Destination: IKEA!

If there aren't enough things to draw at IKEA, I don't know where there would be!

Trader Vic's, Emeryville

Trader Vic's is a tiki-filled outpost of south seas decor and island-style cuisine on the San Francisco Bay.  The establishment began in 1934 as "Hinky Dink's" on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland but was transformed into a tropical hotspot after the owner's trip to Cuba.  When we sketched there last week, Judith's drink had an umbrella in it--and Ken's sported a parrot!

Our neighbors in the bar were sipping from the same huge drink through three individual straws.

Part of the great collection of masks in the back rooms.

Fowl Play

The warehouse at Lux Appraisers and Estate Services in Emeryville is always full of some kind of treasure or another.  Today the reward was a massive chicken collection--seemingly thousands of them in all shapes, sizes and materials from an individual's home in Pachecho.  Fun to play with drawing fowl a few days before Thanksgiving.  Thanks Jesse and staff for hosting us.

Lux Redux

We were invited back to Lux Appraisers and Estate services and for another sketching session of wonderful and strange collections. See Susan's and Carrrie's sketches of the evening below.

Trader Vic's

We sketched at the Emeryville Trader Vic's last week. Everyone was very welcoming to our sketch group. We had drinks and snacks in the bar with a view of the bay and the sunset, then sketched the wall of masks in another part of the restaurant. Trader Vic Bergeron was born in San Francisco and opened his first bar in Oakland, not far from this location. He invented the Mai Tai in Oakland in 1944. There are now Trader Vic's in countries around the world.

Emeryville corner of Park and Hollis

Sketching from both corners, looking at the Town Hall and the building on the opposite corner. We then went to Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe to look at everyone's sketches.

Emeryville Civic Center, Park Avenue and Hollis

Late afternoon at the crossing of Park Avenue and Hollis in Emeryville. The new Town Hall, the old one and the perfect late night diner, Can't Fail Cafe.

Emeryville, dip pen and ink and watercolor, 24x9in.

Emeryville

Emeryville, historically the site of extensive native American settlements, was a northern suburb of Oakland until incorporation in 1896.   During the Depression, Emeryville was known for gambling, racetracks and brothels; Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren called it "the rottenest city on the Pacific Coast."  Today, with a population of over 10,000, it's the home of Pixar Studios, Jamba Juice, Clif Bar and several biotech and software companies.

We met at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe across from the City Hall at Hollis and Park.  Here's the cafe's philosophy, as explained on their website:  "At Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, we consider everyone to be Rudy.  We are all Rudy and this is everyone's place."tRudy Can’t Fail Cafe we consider everyone to be Rudy. We are all Rudy and this is everyone’s place. At Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe we consider everyone to be Rudy. We are all Rudy and this is everyone’s place. 

Open since 2002

Completed in 1903

And More from Lux

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Everything for an adventure at Lux...a vintage leather pullman bag atop a zebra rug (that's the tail swishing up against the side) and Meiji period armor complete with face mask. I'm ready!

LUX Estate Services

 A warehouse full of great things to sketch including two giant  agave cuttings!

More from Lux

Something vaguely "Chucky-esque" about this doll in a plush chair in the middle of a warehouse full of estate sale treasures in Emeryville, just south of Berkeley.

Creepy or charming?  You be the judge.

Ikea, Emeryville

McArthur Maze, bamboo pen, ink and watercolors, 9x12in.

I started sketching the McArthur maze and its usual traffic jam. It was cold and windy up in the parking lot of Ikea. Once inside the options were so many that it was not easy to decide what to draw. I chose the stuffed animals in the toy section. It was happy and colorful

       Toy Section, pigment liner and watercolors, 9x6in.      

California New Year's Day

Inspired by Montreal Sketchers, four of us braved the cold (for California) and sketched from the top of the IKEA parking garage in Emeryville. We had views of the Bay Bridge, cranes in Oakland, the freeway and palm trees.

Emeryville Marina Chevy's Sign at Sunset

Emeryville Marina Chevy's Sign at Sunset

I noticed this palm tree-lined street when I was exiting Highway 80 in Emeryville and suggested it as a place for our Urban Sketchers group to meet. I guess the directions I provided to the spot weren't very good because everyone else went down to the end of the marina and I sketched alone until we met up at Chevy's at 8:30.

It's such a lovely spot, and yet so urban, within a couple blocks of two major freeways and the entrance to the Bay Bridge. Cathy's sketches of  the bay bridge and the freeway are just below this post.