I wasn’t too excited about moving to Vallejo in December, 2008 but I must say it has really grown on me. It has more character than the other East Bay Area cities I’ve resided in, and I think that’s why I started a blog about Vallejo this past year. I just can’t imagine houses randomly collapsing or “clothing optional” antique stores existing anywhere in the Contra Costa County ‘burbs, where I lived for five years preceding our move to V-town.
Even though I was doing the Vallejo blog, I didn’t realize I really liked my life in Vallejo until a couple weeks ago when I realized that it was partly my own fault that 2009 wasn’t a great year for me. All year long I was in this state of desperation, constantly searching for ways to make more money and stressing over the limitations of my situation. I spent a lot of time being frustrated with things like the lack of space in our tiny cottage, the $100 a month I had to spend on bridge toll, and the thousands of stupid cats that line the neighborhood streets making it impossible to walk my dog
Continue reading My Super Exciting Vallejo Nightlife
Vallejo needs a blog and I really haven’t been doing much crafting lately, so what the hay? There isn’t much content yet, but when you have a moment, why not check it out: Vallejo City Blog
The post Daily Photo: Clothing Optional is by far one of my best so far, if you ask me, though I have high hopes that this blog could function as entertainment to a certain segment of the Vallejo population, If you are reading this and you love in Vallejo, please share your ideas and what you think would make the blog cool and visited by our fellow Vallejoans. I’d love to get some partner contributors if anyone is game, because the perspective is limited if I’m the only one writing (duh).
That’s it for now. I have an exciting development to tell you about soon, but I can’t quite yet. sit tight and no, its not a new blog about Taco Trucks.
I have found two quilters so far in Vallejo: Janet Sylvain and her daughter Summer, who’s beautiful quilt and home furnishings shop Pieced on Earth Quilts, is one of my favorite places to visit in downtown Vallejo. These ladies are not only skilled and talented quilters, but their merchandising skills are hard to find these days. Their in-store displays of quilts, table runners, cushions, and antique and re-upholstered furniture make the shop very warm and inviting. The works of other local artists are exhibited alongside the Sylvains’ own pieces, creating a rich mix of materials, textures, and colors. Although you can take the ideas and inspiration you find in this shop home with you for free, you won’t be satisfied until one of the shop’s many treasures become a permanent fixture in your own home.
The first thing I noticed about the quilts in the Sylvains’ shop was that they are made with complete disregard for a certain “rule” that many a traditional quiltmaker would never dare deviate from. And that rule is “100% cotton.” I love that these ladies break this rule! The variety of fabric types and textures found in their quilts really make the designs pop
Continue reading Downtown Vallejo: Pieced on Earth Quilts
Even though there is trash all over the streets, a boarded up or burned down house on every block, and crackheads and prostitutes roaming the streets at night, it is Lavonne Sallee’s art gallery on downtown Virginia Street that is causing an uproar in Bay Area locality forums on Topix. The pieces displayed in her gallery windows have been called “gross,” “pornographic,” “occultish,” “sick,” and “x-rated shit” and Sallee herself has been the target of very stinging insults. The funny thing is that Sallee is very possibly the most classy and gentle-looking woman I have ever seen in Vallejo; she often takes walks downtown, wearing long, flowy skirts with her adorable Yorkie lapdog by her side. It’s very hard to imagine anybody being able to say such things to her face. When she got wind of the virtual cat fight going on in the Topix forum, she was far from shy about taking part in the discussion herself.
I have been living in Vallejo, California since January 2009 and have been making observations the entire time. All I knew about Vallejo as a teenager growing up in the South [San Francisco] Bay Area was that rapper E-40 was from there. I remember hearing about the history-making city mayoral race of 2007, when there was a dead tie between Vice Mayor Gary Cloutier and former Solano County Supervisor Osby Davis, who each received 5,158votes. I remember when, a year ago today, the city of Vallejo declared bankruptcy.
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