Go get your free ice cream cone at Haagen Daz in downtown Walnut Creek next to Macy’s. This is for today only, until 8pm.
Go get your free ice cream cone at Haagen Daz in downtown Walnut Creek next to Macy’s. This is for today only, until 8pm.
Back in March I pointed out the bizarre bathroom situation at the newly remodeled Peet’s Coffee shop in downtown Walnut Creek. I recently had a chance to revisit, and am slightly amused that although the same bathroom lock is in place, the instructions are gone. If you look closely at the photo, there is just a red arrow pointing left. What this means is, to lock, do nothing. To open, turn left. Obvious, right?
I spoke to an employee there who laughed when I asked him about it. He said they’ve had “nothing but complaints” about it, and that “corporate is aware of the situation”. I wonder if anything will be done about this. Note that I think the token usage is reasonable. It’s the door locking mechanism that I find bizarre.
From a Walnut Creek Police press release:
On 5/8/12, at 1:53 am, Walnut Creek Police stopped a white van for a vehicle code violation on N. Main Street at Penniman. The officer quickly learned the vehicle had been reported stolen from Mill Valley in an armed robbery on May 4th. Other officers responded and the driver (later identified as Jorge Estrada) was arrested. During the arrest an officer found a loaded firearm on Estrada, narcotics and stolen property related to other robberies and carjacking in Mill Valley.
Estrada was transported to Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office Martinez Detention Facility and is being held on $165,000 bail.
Anyone with information regarding the Mill Valley cases is encouraged to contact Detective Sergeant Paul Wrapp at (415)389-4100.
I’ve been meaning to switch the header of this blog to something more appropriate for all of Walnut Creek and surrounding areas, and while browsing Flickr I found a great shot of Mt. Diablo taken from Walnut Creek. The photographer, Dave Brinda, graciously gave me permission to use it for the new header. He’s an amazing photographer so check out his other photos if you have a chance.
Since I also began focusing on Lafayette I decided to add that to the tagline as well. I was thinking of using Lamorinda instead since I also focus on Orinda and Moraga, but I feel Lafayette deserves to be represented as a standalone city.
I still love the design of the Neiman Marcus building, check out the previous headers below:
As always, any suggestions for improving the header, tagline or anything else are always appreciated.
Progress at the Sprouts Market Shopping Center, located at Geary Rd. and N. Main St. in Walnut Creek, is coming along nicely and is scheduled to be completed sometime this summer. Sprouts is a supermarket mostly in Southern California with a couple of branches in the Bay Area, the nearest one being in Dublin.
The inaugural stores at the center will be:
Has anyone tried the food at Freebirds? How does it compare to Chipotle? Based on the popularity of the Walnut Creek Habit restaurant, it’s not surprising they decided to open up another one.
On a side note, if anyone has information on new restaurants or stores opening up in Walnut Creek, please send me an email to tips(at)beyondthecreek.com I’m usually downtown, but I’d like to know what else is opening up around town.
We Olive Walnut Creek is offering a cooking class on Pickling, Preserving and Curing this Wed. May 9th from 6pm – 7:30ish:
Few of us know yet the beauty of perserving our foods. It is a tradition and technique that we have been living off of for thousands of years. Take this journey with us as we learn about Salt Curing, Pickling with amazing Vinegars and Perserving our fruits of the summer.
Tickets are $30 and can be reserved by calling 925-280-4574.
Plumeria Flours, a “cookies and confections” store located on busy Newell Ave. in Walnut Creek, is “inspired by the flavors of the Hawaiian Islands”, and makes handmade desserts like, “Chocolate Covered Fleur De Sel Hibiscus Flower Caramel“, “Popcorn Seaweed Caramel – ‘Humuhumunukunukuapua’a’” and “Chocolate & Pop Rocks with Cayenne Powder: WRATH OF PELE“. You can check out the rest of their store-pickup specials here.
Although located on Newell Ave, you may not have noticed it before. That’s because it’s located BEHIND the strip mall where George’s Giant Hamburgers and Pacific Bay Coffee are. In addition they are open for in-store pickup ONLY. They do sell at farmers markets and other events around the bay area; check out their schedule (at right) here. Just yesterday they were at the Celebrate Mama event in Walnut Creek. Did anyone have a chance to try their products?
I’m going to go on record saying that I definitely want to try these confections! It’s too bad they aren’t open normally as there is a nice plaza in the back of the mall with benches which would be the perfect place to munch on a chocolate covered Aloha Lei Oreo cookie.
Plumeria Flours is located at 1463 Newell Ave. in Walnut Creek.
Spotted in the back of the David M. Brian store, next to Crate and Barrel, in downtown Walnut Creek. Check out window washer at right, that’s classic.
From a Walnut Creek Police department press release:
Date / Time Occurred: Monday, 05/07/11 @ 0020 hours
Location: Residence on Countrywood Drive, Walnut Creek
Crime Description / Code: Home Invasion Robbery/211 PC
Suspect(s): Hispanic male, early 30’s, thin build
Hispanic male, early 30’s, large/heavy build
Hispanic female, mid to late 20’s, medium build
Hispanic/White female, mid 30’s, thin buildOn 05/07/12 at 0034 hours, WCPD Officers responded to a report of an in progress residential home invasion burglary/robbery.
At about 0020 hours, two females entered the backyard of the victims’ house, contacted a resident, and asked to use the phone. When the resident turned around to get the phone, the two females and two other males who were initially out of sight, entered the house without permission. At least one of the suspects was armed with a handgun. All of the residents were contacted at gun point and ordered to lie on the floor. The suspects then ransacked the house looking for property. The suspects then exited the residence through the garage, loaded the stolen items into a vehicle and fled the scene.
No one was injured as a result of this robbery.
Anyone with further information is encouraged to contact Walnut Creek Police Officer Bruce Jower or Detective Scott Moorhouse at (925) 943-5844.
OI-C Bowl used to be located in a smaller space across the street, while my beloved Crepevine was here, but alas, times change and a few years ago OI-C Bowl moved to 1616 N. Main St. where it’s one of the few Chinese restaurants in downtown Walnut Creek, Dragon’s Pond, Modern China Cafe, and, if it can be considered, P.F. Chang’s being the others.
You can see their menus here. Any fans of this place? What are the best items to order?