News about great shops in your neighborhood

News about great shops in your neighborhood

Fast Laughs

Have you ever dreamed of being on Broadway? (In downtown Oakland, that is.) Sign up for one of the Pan Theater’s comedy improv classes, and you, too, just may find a goofy groove on the stage between Broadway and Grand. But you’ll have to act fast, so to speak—“Where Neurons Fire Faster” is the Pan’s motto, and with good reason. Improv (short for improvisational) theater means “creating live theater without a script,” says David Alger, producer and director of the nine-year-old group. In other words—yikes! Yet with time and practice, performers master the art of appearing confident, even though they have absolutely no idea what will happen next. “If you are willing to give yourself a chance to try improv, you can do it!” Alger says. And, he notes, “It’s a great way to get outside your everyday life.” There’s no charge for the Pan’s Intro to Improv class; the more extensive Improv Basics runs $275 for an eight-week session. Classes and performances are also offered in San Francisco. Want to look before you leap? The second Friday of every month, Pan presents an Improv Jam from 8-10 p.m. Admission is $10, for audience and participants alike.

Pan Theater, 2135 Broadway, Oakland, (415) 724-2433; www.pantheater.com

—Risa Nye

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Produce Paradise

Orinda-based Albert & Eve’s organic home delivery service is truly a “start-up from the ground up,” transporting just-picked, locally grown, organic fruits and vegetables to Bay Area families. (The company follows the model of Community Supported Agriculture co-ops: all orders are pooled and purchased directly from farmers.) Dedicated found-ers David Mizrahi and Henya Brock select farm-grown fruits and veggies at daybreak every Thursday, and deliver it “still wet from the fields.” Their trucks deliver a week’s worth of produce at a time to homes in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Francisco counties—and beyond. (Check the website for a delivery area map.) Each delivery contains a wholesome array of seasonal offerings—currently, everything from D’Anjou pears to Kabocha squash—with several quantity and price options to choose from. (The popular Deluxe Organic Mix Box, for example, with three types of fruit and six types of veggies—enough to last two people for a week—runs $28.90 per delivery. You’ll pay about $6 more to feed three or four folks, $10 extra to satisfy six.) Mizrahi and Brock encourage customers to make their own selections from the weekly crop (the website explains how), but they’re also happy to surprise you with their handpicked favorites.

Albert & Eve Organics, Sunday-Friday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., (925) 209-0958; www.alberteve.com.

—Risa Nye

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Espresso Yourself

You don’t have to be a poet to place an order at Berkeley’s Mediterranean-inspired Nefeli Caffe: it’s an equal opportunity caffeinator. But then again, it’s not hard to imagine Allen Ginsberg (who lived just a ’hood away in the ’50s) holding court at a back table in this intimate 15-year-old hangout near the U.C. Berkeley campus. Located on one of the most pleasant commercial blocks in town, Nefeli offers tapas, full-scale dinners, Greek-style yogurt, beer, wine, and, of course, a full complement of coffee drinks. Owner Naso Eleftheriaidis, who, like many of his patrons, got his graduate degree at Cal, keeps prices student- (or poet-) friendly: most items run under $10, and the Croque Monsieur is a dependable bargain at $5.15. Also on the Nefeli menu: free twice-monthly literary readings. On the second Friday of each month, you can catch The Last Word reading series at 7 p.m., featuring two local poets and an open mic, and co-hosted by poets Dale Jensen, Ralph Dranow, John Rowe, Diana Q, and Grace Grafton. The Yellow Tablecloth Writing Workshop series, featuring both prose and poetry, takes place the third Saturday of each month at 6:30 p.m. Bongos and berets are optional.

Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave., Berkeley, (510) 841-6374

—Autumn Stephens

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Lounging Around

The swank-looking Lounge Nail Spa & Boutique on Fourth Street in Berkeley offers one-stop shopping for those who need new polish now—and new jewelry, jeans, or party duds to go with it. And who, exactly, would those multi-tasking glamour girls be, I ask Slater Matzke, who opened the Lounge late last year with his sister, Melissa. (The sibs’ assets also include a second Lounge location in Oakland, as well as four more salt-of-the-earth salons around the East Bay.) I’m picturing impulsive movie stars en route to SFO, or maybe eloping brides. But in fact, Matzke says, patrons run the usual gamut—business professionals, students, housewives—although it’s perhaps a bit avant-garde that 20 percent or so of the clientele is male.

Despite the salon’s posh ambience (high ceilings, chandeliers, long draperies) and spacious feel, services are priced for mass appeal: $10 for a manicure, $20 for a pedicure, $8 for polish change. “We try not to take ourselves too seriously,” says Matzke. For example, he notes, only slightly tongue in cheek, “you don’t have to book a month in advance,” as at some upscale salons, and walk-ins are welcome. And even brides who are in no rush to reach the altar may want to Lounge a bit on the way. The salon is pleased as punch to host bachelorette parties, baby showers, and other group events. Just BYOB, and a minimum of 10 nails per guest.

Lounge Nail Spa & Boutique, 1799-A Fourth St., Berkeley, (510) 559-3570; 307 Grand Ave., Oakland, (510) 835-2848.

—Autumn Stephens

Faces of the East Bay