Michael Greenslade

One of the advantages of being in an area for a long time. You get to remember buildings and businesses that are no longer in our towns. Having grown up in the East Bay I remember the area sometimes the way it was.

I for some reason I was having a moment of nostalgia. I was thinking about the chain of fast food burgers and chicken called RED BARN.

Castro Valley had one such outlet. One of the other RED BARNs I remember was near my uncle's house in Newark.

It got me onto a google and wikipedia search to find out what happened to RED BARN. I came across the following site. The site below tells the story of the rise and fall of the company. (did you know that it was once part of the Motel6 company)

http://barnbuster.net

Apparently there were many RED BARNs all over the United States and parts of Canada.

Their buildings were very destinctive large barn shaped buildings. The location in somecases downtown areas or in suburban strip malls added a bit of irony in architecture.

I have made a trip out to Castro Valley and photographed the RED BARN building. The Castro Valley outlet has been since turned into the Hof Brau restaurant.

<Castro Valley RED BARN>

I will add photos of the Newark RED BARN in a few days.

<photo coming soon>

Be sure that you enter everyday to increase your chances at winning. This year's contest grand prize is a 2,000,000.00 Dream Home in Sonoma wine growing region.

Go to

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-dream-home-2009-giveaway-enter/package/index.html

and bookmark the page!

Tell all your friends to enter too.

"If your looking for a home in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, give me a call! I would love to help you find your Dream Home"

Mike

As New Year's Day Rolls along, it becomes time to start submitting your daily entries int the HGTV Dream Home 2009 Contest.

I will try to remember to add links at the bottom of all my blog postings until contest ends. I hope that all other Active Rain Bloggers also provide a link to the contest at the end of each of their blogs as well.

I am excited about the Dream Home contest this year. it's on the outskirts of the San Francisco Bay Area in the wine country in the town of Sonoma. Many of the past Dream Homes have been located in the State of Florida. One of the Dream Homes was in Colorado in a Ski in and Ski out location.

Here is a link to the contest page from the HGTV website. Since this posting is before the New Year's Day launch of the contest, the page with the actual contest entry is not activated yet. I am sure that after January 1st this page will contain a link for you to fill out your information.

http://www.hgtv.com/dream-home/kitchen-hgtv-dream-home-tour-2009/index.html

Good Luck to you all. Remember to bookmark the contest page and enter daily for more chances to win.

If you win and you read about it from my page let me know.

In Oakland if you travel along, let's say Fruitvale Avenue you will come across the cross streets East 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and so on.

When you get to what should be East 14th Street you will notice International Boulevard. East 14th was renamed to reflect the political correctness movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. International Boulevard was thought to better reflect the different neighborhoods the street past through.

So Viola, East 14th Street became International Boulevard. Did this move increase business along the corridor? Just by looking at the vacant businesses up and down International Boulevard, my guess is that the name change did absolutely nothing except spend millions of dollars of city and private money to change all the addresses of the businesses and residences along the entire route.

At the San Leandro city limit when you cross over Durant Avenue, the name East 14th remains and stays strong and vibrant until you get the the San Lorenzo - Hayward borders. East 14th Street then becomes Mission Boulevard through parts of San Lorenzo, Hayward, Union City and into Fremont.

It's quite ironic and I find extremely funny, is that the city that has all the East 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and so on streets does not have the East 14th anymore and the city that never had the East 1-2-3s retains their East 14th Street.

San Leandro does retain some of the numbered Avenue Streets. 138th Avenue near San Leando high school is one of the recognizable streets. 150th Avenue that goes into the Bayfair Mall area is also a better known numbered street. 164th Avenue is an exit off of Interstate 580. The last of the numbered streets is 173rd Avenue is tucked up against Interstate 238 at the San Lorenzo - San Leandro - unincorporated Ashland district.

San Leandro has a weird naming convention near the Marina District and Mulford Gardens. The numbered Streets are preceded by a West or W then the Avenue designation comes in, so in that part of town you will have some W Ave 133rd, W Ave 134th, and so on.

So like the song "Istanbul not Constantinople" goes

Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul...

The same can be said for East 14th

Every gal on East 14th Street
Lives on International Boulevard, not East 14th Street
So if you've a date on East 14th Street
She'll be waiting on International Boulevard...

"Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way"

So If you're looking for East 14th Street just come to San Leandro we still have ours!

I am considering doing a coffee table book of lesser photographed views of historic mansions. The servant's entrances so to speak. The entrances most of us would have had to enter these historic properties from.

Here are some views from the rear side of the Dunsmuir - Hellman Historic Estate in Oakland California. This property is located 20 houses away from my home at the San Leandro - Oakland border.

This property was used in several movies.

• Burnt Offerings (Bette Davis, Karen Black, Burgess Merideth, Oliver Reed)
• A View to A Kill (Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts)
• So I Married an Axe Murderer (Mike Meyers, Nancy Travers)
• Phantasm
• Gloria (Sharon Stone)
• True Crimes (Clint Eastwood)

And now for the view everyone has been familar with The front view as seen from the Northern estate entrance

If you're looking to get into the beautiful East Bay, give me a call! I'd be happy to help you find your dream home.