From a late night glass of wine to your morning mocha, the new Prism Cafe offers a cozy new spot in the Lake Merritt / Park Blvd. neighborhood (a few doors down from the Parkway Theatre).

Prism Cafe is what you get when you mix a former jazz club owner (Thomas Campbell) with a former cafe owner (Amy Corbin).

These two creative entrepreneurs moved into the neighborhood and soon noticed that its diverse and creative residents needed a community-oriented cafe. They’ve been open for almost two months and already have a bunch of regulars.

Food - Cornmeal crust and wheat-free pizzas, organic soups and salads, panini sandwiches, and an array of tasty pastries and desserts. One of their sandwiches - the “Amandanator,” was named in honor of their founding chef.

Drink - Drinks include microbrew beers, wine, sake, coffees and fair trade hot chocolates, mochas, coffees, and teas.

Fun Stuff - Wireless Internet, and soon, live performances several nights a week–including jazz, bluegrass, acoustic tunes, spoken word and screenings of film shorts!

Community & Green - Amy feels that the cafe offers a place to share their values and to educate people through the choices they make. The art you see on the walls of Prism Cafe is from local artists, often from right in the neighborhood. The cafe focuses on local, organic and fair trade food and drink, such as Numi Teas, Rubicon bakery breads, and McLaughlin coffee. They’ve implemented all the necessary steps to be a certified Alameda County Green Business, and should be official soon. Happily, they found that local residents truly support these sustainable practices and products. View more pics of Prism Cafe here!

1918 Park Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 251-1453
www.prismcafe.com

Hours:
Monday-Thursday 6:30 am - 10 pm
Friday 6:30 am - midnight
Saturday 8 am - midnight
Sunday 8 am - 10 pm

We know you cringe at the thought of buying from a wedding gift registry - it’s just not unique or personal enough for you. We understand your dilemma and want to help.

Xiaojie (Jane) Zheng creates one-of-a-kind portraits that ensure your gift will be remembered long after the bride forgets who gave her the fourth toaster.

At an early age, Xiaojie realized her passion for art and shared it with young people through teaching. When she relocated from Wenzhou, China to the United States, the language barrier prevented Xiaojie from teaching immediately. About the same time, she created a portrait of two friends from a photo as a wedding gift. When the friends raved about the painting, Xiaojie realized she could turn her hobby into a business.

These days Xiaojie’s talents are being put to use in a variety of projects in Oakland. She has a thriving portrait business. (Recently, the Oakland Police Officers Association commissioned nine portraits from Xiaojie of their past presidents); she teaches painting to kids of all ages and all levels in her Oakland studio (She holds group lessons from 6 years to 60 years old in the same room focused on sketching, drawing and painting using a range of materials); and she is also a fine art painter and graphic designer (Her products include logos, namecards, postcards and bags for commercial clients).

All of this has been made possible by Xiaojie’s determination and some help from C.E.O. Women, an Oakland organization that helps immigrant women learn English while gaining the skills to start a business. Xiaojie credits C.E.O. Women for providing her with the confidence she needed to start her own business.

Let Xiaojie’s story inspire you to make your dreams happen…and let her create a one-of-a-kind gift for someone special in your life.

1730 Franklin Street, Oakland
(925) 998.6666
http://www.NewEraArt.com
Xiaojie@NewEraArt.com

We know the big chains love doing it, but we’re not above a little brainwashing! However, we do it in support of our communities and healthier lives for everyone. So pardon us if we get a little repetitive, but this time we thought we’d use some graphics to illustrate how shopping locally-owned helps keep money recycling through our communities. Oakland artist Dave Cherry drew us these fabulous graphics that illustrate how it works:

Your dollar spent at a locally-owned store.
You spend a dollar at local shop. This local shop spends it at a local printer, credit union, or other business. Then, these local businesses spend it at other local shops. Your dollar will circulate several times, helping to creating a vibrant community.

Your dollar spent at a chain store.
You spend a dollar at a chain store. The chain sends it back to headquarters and to their lawyers, marketing execs, and corporate partners. Your dollar has very little impact on the local community.

Book Signing for Grub: Ideas for an Urban, Organic Kitchen

Meet two dynamic, inspiring activist authors and grab a signed copy of Grub! According to reviews, authors Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry will enlighten us in the ways to live healthier and more ethically by consciously choosing our foods, our cooking methods, and our company. Sounds perfect to us! We love the idea of taking the “eat, drink and be merry” concept to a wholistic new level. Read a blurb about the book in this month’s Oakland Magazine (pdf).

April 10
Diesel Books
5433 College Ave.
7:30pm
www.eatgrub.org

Why Settle for a Chain Link Fence When You Can Have This?

This colorful idea for a gate is just one of the amazing works that students at McClymonds High School are creating. The students can choose from 8 different programs to explore their creative talents, and the media range from photography to painting to metalsmithing and more. This month, thanks to Oakland’s Cultural Arts and Marketing Division, you can see their pieces and hear these young artists speak about their work!
Artists’ Talk
Thursday, April 20th 5:30-7pm

View the Exhibit
March 13 - April 28
Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery
State of California Office Building
1515 Clay Street-Atrium
Monday - Friday, 10am – 5pm
Free

Suggest a business or artist to be profiled in our newsletter (including yourself)!

