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In the Mix

Santa's Little Helpers

By Laura Novak
Photography by Aaron Olson

Every December for the past 16 years, Tom Collins and Cornell Maier have made a spectacle of themselves. The scene typically takes place at a Toys “R” Us, as Maier, 81, tears his way through the aisles with Collins, his wife and two sons following close behind, stuffing shopping carts full with toys, games and art supplies.
“It would take us less than an hour to fill up six or seven carts between all of us,” Collins laughs. “The store staff always thought my kids were the most spoiled, because they thought they were for them and didn’t realize the gifts were for the children at Children’s Hospital.”
    But even as little boys, Kramer and Parker Collins, now in their 20s, knew that these gifts were special, precisely because they weren’t for them. Instead, the hundreds of gifts are intended to enrich the lives of sick kids who won’t be home for the holidays. Unbeknownst to most people at Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland, this stealth team has been filling the playrooms every holiday season with everything from infant mobiles to Monopoly games, things the patients need but the staff can’t afford.
    Collins is in a perfect position to know what’s needed at the pediatric hospital. He has been working as a senior child life specialist for 26 years, helping patients and their families prepare emotionally for surgery. Ten years into his career, Collins met Maier, who upon retiring as chairman and chief executive officer of Kaiser Aluminum, decided to volunteer at the hospital. The idea of supplementing the hospital’s toy supply came to Maier after he made his first large donation.
    “They have a school program at the hospital, and they didn’t have any computers, and so I decided to buy a computer. And if I’m buying for the school program, I better buy for other kids,” says Maier, who spends roughly $2,000 of his own money on presents each year. “So, I invited Tom and his wife and kids to join me.”
The shopping spree is now deeply woven into the fabric of the Collins’ family holiday routine. As the Collins boys grew older, they even requested the event fit into their school vacation. “As a grandfatherly type person, Cornell has been a real role model,” Collins says. “They both look forward to it every year.”
    As does Maier who, as a self-described old-fashioned bachelor, has found his own family ritual in these annual jaunts. “You always get more back than you give, so I get a lot giving,” Maier adds. “I do it because it’s good for Children’s Hospital.”

A Little Book Goes a Long Way

As an animator and storyboard artist for Pixar animation studios in Emeryville, Sanjay Patel was pleased to see his young nephew’s room covered with images of cartoon classics such as Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh. But he felt something was missing.
    “All that stuff is great,” says Patel, 32, an Oakland resident whose credits include hit TV shows like The Simpsons. “But I thought it would be cool for him to have something from our culture.” Since there was a lack of media depicting Indian traditions in a fun and positive way, Patel decided to use his artistic skills to create some of his own.
    What started out as a simple poster depicting Hindu deities became a coloring book, which, before long, evolved into an entire book featuring 50 full-color illustrations of figures from Hindu mythology. The Little Book of Hindu Deities hits stores this month.
    But it isn’t just children who enjoy learning why Krishna is called the butter thief (he was caught with his hand in the butter jar) or Ganesha now has an elephant’s head (his father cut off the original one). The images Patel creates seem to capture the imaginations of all age groups and have become popular online and with co-workers at Pixar, many of whom persuaded the first-time author to publish his illustratons.
    “For people who don’t know a lot about this stuff, this book is like an appetizer,” Patel says. “Eastern culture is integrating into America and becoming more accessible. There is more to us than people realize, and it is fantastic that people are getting it.”
Grab your copy of The Little Book of Hindu Deities: From the Goddess of Wealth to the Sacred Cow (Plume, December 2006, 144 pp., $14) at local bookstores or visit
www.gheehappy.com for more information.        
                                                                                                                                                 —Daniel Jewett

