Board Approves Plan For New Kohl’s Store

The revitalization of Alameda Towne Centre took another step Monday as the Planning Board approved the makeover of the building that currently houses Mervyn’s department store.

The renovation will set the stage for a Kohl’s store to open at the site in March, said Mike Corbitt of Harsch Investment Realty, which owns and manages the shopping mall.

The new store comes as Borders Books Inc. is about to open as an anchor store at the mall — earlier this month the bookstore hosted a job fair for the site.

While the idea of a Kohl’s opening has raised a few eyebrows among bloggers and others who say they’d like a more upscale business, a sampling of shoppers at the mall on Thursday found most people pleased with it.

“With the economy the way it is, I think it’s a good thing when you have a new business opening,” said 58-year-old Glenn Hendrickson, a retired electrician. “How can people have problems with that? It would be a lot worse if places were closing.”

The design that the board approved Monday does not call for the footprint of the building to undergo a drastic change. But a portion of the store floor area — along the east and south sides of the building — will be converted into five smaller shops, eliminating the unbroken wall that currently exists on those sides.

Other changes include expanding the loading dock so that there will be two instead of one, with the entrances to Kohl’s being located on

the north side near the AC Transit bus stop and on the south side facing the interior.

New landscaping, benches and wooden trellises are planned, plus additional bicycle racks.

“I haven’t really shopped at Kohl’s before,” said Alameda resident Dorothy Kirschner, 32, as she was leaving Trader Joe’s. “There just hasn’t been one near where I live. But having one here is a good thing. Landscaping Idea It will give us more choice.”

The changes at the shopping mall have been in the works since at least August 2002, when Harsch Investment Realty submitted an expansion plan to the city that included everything from installing palm trees and the construction of a 7,000-square foot Safeway to securing Trader Joe’s.

It also included the removal of a Chevron service station and the construction of a Walgreens at the same site.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Friday, May 9th, 2008

Landscaping Idea No Comments

Unexpected Italy and Unexpected France from Travel + Leisure

NEW YORK — Travel + Leisure magazine and DK Eyewitness Travel have partnered to create two new hardcover travel books, “Unexpected Italy” and “Unexpected France” ($25).

These are the magazine’s first books focusing on single destinations.

The richly illustrated books include insider accounts, recommendations from Travel + Leisure editors, maps, and practical information on hotels, restaurants, and activities.

“Unexpected France” includes chapters on “Biking Through Versailles,” “Glories of the Loire,” and a section on Aveyron, which the book describes as a “sparsely populated, often-overlooked” part of Southern France with beautiful landscapes, medieval villages and good food and lodging. Highlights of the area include the centuries-old pilgrims’ trail through France to the Pyrenees mountain passes crossing over into northwestern Spain, where medieval Christians hoped to find their salvation at the shrine of St. James in Santiago (Spanish for St. James) de Compostela.

“Unexpected Italy” includes chapters on wine, undiscovered islands, flavors of the Piedmont (truffles and the area’s signature bicerin drink - coffee, chocolate and cream), and top sights in Milan, including the refurbished La Scala auditorium.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Tags: , , , ,
0

Monday, February 25th, 2008

Backyard Landscaping No Comments

Author of #39;The French Connection#39; dies

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. –Robin Moore, the author of several books including “The French Connection” and “The Green Berets,” has died after a long illness. He was 82.

Moore died Tuesday night at a hospital in southwestern Kentucky, said Dennis Monroe with Lamb Funeral Home.

Moore once said that he moved to the small town in 2005 with his wife, Helen, because it borders Fort Campbell, a sprawling Army post on the Tennessee border that is headquarters to a Green Beret group.

Born Robert L. Moore Jr. on Oct. 31, 1925, in Massachusetts, he wrote his books under the name Robin Moore. Among his best known were “The Green Berets,” published in 1965 and “The French Connection,” published in 1969. He also helped write “The Happy Hooker,” which was published in 1972.

He co-wrote “The Ballad of the Green Berets,” which became the signature song of the Special Forces unit.

Maj. Gen. Gary L. Harrell, deputy commander of the Army’s Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, called Moore a “devoted advocate” for the Special Forces and said his writings became textbooks for the Army’s unconventional forces.

“They were both educational and inspirational and introduced the world to the Green Berets,” Harrell said in a statement posted Friday on an Army Special Forces Web site. “He will be missed.”

“The Green Berets” was written following Moore’s service as a civilian author alongside soldiers with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Vietnam.

“The French Connection,” about a New York drug bust, inspired a movie that won five Academy Awards in 1971 including best picture.

In 1986, Moore pleaded guilty to selling fraudulent literary tax shelters. The government charged that Moore published books and sold the royalty rights to promoters and investors at inflated prices based upon arbitrary and unrealistic values.

A complete list of Moore’s survivors wasn’t available Friday.

Tags: ,
0

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Landscaping Stone No Comments

Richard Ford is switching publishers

NEW YORK –Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Ford, whose books include “The Sportswriter” and “Independence Day,” has left longtime publisher Alfred A. Knopf and switched to Ecco, a literary imprint of HarperCollins.

“I am incredibly pleased and honored to have Richard Ford on the Ecco list,” Ecco publisher Daniel Halpern said Tuesday in a statement. “I have read his work for more than 30 years and believe he’s as fine a writer as we have in this country. If I had been asked which writer I’d like most to have at Ecco, Richard Ford would be at the top of that list.”

Ford, who turns 64 on Saturday, is best known for his trilogy of novels about ex-sportswriter Frank Bascombe: “The Sportswriter,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Independence Day” and “The Lay of the Land.” He has agreed to a three-book deal with Ecco, including two novels and a collection of short stories.

