reviews about us? Will it matter if they do? Maybe it's best that we be the quiet neighborhood joint that no one really knows about. And that pretty cool things happen inside.

k
sal

laptop-free weekends - the experiment

2010-01-27T13:03:00.000-08:00

I knew that the day would come eventually. It came much sooner than I thought, and has taken me by surprise.

It was the day when we filled up with laptop users, and became just another wifi shack, at least for a couple hours.

It happened this past weekend. And led me to losing many hours of sleep, trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

I was serious when I wrote our manifesto, and our tagline ('not just another wifi shack'). I didn't want this place to become just another Cafe full of people a couple feet from each other but so absorbed with their gadgets that they did not interact. To that end, I made a lot of design decisions - I made all our seating communal, I didn't go out of my way to install laptop power, I make sure the music is a bit livelier and louder than in most places. And I hoped that our mission would resonate with people and that behavior might be different here.

When I walked out into our dining room last week, and saw a sea of laptops, with tangles of power cords everywhere, and so many people wearing headphones, it really upset me. And so I set out to figure out what was so upsetting, and why.

And here's the thing I got to, after much agonizing - community doesn't come for free. We must each support it as individuals. And that means that I have the right to ask you - our customers - to help us make the Cafe a place that's a bit different. There are plenty of places in the area which are full of laptop users, and where such behavior is welcome (or at least tolerated).

There are financial reasons for wanting to limit the time that folks spend in seats, and they're important. What most people don't realize is that the margin of a business like this is razor-thin, and that we make most of our money during our peak times. If we lose money because all or most of our seats are taken by people who spend little money and much time, our business is at risk. Cafes fail all the time. When that happens, we all lose.

But this isn't the most important thing. It's more important to me that we re-discover the social webs that used to tie us together. Ennui, depression, boredom, and desperation are the result of long-term isolative behavior. We're about love, hope, discovery, creativity, and looking each other in the eye.

And so, we're embarking on an experiment. For the month of February, our weekends will be laptop-free. This may anger some. It's a risky thing for a brand-new business to do.

But it's so important, I can't not do it.

If it goes well, we'll make it a permanent feature of the Cafe. If not, we'll try something else. I'm open to suggestions that lead to the desired result.

If you haven't already seen it, you might be interested to read dialog I had with facebook fans several months before the Cafe opened, on this very topic (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oakland-CA/Actual-Cafe/63896313499?v=app_2373072738&ref=ts#/topic.php?uid=63896313499&topic=11411). It wasn't conclusive, and this isn't either. We're just trying to make our way in a cold world. :)

(wish us luck!)

k
sal

Quick update

2010-01-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a second to give any updates on the Cafe, except 140 characters at a time. Here's a (slightly) longer one.

We've been doing spectacularly well, thanks to our neighbors and local cyclists. Weather has been a bit dodgy for the past couple weeks, and folks are a little less animated now that the holidays are over, but I'm past worrying about getting people into the Cafe, and on to bigger and better things.

We've started a movie night. Tonight will be our second week. Last week we played Willie Wonka (the original with Gene Wilder), and it was great. More on this soon.

We're also getting into the rhythm of first Friday openings, and starting to put together some interesting activities, music, etc.

This month, on February 5th, we'll be hosting an opening of 'Getting There' - photography by Christopher Hall. We'll also have B Spoke Tailor making made-to-order arm warmers out of recycled sweaters, and a nighttime bike ride after. There will be music, and fun of various sorts.

We're also embarking on an experiment - laptop-free weekends. I'm devoting a whole post to that today as well. Stay tuned.

First month in the bag. I'm looking forward to many more. If you haven't already, stop by and introduce yourself. We like making connections.

k
sal

2009-12-11T04:39:00.000-08:00

It's been another action-packed week at the Cafe. Lots to report, less left to do.

We're fully staffed for the moment. We got (and continue to get) lots of great applicants, and I think we've got a really great team coming together. In addition to Katie, Sarah (who's now going by Curly), and Donna, we've got Sara, Daniel and Julian. We've all been working in the Cafe all week, and we've made a ton of progress.

Our kitchen is now pretty much completely outfitted, and we've even got some food that we've been cooking, testing recipes. The place is now almost completely painted (next time, I'm hiring a painter), and mostly clean. Yesterday, we got our stools and outdoor tables. We've got dishes, glassware, silverware, and even some decor.

Some fun things:

Sparkle Motion has arrived at the Cafe! Our bicycle-powered video jukebox is ready to blow your mind! Pics coming.

We're starting a book and magazine exchange. I seeded it with a bunch of stuff from my personal collection, but we can use more books - if you've got some you want to contribute to the cause, bring 'em by (only decent condition things that people might actually read, please!). We'll give you some coffee and snacks as thanks. Also, if you've got a magazine or newspaper subscription that you'd like to donate to the Cafe, let's chat.

Our community bulletin board is a big 'ol piece of sheet metal, and we need some awesome fridge magnets to make it feel lived in. Again, if you have some and want to chip in, bring 'em on down.

Under our bike parking, there's another big piece of sheet metal that needs some cool stickers. Got any?...you know what to do.

We've been testing our menu since yesterday, and it's really coming together in a pretty awesome way, I think. We've got a delicious breakfast sandwich with spinach, egg and cheese, and a little french toast plate that we'll do on weekends. We made some pickled veggies for salads and sides, and although they still need some tweaking, I think they'll be really good. Today, we'll be testing lunch sandwiches, and making lots of hot and cold drinks. If you're in the neighborhood between 11:00ish and 2:00ish, stop by. We'll probably have something for you to taste.

My flu symptoms are now almost entirely gone, and I feel like I might actually be able to ride a bike again, if I didn't have to spend all day picking up car loads of dishes, furniture, food and equipment. I brought my town bike to the Cafe to test our bike parking several weeks ago, and it's got a flat tire, which I haven't found the time or energy to fix, since I've been too sick to ride anyway. Maybe I'll fix it today. Definitely no later than tomorrow. Also, the Radish is coming out of the garage for normal Cafe operations.

I am so excited. You have no idea. I have been working on this project for about a year now, and the transition from making to doing is just days away now. I don't sleep much.

Really, really soon now. I mean it. You'll see.

-sal

OMG...it's almost time!

2009-12-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

Firstly: I'm lame for not posting since about forever ago. So much has happened in the Actual world in the past few weeks, and I'm sure I missed lots of golden opportunities to amuse, titillate, engage and otherwise entertain you all. For this, I apologize. I do have some excuses, though...

