The History of the Famous Seel’s Bar and Its Demise The mention of Seel’s Bar and Grill to most current Oakland residents will most likely result in questioning stare. Seel’s? Huh? What? Where? Well, unless you lived in Oakland prior to 1957, it’s entirely understandable that you might not have ever heard of it. But I assure you that you pass its ghost every day. It lives on as a section of a parking lot on the NE corner of Yawpo Ave and RVR directly across from Krausers. Some might currently know it as Seel’s Shopping Center. Read on to learn its history and how and why a storied watering…
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The Relatively Recent History of the Wigwam
The Relatively Recent History of the Wigwam by Those Who Lived and Remembered It – As of 3/7/2014 The Ramapo Wigwam as it was officially called was opened around May 1966 by my parents and the Parettes as partners, it was to be an Old Fashioned Ice Cream parlor. My mother ran a contest in all grammar schools to actually name the store. The winner received a prize. If my memory serves me, doubtful at our age, but it was to open around time of the opening day baseball parade. Work was started in 1965 to do total renov. Inside of it. I do remember Mrs. Frank was one of…
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In Memory of an Oakland Star
In Memory of an Oakland Star March 20, 2014 marks the 19th anniversary of the passing of Sidney Kingsley, a Broadway luminary who lived in Oakland from 1935 until his passing 60 years later in 1995. Mr. Kingsley was a writer, producer and director of nine Broadway plays including The Patriot and Men in White for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1934. He married Madge Evans, a star of stage and screen, in 1939. Together they eschewed the lights and glamour both Hollywood and New York preferring instead the quite, pastoral life they found in the fields and mountains of Oakland with their 250 acre estate. That estate…
