Take over Robberies In Oakland, Hayward,Ca

August 26, 2008. The Bay area is going throuh a rash of take-over style robbers these past months and it's getting worse.

Reward increased to $50,000 for capture of Oakland takeover robbers
Employees at two businesses pistol-whipped by bandits on Sunday
By Sean Maher, Oakland Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/25/2008 03:58:04 PM PDT

OAKLAND - As takeover robberies in Oakland turn violent, police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland have increased the size of a cash reward for capture of the bandits.
Police are not certain if the recent robberies are connected, but Crime Stoppers and police will pay up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the robbers. Anyone with information can call police .... to read more click here

A takeover robbery at a Castro Valley restaurant Thursday night left employees and patrons shaken as police investigate whether the incident is related to a string of takeover robberies in the East Bay. Castro Valley takeover.

People, please be cautious when visiting restaurants anyplace in Bay Area. It's getting bad out there. Happening all over the place. Looks like there are a number of 'copy cats' out there. When you go to a restaurant, please bring a minimum of ACTUAL CASH and remain aware of your surroundings. Try to insist that "the owners' keep the doors locked!

Sunday at Infineon

We had no events this weekend as it was time for a long-needed rest and a Sunday at Infineon. We left Hayward around 8:30 and headed up Highway 880 to 80, exiting at Tennessee Ave. in Vallejo. We have found that you encounter much less traffic cutting through Mare Island instead of exiting farther north onto Highway 37. By doing this, you can jump ahead of a lot of the traffic heading over to Infineon.

When we were half-ways down Tennessee, I looked over at my boy and asked him the magic question...'do you have the tickets?' He said "no, I thought you had them." Oh gosh, so we had to turn around and head back home 35 miles to pick them up. Finally, after getting back on the road, we arrived at the race track around noontime. Actually, we ended up with a better parking spot than we would have if we would have arrived earlier A bit less walking and less sitting around waiting for the race to begin.

Our seats were located at Turn 7, on the northmost part of the track. Had to walk up about 30 rows to our seat, but it was a good location where you could see about 2/3 of the track and it was just a short walk to the toilets and food.

The race began around 3:00 and ended just before 5:00. Helio Castroneves was the winner. Danica Patrick came in 5th. It was a very clean race and there was just a couple yellow flags popping up, but just for a few seconds as cars spun out and were able to turn back around. You usually see a lot of fender bender, side swiping action from Turn 7.

After the race was over, I was surprised to be forced to go out the 'back way' which zig-zagged through the hills and ended up farther west on Highway 37. I guess that they had closed down a portion of that highway, west of Infineon because the closed both lanes due to an accident. However, when we made it to the junction, traffic was crawling along in the east direction. So, we decided that it might be quicker to go west to Highway 101 and take the San Rafael bridge. However, it turned out to be very slow, as we encountered 10 miles of 'Sunday' traffic. Can't win.

Upcoming events

Over Labor Day weekend (Aug 30-31 Sep ) we will be at Casa de Fruta in Hollister for the Arts and Crafts Fair. This is located on Highway 152, about 15 miles west of Highway 101 in Gilroy. On the following weekend, Sept 6-7, we shall be at the Pittsburg Seafood Festival. This will be our first time at the event.
(the following excerpt is from their website)

Great Family Fun Weekend!
It’s that time! Once again, the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for the 24th Annual Pittsburg Seafood Festival at the Marina in Old Town Pittsburg.
Saturday, September 6, 2008: 10 AM to 7 PM
Sunday, September 7, 2008: 10 AM to 6 PM
General Admission is $7; kids under 6 are free with a paying adult

Gates close 30 minutes prior to the close of the Festival!
This year’s theme is "It’s a big party with fish"

Attractions are:
Air Show Delta Thunder Power Boat Races Art Shows
Arts & Crafts Exposition Wine Pavilion Sports Pavilion
California Zinfandel Championship & Gourmet Dinner Displays
Great Seafood. Over 40 restaurants Kid’s Play land and Petting Zoo
Delta Idol Singing Competition Continuous Live Entertainment on 3 Stages

Mini-reviews of some 2008 events

Check out our mini-reviews of numerous events we participated in during this year. Included in this group are the Apricot Fiesta in Patterson, Ceres Street Fair, Marina International Fesival of Winds, Clovis Big Hat Days, Casa de Fruta in Hollister, Los Banos Street Fair, Hercules Cultural Festival, Cambria A&C Show, and Millers-Y in South Lake Tahoe.

Starving Vendors Mini-Review of Events

For other longer versions of review, please go to the Starving Vendors website and check events/reviews.

