From The Editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lofts are cool.

    Where else is the vibe so consistently hip, the feel so ultimately urban and the conversion of space so brilliantly genius?    When I moved to Oakland, I married a homeowner, so loft living was what our frugal, independent-minded friends, Dana Hull and Matt Dibble, were doing in Jingletown. Their warehouse had room for major studio space for film editing, movable partitions for walls that could be reconfigured at will and high ceilings to accommodate a big screen for semi-regular movie nights. Their place had other pluses, too, including proximity to Alameda’s Park Street, easy interstate access and parking aplenty.
    But in the last three years, the character of this mostly industrial area has changed dramatically, and the lots across the street from where our chums (now parents, homeowners and our Temescal neighbors) rented stand crowded with multistoried loft-like dwellings. Similar developments, prompted by Jerry Brown’s 10K housing initiative and ever-present Bay Area housing pressures, have been springing up like California poppies all over the East Bay, from the estuary to downtown to Emeryville.
    Are these developments the answer to local housing woes? Who buys them, lives in them, and why? And just what is this attraction to lofts anyway?
    We dispatched two West Oakland loft dwellers and frequent contributors, writer Jeff Swenerton and photographer Deborah Sherman, to find out, and they got to the bottom of East Bay loft living in “From Warehouse to There House,” a lifestyle-oriented exploration of the evolution of lofts. Is this trendy real estate option for you? Turn to page 42 to find out.
    With fall comes the football season, and the Raider Nation has a high-profile new recruit, JaMarcus Russell, the No. 1 NFL draft pick and hottest rookie quarterback of the season. Can this young Mobile, Ala., native and Louisiana State University standout carry the Silver and Black to the playoffs? We asked Contra Costa Times sportswriter Marcus W. Thompson II, a frequent contributor to Oakland and Alameda magazines, to investigate. Thompson says Russell has the size, the strength, the mobility and the ability to turn the storied franchise around. See what makes this cool-headed prodigy tick in “In Russell Raiders Trust” on page 54.
    There’s more in store for readers in this issue: restaurant reviewer Stett Holbrook is smitten with Wood Tavern, contributing writer Wanda Hennig and Being There columnist Matt Dibble have bees in their bonnets and Block Party visits the Gourmet Ghetto. Don’t dally—turn the pages.