The last couple weeks of construction were incredibly busy. Because of the way all the final inspections are linked together, we effectively had to finish everything, including things like signage and exterior paint, before we could even really start having the inspectors in. We had a full crew of my contractor's guys, plus various subcontractors, plus deliveries - all day, every day. Plus, I was still having to pick up most of the job materials we needed every day and keep the finish work moving fast enough that, for instance, the countertops were put together and rough finished so they could be set in place so that the bar area could get tiled, so that the wall coverings could go on, so the plumbing could go in, so the equipment could get installed, etc. etc.

Construction ended up taking about seven weeks altogether. I estimated between 6 and 8. I guess that means we kept the schedule. For most of that time, my day consisted of waking up at 4:30 or 5:00, answering emails and stuff for a bit, then getting to the Cafe at 6:00 or 6:30, working on whatever I needed to get done before the crew showed up (sanding, painting, whatever), then running errands for most of the day - picking up materials, meeting suppliers, buying equipment, dealing with various permit agencies. When the construction crew knocked off for the day, I'd be back at whatever else needed doing in the Cafe until 9:00 or 10:00 at night. Home, sleep, repeat. For the last couple weeks, even my weekends looked like this. Which is a hard routine to sustain, even for a nutcase like me.

Also, thanks again to all the friends and neighbors who showed up and gave generously of their weekend hours to help clean, paint, straighten up, and seal our floor. I'm so glad for the support, and I'm really happy to have had lots of folks add their personal touches to the Cafe along the way.

The good news is that my diligence paid off. Inspections went really smoothly, and within just a couple days, we had all the sign-offs we needed. The contractors packed up all their tools (and a few of mine), and quietly disappeared.

That very night, I came down with the Swine Flu.

The Flu (not just the flu, but The Flu) knocked me back on my skinny butt for a good week and a half. I don't think I've ever been quite so sick in my life. I'll spare you the disgusting details, but trust me - they're disgusting. I'm still trying to rid myself of the lingering symptoms. My voice is mostly gone, my sinuses feel like they're packed with steel wool, and I've still got a lot of crap in my lungs. But, as of Monday or so, I'm back on the Cafe horse, and getting more productive every day.

I hired my first employee yesterday. Her name is Kathryn, and she'll be working weekday afternoons. I like her, and I hope you all will as well. She's an artist, a cyclist, and a real fireball. She's helping out already - painting, cleaning, etc.

I hired my second and third employees today. Donna is a food service pro, and will be helping me lock down the Cafe menu, set up the kitchen, and also be working morning shifts once we're open. Sarah lives in the Triple Point Co-Housing development just a couple blocks away, and has been involved in the neighborhood and neighborhood institutions for years. She's also a photographer, and will hopefully show at the Cafe at some point soon. She'll be working the mornings that Donna doesn't. They're both super friendly, and I'm really thrilled to have them on the team.

I've always talked about the Cafe in the plural - 'we' rather than 'I', even though it's been mostly just me for almost the entire time. Now, however, when I say 'we,' it means something a bit different. Which, I have to say, is nice. I've been working on this project for almost a year now, and I've taken it as far as I can on my own. I've had lots of help on the way, some of it paid, and some just friendly, but now I'm building a team, and that team will make the Cafe much more than I could on my own.

I'm trying to wrap up all the hiring by the end of the week. Next week, staff will be coming in to clean, organize, set up and stock the place, and then (OMG!), we'll be open shortly after. No date yet. I want to be careful about doing too much promotion too early, and let us sort of ease into the flow of the Cafe before we overwhelm ourselves with eager customers who have been champing at the bit for the better part of the year to get their hungry selves in the door.

Stay tuned for lots of pics, and more details about the awesome Cafe staff.

And yeah, we're real close. You can start holding your breath now.

-sal

ps - We still don't have any artists lined up to show at the Cafe. If you're making art and haven't already sent me a note, please do. I want to see your stuff, for real.

flying...

2009-10-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

I ran out of gas yesterday. Luckily, I was only about a block from a gas station when the truck started sputtering, and I only had to push it across the street and up to the pump. I had been running errands for a couple days knowing that there was almost nothing left in the tank, but too distracted to actually stop for gas. It's not the only thing that should be getting done and isn't. But lots of things are, and mostly going really well.

Construction is moving really quickly. We're just over a month into the job, and we're working on finishes already. Tile installation started yesterday. Booth construction is almost done. We're started building cabinets yesterday and are setting countertops today. We're even working on paint and trim. It's starting to feel like a Cafe, and not just a construction site. Which is great.

I've also been hustling to get my beer & wine permit. I appear in front of the Oakland Planning Commission next Wednesday for review of my case. I've also been working on all the paperwork required, including putting together the mailing for property owners within 500 feet of the Cafe, identifying nearby 'civic uses' (churches, schools, parks), getting fingerprinted, signing affidavits, supplying financial information, hanging posters, publishing legal notices, writing content for the planning staff, and on and on. It's a real pain in the ass actually.

I've had some conversations with individual neighbors about the Cafe and my service of beer and wine. Most have been supportive, but some have been concerned. I think I've been able to reassure folks that we're not interested in creating problems in the neighborhood, and that we'll be responsible neighbors. It's made me even more attuned to the delicate balances that we need to strike to create the type of community I've always envisioned. It's not easy, and I hope we get it right.

I'm really sad about the character of the development which has happened near 40th street on the Avenue, and in Emeryville generally, which has resulted in a bunch of fairly uninteresting looking strip malls and large housing developments. I hope that we do a better job here. While there's a need for new housing and commercial tenants in the area, I'd be sad if that happened at the expense of folks who have spent decades in the neighborhood.

Some good news - one of the two newly renovated storefronts on the block is open for business - a new beauty salon.

I get asked several times a day when we'll be open. I don't have an answer that I trust yet. Construction will hopefully be done in just a few weeks. Inspections will probably turn up some issues that we'll need to address. Hopefully, none of them will be huge. Once those are done, we've got cleaning, hiring, stocking, training, and opening left to do. The time is approaching. Soon.

Off to build more stuff.

sal

it's the time of the season of building

2009-10-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

Another two-week gap between posts. I wish I could find the time to post more consistenly, but at the moment, I can't. So...

Construction is well underway. We've got almost three weeks behind us, and things are progressing nicely. Most framing is done, rough electrical and plumbing are just about done, and we've got a wave of inspections happening this week, working toward 'OK to close,' meaning we can start covering walls. We hope to be hanging sheet rock before the end of the week. HVAC guys showed up today to start installing our heater, and almost all equipment is bought and ready for install.

