Things I Hella Love About Oakland: The Restored Fox Theater

Photo by eeetthaannn

I admit, I've been lagging on my "Hella Love" posts of late. I won't lie: Oakland's had a tough time these last few months, and it hasn't always been easy to work up a lot of enthusiasm about calling it home. But even in down times, it's worth reminding ourselves that the things we love about this city are still here in abundance: An amazingly vibrant art scene, tons of creative energy, great people, friendly (and yes, safe) neighborhoods, beautiful green spaces, gorgeous architecture ...

And despite the sad shuttering of our beloved Parkway Speakeasy Theater last month, one thing that Oakland is certainly not lacking in is incredible Deco-era theaters. The Grand Lake and the exquisite Paramount are longtime faves, of course, but right now Oaklanders are especially proud of the gloriously reborn Fox Theater in Uptown.

* Photos by Nathanael Bennett and Jason Polkinghorn

The Fox -- an over-the-top amalgam of Indian, Moorish, Medieval, and Baghdadian architectural flourishes that's been called "one part Arab and three parts Hollywood hokum" -- was completed in 1928 and operated for decades as one of the Bay Area's premiere movie palaces.

* Photos by Nathanael Bennett and Pete Simmons

It had fallen into decrepitude by the early 1960s, and finally went dark in 1970. But after more than 35 years of neglect and decay, supporters began a two-year, $70 million restoration in 2007, and the Fox triumphantly opened its doors again in February.

* Photo by Josh Miller

Next year, our daughter will be attending an arts charter school in the building that houses the Fox. (How cool is that? She's very excited.) So although I've been onsite a few times now, I hadn't yet seen the inside of the restored theater.

* Photo by Geoffrey Martin

I finally got my chance last night, when Nick and I took our firstborn to see a fledgling hometown band that you've probably never heard of. It was So. Much. Freakin'. Fun. But more than that, the space itself was absolutely breathtaking. Seriously -- words fail when it comes to fabulousity of this magnitude. It's a fantastic venue in which to hear some music and to soak in the glamour of another time.

* Photo by Geoffrey Martin

The Fox has lots of great shows booked in the coming weeks, including Franz Ferdinand tonight, Band of Horses on Friday, Fleet Foxes next Tuesday, and the Shins, Ben Folds, and the Decemberists in May.

* Photos by Josh Miller and Geoffrey Martin

The brand-new Den bar and lounge adjoining the theater has been getting positive notices as well, and Flora across the street is incredible. If you're in the area, you could do a lot worse for an evening out. Trust me.

* All photos borrowed from flickr and the Fox's Facebook page and web gallery.

That's Random: God, I Love Craigslist

Last night while I was reading the Paris Hotel Boutique Journal, I saw this picture of a vintage moderne-style lowboy dresser that Lynn has in her wonderful shop -- and I just about fell out of my chair.

Not just because the $2,100, circa-1930s brushed-metal dresser is beautiful -- though it certainly is -- but because I own it. Or at least, I own a pretty close approximation.

It was one of those finds that you aren't looking for and don't really need, but that you know instantly you must have, and drop everything to grab it.

In my case, I was casually perusing the "for sale" postings on craigslist one day (in an effort, no doubt, to avoid doing something productive -- please note the name of this blog). Five minutes and one rushed phone call later, I was tearing out of the house to pick it up some 25 miles away.

The woman from whom I bought the dresser was moving to some seaside paradise in Mexico, and hastily selling off everything she owned. (Was she escaping the memories of a bad breakup? Running back to a vacation romance that had unexpectedly turned serious? Or simply acting on a nagging desire to live a simpler life? I was dying to know, but restrained myself from prying.)

I could tell she was sorry to let the dresser go, and she told me over and over how much she loved it. But she was making a fresh start and a clean sweep -- so go it must. I was happy to take it off her hands. The grand total: A hundred bucks.

Today, it sits in my home office, where it holds assorted packing and office supplies -- and glams up the joint a bit. Granted, my dresser doesn't have the original mirror that makes the Paris Hotel Boutique piece such a showstopper. And let's just say it's a bit more aged. (I simply adopt a haughty accent and call it "patina," darlings.)

But still, $100? You gotta love that -- and I do.

Mark Your Calendar: Art Deco and Modernism Sale

This weekend, more than 200 dealers from around the country will be hawking furniture, housewares, jewelry, vintage clothing, and other items dating from 1900 to 1980 at the nation's largest art deco and modernism sale.

