Nothing says “Hollywood wrap party” like a trip to the Y’All Come Back Saloon in P-town. The “Star Trek” crew shot their final scenes for the still untitled "Star Trek" movie — scheduled to be released this time next year — at the Lawrence Livermore Lab on Tuesday. The traditional celebration was held at the Hopyard bar, where cast and crew including Simon Pegg, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine hoisted a few in honor of the end of production. Pegg (Scotty), Quinto (Spock) and Pine (Capt. Kirk) all starred in the 2009 “Star Trek” film, which featured the same characters as …

I feel like I’m living in two different Livermore worlds. On one hand, we have this lovely town filled with friendly people. As the days get warmer, nothing’s sweeter than hanging out downtown, taking advantage of sidewalk eateries from El Charro on one end to Zephyr on the other. Or having a beer with friends on the patios over at the Rockhouse Sports Bar on Portola. When I ride my horse with my pals at Sycamore Grove, Brushy Peak or Del Valle, I’m amazed at how you can go such a short distance from town and find a peaceful place to restore your spirit. Not long ago, a friend of mine came …

At the risk of sounding like a geezer with nothing but complaints about changes in Livermore, let me start out by saying, "Gosh, the new 580 bridges and ramps look mighty pretty." But overall, right now, they aren’t quite as practical as one might have hoped. And by “one” I mean me. First the pats, then the knocks. The Portola overpass was completed ahead of schedule. How often does that happen? Better yet, the overpass at Portola offers a spiffy bike lane for people who want to pedal over to Las Positas or Costco (if you have a trailer attached), which are about the only businesses in that …

The big orange hazard notice flapping in the icy wind last Thursday night at the Robert Livermore Community Center proclaimed the parking lot was full and people should try the Loyola entrance. It was a good sign. More than 300 people flooded the Cresta Blanca meeting space supporting the event raising money to bring back fireworks to the city after the skies went black last Fourth of July due to funding cuts. Organizers of the fundraiser are quick to recognize the City of Livermore and the Livermore Area Recreation and Park District for their generosity in trying to keep the fireworks. An …

This week, a YouTube video Kony 2012 went viral with celebrities applauding the non-profit filmmaker group Invisible Children’s efforts to go after a man who used kids as human shields in Uganda. The filmmakers want to take down Joseph Kony, the Ugandan Leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and support the war-affected communities in Central Africa. The video was uploaded on March 5 and earned more than 47 million views and sparked not only interest, but also criticism of Invisible Children. But even before the firestorm hit, Livermore teen Braden Sweeney, 17, had decided to throw his …

Lights. Camera. And hoping for some action. Livermore’s Purple Orchid Inn will be featured on The Travel Channel’s new series, “Hotel Impossible,” which debuts in April. The New York film crew and host and noted “hotel fixer” Anthony Melchiorri worked with new owners Derek and Rhiannon Eddy last week for a show airing this spring. As most Livermore folks know, this is a beautiful property that has yet to live up to its potential. The elegant 9,000 square ft. log cabin lodge boasts lovely grounds and a spectacular view of the rolling hills and surrounding vineyards, and olive orchard. If you …

Nicole Kidman had just finished a panel promoting the May HBO film “Hemingway & Gellhorn” when I caught her eye as she prepared to leave the stage during the TV critics’ winter press tour. There were a lot of things I could have asked her as she walked towards me before she was whisked away. I was gathering quotes for People magazine, but instead of asking something useful for my employer, the first thing out of my mouth came directly from my Livermore heart: “I just wanted to say how much we appreciated you stopping to chat with everyone after the Livermore shooting days,” I gushed. She …

The Granada High school year has barely reached the halfway point and it is already reeling from three emotional tsunamis. The first happened when beloved teacher Dexter Fye died in August just before the start of the new school year. Students and teachers mourned his passing with memorials, Facebook remembrances and an outpouring of grief. The second came when Granada Leadership and Social Studies teacher Sommer Newkirk was diagnosed with leukemia. The Granada community chipped it by donating all proceeds to the First Annual Livermore-Granada Chili Cook-off in early November to help her …

Supporters of the new 2,000-seat regional theater in Livermore got some bad news as the year drew to a close last week. There won’t be any redevelopment agency funds available to pay for it. On Thursday the state Supreme Court upheld the legislature’s vote to dissolve the agencies, and struck down a bill that provided a loophole for the agency to continue funding projects. The redevelopment agencies use a portion of property tax money to partner with developers to revitalize blighted arenas. Apparently, downtown Livermore was designated as blighted. That kind of government money going into …

Things were less than jolly for those folks working for Groth Brothers Chevrolet here in town when the auto business finally went belly up recently. There’s a lot of nostalgia for Groth Brothers, which has been in business since the Great Depression. One local barbershop was all abuzz the weekend before Christmas as customers talked about how the people working for Groth had been blindsided. Word had it that right until the end, they thought principal executive Robin Groth-Hill was still working to find some financial backing to pull them out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I thought that ship had …

