This week: Polynesian dance in Fremont, a new cat cafe in SF, a South Bay Batman, book clubs of the Peninsula, and California pollinators. Also, examining an ancient Greek star map using physics; supporting stroke survivors; and highlighting the unsettling parts of suburban life.

Traces in the margins

In Menlo Park, a lab built for cutting-edge physics is being used to recover something far older. Researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are using x-ray imaging to look through layers of ancient parchment, revealing a star map that was written in ancient Greece and later scraped away.

By analyzing the chemical makeup of old inks and metals, the team can reconstruct what once sat on the page, even when nothing is visible to the eye. The work offers a rare glimpse into how early astronomers charted the sky and how fragile that record can be. — NBC Bay Area

Other hands in the garden

As gardens start to wake up for spring, it’s a good moment to notice the many quiet pollinators preparing for their busiest season, from hummingbirds and native bees to butterflies and even flies, all getting ready to carry color and life from plant to plant.

Pollination shapes about 80% of flowering plants and most food crops, from cocoa and bananas to agave, while cross-pollination keeps species resilient through genetic diversity. In California, where roughly 1,600 native bee species live, understanding these roles matters as introduced honeybees compete for resources and spread disease. — Marin Independent Journal

Rooms for whiskers and lounging

At Whiskerwood Haven in SF’s Inner Richmond, cats arrive through a network of foster homes and step into a space designed to show who they really are. The lounge lets people spend time with them, watch their temperaments unfold, and make more thoughtful matches than a quick shelter visit allows.

Whiskerwood Haven is open daily from 11 am to 7 pm. — Richmond Sunset News

Cul-de-sacs and quiet weather

Jonathan Crow paints the California suburb as a place where light, color, and unease share the same frame. Drawing from childhood memories, film training, and a life split between parenting and the art studio, his scenes hold ordinary spaces open long enough for something unsettled to surface.

Pools, gardens, and abandoned carts become stages for moods shaped by politics, memory, and the strange calm of residential life. Crow’s solo show, Cul-de-Sac, is on view at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara through May 3, with a reception on January 24. — 48 Hills

A cape in the margins

For nearly eight years, the Batman of San Jose has walked the city at night with water, food, and first-aid supplies, building trust with people living unhoused. What began as a teenager’s response to discrimination has grown into a mix of street outreach and public advocacy, including speaking at City Hall and pushing for housing-first policies.

His costume is practical as much as it is symbolic, stocked with medical gear and a cape that can double as an emergency blanket. The work now extends beyond him through Bay Area Superheroes, a small mutual-aid collective active across San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. — KQED

Small circles, open books

Book clubs across the Peninsula are giving people simple ways to meet through libraries and independent bookstores. Some focus on graphic novels, others on short novellas, cookbooks, or quiet “silent reading” sessions.

Many are open to the public and built to feel low-pressure, whether that means shorter books, casual discussion, or just reading alongside others. Groups meet in places like Mitchell Park Library in Palo Alto, Fireside Books & More in Redwood City, Sanchez Library in Pacifica, and Feldman’s Books in Menlo Park. — Mountain View Voice

Life after stroke

After a severe stroke in 2010, Debra Meyerson had to leave her tenured Stanford job and relearn how to speak, while grappling with her sense of identity. She and her husband, Steve Zuckerman, turned that experience into Stroke Onward, a nonprofit supporting survivors beyond medical recovery.

They’ve since organized a 4,500-mile tandem bike ride, launched live storytelling through the Stroke Monologues, and created an online community connecting survivors, care partners, and medical professionals. — KPIX

Waves in motion

In a Fremont industrial park, the Hula Halau ‘O Nalua fills the room with drums, chants, and synchronized movement that pulls dancers into the rhythms of Hawaii and Tahiti. Students of all ages glide through Kahiko, hula ‘Auana, and Ote’a, connecting to ancestry, culture, and each other.

For many, hula goes beyond steps and rhythms, offering a break from the daily grind, a moment of focus, and a link across generations. The school, approaching its 50th year, also tours internationally and fosters community through ongoing performances and family involvement. — Bay Area News Group

Top image: Jonathan Crow

Previously: Field Notes: Suitcases for Foster Youth, an East Bay Roundhouse, and a Teen Artist in ‘70s-Era Berkeley

Field Notes highlights moments of connection, culture, and community across the Bay Area—from a new Peninsula trail network and thriving raptors to Japantown’s retail revival, a Mission escape room, Black history exhibits, and Oakland’s tribute to a cherished mentor.