"Deco the Halls" takes place Saturday, December 1, and Sunday, December 2, at the Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 8th Street at Brannan in San Francisco. Admission is $10.

Click here for more info.

House Voyeur: Airy Art Deco in Oakland

When it comes to their home, my neighbors Bernadette and Steve Finch are decidedly old-school: You’d be hard-pressed to find much in their picturesque Oakland cottage that was made long after the late-1920s vintage of the home. Yet the space is far from dowdy -- in fact, it feels fresh, light, and undeniably pretty.

Outfitting the house has clearly been a labor of love for the young, vintage-loving couple. Here, Bernadette gives us a tour of their home and shares her favorite design finds:

“Our style is a mix of English Art Deco and ‘cottage chic.’ There’s an emphasis on floral Deco motifs (as opposed to Deco’s more skyscraper, linear-style details), which appeals to us because it creates an informal yet stylized look. We appreciate the clean lines as well as the strong design elements of the Art Deco period.

Most of our Deco furniture is from eBay. Some of it was local, and some came from England. The vintage stained-glass pieces throughout the house came from the San Rafael Auction Gallery and the Alameda Point Antiques & Collectibles Faire, which is held the first Sunday of every month. New area rugs are from American Carpet Wholesalers, and our vintage Deco-style rugs are from Antique Oriental Rugs. The custom curtains (below) are by Electra Skilandat, who specializes in retro fabrics; and the 1930s swing-out curtain rods are from eBay.

We also love to go to the Art Deco & Modernism Sale, held every June and December at San Francisco’s Concourse Exhibition Center. The dealers there have museum-quality pieces as well as affordable items. We usually only buy a couple of small things, but really enjoy seeing the ‘best of the best’ in person.

The architecture of our house is modeled on an English Cotswold cottage. Built in the 1920s, it has many original design elements, including a high-pitched roof, beamed and cathedral ceilings, and interior archways. With two growing kids, we needed more room, so we recently added on about 900 square feet to the house’s original 1,200. Creating an addition that was in keeping with the style of the house was our first priority. All the hardware, doors, light fixtures, and bathroom fixtures we used for the addition are originals from salvage resources.

Many of the period doorknobs are from Ohmega Salvage in Berkeley and from eBay. We got period-style black hammered metal hardware for our garage doors and small garage windows from Acorn. It really enhances the English cottage style of the house.

When people visit our home for the first time, they often say that it feels like a bed and breakfast. They notice the details, like our collections of etched mirrors, hammered aluminum, and vintage embroidery.

The wall color in this room and the other bedrooms is Kelly Moore’s 'Grey Green' (N37-1), which is actually the most wonderful gray-blue. (We used a half-formula of this color in the bathrooms.) The color in the communal rooms is Benjamin Moore’s 'Buttery' (1359). The trim throughout the house is Benjamin Moore’s 'Medicci Ivory' (1634).

Our favorite thing about our home would have to be the Deco period lighting throughout. Some of the fixtures were here when we moved in, and they definitely drew us to the house. We think of light fixtures as 'jewelry for a room' -- they finish off the space with beautiful detail. Over time, we’ve added original Deco sconces that we found on eBay (hint: search under 'slip shade' to find similar fixtures) to the bathrooms and bedrooms. Ruiz Antique Lighting in Alameda is the best place to have vintage finds rewired or repaired.

The biggest challenge with this house has been using reclaimed items while still trying to provide the most function. For instance, salvaged sinks and toilets generally don’t have the best water usage -- but salvaging those items offsets some of that cost.

We found all of our original 1920s and ’30s sinks, toilets, and bath fixtures at the Sink Factory in Berkeley. The sinks were in great shape. We had one set of fixtures re-chromed, but the rest were fine -- we don’t mind a little pitting on the metal, since we think it provides character. For the toilets, we had a plumber install new fittings so they function well. The few new things in the bathrooms are from Kohler.

The marble basket-weave floor was a major indulgence. It was way out of our budget. But after searching endlessly for the perfect flooring, we had no choice -- it fits the period of the house perfectly and truly enhances the room. We used tile from Art Tile in Oakland for the upstairs bathroom (above), and Ann Sacks tile in the yellow ground-floor bathroom (below).


