Articles

Mare Island, just across the water from downtown Vallejo, offers an amazing glimpse of its history as a vibrant warship factory. Back then, the fuel that powered the ships was stored in enormous “coal sheds” near the waterfront.  Today, a couple of those sheds have been repurposed to brew and serve flavorful beer with intriguing …

Michael Warring and his wife Ali Gulczynski opened their Hiddenbrooke Plaza restaurant, Michael Warring, in June 2012 which is the same month that my wife and I purchased our home in Hiddenbrooke and moved here from Berkeley.  After our first visit to his restaurant, we were thrilled to have a dining experience right down our …

Our house is one of the closest to the Hiddenbrooke Golf Club’s banquet room.  This means we hear free musical entertainment almost every weekend.  It’s hard to be upset that we live in a place so wondrous that people want to celebrate here.  When the special occasion music stopped during the pandemic, it was noticeable …

Picture-Perfect Pet Sitter  We adopted two 11-year-old border collie sisters (Luna and Pepper) during the pandemic.  The litter mates grew up on a ranch in Gilroy, California and had never been in a car, walked on a leash, or visited a vet, although they were perfectly house-broken.  When their pet mom died in hospice care, …

When my wife and I first got up the nerve to walk into Pike Fitness in Hiddenbrooke Plaza in April 2019, Steve Burmann, who co-owns the business with his brother Jeff, asked us to describe our fitness goal.  I half-jokingly responded: “To get in shape for retirement.”  We were worried that we spent too much …

It couldn’t be any more convenient for me to get a haircut then to go see Jessica at JD Nail Spa and Salon in Hiddenbrooke Plaza.  I always call her before I go, but she almost always tells me to come right over even though I tell her my schedule is very flexible.  She clearly …