Culture

After getting thumbs up from council, Oakland Zoo ready to expand

After the Oakland City Council voted its approval last week, the Oakland Zoo expansion that has been in the works since the mid-1990s is nearly ready to break ground, despite opposition from environmental groups. The expansion includes a veterinary hospital, camping area, and an exhibit for native California animals.

New East Oakland Sports Center opens to the public

Oakland’s newest sports facility, the East Oakland Sports Center, opened its door to the public on Thursday afternoon. The 25,000-square-foot facility, located at 9161 Edes Avenue, includes an aquatic center, a fitness room and a dance studio.

Work on Temescal mural almost completed

A mural on the Highway 24 underpass at 52nd Street in Temescal that has been in the works for two years is close to completion. All that’s left is a little touch-up work and approval from BART to work on the two remaining blank columns. “It’s been an arduous process trying to work with the city bureaucracy trying to get this thing painted,” said Darlene Rios Drapkin, executive director of the Temescal Telegraph Business Improvement District. “We’re almost there,” she…

IS THERE A MONSTER IN LAKE MERRITT? SCIENTIST SAYS YES!

Few know what lurks the depths of the murky, brackish, crustacean-filled Lake Merritt. Few know what beastly beast, what cryptid, what leviathan, what man-eating monster could be swimming below, slithering through those fetid waters. Few know… but many have seen.