Five Alameda Fall Favorites

Fall is the Goldilocks season—not too hot, not too cold, just right. As someone lucky enough to have spent seven fall seasons in New England, the place where people think they invented fall, with their apples and sweaters and the Kancamagus Highway, I consider myself an expert. I’m also a big fan of leaves falling, though not a lover of leaf blowers (let there be leaves on Earth, and let it begin with me). So if anyone is qualified and filled with enough fall chutzpah to name five fantastic, fabulous, flamboyant, fun, festive things about fall, it’s me. And as is the newfound tradition of these pieces, I’m going to name and celebrate the five Best Things About Fall in Alameda.

Apples at Dan’s Farmers Market

2300 Central Avenue, dansfarmersmarket.com

A corner produce market just a block off a major street, where folks on their lunch break, AHS kids, and tourists alike can wander over and get fresh fruit, produce,  juice drinks, and those great little orzo salads—how cool is that? And how about their commercial that runs before the movies across the street at the theater, where Dan says “Hey, we’re right across the street!”

But let’s talk apples, the King of Fall Fruit. Fuji Apples are the best ever, ever. Yes to Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and MacIntosh, and yes to Honeycrisp, but Fuji Apples are the perfect apple with the most mouthwatering flavor. Invented by apple wizards somewhere near Mount Fuji a long time ago in a galaxy far away, then shipped around the world and stacked one atop another by skilled apple stackers (oddball cousins to apple bonkers from Yellow Submarine), theirs is a sweet, crisp flavor, like folk-dancing-in-your-mouth. And, thankfully, you can find Fuji Apples in all their glory at Dan’s.

Chicken Soup at La Penca Azul

1440 Park Street and 891-B Island Drive, lapencaazul.com

I need to come clean right away and say that I’m a soup with crackers kind of guy, or as my wife likes to say, I like crackers with a little soup. Saltines, hand-crunched, stirred in to make more of a cracker stew out of, well, really, any soup. Except when it comes to the chicken soup at La Penca Azul.

I love La Penca’s chicken soup for multiple reasons. Large chunks of chicken, carrots, celery, and avocado, simmering in a perfect broth, and served with magic extras—rice, onion, and cilantro, along with your choice of flour or corn tortillas.

Now, because I care so much about all of you, I’m going to share my way of eating the chicken soup at La Penca. To begin, I pluck out the larger pieces of chicken, separate them into smaller pieces of chicken, put them in my flour tortilla, add the salsa that came with my chips, and have a little chicken burrito before I soup it up. Then I dump all the magic extras in my bowl, making it chicken soup with rice, which is yummy, filling, and part of the Nutshell Library stories written by Maurice Sendak and sung by Carole King in perhaps her finest album ever, Really Rosie . And yes, you can hear me sing the song when I’m at La Penca eating chicken soup in the fall.

Island Bowl Football

AHS vs EHS

For sports fans, fall is the time of year when you can watch and root for your favorite sport, be it the World Series, the start of hockey and basketball, or football. And if you’re talking football in Alameda, you’re talking about the Island Bowl, our version of the Big Game, which will be played for the 69th time on November 8 at Alameda High School, with the Encinal Jets looking to avenge their loss last year to the Hornets with the ouchy score of 34-0.

Full disclosure: After teaching at Love and Wood, I migrated to Encinal High School, where I taught for 23 years. So yes, in my truck, for days when it’s cold, I have a Jets hoodie.

The Island Bowl is both a game on the field and a social event in the stands, on the sidelines, and in front of the snack shack. Current students, alum, faculty, and families all gather to talk, flirt, cheer and remember the days of yore. My favorite Island Bowl story took place at Thompson Field several years ago when EHS pulled off a miraculous comeback and won the game. Being on duty to provide security, we were asked to try to hold back the crazed crowd counting down the final seconds, intent on storming the field. There were hundreds of fans and about three teachers, each of us holding our arms wide trying to make a magic fence or something. We failed, the kids raced past us, jumping and yelling along with the team—such a great failure on our part.

Halloween Decorations

All Around the Island

Over the past few years it seems as if Halloween and Christmas have been waging a grudge match, winner take all, to be the most decorated holiday in Alameda. Once an October-only holiday, the goths have teamed with the goblins to stretch the season, with decorations appearing as early as August. People start to ponder and piece together their costumes months in advance, with special displays laid out at the thrift and secondhand shops. Fun size bags of candy get centrally displayed and pumpkin people roam about with spice breath grinning.

Here in town, proof can be seen in many places—my neighbor on Bay Farm who has full front yard decorations for both the Darth and Luke days, and the clever folks at Rocket Reuse who take their kitschy window and make their mannequin the best witch on the block. And then there’s Broadway, the spooky perpendicular answer to Thompson Lane where, on October 31, crossing from east to west or west to east is nearly impossible. Hordes of sugar-craving minions pulled by or pulling parents, dragging bags stuffed with their just desserts, roam for blocks. Serious note: Please drive safely that night! And save some Snickers for me.

Hoodies at Salvation Army Thrift Store

1918 Park Street, alameda2.salvationarmy.org

Though my mom knitted us sweaters for the fall, I am now and always have been more of a hoodie guy, or as we used to call them before we got cool, hooded sweatshirts. Thick material, marsupial pouch, hood in case you forgot your hat, with or without logos.

Now you can get hoodies everywhere, promoting everything, but when I need to expand my hoodie wardrobe, or if I forgot one and it turned cold and I’m on my bike pedaling and shivering, I go to the Salvation Army Thrift store, the one on your right as you’re leaving town across the Park Street bridge. They have a fantastic collection of hoodies that folks have donated, mostly promoting local teams, local schools, and hip brands like Vans.

If you’re in need of a cozy new sweatshirt this fall, check the Salvation Army Thrift Store for a previously loved hoodie to keep you warm on these chilly October nights.

Gene Kahane is the founder of the Foodbank Players , a lifelong teacher, and former Poet Laureate for the City of Alameda. Reach him at gene@alamedapost.com . His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Gene-Kahane .

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