Introducing Alamedia


Readers familiar with Alameda Magazine will notice some changes with this issue: We’re giving the magazine a minor facelift, repositioning some of our regular contributors and introducing a catchy new multimedia page, Alamedia.
    Associate Editor Julia Park coined the clever name to play off the mixed media that Alameda creatives—photographers, fine artists, commercial illustrators, even writers—work in. She has flipped through online portfolios, slides and photographs with Kathleen Sage, our art director, to select a flattering view of our city for our last editorial page. The inaugural Alamedia image, a lovely palm tree-lined marina scene at sunset, is the work of local photographer Lane Hartwell. Look for an inviting image of the Island every issue, and encourage the photographers and artists you know to contact us with possibilities for Alamedia.
    Meanwhile, Gina Jaber continues writing Just Between Us, with her column appearing near the Snapshots pages, and garden writer Iris Watson remains in the lineup, offering advice this go-round on outdoor fireplaces and fountains. We’ve reorganized the dining section, Taste of the Town, so that wine columnist Kent Rosenblum immediately follows the restaurant feature. Chef Roy Creekmore will keep whipping up recipes, and Dan Avakian remains ever-ready with seasonal produce tips mixed in with the Dining Guide. Please let us know what you think.
    This issue of Alameda Magazine pays homage to homes and gardens. Our cover article, “Five Fab Room Redos,” showcases a handful of inspired rooms—including a cook’s kitchen, a super sunroom, an incredible media room, a tropical bathroom paradise and an eclectic billiard room—that homeowners have created to emphasize their passions. On the garden front, learn about what’s going on in Alameda’s school gardens, where students plant fruits and vegetable and cultivate habitat for butterflies with help from teachers, parents, Master Gardeners and other volunteers.
    Maybe these tales of home and flora will get your creative juices going, inside or out. So what are you waiting for? Don’t put off that renovation one more day, or, at the very least, start digging. (And a final note: The name of my Vietnamese tour guide was misspelled in the May/June issue; it’s Nguyen Van Canh.)


                    Until next issue,


                    Judith M. Gallman
                    judy@alamedamagazine.com