The organization plans to build a permanent home in Don Biddle Park contributed by the city of Dublin. It has been operating the trailer—with a California history exhibit—since it was donated by the now-defunct Mervyn’s stores. Thanks to a $25,000 grant from Sandia National Laboratory’s Livermore site, it’s now a state-of-the-art “Maker Space” designed by Arroyo Seco Elementary School Teacher Elizabeth Perez.
It features a Lego wall and a magnetic wall where kids from three to 10 can build things and learn by doing.
The museum reached nearly 7,000 people last year, a remarkable total when you consider it’s only open the third Saturday of each month for four hours and for four hours during the Dublin Farmer’s Market season from April to October. That’s less than 30 four-hour openings per year.
Congrats to the persistent board and team (all volunteers with one exception) who have been working on this project since 2000.
Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon topped all Bay Area high schools in the number of students earning admittance to the University of California, Berkeley in the fall. The San Francisco Business Times crunched the numbers and ran a list of the top 50. Last year, about 90,000 applied and 15.1 percent were accepted.
Dougherty topped the list with 73 students accepted (nearly 400 applied, more than half of the senior class).
Other Tri-Valley schools also ranked well: Amador Valley (No. 11, 40 acceptances); Monte Vista (30), California (22), Foothill (19) and Dublin (18).
The passing of movie and singing star Doris Day at the age of 97 last week sparked memories of Carmel Valley for us.
Since 1981, Day had lived in the Carmel Valley on a bluff overlooking the 18th hole of the Quail Lodge Golf Club. Two members playing with us on a nice fall day pointed her home out to us as we reached the final hole. She and a partner owned the Cypress Inn in Carmel which was reportedly the first dog-friendly lodging property in the area.
While living in Southern California, she spent plenty of time rescuing animals, the passion she pursued after moving to Carmel. She started in the Doris Day Animal Foundation in 1978.