Should we be surprised that the newly elected Livermore City Council collectively turned their noses up at any of the candidates who actually ran for council or entered the mayor's race this fall? It seems the election process holds no sway when it comes to filling council seats. I don’t know why we even bother with elections. Let the current council, when their time is up, simply decide who the best people are out there to replace them. Why rely on the suckers who run when you can cut to the chase? It could be that the councilmembers truely believe the best people were elected and the others…

Was there any contest so perfectly suited to Livermore than the Patch “Deck the House” holiday lights competition? For the 29th year, our own Deacon Dave Rezendes has put on an extravaganza that rivals any other in the country. Let’s just say when you have PG&E put in an industrial transformer to handle the Christmas lights current, you know you’ve got a display that would make “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’s” Clark Griswold’s home look like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree in comparison. When we first moved to Livermore more than 20 years ago during the holidays, everyone told us not …

When the election music stopped, there was a vacant chair on the Livermore City Council begging to be filled. Last Monday, our new mayor, John Marchand, and new city council members Laureen Turner and Stewart Gary were sworn in. With Marchand’s bump up to mayor, the council was left with a vacant seat. The new board made the fiscally wise decision to appoint a new member to the seat rather than have the taxpayers foot a $350,000 bill for a special election.  Here’s hoping the board continues to make wise decisions. I was reading The Independent, which said that former city councilman Tom …

There was a woman in the grocery store line practically frothing at the mouth — and for once it wasn’t me. She’d just tried to use the new Isabel Avenue interchange to get to Portola Avenue so she could get to the store, and realized there’s nothing there when it comes to the alleged “Portola” off ramp. You wouldn’t know that from either traveling eastbound on Interstate 580 with the Portola off ramp sign directing you to drive this way, or even after you wend your way around the front of the airport over to the Isabel interchange, where once again the signs point to Portola Avenue. So why …

The streets in Livermore were crowded with more kids on Saturday than we saw trick-or-treating on Halloween. And there were no tricks, only treats involved. The Boy Scouts were out gathering up the bags filled with goodies for the annual Scouting for Food drive and while I don’t have any firm stats, it looked as if plenty of folks here were generous in their donations. I left my bag on the front sidewalk before leaving to take part in the Tri-Valley Basket Brigade at Valley Montessori School on North Livermore.  (Thanks to organizers Katherine Havener and her husband Reese Ramos.) Those who …

Call it a quirk, but I’ve never liked calling Thanksgiving “Turkey Day.” Accurate? You bet. Cute? Sure. But it marginalizes the notion that for one day at least, we give thanks for what we have and acknowledge so many less fortunate than ourselves. We all know we should be shelling out what we can to help others all year long, but there’s something about the holiday season that puts us in a sharing frame of mind. Like many others, my daughter Amy is doing a call to arms through social networking. Or better yet, a call to make baskets that would make Yogi Bear go all Jellystone with glee. …

Every town has its quirks, but Livermore seems to have just a few more nuts in their bushel. After all, not every town in America can boast the longest burning light bulb, or losing their centennial celebration time capsule or receiving a Native American curse. Now most folks think the whole curse was just a flush of flamboyance from an artist who didn’t like discovering some city workers had hacked the bottom few feet of his creation. On the other hand, it did seem like quite a coincidence when the curse came true just a few weeks later. The man behind the creation of both the curse and the …

My husband took a look at the sample ballot that was sent out a while ago and wanted to know where the rest of it was. The rest of it? When he discovered it was just for mayor and city council, he wasn’t happy.   Tom’s a man who wants some bang in his ballot. A few initiatives would have made his voting day.  It may seem like a paltry offering, but in fact this is one of the more important elections for Livermore voters. For the first time in a while, we’ve got a lot of qualified folks on the ballot and the vote will decide what direction citizens want their city to take in the future. You …

I’ve been out tagging houses. You heard me. Marking territory the Livermore way. With all the talk about gang activity and graffiti popping up around in Livermore, I felt it was time to give it back. Or maybe it was just because someone tagged me first. You’ve probably seen the signs around Livermore in recent weeks. Not with spray paint and obscure letters and numbers. Nothing flashy like that. My crew tag is just a big BOO written on a piece of paper and hung in a window or on a door.  It’s a neighbor thing, putting out the word that someone wants to make you feel a little special. The …

Everyone remembers the first time they fell in love. My love affair with the theater began in high school, when a friend of mine talked me into auditioning for a role in “Guys and Dolls.” It wasn’t so much a caring gesture to bring me into her passion for acting, as it was her overwhelming need to get a ride to the auditions. Think of her as the original Rachel from "Glee." I had a car and a driver’s license. Becky saw my potential as an audition buddy. Becky had been into drama since emerging from her mother’s womb. She lived and breathed the arts. I was a jeans girl who spent most of my …