Eliminating Travels

There weren't too many vendors that traveled very far to the Hayward Zucchini Festival and I don't blame them.

And we are joining the crowd by eliminating distant shows in order to maximize profits and minimize expenses. We will not be doing the Morro Bay Harbor Festival in early October and Clovisfest in late September. For many years, we have been participating in these events. We have really enjoyed our trips to Morro Bay while spending the weekend there in a Motel. We always went over to Giovanni's along the wharf area and had some of their fish and chips...actually I always got the Halibut and Chips, which were the best I have ever eaten.

There's quite a bit of overhead involved in doing the Harbor Festival...$350 for a booth space, $160 for a motel (2 nights) and another $100 for gas. So, that's over $600 right off the bat. Shows have been slow and vendors are not guaranteed making great sums of money at any show and we realize that our net profit for this event would be quite low. We decided to forgo the Festival and do a local Flea Market on Saturday. Never thought I'd be doing Flea Markets, but have to cut costs somehow and it looks like the net profit from one day would be close to what would be made at the Festival. Same for Clovisfest, which is also an expensive show to do and I wouldn't expect to make a lot of money there....and the same would be for a huge majority of vendors. So, we will do the DeAnza College Flea Market the first Saturday of October and the Chabot College Flea Market on the third Saturday of September.

Also, in order to cut travel costs, we are combining a number of shows in January and February into one 5-week trip, doing events in Yuma, Tyson Wells and Kernville. We have also phased out the Lake Havasu Winterfest, which is in early February .and have found that people there were just not spending money...just out for a stroll. It was a nice event for us, but like so many vendors are doing, we need to cut back on our traveling road shows!!!

In most of the shows/events, we will probably see perhaps 20-30 percent fewer booths, which were probably filled in the past by out of town vendors. If the economy continues and the wrong person becomes president, we can see things getting really bad, etc.

Reviews of July and August Events

We are providing reviews of our events during the months of July and August, 2008 in our Starving Vendors website.
Hayward Zucchini Festival, Hayward, CA ... They let the music play until 7:30 PM and SOME YEARS it goes longer than that. Come on now.... it's dangerous for us to load up when it gets dark because THERE ARE NO LIGHTS AND DIFFICULT TO SEE. I guess they are waiting for somebody to get run over?
Douglas County Fair, Roseburg, OR... The setting sun brought out large crowds, but mostly kids. There's a concert about 40 yards from us and IT IS LOUD. Earlier this evening we had a pig run into the booth. Unbelievable. The music continued all night long and we could not hear our customers
Deschutes County Fair, Redmond, OR... was another slow day and worse than Wednesday. Alice Cooper did a 2-hour performance and afterwards, most of the crowd made a beeline for the gate. The carnival has been hopping and that's where a lot of the crowd goes. Coos County Fair, Myrtle Point, OR... Last day of the fair. Better crowd late morning, but this is Saturday and should be the busiest day. A bit slow mid-afternoon. Weather is great. Slight breeze.
Winchester Bay (OR) Oceanfest... It was pretty much dead on Friday morning and people didn't start showing up until noon time. Seemed like mostly tourists and they weren't buying much. Lots of kids with the 'itchy finger syndrome.' It was sunny most of the day with arriving and departing clouds. Winds picked up closer to noontime and increased in velocity throughout the day and kept up well into the night. Our canopy stayed intact, but the wind was whipping the top cover up, down, left, right, etc.
Mt. Shasta 4th of July ... They really came out on Friday and the place was alive and buzzing. People were buying.... I was located over in the Castle Street area and that part is a 3-day show. On Saturday, booths are set up for a two-day show on the main street. This is to allow various events to occur on Friday... a run/walk with a lot of participants and a long parade. Very enjoyable

More info on Zucchini Festival - the beginning

Slow times don't squash Zucchini Festival
Organizer of Hayward event hopes for good year despite sluggish economy
By Eric KurhiThe Daily Review
Article Last Updated: 08/14/2008 07:19:00 AM PDT

HAYWARD — When the Zucchini Festival was first dreamed up back in 1982, southern Alameda County was ripe for just such an event, organizer Richard Essi said. "We figured four or five thousand people might come," said Essi. "But 15,000 showed up." Essi said his shish kebab stand sold out at half-past noon. The old Katrina's restaurant booth did a similarly brisk business.

"And there was this one zucchini guy left with a little deep fryer, and he had a line stretching all the way to Oakland," he said. The festival is now bigger than it was at its inception, but things haven't been the same since its heyday, which Essi said fell between 1986 and 1996.
"Since then we've been getting about half as many people," he said. But it's not just the Zucchini Festival that has seen attendance drop. San Leandro's signature Cherry Festival as well as its Sausage and Suds Festival each had to go on hiatus around 2003, returning only recently.
While Essi weathered the downturn, he said the last couple years have been particularly rough, with the sluggish economy and high gas prices. This year he has fewer vendors, many of whom are reluctant to travel far to sell their wares.