654-acre Peninsula estate launches new trail network

Filoli, an historic 654-acre estate on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land in Woodside, has launched a new trail network guided by six giant trolls by Danish artist Thomas Dambo. The whimsical Trolls: Save the Humans exhibit marks a shift from manicured gardens to wild spaces, inviting visitors to explore two miles of easy trails through redwoods, willow houses, and playful art. It’s part of Filoli’s effort to reconnect with the land’s deeper roots and invite broader public engagement through nature, history, and imagination. [7x7]

The raptors are alright

Pinnacles National Park’s 2025 nesting season is off to a strong start. Biologists are monitoring four peregrine falcon and nine prairie falcon territories, with most pairs actively nesting. Other raptors, including golden eagles, long-eared owls, and white-tailed kites, are also settling in. After years of concern—from DDT’s legacy to avian flu outbreaks—this “wonderfully normal” season is a welcome sign for the park’s recovering raptor population. [Pinnacles National Park]

Retail revival in Japantown

While downtown’s San Francisco Centre continues to shed tenants, Japantown’s Japan Center Mall and the Stonestown Galleria are thriving—thanks to a wave of Asian retailers, nostalgic collectibles, and student-friendly entertainment like arcades, escape rooms, and karaoke bars.

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With nearly full occupancy and rising foot traffic, both malls show how cultural relevance, safe neighborhoods, and suburban-style accessibility are reshaping the city’s retail future. [Chronicle]

Unlocking connection in the Mission

Lore, a new speakeasy-style escape room, opens June 12 in San Francisco’s Mission District, inviting guests into a whimsical world of puzzles, Vietnamese-inspired cocktails, and Mad Hatter–style tea parties.

Founder Vy Tran created the space as a response to the loneliness epidemic—and as a love letter to the city that made her dream possible. In an open letter on Lore’s website, she writes, “I hope you meet someone new and that you’ll plan new adventures together.”

In a recent Reddit post, Tran explains how she taught herself building codes, drafted her own architectural plans, and made 80 trips to the Department of Building Inspection to bring Lore to life. Her long-term vision is to expand it into a full underground universe of wonder and connection, according to the Chronicle.

Black history in the American West

Two major exhibitions are honoring Black history in California, offering a fuller, richer picture of the American West:

• Black Gold: Stories Untold at the Presidio, reframing the Gold Rush through Black resilience, entrepreneurship, and military service. [FOR-SITE]

• Routed West at BAMPFA, showcasing over 100 historic quilts from African American families who migrated to California. [BAMFA]

“Be Like Boomer”

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee declared June 6 Dr. Marvin Boomer Jr. Day in honor of the beloved Castlemont High mentor and College and Career Pathways Coach who was killed in a hit-and-run last week.

At his memorial service, a student returned a stuffed bear she’d promised to give him when she graduated. His partner, Nina Woodruff, called him “Mr. Wonderful.” The city is urging everyone to carry his legacy forward. [KRON4]

Top image: Yinka Shonibare, CBE, Man Moving Up, 2022 at Black Gold: Stories Untold                          

Longtime Peninsula Congresswoman Anna Eshoo is planning to retire from the House next year, and she announced Tuesday that she will not be seeking reelection.

Eshoo made the announcement with a video message.

"I'm choosing this beautiful season of Thanksgiving to announce that I will not seek reelection, and I do so with a heart filled with unending gratitude to you, my magnificent constituents," Eshoo said. "For three decades, you’ve given me your trust, and I’ve given every fiber of my being to live up to the sacred trust in every way possible."

Eshoo, 80, has held the office representing California's 16th congressional district since being elected in 1992, and she will be 82 when she leaves office at the end of next year.

"I think it's time," Eshoo told the Chronicle in an interview today. "These jobs are 24/7. I have commuted across the country, for 31 years, every single week that the House is in session. To do my legislative work at the Capitol, but to come home, to be in my district, that means working weekends to be with my constituents. I’ve never resented the responsibilities, but as a member of Congress, my life is filled to the brim with have-to’s. That’s what comes first.”

Eshoo's district covers a significant swath of Silicon Valley and the wealthiest communities of San Mateo County, including Palo Alto, Mountain View, Campbell, Woodside, Portola Valley, Los Altos, and Los Gatos. The 16th District, outlined on the map below, also comes up the western part of the Peninsula nearly to San Francisco, including Pacifica and Half Moon Bay, and includes some unincorporated parts of San Jose.

