At one point or another, visitors to Oakland look up into the Oakland hills, and say “What is that?”. Commanding a hill, and bright white in the sunshine, is the Oakland Mormon Temple, an architecturally stunning building that is 170 feet high sitting on 18.3 acres. It is located in Lincoln Heights neighborhood and adjacent to the Redwood Heights and Oakmore neighborhoods. Whether you are a tourist or resident, the building invites one to visit. It has an outstanding view of all of Oakland, and Alameda. Famous landmarks in San Francisco can be seen clearly, including the Bay Bridge and Candlestick Park. Once you arrive, however, there is more to see than the view.

Visitors are encouraged to walk the grounds. Running from the entrance towards the temple…

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A recent trip to Jack London Square made me aware of the amazing variety of things for a family to see and do there. While you can go any day, planning your trip to coincide with some of the scheduled events there make things so much more fun for you and your children. It is located at the foot of Broadway in Oakland, where Broadway meets the Oakland Estuary. On the Estuary you will see boats of every size and description from the huge container ships loading their cargo, to the yachts in the adjacent harbor, to the little kyacks in the water trying to avoid them all. If you are looking for adventure on the water, the San Francisco Bay Ferry docks there, and leaves for San Francisco on a regular basis. From there you can go to the Ferry Building,…

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Whether you live in an Oakland bungalow, or a large Piedmont mansion, you want your home to have the very best in curb appeal. The good news is that you can make things special, and do it on a budget. The hardest part is stepping away from your home, and seeing it as your neighbor or a future buyer might see it for the first time. That can be a interesting experience. What you see as cozy and cute, might be seen as crowded and small by an outsider.

Here are some inexpensive corrections to improve the approach to your front door

a. Clean up your walkway. Remove weeds between the cracks, level any paving stones.

b. Sweep and rake everywhere, removing all debris under the bushes and plants and in gutters.

c. Pull up all dead plants and outdated,…

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For those who love old Hollywood, modern elegance and Long Island Sound, check out the old Saybrook home formerly belonging to Katharine Hepburn, currently on the market for 28 million. For that sum it could be yours, all 8300 square feet, three and a half acres, (15 rooms, 7 1/2 baths), replete with a romantic history. Subdivided into three lots there are options for buyers as to how much or what part of the estate they would like to buy. I want to refer to this special home as old, since Hepburn's family originally built it in 1912 (for $2400.00), and rebuilt it in 1938 after destroyed by hurricane, but it is anything but old these days. Purchased for 6 million in 2004, a year after Hepburn's death, by Frank Sciame, a construction executive, the whole…

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Part 2 of my Moving and Packing tips.

Tips when packing.

Once the box is packed you need to label the contents so you can make sure the movers (or you) can get the box to the right room in the new house. Is usually recommended labeling the box for where it goes, not where it came from. If you are using new boxes, there is usually ample places to write the contents and mark the rooms but if you are using used boxes, you might need to cross out someone else’s writing. This can get messy so try a color code instead, that way the movers (or your friends) don’t need to figure out your handwriting. Get a selection of colored sticky dots at the office supply store, and slap a sticker on the top and a side or two of the box. Make a map of your house and place…

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