Lest you deride Albany for still housing a bar called “Hotsy Totsy”
right across the street from a bar called “Club Mallard,” keep in mind
that it remains the epicenter of outdoor festival entertainment in the
East Bay. Could it be, you ask? Indeed. The annual Solano Stroll
has no challengers in the festival circuit — not Art & Soul,
not Lakefest, not Eat Real. Now in its 35th year, Solano Stroll still
kicks off with a pancake breakfast in Memorial Park, hosted by Berkeley
Lions Club. That’s still followed by a huge parade featuring art cars,
marching bands, baton-twirlers and every single scout within a one-mile
radius. Then you have the festival itself, which spans 26 blocks (and
two cities), from the bagel shops up top to the doorstep of a newly
refurbished Ivy Room, right at the crest of Solano and San Pablo
avenues. More than 500 merchants, restaurateurs, gallery owners,
craftsmakers, fashion designers, and artisan vendors will hawk their
wares. On top of that, the food booths will offer everything from
vegetable samosas to churros to kettle corn. Then there’s the
entertainment: folk dancers, garage bands, Oakland Interfaith Gospel
Choir, aikido demos, Berkeley High jazz combos, La Peña
Community Chorus — and that’s just a small sampling. In keeping
with the times, Stroll organizers will also set up a green zone on the
east end of Solano Avenue, with tank-less water heaters, solar panels,
compositing demos, and other forms of green technology.
So, why Albany? Really, it’s mostly a matter of Solano’s
long-entrenched history as a business district. Local historians trace
the area’s genesis to the 1906 earthquake, and say that by 1911 Solano
was lined with railroad tracks that connected it to the ports in Jack
London Square. (In 1912 the rail line became a Key System street car
line that connected Solano to downtown Berkeley.) So even a hundred
years ago it was a bustling district, with trollies gliding up and down
the street and people arriving in droves via the Southern Pacific. Now
Solano is bookended by two movie theaters — including a
Landmark-owned venue that plays foreign films and arthouse flicks. Its
midsection is crammed with bistros, clothing boutiques, cycling shops,
grocery stores, and some higher-end restaurants. And the Hotsy Totsy
— which lies several blocks from Solano, but is enough of an
Albany institution to get name-checked in plays by the local middle
school — got a makeover in recent years. Someone apparently came
in to shine up the jukebox and the shuffleboard, fix the pool table,
and install free wi-fi. It now has a web site. Solano Stroll happens
Sunday, Sept. 13, on Solano Ave. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., free. SolanoAvenueAssn.org