Ford’s literary agent, Amanda Urban, said that Ford had a “long and very rewarding relationship with Knopf, but that, regrettably, we couldn’t come to terms.” Ford, reached by The Associated Press at his home in Maine, declined comment, except to say that his years at Knopf had been “wonderful.” Knopf’s director of publicity, Paul Bogaards, said that it was Ford’s decision to leave.

“If the publishing association has been a good one, a long and fruitful one, the decision to leave is never an easy one to make,” Bogaards said.

“Richard is one of the most significant writers of our generation. He has a lot of friends here and everyone wishes him well. I think in a situation like this, he considered his options very carefully.”

Tags:
0

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

Landscaping Stone No Comments

Hijuelos plans new `Mambo King novel

NEW YORK –Oscar Hijuelos is writing a companion novel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love” and also plans a memoir that will include his encounters with musicians such as Ruben Blades and Lou Reed.

The two books were announced jointly Tuesday by Hyperion Books, which will publish the novel (”Beautiful Maria of My Soul”), and Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) that will release his memoir, “Thoughts Without Cigarettes.”

The son of Cuban immigrants, the 56-year-old Hijuelos became the first Hispanic to win the fiction Pulitzer when he was cited for “Mambo Kings,” which came out in 1990 and tells the story of musicians-brothers Nestor and Cesar Castillo. The novel, which imagines the Castillos making a guest appearance on “I Love Lucy,” has sold more than 300,000 copies and was made into a feature film and a musical.

“Beautiful Maria,” scheduled to come out in 2009, will focus on Nestor’s great love and inspiration of the Castillo’s most famous song, “Beautiful Maria of My Soul.

Hijuelos’ memoir is expected in 2010. His previous books include the novels “Our House in the Last World” and “Mr. Ives’ Christmas.”

Tags:
0

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Landscaping Stone No Comments

Music Metal with a message

As I Lay Dyings music is sometimes described as brutal death metal. Their album covers feature pictures of human skulls. And during tour dates they sometimes cross paths with bands known to have a fascination with Satan.

So it might be a surprise to hear that the guys from AILD sometimes sit around and talk about the Bible.

%26#8220;Well read certain chapters of the Bible and then kind of go over them for a half hour,%26#8221; said guitarist Phil Sgrosso from his home in San Diego.

Needless to say, not everything is as it appears in the world of metal music, which has splintered into more than two-dozen subgenres.

With its rapid-fire double bass drum beats, industrial guitar solos and punk-inspired vocals that sound a little like Cookie Monster with roid rage, the casual listener might never know that all five members of AILD are devout Christians. But their lyrics are spiritual in a subtle way. And the bands beliefs remain firm, regardless of whose path they cross.

%26#8220;We dont shove it down peoples throats,%26#8221; Sgrosso said. %26#8220;Were not a very preachy band. Were trying to lead by example and be a good influence to other people.%26#8221;

The Southern California group will bring more music than message to Downtown Brew on Tuesday.

The band has gained momentum since it formed in 2001, peaking this year with an album that reached No. 8 on Billboards Top 200 list and a Grammy nomination for best metal performance for their song %26#8220;Nothing Left.%26#8221; Meanwhile, their MySpace page has garnered more than 9 million views, their songs having been played 15 million times on the site.

But the band really knew it had made it big, Sgrosso said, when AILD got a bus.

%26#8220;Wed been in a van for so long, and now all of the sudden, you get a bus,%26#8221; he said. %26#8220;All of the huge bands that make it, theyre in a bus. So we were pretty stoked.%26#8221;

The band had experienced some success before, with their 2003 album%26#8220;Frail Words Collapse%26#8221; selling more than 200,000 copies. Appearances at Ozzfest and the Warped Tour helped build their audience so that their fourthrelease%26#8212; the current %26#8220;An Ocean Between Us%26#8221;%26#8212; was their biggest to date.

The bands lineup includes two original members%26#8212;vocalist Tim Lambesis and drummer Jordan Mancino %26#8212; and guitarist Nick Hipa, who joined the group in 2004.

Sgrosso had just started community college and was working at a pizza joint when he got the call to join the band in 2003. Two days later he was on a plane, having quit both school and his pizza gig. A week later he was performing with his new band.

%26#8220;Its worked out for me that I was able to join this band because I hate school,%26#8221; he said.

Four years later, hes headed for the Grammy Awards ceremony at Staples Center, where AILD will vie for the hardware with groups like Slayer and Machine Head.

Still elated to be nominated, Sgrosso hopes to meet Dave Grohl at the ceremony.

%26#8220;Im a huge Foo Fighters and Nirvana fan,%26#8221; he said.

While the band has had its success, it doesnt have the female groupies often associated with male rock bands.

%26#8220;Were a metal band, and the other bands on tour with us are usually metal,%26#8221; he said. %26#8220;Its definitely a very largely male audience.%26#8221;

The fans they have, though, are loyal and vocal. (They voted AILD Metal Gods on MTV2 in 2006.) And when you see a crowd of them, youre more than likely to see that hand sign featuring raised index and pinky fingers.

While some refer to the sign as devil horns, AILD %26#8212;whose favorite books include %26#8220;The Case for Faith%26#8221; and %26#8220;The Case for Christ%26#8221; %26#8212; prefers not to associate the sign with evil.

%26#8220;I think of them as metal horns,%26#8221; Sgrosso said.

Tags: , , ,
0

Sunday, January 6th, 2008

Landscaping Stone No Comments


website counter