Essi has gone to City Hall for financial help in the past, and remains discouraged at officials' reticence to contribute to what he calls the main event in Hayward.

They'll put money into the Russell City Blues Festival, and all that (money) goes to an Oakland organization," he said. "This is a benefit for local nonprofits. They should help us out from their promotions fund."
The festival was developed to help out local organizations such as the Boy Scouts and the Kiwanis and Lions clubs. Those groups send volunteers to the festival to collect tickets, tend bar and clean up afterward. Then, the money that would have been paid out to those workers is given to the organization.

Essi said the groups always come out ahead, but as general manager, he's the one who takes a hit. "I got to get paid for this," he said. "There were six or seven years when I didn't get paid, and that's kind of rough." But through some cost-cutting, a lot of haggling with contractors who set up the fences and portable toilets, and kind-hearted performers playing on the cheap, the festival will go on.

It's a family-oriented affair, with a large area for rides and games geared toward the younger set. Along with the blues bands, there will be more than 160 vendor booths selling the usual festival fare and food, albeit the latter with a zucchini twist. There will be roasted zucchini and stuffed zucchini, as well as subtler ways to get a squash fix — such as in the filling of an egg roll or as part of the relish used on a hamburger.

Only four food booths are exempt from the squash requirement, Essi said. "I left the junk food vendors — popcorn, cotton candy, that sort of stuff — alone," he said. "We tried zucchini ice cream once and that did not work."

Zucchini Festival draws 22,000 (The Daily Review)

Zucchini Festival draws bigger crowd this year
By Gideon Rubin The Daily Review
Article Last Updated: 08/17/2008 10:07:35 PM PDT


HAYWARD — The high price of gas — though it has been dropping recently — may be responsible for bringing a larger crowd to the annual Zucchini Festival this year.
An estimated 22,000 to 23,000 people filled Kennedy Park this weekend for the festival — or about 3,000 more than last year, according to organizer Richard Essi.
Essi attributed the increase to increasing numbers of people taking "staycations" as a factor in the surprising attendance surge. "That might have brought up the attendance because they're not going out of town," Essi said.

The impact of skyrocketing fuel costs wasn't all good, though, Essi said, noting the festival lost about 30 vendors who couldn't afford to attend the event because of higher costs.
Other factors contributing to the squash carnival's better-than-expected showing included a new "Kids Town" amusement park that featured a Ferris wheel and other rides, as well as lower ticket prices, he said.

General admission ticket prices were lowered from $5 to $4.
Tickets for seniors, children and the handicapped were lowered from $2 to $1.
The festival featured legendary Bay Area blues vocalist Curtis Lawson, who performed Sunday night. The festival, which started in 1982, benefits local charities, Essi said. "It has a long tradition in Hayward, and in talking to people, there seems to be a lot of support for it," Hayward Mayor Michael Sweeney

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Best 'Fast Food' in Hayward

Here's a small listing of the best fast food restaurants in the city of Hayward, CA.

Val's Burgers, 2115 Kelly St, Hayward, CA (510) 889-8257 Great burgers!!! Rather expensive. This place has been voted as having the Best Hamburgers in Hayward, CA and they are telling the truth. The Papa Burger is gigantic and a meal in itself.

Porky's Pizza Palace, 1221 Manor Blvd, San Leandro, CA Really good pizza - privately owned. This is located in San Leandro, but we have nothing better in Hayward!

Sam's Quarter Pound Burgers 18401 Hesperian Blvd San Lorenzo (best burgers on west side of Highway 880, etc.)

London Fish and Chips 18890 Hesperian Blvd. (Best Fish & Chips in town!!)

Caesar's Chicken Inc. 19450 Hesperian Blvd (great chicken! However, old (retired) owners ran the place better and the food was better. However, it's still pretty good and you can also get spaghetti, ravioli, french fries, potatoe salad, etc.

So, there you go people. Some of the best take-out food Hayward has to offer. Hayward does have a number of other fine dining restaurants. I have been going to these places for many years.

Togo's on Hesperian is pretty good, as are just about all the other ones...except for the one on Jackson Street. Ordered a roast beef and cheese, etc. sandwich and for some ridiculous reason, they did not include the roast beef... never went there the next 5 years!!!