Of everything we’ve done here, I’m probably proudest of the garden. The woman we bought the house from had gardened here for 23 years. So needless to say, we bought into a mature landscape. For the first year or two, I just maintained it. But since then, I’ve replanted almost everything except the larger trees. Every inch of our property is planted, and it creates the most peaceful and beautiful surroundings for our family to enjoy. I do all the landscaping myself and gardening has become my main hobby. I love it so much that I'm studying to become a landscape designer.”

To see the entire slideshow of the house and garden, click here.

Thanks so much for letting us all take a peek at your beautiful home, Bernadette and Steve!

Want to share your own home -- or simply show off a room or project you're proud of? Please let me know!

Cool Stuff: Vintage Lighting Love

When it comes to lighting, I love me some vintage. (In fact, almost every hardwired fixture in our home dates from the 1930s, each of them painstaking collected by me on eBay over several years.)

Unlike a lot of vintage lighting collectors, though, I don’t turn up my nose at reproductions as long as they’re well-made and clearly created out of a genuine love for the originals. And when it comes to repro period lighting, you can’t beat Rejuvenation.

The Portland, Oregon company was founded in 1977 as a one-man architectural salvage shop. Today, it’s the largest repro lighting manufacturer in the country -- but it’s obvious that the folks at Rejuvenation are still motivated more by a passion for vintage lighting than anything else.

I love it when a new Rejuvenation catalog clinks into the mailbox, its pages filled with gorgeous photos and peppered with friendly profiles of Rejuvenation’s craftspeople and stories of how homeowners have used the company’s products to help bring neglected old homes back to life. Plus, the catalogs come out infrequently enough (just once a year) that a new one feels like an event, rather than yet another pulverized tree that’ll quickly be chucked into the recycling bin. (If you’re interested, you can request a catalog here.)

The Rejuvenation website is a treat as well. It seems to be set up as much to educate visitors about vintage homes and period style as it is to move product. If you live in a pre-1960 dwelling and aren’t sure exactly what style it is, then visit the “Old House Style Guide” for pointers on identifying the hallmark features of Arts and Crafts bungalows, Greek Revival farmhouses, and midcentury modern abodes, among others. And the Lighting Wizard will help you zero in on the perfect fixture for the era of your home and the room and function it’s intended for.

In keeping with its old-house aesthetic, Rejuvenation also sells everything from clawfoot bathtubs to heat registers to vintage-style (and really hard-to-find) filament bulbs, which add the perfect finishing touch to the company’s period fixtures.

And, staying true to its salvage roots, Rejuvenation still sells a collection of gorgeous and fully restored vintage lighting and hardware. (Browsing through the current offerings, I was thrilled to spot the exact speakeasy set, left, that we have on the front door of our 1930s home.)

But back to lighting. Rejuvenation has more lights than I could possibly cover in one post, so I’ll concentrate on Modern America, the newest addition to Rejuvenation’s period collections. (Though I’m also a sucker for the Old English fixtures.)

Focusing on 1925 to 1960, Modern America spans Art Deco to Atomic Age lighting, including examples of Streamline Moderne, Machine Age, and International Style fixtures. The lights from the first half of this period are lushly decorative in a way that evokes the glamour of old Hollywood -- while those from the later half have a streamlined simplicity and aerodynamic angularity that defined early modernism.

Some of my favorites:

Selma With Shade, $83

Adrian With Shade, $85

Mathison With Shade, $93

Echo With Shade, $103

Dora, $171

Hewitt With Shades, $440

Manning, $179

Skyport, $356

Enterprise, $165

Otis With Shade, $144

Aloha, $205

Cove, $127

To see all of Rejuvenation’s offerings, click here.

Mark Your Calendar: Art Deco Weekend by the Bay

This Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3, mark the summer edition of the twice-a-year Art Deco Weekend by the Bay.

Check out the mammoth Art Deco & Modernism Sale at San Francisco's Concourse Exhibition Center, where you can browse dozens of booths stocked with pristine examples of Jazz Age-
through-Swinging Sixties furniture, lighting, textiles, accessories, jewelry, and clothing.


Round out the experience by taking a guided walking tour of San Francisco's Art Deco landmarks (including 450 Sutter Street, below) or a docent-led tour of Oakland's grand Paramount Theatre, right. Cap off the weekend by getting your jive on to swing and big-band jazz at Berkeley's Ashkenaz.

For more details on the weekend's events, click here.