Pics soon. I promise.

I've been making good use of my Xtracycle - it's hauled lots of nice loads, including a big load of light fixtures last week, and a couple runs of electrical supplies this week. I still haven't figured out how to haul really long stuff, so I'm using my car for loads of pipe/conduit/lumber. Today, I picked up a truck from Jason, who's kindly agreed to lend it to me for a while while I'm doing lots of materials runs. Thanks, Jason!

Furniture and decor is progressing nicely. Benches are put together, and ready for installation. One of the seating bars is completely done, and it looks really good. Cutting and sanding of the main seating bar will start this week. I'm also starting to think about service countertops, and framing the structure for booths. I picked up a load of old floorboards today, which I think will become the apron of the bar, and maybe some other things.

I've been spending lots of time in the past couple weeks working on various things related to the Cafe's beer and wine permit. I have several endorsement letters, but am still working on collecting the last couple. I wrote nearly 10 pages of responses to the questions on the city conditional use permit application. I also spent some time with the planners at the city who are working on the permit. I got good feedback on the materials I've already submitted, and expect notices to go out to neighbors at the end of this week. This week, I'll also get the official notice which will need to hang in the front window for two weeks. And I'm on the agenda for the November 4th planning commission meeting. Still lots to do between now and then to ensure everything goes smoothly.

One annoying thing - since I'm getting some money from the city Redevelopment Agency, I have to collect three written bids for all work we're doing. I've been trying to get bids for some minor storefront work (doors and windows) I need done, and I just can't seem to actually get bids. It's been a month of working on it, and I've had guys that just don't return my phone calls, guys that don't show up, guys that do show up but never get me bids, bids that don't make sense...it's a mess, really. I think I'm finally done with the process, but maybe not.

It's been a lot of long days - I'm up between 4:30 and 5:30 every morning, and working until 11:00 at night most nights, with not much time for anything else. Two Fridays ago, I fell asleep in my evening yoga class (right in the middle). Last Friday, I couldn't even get it together to actually go to class. Luckily I've still got weekend days to recuperate. I finally caught up with all my bookkeeping this weekend, and even managed to clean my house, which is one of the things that's been getting less attention than normal lately.

I get asked about 20 times a day when our opening date is. I wish I had one. Unfortunately, it's hard to know how inspections are going to go, especially having had so many long delays with various permitting agencies already. Also, the Health Department final inspection is the last one to happen, and they'll be the most picky - paying attention to finishes, type and placement of equipment, etc. I hope that next week or so, I'll start to feel a bit more confident in a construction schedule, and can start laying out the rest of the opening activities. In any case, we're definitely going in the right direction, and barring big delays, we'll be open before I know it. Literally.

Anyway - I'm a little sad I don't have more to report. I've been so busy, it seems like I should have lots more to write about. I don't. And I want to get to sleep tonight, so...

Stay tuned for more updates, soon. Also, check out the new Facebook widget on the blog page (to the right), and if you're on Facebook, check out our new suggestion box discussion (http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=12687&uid=63896313499). If you've got opinions, we want 'em.

sal

dusty, inside and out

2009-09-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

It's been an exciting couple weeks. So exciting, in fact, that I haven't been able to find a free hour to sit down and write about it until now.

First, and best: we finally managed to get building permits last Thursday (not even a week ago). The city finally agreed that a single rest room was adequate, and everything past that was just paperwork, payments and formalities.

We broke ground on construction last Thursday as well. By the weekend, all the demolition had been done - concrete cut and trenches dug for new drain lines, sheetrock and framing torn out where needed. After one full week of construction (at the end of today), lots more is done. Framing of almost all interior walls is done. All the drains and sewer lines are installed and being tested. A whole lot of electrical stuff is done - most lights are wired, some switches are installed. Our first inspection is tomorrow (Health Department review of the rough plumbing), and more inspections will happen over the next several days.

My day is now full of various errands - running for construction supplies so I can keep the crew productive all day. When the crew goes home for the day, I'm working on countertops and other furniture. Emails and phone calls I try to squeeze in the early morning. And lots just doesn't get done every day. Which I'm pretty used to now.

I still haven't quite adjusted from the shift from waiting, negotiating and arguing and into doing. It feels a bit surreal now, watching the thing I've been imagining for so long starting to become really tangible - in concrete, iron, copper, and timber. It also reminds me that there are lots of other things that I now can't put off any longer - menu decisions have to be made, distributors selected, equipment ordered or bought. And hundreds of other little things that I can't even really think about right this second.

On the decor front, there's been some progress on counters - the laminated beams that I found at Heritage Salvage cleaned up really well with just a bit of sanding, and I've got one cut to size for the front window, and am in the process of finishing it and mounting it on legs. I hope to have it completely done by early next week. No pics yet, but I'll post a whole album when I've got it done.

Benches started with a bunch of busted up tongue-and-groove cedar boards I found at the ReStore in East Oakland - they cost me about $20 for 75 feet or so. Gerard and I spent a couple hours on Monday night cutting them into clean four-foot lengths, then gluing them together in three-board planks. I picked them up yesterday, gave them a light sanding, and have a couple coats of Varathane already on them. They're taking very little work, and are coming out really nicely. A bit rough around the edges, which I like, but also with lots of character. More pics to come.

Also, I posted pics last week of the newly-refurbed storefronts in the building next door.

There was a fire in the building a while back, and there's been a crew working on rebuilding the facades of the buildings for months now. I've had a few looks inside myself, but it was still a little surprising to see them finally unveiled when they took down the temporary plywood that had been covering them for all this time. They're covered in sort of classy-looking black and while porcelain tile, which gives the whole block a nice lift. One of the two spaces is an old take-out restaurant, so I'm hoping for another food place to move in. More options in the neighborhood is good for everyone, I think.

And, speaking of options, the cafe at the corner of 65th and San Pablo which, by the way, is called Tribu, is showing signs of imminent opening, adding to the cluster of restaurants and cafes stretching from Hollis to San Pablo on 65th, which will hopefully encourage people to venture off Hollis Street when they're looking for something to eat or drink in the neighborhood.

I had a nice moment at the end of the day on Friday, when I was sitting outside the Cafe at sunset, taking a break after the construction crew had left for the day. I watched people strolling up and down the block, checking out the newly uncovered storefronts, walking dogs, riding bikes. There were a couple schoolkids chasing each other down the sidewalk, laughing. And I had a vision of an evening not too far away, with folks sitting inside and outside the Cafe, enjoying the last bit of afternoon sun, feeling relaxed and safe and friendly. And I thought that this neighborhood is well overdue for that particular sort of love.