oakland made

SOLE MATES

The only pursuit more frustrating than the search for a soul mate is the quest for cute, comfy soles. Oakland style arbiter Alexandra Silverman managed to find both in the same man. In 2002, she and hubby Chris Silverman decided to pursue their joint passion, opening Twenty Two Shoes on College Avenue. “When we were single, Alex always looked at my shoes,” Chris recalls. “When we met, I was wearing a cool pair of Pumas, so I guess I passed her test.”
    The two were business partners before exchanging vows. After meeting in 1995, Alex, a FIDM grad who had been a designer at Jessica McClintock, and Chris, a partner in the urban streetwear manufacturer X-Large, launched the co-ed clothing company Silver Man and Silver Woman. They married in 1998 and settled down in Oakland, where they stumbled upon the vacant space that inspired their “Aha!” moment. “We said, ‘This looks like a shoe store!’ ” says Chris. “We knew that if we didn’t do it, someone else would.”
    And so, Twenty Two was born. “Twenty-two Romano was our first address in Oakland, our daughter’s shoe size is a European 22 and Alex’s birthday is on the 22nd,” Chris explains. “The name doesn’t pigeonhole us. We know at some point we’ll want to branch out and create furniture, clothing and other accessories.”
    The Rockridge shop stocks men’s and women’s collections from luxury lines like Loeffler Randall and Marc Jacobs, but it’s the Twenty Two brand that’s really special. Each shoe begins as a sketch in the couple’s in-store studio loft and is brought to life by craftsman in Italy. “Inspiration comes from architecture or an era,” Alex says of their designs, which are carried in more than 50 locations nationwide and at Studio A, one of the chicest showrooms in Paris.
    Find your sole mate at Twenty Two Shoes, 5856 College Avenue, (510) 594-2201, www.twentytwoshoes.com.     
                                                                                                                                           —Stephanie Simons

IN THE SCENE

Taking It Easy

The name of one of Oakland’s newest—and chicest—bars has a twofold meaning for one of the owners. To Kolin Better, 34, the lounge’s moniker and industrial design harkens back to years spent in New Orleans, the Big Easy. But the name also is a nod to what San Francisco refugees like himself dubbed the “Easy Bay” when they moved east, away from the hustle of city life.
    Things indeed are laid back at Easy Lounge, which opened in June to provide Oakland scenesters with a sophisticated experience without the attitude too easily found in classy San Francisco speakeasies. Since arriving on the scene, Easy has attracted a diverse crowd—mixed in age and race—with DJs spinning every night of the week, a small, smoker-friendly back patio and thoughtful wine choices available by the glass. Better says the wide array of thirsty patrons surprised him. “I didn’t think we’d have so many people from so many walks of life.”
    In addition to Better, four partners have a stake in the bar: Patrick Bay, Moe Delfani, Majid Sadeghi and Tim Tolle, who is involved in the operations of fellow Oakland hipster haunts Radio and the Ruby Room. The owners aim to cultivate a welcoming vibe, something that started with leaving the front door open during remodeling to allow curious passersby to pop in. “We really like to encourage people to come to talk to us, to get ideas of what they want and would like to see at the bar,” says Delfani, 45. “We are here to listen.”
    Above all else, the owners hope the lounge raises the bar for local nightlife. “I don’t want [people] to feel they have to go into San Francisco to get [an upscale] experience,” Better says. “[Oakland’s] almost to the point where there is no excuse not to stay here.”
    Try taking it easy at Easy Lounge, 3255 Lakeshore Ave., (510) 338-4911.
                                                                                                                                                   —Megan Long

 

East Bay Shopping

Whether your list skews naughty or nice, we have great holiday gifts ideas to match any budget, all found in your own backyard.

79¢
Treat your favorite dreidel spinners to a golden bag of Hanukkah gelt from Saul’s Restaurant & Deli in Berkeley. For $15, you can buy an entire treasure chest of the chocolate coins.

$4.75
Dreaming of sugarplums can leave you with a tummy ache. Stuff a stocking with peppermint Tums—they’re like candy canes with healing power! Buy a 150-count bottle from Kaiser Pharmacy.

$16
Sending holiday cards and thank-you notes is a must, so make sure your friends and family do it in style with candy cane or Christmas tree stationery from Carrot & Stick Press.

$20
We couldn’t resist a shameless plug—for a subscription to Oakland Magazine. We sure can’t think of anyone who should go without it …

$33.75
The melt-in-your-mouth holiday butter cookies from Neldam’s Bakery come in an array of thematic boxes and baskets, but we love the two-and-a-half-pound tray of sugary splendor the most.

