The Montclair Village Association is keeping pressure on Oakland police to find two teens who defaced a large mural a few days before Christmas. Cameras on the Montclair Parking Garage captured the suspects spraying offensive graffiti on a 20-by-60-foot nature mural on the back wall of the garage, visible from the Railroad Trail.
The vandalism happened around 1:20 a.m. Dec. 21, when video footage shows the two youths parking next to the garage, then hanging around, smoking and tagging the mural. The teens faces can be seen clearly, along with the vehicle and license plate, and the evidence has been turned over to Oakland police.
“The follow-up needs to happen,” says MVA Executive Director Daniel Swafford. “Police and the city need to know that our communities are investing tens of thousands of dollars in these camera systems because they said this tool would be most effective.”
Swafford wants to keep the pressure on so this lower-level crime doesn’t fall through the cracks. He says it’s obviously not an emergency but it is felony vandalism and that damage was done to the mural that requires funding to repair. Luckily, the donors provided extra money for mural maintenance and the four artists used a graffiti resistant coating on the artwork.
“Somebody knows somebody … and these are somebody’s kids,” says Swafford, who says he plans to press charges unless police work out another remedy.
The mural and its four panels celebrate the flora and fauna in the Oakland district’s forested hills and were paid for by the estate of local resident and nature lover Millient Zaludek, who died in 2022. The Ken Betts Chevron family also donated to the mural along with the cannabis dispensary Element 7.
Special concert: A highly-coveted Fazioli grand piano from Italy is being shipped to Piedmont Piano Co. for a special concert starting at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 8. What’s even more interesting is a rock artist will be playing this instrument in a rare acoustic concert put on by Montclair’s Winter Williams Productions.
Musician Pamela Parker started playing piano at the age of 5 and will share songs from her album, “MotherStar,” along with earlier recordings.
“Nobody has seen this side of her,” says Williams, who says Piedmont Piano owner Jim Callahan enthusiastically agreed to the performance even though his concert series doesn’t usually feature rock musicians. Find out more online at winterwilliamspresents.com/upcomingevents/pamela-parker.
Around town: Montclair is getting a new wellness-related business that will make use of a rooftop garden for folks who like to soak. Body Soul Spirit Functional Health Clinic will hold its grand opening Feb. 1 on the second floor of 6400 Moraga Ave. Customers will be able to access their intravenous clinic as well as the Garden of Eden Rooftop with sauna, hot tub, cold plunge, waterfall shower and more.
Joyful noise: As many as 140 singers a day are gathering this weekend in Alameda for the All-California Sacred Harp Singing Convention. Singers from the United Kingdom, Germany and some 20 U.S. states will be in glorious harmony, performing sacred choral music that originated from the South in the late 1800s.
This communal singing style is unique in several ways, including its local rehearsals in Berkeley, where there is no musical director and each singer (all are welcome) takes turns choosing a song. You can learn more at bayareasacredharp.org.
Ginny Prior can be reached at ginnyprior@hotmail.com and followed on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com.