More soon (or as soon as I can manage, anyway)...

-sal

Can't we all just get along (with a single bathroom)?

2009-09-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Last week was another busy one, although the one big blocking problem is still blocking. I had a brief glimmer of hope on the City of Oakland front late last week, when I got an email from the Chief Building Official asking for some clarification on the history of my situation, which I provided. Unfortunately, this was followed by five days of City furlough, including the infamous Admissions Day (http://www.abetteroakland.com/happy-admissions-day/2009-09-09), and a two day workweek, during which I'm pretty sure nothing actually happened at the City, on my project or any other. So, it's back to the water on stone game starting today.

On the bright side, I have been using the extra time productively.

My tabletops are done, and they look pretty cool, I

think (judge for yourself). Certainly, they're a step up from the condition I got them in (below). All that's left to do is mount them on table bases. Next up is seating bars, which will be a bit hairy, since I'm cutting them out of 4"x 18" laminated beams, which are really heavy. One bar is 14' long, and the chunk of beam required probably weighs a good 300 pounds. I'm sure I'll figure it out, but I may need a bit more help with them than the tabletops. After the bars are done, I've got to make benches for the two booths by the front window, and my service counters (which will also be big and unwieldy). Fun stuff, especially since I have no real idea what I'm doing.

I also hired a contractor this week - Black Creek Builders. They're local kids that have really impressed me with their diligence at working through the bid, and their flexibility with their approach to the project. Hoping the actual work goes as well as the negotiation has. Oh, and that I can actually get permits and start work someday.

And - Sparkle Motion is almost ready to be unveiled. I've sort of alluded to it a couple times before, but since I've been working on it forever and it's been slow going I haven't been talking about it directly. I'll write a full post on it as soon as it's all the way done, but the short story is that it's a human-powered (bicycle driven) video jukebox. I was sort of inspired by the old penny-arcade mutoscope (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutoscope) when I started the project: crank the handle, see a movie. In the case of Sparkle Motion, it's: pedal the bike, see a movie. It's made of a bunch of salvaged electronics, lumber, a salvaged bike, and some circuitry I had to build. I've also been collecting interesting and weird short video clips to play on the machine - I've got a pretty good collection, but I'm always looking for more. If anyone's got short (less than five minute) videos that you think would be cool played from a Gilligan's Island/Rube Goldberg/Fat Albert-style jukeboxy-kinda-thing, send 'em my way (Valladares - I'm talking to you!).

I've got a few more letters of support from neighborhood folks for my beer and wine permit review. Thanks to: the staff and residents of Sister Thea Bowman Manor and Percy Abram Jr. Senior Housing, Forthrite Printing and Brooks Jewelers. Still more coming.

I've also been having tons of fun on my new

Radish, thanks to the kind and generous folks at

Xtracycle. It's been really useful for hauling tools and materials. In fact, I've only had to use my car for the Cafe one time since I picked up the Radish, to carry a sheet of plywood. I'm told that I can get plywood on the Radish, so I'll try again next time I have to haul some. It's also really good at carrying coffee, as you can see.

I had a nice ride in the Solano Stroll parade yesterday with a bunch of Xtracycle riders. One of the guys who came out is a home inspector, and had a 9-foot ladder lashed onto one side of his bike. He was riding circles through the parade, and managed not to knock anyone down, which was pretty impressive, I thought.

I also made it to the Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (walkoaklandbikeoakland.org) Bike Love festival and swap meet. Ran into all sorts of folks, including the Cycles of Change bike shop guys. We're all talking about ways to partner on bike-related events and such in the neighborhood.

Stay tuned for updates on the rest room and construction schedule as soon as they break.

And, thanks for all the love!

-sal

the build up to the buildout

2009-09-01T19:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy time - lots getting done, lots to do. So much, in fact, that I started this post about a week ago, and am just getting around to finishing it now.

I've been working on furniture and interior decor quite a bit - sanding tabletops and putting together tables, scouring the salvage yards for the rest of the stuff I need. I found some old laminated beams that I think will make good sitting bars, also a couple old cast iron sinks that I think will become planters.

I've also meeting a lot of neighborhood folks. I've talked with neighborhood associations in the area, businesses up and down the Avenue, the senior center across the street, schools, and just people. I've been collecting letters of recommendation from anyone I can to submit to the city supporting the case for my beer and wine permit - I don't want to take the chance of paying several thousand dollars and getting my permit denied. Also, without being able to serve alcohol, it will be hard for me to sustain nighttime business, which frankly is one of the most important aspects of the Cafe - there are so few non-bar places in Oakland where folks can go at night to socialize, and I really want to be able to serve that need for the local neighborhood and for the city at large. Thanks specifically to SPAGGIA, the West Alcatraz Neighborhood Association, Triple Point Co-Housing, and Civicorps Elementary School - all of whom have already given me letters of support. Still more are coming.

And, by the way, the reactions I've been getting from the community have been really incredible - everyone I talk to is excited to have the Cafe in the neighborhood, and is really eager to help. This makes me more excited about what I'm doing, and confident that I'm on the right track - that people really want a place like the Cafe to exist and thrive.

On that note, a special shout out goes to Xtracycle (www.xtracycle.com) - makers of longtail bicycle conversion kits and rack systems. Their HQ is a mere three blocks from the Cafe, and when I approached them for support, they jumped in with both feet. When I told them I wanted the Cafe to be as car-free as possible, they offered me a Radish (http://bit.ly/XTGGe) to use in the Cafe for running errands, doing deliveries and such! I'm picking it up tomorrow (yay!), so I can actually use it during construction, and see how well it holds up under the abuse of hauling building materials and tools. They also donated a commercial fridge, which I'll use to store backstock of beer and wine. Totally awesome company, and great folks. I'm glad they're in the neighborhood.

I've also gotten great support from the folks at the East Bay Bike Coalition (ebbc.org), who have been connecting me with all sorts of useful resources, and brainstorming various ways for us to work together. I'm really excited to partner with them - their work for bike accessibility really meshes well with the Cafe's vision of bike-friendliness. More to come as we figure out details.

Alfie at eShutter Creative (http://eshutter.com) has been working on graphic design for the Cafe for a few weeks now, and finished a final logo, color scheme, and business card layout last week. I think they look incredible, and I hope you all agree. He starts on web design this week - the website (which I did myself in the very early days of planning the business) needs an overhaul. I'm looking forward to what we come up with. Should be rolling out in a couple weeks.