$50
Give that stressed-out holiday party planner a package of four classes at the Piedmont Yoga Studio. Under the training of founder Rodney Yee, anyone can find the path to inner peace.

$180
All they want for Christmas is their gold-front teeth. Purchase a set of gilded teeth from JC Jewelry in downtown Oakland. For additional sparkle this season, deck those grillz with holiday bling for $10 per tooth.

$500
The cost of a behemoth red bow at Coliseum Lexus. Oh, did we forget to mention that you can purchase an environmentally friendly RX Hybrid SUV to match for a mere $51,761?
                                                                                                                                                       —Erin Rech

thenewmillennium

Oakland Public Library’s services are now available at the click of a mouse. Thanks to funds from voter-supported Measure Q, the Millennium system, a brand-new online catalog, replaced the library’s 16-year-old network in October, offering readers the opportunity to do the majority of their book-related business from home.
    With access to any standard Web browser, library users can now manage their accounts, conduct preferred catalog searches, view hold items and read book reviews, publishers’ summaries and tables of content. The new catalog also allows access to more than five million items from nearly 50 public and academic libraries that are part of the Millennium’s LINK+ system.
    “We believe that these improvements will attract more users and bring the Oakland Library more fully into the 21st century with this technology,” says Kathleen Hirooka, community relations coordinator for the library.
    To experience the upgrade for yourself, visit www.oaklandlibrary.org.
                                                                                                                                           —Margaret Murray

dialogues

Carol Corrigan
State Supreme Court Justice

By Ginny Prior
Photography by Craig Merrill

At 57, her resume reads like a book of Who’s Who. But State Supreme Court Justice Carol Corrigan is as down to earth as anyone. The Rockridge resident weighs in on some less-than-lofty matters as she shares her insight on TV lawyers, politics and surviving Catholic school.
    I’m trying to picture your house in Oakland. I imagine a cavernous library with dark wood walls full of legal books and one of those rolling ladders on wheels.
    That would be dangerous. I actually had one of those when I was on the Court of Appeals because you need a lot of books to do that job. But I don’t have one at home. I do have a pretty good book collection, though. My mother was a librarian, and my father was in the newspaper business, so the written word in our house was sacred.
    Your dad was with the Stockton Record. Did he ever try to talk you into going into the newspaper business?
    I was the first in my family to go to college. I think my parents were just thrilled that I was aimed at gainful employment.
    You went to Holy Names College in the early ’70s when it was an all-girl’s Catholic school. Was that a pretty wild place?
    I wouldn’t say Holy Names was a wild school, but we were wild by Holy Names’ standards. It was the anti-war period, and it was a very exciting time to be on a college campus. The poor nuns. When we got there all the rules were very much in place, and we were told, “Don’t forget, when you come, you need to bring a pair of white gloves for the teas we will be having.” By the time we left, they were thrilled if we just came to dinner clothed.
    Your politics seem to be an evolution of sorts: You started out as a Democrat and then switched to the Republican Party in the early 1990s. Now you call yourself a centrist. Did you have a life-changing moment?
    I was a middle-of-the-road Democrat, and now I think I’m a middle-of-the-road Republican. I don’t think that I switched so much as the parties around me switched.
    Were you really surprised when you got the appointment to the California Supreme Court?
    Oh, yeah. I think if you’re not really surprised, then your ego is too big. And there’s a lot of stuff that happens before you get the call—it’s a very long process.
    So who do you identify with more—the lawyers on Boston Legal or those old chestnuts like Matlock or Perry Mason?
    That’s a great question. I love Boston Legal. I really like TV shows with snappy dialogue, and each of those characters is so wonderfully drawn. But trying a case—it’s a very creative process and a fascinating one, so Perry Mason was interesting to me, too.
    But would you date Denny Crane?
    Geez, I hope not. But I love the scene at the end where he and the other guy are sitting out on the veranda smoking their cigars and recounting their day.