It takes a car enthusiast or a true artist to see the beauty in automobile paint. Amana Brembry Johnson is definitely the latter. Her stone sculptures have created a stir in Oakland and beyond for more than a decade. Her latest work combines stone with the unlikely materials of styrofoam, fiberglass, auto paint, and crushed glass to create sculptures of absolute beauty and awe.

Amana is generous with her gift. She teaches eight-week sessions of stone sculpture classes in her studio for beginning, intermediate and advanced students. The next classes begin March 18th, so sign up now!

5495 Fairfax Avenue, Oakland
(510) 532-5904
http://www.StoneDreamStudios.com/
stonedream21@hotmail.com

“Check the Ingredients.”

Important advice from Ruth Villasenor, who owns and operates Paws and Claws - A Natural Pet Food Store and Bathhouse with partner Diane Pfile. The store, which opened in 2004, was inspired by Ruth and Diane’s long educational search for information about natural, homeopathic treatments and diets for their dog Angel, who was diagnosed with cancer. (Three years later Angel is doing well, hanging out in the store with her family! See her pic here.)

Products - Their store has an amazing variety of healthy pet products, including organic foods and treats, raw food items, natural shampoos and lotions, eco-friendly kitty litter, biodegradable “Number 2″ baggies, and much more. The prices are great, and as one customer mentioned, their goods are often cheaper than what you’d pay at a chain store. Check out our photo gallery of the store & products.

Community Activities - A short conversation with Ruth reveals the owners’ commitment to social justice, community revitalization, and the arts. The store has become an institution in the Dimond neighborhood, and attracts clients from throughout the city and the Bay Area. On a given night, you might find the store’s enclosed back patio full of people and pets singing karaoke while raising money for local rescue operations or the orphaned pets of Katrina. When they’re not enjoying the night air and the sounds of Sausal Creek, Diane and Ruth are probably out running educational programs on pet safety, helping out a fellow store owner, or hosting an art opening inside their store. In fact, stop by tomorrow, March 10, between 6 and 8 pm to see the delightful custom pet portraits of local artist Amy Jo Karn and meet her in person.

Special thanks to the Oakland Unwrapped! reader who suggested we profile Paws and Claws. We are so inspired by this dynamic duo. They truly embody the best of what locally-owned stores are all about. Active in the community, responsive to customer needs, passionate and knowledgable about their work, and sensitive to our health and environment. When Ruth tells her customers to check the scary ingredients on some of the pet food labels they have at home, it’s because she cares. And she can help you find healthier alternatives.

Read customer reviews on Yelp!

2023 MacArthur Blvd., 510.336.0105, info@pawsnclawsoakland.com, http://www.pawsnclawsoakland.com

Hours: Tues-Thurs 10am-7pm, Fri & Sat 9am - 6pm, Sunday 12pm - 5pm, (Closed Monday)

Over the past 120 million years, orchids learned to grow in virtually any climate, and any type of physical geography. Any geography that is, except your dining room table.

Janine Macbeth pays tribute to this heroic, mysterious flowering plant in her first solo show “Orchid: Paintings on canvas and wood�?, on display at the Edward Jones Investment Office, at 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 155, through March 30th.

Janine also has a flair for people in her artwork – she enjoys using portraiture to reflect the stories people carry. She uses oil on canvas or wood and pen and ink to create portraits and orchid paintings on commission. Forget about trying to nurse your ailing plant back to health and bring home an original Janine Macbeth instead!

Current Exhibition
Edward Jones Investment Office
300 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 155
Through March 30th

(510) 333-7461
http://www.j9macbeth.com
j9macbeth@yahoo.com

How about adding over $1 billion dollars to the Oakland economy each year? According to a December 2005 Oakland City Council report, Oaklanders spend about $1 BILLION dollars outside the city each year to purchase retail goods and entertainment. This is consistent with previous estimates generated by Oakland Unwrapped! Start spending locally, and we’ll have a lot more money in the city for parks, police, youth programs and more.

AND it gets better. If you spent these dollars with LOCALLY-OWNED businesses (aka not chains), the money will circulate in the community approximately 3 TIMES LONGER, supporting many MORE JOBS and significantly contributing to the revitalization of our city. Learn more about this multiplier phenomenon here.

Many people think there aren’t places to shop in Oakland, but we’re here to show you otherwise. Oakland has over 40 business districts and lots of creative artists and home-based businesses providing way more interesting stuff than you find at chain stores. So the next time you shop, stop and think about which locally-owned Oakland stores have the items you need. Use our Shopping Hotspot archives or ShopOakland.com to help you find the right place. Don’t forget, you can always call and ask the owner if they have what you need. Eventually, shopping locally-owned will become second-nature to you. Trust me, I made the switch.