Online fans are over 200 now, between blog and twitter followers and facebook fans. Word is continuing to spread about the Cafe, and I've picked up some local bloggers and community groups as followers in the past couple weeks who I'm hoping will have good things to say about the Cafe when the time is right.

Of course, there's always a cloud under the silver lining...I'm stalled again at the City of Oakland. What I thought was a done deal related to occupancy and floor plan of the Cafe got kicked back at the last possible moment with a requirement to add a second rest room. At this point in the process, that's a really hard thing to do. Not only did I give away a bunch of floor space to trash storage during the early phases of occupancy discussions, I've bought furniture and equipment, and paid architects many thousands of dollars to design the most efficient use of the remaining space in the Cafe, and taking more floor space away will really hurt. It will cost additional design money, additional construction money, and take maybe a quarter of my seating area away. I'm working with my architect to negotiate our way through, but I'm not confident that resolution will go my way.

Also, banks suck. No need for details.

I realized a couple weeks ago that this process is a lot like making a baby - my influence over the finished product diminishes inversely with the amount of time spent. I've had a really strong vision for what the Cafe would be, and that vision has evolved over time. But, as with any project of this size, I rely on others for various pieces of the job, and they bring their own sensibilities to what gets done. This only gets more dramatic once we open our doors. We'll have employees who will be making food and drinks and interacting with customers. There will (I hope) be lots more customers than employees in the place at any given time, and they (you) will contribute much more to the atmosphere of the Cafe than anything I could do. Sure, the decor will be a certain way, and the menu will have certain things on it, but that's not what's most important about the character of a place. It's the people inside that really make it. And that's exciting. Especially if the folks I'm interacting with now become loyal customers - you guys are all pretty awesome, actually. Actually.

I can't wait to start construction. I can't wait to be open. I can't wait to meet each and every one of you over the counter, and see the Cafe grow up and crash its car and get drunk and married and have babies of its own.

Stay tuned - more soon.

-sal

things done, happening, coming, and random

2009-08-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I've been able to find time to write a blog entry, but I've had some really interesting days lately, and I wanted to communicate some things before they slipped my mind entirely.

First, and most momentous...

I had made the ride several times before, riding my bike down Market Street, through Uptown, City Center, Old Oakland, Jack London, the Embarcadero, lower Alameda, and out to Bay Farm Island - to the Alameda County Health Department. This time was a bit different than the times before - I was carrying what I hoped would be final plans, and hoping for the approval which would allow me to submit plans to the City of Oakland building department. This, in project management speak, is the critical path of the Cafe project. Every day spent on getting these permits is another day that I can't start construction, and another day later that I open.

The Health Department plan check is supposed to take no more than four weeks. Mine had taken five - they had come in last Thursday. I had the bad luck to submit plans just after lots of other people had. I like to think this is a good economic indicator - more plan reviews means more restaurants and cafes and such soon to be open in our fair city. Which is just fine, honestly. But it was slowing me down.

The comments from the original check were pretty straightforward - Sarah, my friendly draftsperson, had updated drawings for me the very next day. We had to get them off to the printer first thing yesterday in order to get them signed and back to me in time to meet with the plan checker for final review today. My plan checker was about to embark on a week-long vacation, so if approval didn't happen today, I would lose another week. The plans looked good to me. I dared to hope.

I arrived at the appointment, unrolled my plans, and started to go through the comments. Reviewing item number one ("Provide proper equipment for making hot sandwiches and warming the meats for sandwiches per proposed food menu"), I discovered that part of the equipment schedule had been truncated from the plan. The equipment reference numbers, make and model number information had fallen off. I know that these were OK in one version of the plans that I reviewed with Sarah on Friday, but they were gone now. This was a problem. I asked the plan checker how I could address the issue - could I email him something, fax something? He said he needed a new set of plans. I proceeded to cover my head in my hands and walk around in circles, saying "no...no...no..." for several seconds before I got hold of myself.

I proposed writing the information on the plans. He seemed skeptical. I said, "let's review the rest of the issues, and see if there's anything else." He agreed. We did. There wasn't. Everything else was totally clean. I asked again. I begged. I didn't want to leave without this approval today. He relented.

Relieved, I stood over the table for almost an hour, drawing lines with the edge of the folder I had brought my documents in, and hand lettering thirty-one reference numbers, thirty-one manufacturers, and thirty-one model numbers, three times - one for each submitted plan set. My hands were splotched in ink. They cramped. They shook. I hadn't written so much by hand in years. The first time through, I made a bunch of mistakes. The second time, only a few. The third time, just one. I put the third plan set on top, the second in the middle and the really messy one on the bottom. I called the plan checker back. He glanced at my work, and said, "I can't believe you wrote all that...OK - I trust you. You're done."

This was a good moment.

An hour later, I had plans in hand, stamped and signed, and ready to go to the building department. I would have dropped them off today, except I'm waiting for Title 24 review and certification.

Let me tell you about Title 24. It's about energy conservation - all new construction is required to minimize the energy consumed by lighting and heating. Basically, I'm allocated a certain amount of electricity based on the size of my space, the size of my windows, and some arcane math. This, on the face of it, is fine. But, in actuality, it's a pain in the butt. The math has to be done by a certified Title 24 consultant, who takes my plans for a week or so, charges several hundred dollars, and either provides a certificate of compliance or asks for adjustments. The certificate of compliance is required in order for the building department to begin review of my plans. And, the Title 24 consultant my architect is using is out of town. Figures.

Also, in the past week, I've spent an inordinate amount of time meeting with lots of different city officials - getting permits for all sorts of things - signage, lighting, sidewalk encroachment, grease interceptor waiver, and (the biggie) alcohol.

Let me tell you about alcohol in our fair city. In Oakland, we have a surplus of alcohol-selling outlets. The city code is written to minimize the number of new permits issued. It's difficult to transfer permits from one address to another. It's impossible to get a brand-new full service permit for either off-sale (liquor store) or on-sale (bar) sales - you can only buy an existing one. For beer and wine, it's a little easier, but still not easy.

I had been talking to city planners for months - I was worried about getting a beer and wine permit from almost the first day I started thinking about the Cafe. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what the issues were going to be. I was wrong.

