OFF THE COUCH Staffs help you stick to a hike: More starting to realize the value of a walking staff or two on a trek
IF YOU WANT to indulge yourself and stroll in style, get a nice wooden staff topped with a head made out of jade. These bear and eagle designs are from Alaska. The staff wields mythical and religious symbolism. Snakes usually become entwined in its folklore, from legends that recount how…
DOWNSTREAM El Nino creates a windfall of waterfalls
A SUDDEN hammering shakes you from your work stupor. You try to look through the window, but the glass seems to be melting as torrents stream down. Just in time for your break, you think as you rifle through your drawer contents. Conspicuously dangling a cigarette, you pass huddled co-workers…
High volume, visibility give chains the edge
By Vera H-C Chan and Randy Myers The Bay Area is awash in video chains. The most visible newcomer is Hollywood Video, which is giving the No. 1 ranked Blockbuster Video a run for its rental fees. Tagging along behind are Tower Video and the Wherehouse in the East Bay….
GREAT AMERICAN VIDEO STORE HUNT They’ve got breadth, depth and popcorn, too; best of all, there’s probably one in your neighborhood
By Vera H-C Chan, Randy Myers and Laura Orella TWENTY SCREENS and no place to go. You have hit the dull, winter void in the schizophrenic schedule of movie releases. Plus, you desperately adhere to your lonely stance of refusing to watch for the 18th time a certain bloated epic in which…
SUBURBAN EXPLORER Charm’s for real in seaside town: Capitola beaches and trails are noteworthy, and shoppers can make some genuinely good finds
I had climbed the old, rust-brown trestle above the waters still brown from the organic debris that storm winds had swept in the previous week. My friend James and I had spotted some adolescents who appeared to be in-line skating or skateboarding across the trestle. A Southern Pacific train makes…
KEEPING THEIR PAST ALIVE: Black Panthers’ mixed history can be seen from bus windows by visitors on a sojourn for the truth
By Vera H-C Chan and Nancy Belcher (Special to the Times) THE FIRST HEADQUARTERS for the Panthers was in this building on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Below, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton stand before the headquarters. A signal light presides at the corner of 55th and Market streets in Oakland. It is…
SUBURBAN EXPLORER San Ramon
You need never have visited England to appreciate the red cast-iron and glass telephone booths. Those stalwart kiosks create an almost regal private space to conduct your fiber optic conversations, whether a mundane request for the correct time or a heart-rending plea to a loved one to bring the library…
OFF THE COUCH Kickboxing thrives in its purest forms
Kickboxing has elbowed and kneed its way into mainstream American martial arts and sports circles in the last decade: Distilled from this is its gentler kin, commonly referred to as cardio-kickboxing, which has evolved from a fad to a gymnasium staple like aerobics. The drawback of this popularity is that…
Sports bars spawn fan camaraderie
By Laura Orella and Vera H-C Chan They look so unassuming from the outside–just drab-colored buildings with neon beer signs flashing in the windows. But step inside a sports bar and watch a whole other world come to life. A world where the ball is worshipped and the TV screen…