I lived in Alameda many years ago and in 1974, I began getting delicious sandwiches at Dimitra's on Park Street. 1251 Park St (between Encinal Ave & San Antonio Ave) Alameda, CA 94501 (510) 521-3737. Click here to see some 'Yelp' reviews on this place. At one time, there were three locations, one on Central (near Webster St) and another location. However, the third location closed down many years ago and the one on Central just closed down about a year ago because the owners have sold the business, moved to Florida, etc. This place puts Subway to shame. I live in Hayward and I still go here for sandwiches and eat them alongside the water at the old Alameda Naval Air Station, reminiscing about my days stationed there.

Back in the 70's there was a pizza take out named Chef Romano's and was located out on Bay Farm Island. This place is in my all-time Take out food HALL OF FAME. Been gone for ages, but the pizza was the best I had ever eaten.

At the Zucchini Festival

Sat, August 16. HAYWARD, CA. Unbelieveable. Welcome to Zucchini Ghostown, USA. There were AT LEAST 120 vendors missing from this dying event. Booths spread amongst the trees with huge empty spaces in between. And here I am, crammed up into a 12x12 space along the sidewalk with 3 other vendors. In my 17 years of doing events, I have never seen such a decline in the number of vendors. Wow.... where did everybody go?

Last year was pretty bad and that's why they are MIA. There's probably 30 vendors in back of our booth (spread around) and it seems like one-half of them are new. Out in the field, we have huge open spaces. Something is terribly wrong.

The entertainment was so-so again. I had the second worst Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich of my life. Don't ever get a Philly cheese from a Greek food booth. Awful. From another food vendors I got a combo of mushrooms, zucchini and I don't know what the hell the other thing was. Not very good also.

This show has pretty much hit rock bottom and one of the few ways to survive is to offer booths to vendors for $150 next year...instead of $350. Crowds were down considerably and things didn't pick up until 2-3:00PM. Poor sales; bad attitudes. There is a handful of vendors who are showing some kind of profit at this event, but that is the The weather was absolutely marvelous and the winds never kicked up in the afternoon. And of course, how would you like to be a vendor at an event that forces you to load your stuff in the dark (no #$#(@# lights around) and swerve your way around trees, people, vehicles. etc. This thing ends at 7:30PM on Sunday and gets dark shortly after that.

And of course, the Zucchini Bread was terrific, as always. I always pick up a couple loaves on the Saturday of the event and they are always devoured by my family by Sunday afternoon. Delicious. Well done.

Sunday, August 17. Weather was okay...a bit cloudy in the AM. Decent late-morning crowd and we had a much larger turnout than on Saturday. Better sales for us today, but not necessarily for other vendors. A number of vendors did very poorly. Person selling silver jewelry next to me had many items stolen. This show still attracts a lot of riff-raff. Music wasn't very good. I had another Philly Cheese Steak from another food vendor and that was bad too. Somehow, I get the feeling that I had leftovers from Saturday. Meat rather dry and chunky. Had some decent Garlic Fries and a good combo basket with mushrooms, zucchini and cheese.

Vendors had to wait until 7:30 to bring their vehicles in to load up and that, my readers, totally sucks. Not being fair to the vendors. The let the music play until 7:30 PM and SOME YEARS it goes longer than that. Come on now.... it's dangerous for us to load up when it gets dark because THERE ARE NO LIGHTS AND DIFFICULT TO SEE. I guess they are waiting for somebody to get run over? Hellooooooooo. Absolutely no reason in the world to extend the show beyond 6:00, which is two hours after a lot of other shows end. Also, there were no Festival Programs handed out this year.

Expect more new vendors next year. Poor management led to so many booths missing this year.

Hayward Zucchini Festival

Why on earth is the music going on until 7:30PM. That is way too late. On Sunday evening, vendors want to come in and load up and leave....especially before it gets dark. Richard Essi, every year people have to maneuver their way around in the dark and it is rather difficult. Give the vendors a break.

I know that the fair is going through hard times right now and is not as good as it was in the past when the entertainment was much better and did not bring in so much a drinking crowd as it does now. Let's go a different direction with the entertainment next year, if we do manage to have another Zucchini Festival. I can't recall a lot of the singers/groups over the years, but Juice Newton was okay years ago, Paul Revere and the Raiders was quite nostalgic for people and enjoyable. Elvis impersonators were always interesting. The wrestling thing had to go. If you get the right entertainment in here, you can increase attendance dramatically.

It is nice to be able to set up our booths on Friday, because Saturday morning is such a mess and you can not make it around a lot of the booths to unload. However, I did see quite a number of new vendors this time and we all know what that indicates.

Let's get this thing over with at 6:00..... which is two hours later than a lot of events conclude on Sunday. Chime in on this people.