The biggest problem for me is that, since I'm not actually cooking food (just assembling and warming it), the city doesn't consider the Cafe to be a full-service restaurant. Because of this, we're subject to a much closer review, and additional variances, and findings. All of which add up to money, time, and more uncertainty. There's no planner assigned to my case yet, so I don't know exactly what I can do to improve the odds of receiving the permit, but I've already been contacting neighborhood associations and other neighbors (St. Columba's church across the street, the local schools, the senior center nearby) to get their written support. I don't know what more I can do, except keep my fingers crossed.

More exciting things:

Tomorrow, I start working with Gerard, who's a furniture maker, and helping me with tables and such. We're going to start with tables - cutting, sanding, refinishing, etc. Then, service counters, customer bars, booths, and planter boxes. I'm excited to see what we end up with. I think it will be interesting, and I'm really happy to be doing a bunch of the work myself.

Have I mentioned yet that almost all the seating in the Cafe will be communal? There are some outdoor tables, which are little two-tops, and a couple booths inside, but otherwise it's big tables and some bar space. I'm interested to see how customers react to this.

I've been working with a graphic designer for a couple weeks. Up to now, I've done all the design work for the Cafe myself. Now that I'm getting some professional support, I'm looking forward to being done and unveiling the updated logo and website. Will post updates as they happen.

Oh, and I found out recently that the city is scrapping our beloved Oakland tree, and replacing it with a new (and much lamer) one: http://www.abetteroakland.com/things-that-are-lame-about-oakland/2008-10-01. Which sucks, honestly. That tree has been great to the city. Someone should organize some opposition.

OK - enough for now.

-sal

Wifi? Need opinions please.

2009-08-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering this issue for a while, and I think it's time to turn it out for feedback. Those of you who know me personally know that I'm no luddite. I like technology - I think it's really useful. However, I think that we often immerse ourselves in it to our detriment. And so, the subject of wifi is a difficult one.

The name Actual Cafe came from a conversation on this very topic. I was telling a friend that we're becoming more dependent on 'virtual' socializing, and that it's become a substitute for the real thing in many cases. And that we, as human beings, need actual contact in order to stay healthy - real face-to-face interaction. This is a key value of the Cafe.

When I was in early planning stages, I was considering leaving wifi off the menu entirely. I gave this some serious thought, for two reasons: 1) social interaction in the Cafe is so important to me, and 2) to avoid the potential for abuse. But, having thought about it, I decided that the positive aspects of connectivity are substantial, and that they justify providing the service. Which left me having to find ways to address the two problems - how can I encourage people to socialize even though there's wifi service? and how can I avoid being taken advantage of?

Let me expound on the abuse issue for a bit. It's not intuitive to many consumers of wifi in coffee shops that there is a finite resource at play. Most people think of wifi as cheap and abundant, and can't understand why there's any problem with providing it without limits or controversy. But, in the case of a cafe, the finite resource isn't the wifi primarily (although it is finite, and bandwidth hogs can take more than their fair share), it's the space inside the cafe. And that space can have a substantial cost.

The value of space in a cafe is variable. When it's empty, the value of a seat is nominal. It doesn't cost me much in electricity to keep the lights on and power a single laptop. But, when it's even a little bit full, a single seat can have a much higher value. Maybe that seat is the one with the best outside view, or the one with just the right amount of shade, or the one next to the cute girl/boy over there. And the fact that the right seat is unavailable might mean the difference between a customer coming in and passing by. This is compounded as the cafe gets more full. And a cafe can't exist without making sales - without paying customers coming and going pretty constantly.

And, on a personal note...let me tell you: if I'm not planning to set up my laptop and put some headphones on and disconnect from the world around me for a couple hours, when I look around a cafe and see that everyone around me is neck deep in their screens, I won't sit down. And so, here's the dillema. I think all of you can recall an experience at a coffee shop like the one I'm describing - where seemingly everyone inside is computing, and there's not much room for anything else to happen. It's not fun, and I want to avoid creating this sort of atmosphere at all costs.

So, how do we avoid this?

I considered various strategies:

- turn off the wifi at certain times of the day (too disruptive)

- put up some signs asking people to be considerate (too easy to ignore)

- approach people one-on-one and ask them to leave (too disruptive, and likely to end badly)

- limit available outlets on the floor (a bit passive) - one of the problems with this is that if there are any outlets available, they'll be overwhelmed with demand, and those seats will never be available to anyone else

- cross my fingers and hope there are no problems (risky, and hard to adjust later)

In the end, I'm leaning toward a solution which will generate time-limited passwords for users (sort of like the one Peet's uses). I'll give them away with a purchase (or maybe just for the asking). When they expire, the user will need another, which they can get by making another purchase (or maybe just for the asking again). I'll also be vocal about our policy, by posting some stuff on the website about it, and maybe having some printed materials around the Cafe for folks who ask questions.

Still reading? Good. It's interactive time. I'd love some feedback.

- Is it a better idea to keep wifi out of the picture entirely?

- Does the idea of limiting wifi annoy you? If so, is there a way to mitigate that annoyance (communication, etc.)?

- Should wifi use be given away without a purchase required?

- Do you understand why limiting wifi might be necessary for the success of the Cafe?

- Are there other approaches to limiting use that seem more reasonable or likely to succeed?

I'm sure some of you have opinions on this sort of thing - would love to see them aired here.

-sal

streetlights...contractors...bikes...new neighbors

2009-08-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

First, and most exciting (to me, anyway):

The City of Oakland Redevelopment Agency has been talking about installing pedestrian-level streetlights on San Pablo for some time now. The project is officially underway, and a crew came out late last week and marked off their locations (photo). Ground will break this week on the project. They should be in well before we get our doors open.

Streetlights by themselves aren't all that exciting, but in combination with other things happening in the neighborhood, they're an indicator of an end to years of neglect of the San Pablo corridor by the city. I'm not unreservedly pro-development, but I do think there's much that can and should be done to attract residents to the corridor - it's a major public transit route, it's close to freeways and shopping (including the new Berkeley Bowl West, which is pretty incredible), and has lots of small and medium sized businesses throughout. There are plenty of opportunities to add new housing to the area, with minimal impact to existing area residents, and with adequate services, folks can live, work, eat, shop, etc. within walking or biking distance, or take transit into or out of the neighborhood.

More residents add up to louder voices in local government, more eyes on the street (which has a positive impact on crime), and more successful businesses, all of which can help build a cohesive neighborhood.

But I digress. Streetlights. I don't have art on the actual ones going in, but I think they'll look something like these. Which are not ugly.

As a side benefit, in the process the city will be tearing up a big strip of sidewalk in front of the cafe, and pouring fresh concrete. Which leads to more space for anchorage of city-installed bike racks in front of the Cafe. On the existing sidewalk, the concrete is so broken, there weren't many options. I'm trying to get the bike parking coordinator, who's been really nice and helpful so far, to come out for another look.

I've been getting construction bids for weeks, and although I'm not entirely done with the process, I'm pretty close, which is good. I'm used to doing a lot of work myself on my construction projects, but because I'm getting reimbursement from the city from some of the Redevelopment Agency programs, I've got to get licensed contractors for everything that I want reimbursement for. Which makes containing costs a bit harder. But I've found some guys who are pretty flexible and creative, and I'm hoping we can get everything done for less than a boatload of cash. I'd rather save what money I can for better staff and more reserves to carry us through to break even.

I've also started networking on the bike front in earnest. I've got a decent design for indoor bike parking, which basically involves hanging bikes by one wheel from hooks on a wall (thanks to AB, who spent a bunch of time helping figure this out). I'm also trying to figure out how to have things like a pump and tools on hand to lend to cyclists who need to change a tire or make an adjustment. I'm planning to have small accessories (mostly tubes and patch kits) available for those in need. Also, since I'm fairly car-free, and want the cafe to be as well, I'm looking for partners who will sponsor a cargo bike for the cafe to use for running errands, making deliveries, etc. I've got some really promising leads, but nothing concrete yet. Will post more when there's more to post.

I'm expecting the Health Department to complete plan check this week. I'm also submitting all my planning permits this week (signage, awnings, lighting, sidewalk encroachment, and the conditional use permit for beer and wine). After I've passed the Health Department plan check (which might require a re-check depending on the scope of their comments), the plans go to the building department for review. Then construction starts.

I learned a week or so ago that Clif Bar is relocating its headquarters to 65th and Hollis sometime next year. Which is really exciting - I use and like their products, respect the company and would love to have their employees in the neighborhood. Especially when they come by for coffee and sandwiches.

Also, there's a building a few doors south on San Pablo which had a fire a while back, and is just finishing being rehabbed. One space was a small restaurant at one point, and has a little kitchen inside. I'm hoping for another restaurant neighbor, and the return of the barber shop in the same building. Also, there's a new cafe which should be open soon on 65th and San Pablo, joining Bailey's on 65th and Cafe Aquarius and Cocina Poblana in the up-and-coming 65th st. corridor.

Stuff is rocking and rolling in the Actual world. Stay tuned for more fun and games.

-sal

Chairs! and a cool counter!

2009-07-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

More salvage hunting, and another great score - a lot of 24 oak library chairs. These things are probably 50 years old, really comfortable, and solidly built. I figure if they survived this long in a library, they can sustain a few more years in a cafe. It's hard to tell from these shots how beautiful they are. They're worn in all the right ways - signs of decades of butt friction and table pushing-into. They just need some cleaning and maybe a bit of linseed oil. You don't want to know what these cost - it'll just make you jealous. Trust me.

Also found this really excellent old chemistry lab table. Complete with gas jets for your bunsen burner mounted on the side. I'm not sure I can salvage all the cabinetry underneath. I want to use this for the espresso counter. I'll let the builders get a look at it and give me some advice.

So, my furnishings list is getting shorter - I still need interesting light fixtures (which are surprisingly hard to come by these days), 10 or so stools, another couple countertops, some sitting bars, and a couple couches.

Also still shopping for used equipment. Need espresso machine, brewers, grinders, a panini grill, a couple sinks, and an undercounter freezer.

Man, this part is fun.

-sal

scroungers of the world, rejoice!

2009-07-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

I've been spending the past few days looking through salvage yards for interesting materials to make stuff from. I need tabletops, countertops, benches, material to face the bar in, chairs, stools, lighting, on and on...I got hold of a free three-compartment dishwashing sink over the weekend (thanks to Kim for turning me on to it, and getting me permission to take it, and to Girard for helping me move it). It's bigger than I need, but for free, I'm not complaining.

Today was a good one, though. I ran into my friend Josh, of People's Donuts fame. He was at the Habitat for Humanity store in East Oakland, picking up some trim boards for his donut shop just down the road (San Pablo & 55th), which he hopes to open in a couple months. I told him what I was looking for, and he told me about a cart full of wooden tabletops he had seen at the UC Berkeley salvage store (just off San Pablo across the Berkeley border). So I went there to check it out.

What I found was pretty great. A rolling cart with six (6!) 2" thick, 6'6" x 3' oak tabletops. They were a bit beat up, but scars are just signs of character. I asked the cashier how much they were, and she didn't have a price. I offered her $50 (just over $8 each), and she said that would be just fine. I looked around a bit more and saw a couple other things I may go back for tomorrow, then paid up.

Getting the things to the shop was a bit of a chore. They're heavy - maybe 75 pounds each - and the cart was not the easiest thing to navigate. I considered borrowing or renting a truck, and decided it was overkill. I considered calling someone to help me roll them around, but decided I'd just do it myself.

So I did. I rolled the several-hundred pound, 7 foot long, metal-wheeled cart, up to the corner, then 5 blocks down San Pablo to the Cafe. I ride down San Pablo quite a bit in the morning, and always see guys pushing their enormous, really unwieldy shopping carts loaded with huge bags of glass and metal, and now I know exactly how they feel. It's hard work, and the cars in the road, construction on the sidewalk, bumps, ramps, driveways, bus stops, newspaper dispensers and trash cans

didn't make it any easier. I worked up a good sweat, but managed to get the whole thing to and inside the Cafe without major incident (although I did get into a couple conversations with drivers along the way).

Now to decide how I'm going to use them. I was waffling a bit on using larger communal tables or smaller ones. I think now the decision is largely made for me. Thanks, salvage!

Thanks to Josh for the tip. I owe you one.

Feels a bit like love

2009-07-16T11:37:00.001-07:00

I posted signs on the Cafe windows just about a week ago. Since then, I've been really surprised at the outpouring of interest and support I've received. I'm getting multiple emails every day from folks in the neighborhood, offering help of various kinds, looking for work, or just cheering me on. I have to say that I love this. I knew from talking to people in the area in the past months that there are folks who want to have local places to go, and that I'd probably be able to find customers and even get some input into what I'm doing which might improve the Cafe in the end. But I didn't expect there to get so much enthusiasm, from so many people, and so immediately.

[A concrete measure of this: with very little encouragement from me, the Cafe has collected over 75 web-type followers, between its blog, Facebook and Twitter profiles. And these things have only been online for a couple of weeks.]

I'm amazed that someone passing by the Cafe would take the time to notice that there's something going on there, read the signs, make note of the URL, go home and find the webpage, click around to find an email address, and write and send an email. That's a significant effort, and meaningful. I figure that for each person who emails, hundreds more have noticed, and many feel the same way.

Two things that stand out from the past several days:

1) I'm learning more about my neighbors and neighborhood

Even though I've lived here for a little while (8 years or so), and have spent plenty of time on the streets in the area, walking my dog and riding my bike, I still don't know a lot about neighborhood people and their particular situations outside my immediate few blocks. I'm learning about the co-housing communities, the artist enclaves, the neighborhood associations, the block parties. Which reinforces for me the need for a place for us to gather and meet and learn. As long as we have to go to other neighborhoods (or, even worse, chain stores) to enjoy a cup of coffee and a quiet moment on a sunny afternoon, we won't ever get to know each other.

2) My neighbors are really helpful

I've had several offers of help of all kinds. A woman who had saved some of the leavings from the Pacific Bait & Tackle Shop when the building was renovated offered to lend me some to decorate the cafe. People have offered their ideas and their time. I hope this continues - especially the ideas. I love to hear what people have to say about the Cafe, the neighborhood, and what they want to experience here. Obviously, I won't make everyone happy, but I hope that you all continue to feel like you can and should contribute to the Cafe experience. It's about the neighborhood more than it is about any one of us. Even me.

Also, I mentioned the other day that someone is leaving me flowers on the door. There's a picture of one below. It's sweet, and though I'm curious about who is leaving them, I also sort of hope I don't ever find out. Mystery is nice.

Thanks, neighbors.

Sal

Artist's rendering

2009-07-11T06:47:00.001-07:00

Exterior view of cafe, with lighting, awnings, and signage locations. Looks pretty cool, I think.

Sal

One day mad equipment fest

2009-07-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

I happened to get a note this morning from a friend (thanks, Sue!) who owns a deli in Walnut Creek, hipping me to a restaurant going out of business in her neighborhood, and selling off all their equipment. Today only. For two hours. In five minutes.

So, taking the moment by the horns, as it were, I jumped in my car and sped east. I got to the restaurant at 10:30, and found a good dozen people running in and out of the place with armloads of stuff. I thought I was probably too late to get anything good, but I poked around a bit, and found differently.

After an hour or so of scouring and negotiating, I had purchased almost all the refrigeration I need, along with an icemaker, a ton of wire rack shelving, some wall shelves, a kitchen door, some floor mats, a microwave, a hand wash sink, and some paper towel and soap dispensers, for only a few thousand bucks. All the equipment was only six months old, and came with warranty information and original invoices. Score!

I spent the rest of the day disassembling stuff in the restaurant, renting a truck, getting cash from the bank, finding friends to help me move (thanks, Gail and Everett!), and loading and unloading the truck.

In the meantime, I found out that there were some errors in the floor plan that the city had provisionally approved for occupancy puposes. My interior space had gotten bigger. Which you'd think was a good thing, but in the world of municipalities and permits, it's not. I had gained about 50 square feet, which I now need to remove from my seating area in order to get my occupancy permit. I'll deal with that in the morning.

Also, the city wants me to sign off on an agreement which relieves them of liability in case I don't adhere to the terms of my permits. Which, as far as I can tell, no one else has been asked to do. And the agreement is some non-standard thing that one of the building department guys just drew up. And which, when I marked it up to something a bit more palatable, I can't get feedback on. It may be that this issue (which, by the way, is the first problem I ran across when I started working with an architect a month and a half ago), is going to be the last one solved before I open. I have my fingers crossed that it will get worked out, since I'm approaching the point of no return quickly. More so after buying all this equipment today.

Some nice things - someone has been leaving flowers tucked into the front door of the cafe. When I get there in the morning, they make me smile a bit. And, people walking and biking and driving by the cafe often stop to look, and sometimes poke their heads in to ask what I'm doing, and when I'll be open. They all seem genuinely excited to have something opening in the neighborhood. I'm glad. Hopefully we won't disappoint.

Sal

A look inside (with pictures)

2009-07-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

I spent some time yesterday & today inside the Cafe space. A couple builders who will be bidding on various parts of the project came by. I taped off positions walls/countertops/equipment and furniture on the floor to try to get a better feel for how the space will work. No major issues. I also took down the 'For Rent' signs on the windows (!!!), and put up 'Coming Soon' signs today (also !!!).

And, I took some interior and exterior photos, which I made into the panoramic images below. I love the afternoon light in the space, although it does make it a bit warm inside.

Enjoy!

sal

Welcome to Actual Cafe's Blog

2009-06-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

After protracted negotiations with both the landlord and the City of Oakland, Actual Cafe signed a lease for its space last night. And so, it begins for real. We hope to be open in the fall of 2009, barring unforeseen battles with other public agencies, service providers, or construction delays.

This blog will chronicle our adventures as we work on this project, which we hope you'll find as exctiting as we do. Today, a bit of introduction:

The idea for Actual Cafe came from the convergence of two ideas:
1) That if you want to hang out in Oakland after about 8pm, and don't want to spend a ton of dough, your options are super narrow - there are some great bars here, but not everyone wants to spend every night out in a bar. There were some great coffee shops here once - back before Starbucks came to town, there were lots of places where a body could hang out, meet people, drink coffee, and feel at home. Those places are largely gone, replaced with some great newer places that close at dusk, and a bunch of really sterile feeling chain-copycats. We want to change that. To provide a place where people from the neighborhood can meet, gather, and experience something that's about their own city and neighborhood, while contributing to it.

And 2) That, for various reasons, Oakland has not shined. Until very recently, the potential of this really unique city has been largely untapped. There are just bunches of really interesting, creative people here. It's why we're proud to call this city our home. We're excited about the emerging golden age of Oakland. If you haven't experienced it yet, get out around town a bit - go check out the Uptown district, or Temescal, or hit the streets for Art Murmur . There's something in the air, and it's both overdue and really refreshing. In our neighborhood, there's still work to do. And rather than let other people do it, we decided to take it on ourselves. Sure, it's risky, but we're hoping our neighbors will be as excited as we are, will come support us, and will make the project the success we know it can be.

If you're in the neighborhood and see our doors open, stop by and say hello. We'll be inside for the next few months, planning, building, getting inspections, decorating, hiring staff, and about a million other things. We'd love to meet you, so don't be shy.

Will post pictures of the space shortly. More updates to come.

Sal