Kevin Mullin, who took over the neighboring 15th District last year from retired Congresswoman Jackie Speier, tells the Chronicle that Eshoo is a "living legend" who is "universally respected and revered, and her district and the Congress has benefited greatly from her steady and moral leadership during some [of] the most challenging times our country has faced."

Eshoo's retirement will leave open a seat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce committee, and it will set off a frenzy of campaigning for some number of potential candidates. The two that the Chronicle knows of already are Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, 70; and California Assemblymember Evan Low, 40. Both are expected to make campaign launch announcements last week.

Low, who is gay, is likely to make an issue of age if pitted against Simitian — and in campaigning for the Assembly he has used his youth as an asset. Low was elected to Campbell's city council in 2006, at the age of 23, and then became the city's mayor in 2009 — and while he currently represents Sunnyvale in the state house, the Chronicle notes that he still owns a home in Campbell and could move back there in order to run for this office.

"Throughout my life, I've blazed trails and made history as the first Asian‐American, openly gay person, and one of the youngest people ever elected to Campbell’s City Council, the youngest Asian‐American Mayor in the country, and the youngest Asian American legislator to be elected to the Assembly in state history. But I'm just getting started fighting for the Silicon Valley," Low said on his campaign website.

State Senator Josh Becker, 54, whose district also straddles San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, may also end up in the running for Eshoo's seat, as might former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, 53.

Eshoo, who was born in Connecticut to an Assyrian-Armenian mother and Assyrian father, came to the Bay Area as a young adult and received an associate's degree from Cañada College in Redwood City in 1975. She was elected to the San Mateo Board of Supervisors in 1988, and was in the middle of her second term when she ran for Congress in 1992.

Eshoo's retirement comes at a transitional moment for Bay Area politics, with the recent retirement of Speier and the death of Dianne Feinstein, and the assumed impending retirement of Nancy Pelosi — which may not come for another few years.

"I want you to know you’ve made me a better person. You have deepened my love of democracy. You have demonstrated the goodness and the decency of the American people over and over again,” Eshoo said in the video announcement. "So on this Thanksgiving, I will bow my head and say thank you for choosing me for the high privilege of representing you."

Yeah, barf. 21st Century American decadence, real estate insanity, and hate-reads about the wealthy all combine in a story about a recently constructed 6,400-square-foot modern Tuscan villa on the Peninsula that some new owners intend to demolish in order build something bigger and more "them."

An investment banker and his wife paid $15 million in January for the sizable property on a 1.5-acre lot at 2186 Parkside Avenue in Hillsborough — a handsome and large home completed in 2013 complete with pool, tennis and bocce ball courts, and loads of expensive, imported finishes. As the Chronicle reports, the couple turned to the town's design review board on Tuesday to get approval for the manse they'd like to build that is twice the size — 13,000 square feet — which will be more specific to their modern farmhouse tastes.

As Palo Alto-based real estate agent Michael Dreyfus tells the paper, the move to tear down this relatively new luxury home is part of a trend on the Peninsula as land values soar. "The premiums paid for location are more intense every day," Dreyfus says, noting that high-end buyers are more concerned about finding the right "spot" for their dream home, and then paying whatever it costs to construct something custom that is commensurate with that spot.

Of course, this doesn't sit well with the neighborhood, who dealt with five years of construction at the same property after a previous New Orleans-style home (of a mere 3,500 square feet) was torn down in 2007, to be replaced by the current structure which has stood for only six years. "We all have a short time on this earth," wrote one neighbor in a letter to the design board. "Living adjacent to a complete teardown and rebuild once is something no one goes looking for. Living next to it twice is an unreasonable expectation."

According to the Chronicle, the city of Hillsborough has issued 61 teardown permits in the last five years — and this is in a small town of 11,000 people.

Ironically, the primary designer of the current home on the property, Jerry Winges, serves on the town's design review board, and he seems to have OK'd the teardown so long as the owners conduct "a careful deconstruction rather than demolition" in order to preserve the valuable finishes and rare woods in the home.

Curbed SF has chronicled the teardown frenzy on the Peninsula over the last few years, highlighting things like this 1,000-square-foot home in Palo Alto that was listed for $1.9 million in 2017, and this 2,000-square-foot ranch in Atherton that was listed a year earlier for almost $3.5 million.

Russell Deutsch, the 57-year-old owner of Old Port Lobster Shack restaurants in Redwood City and Portola Valley and the Old Port Lobster Grill in San Jose, appears to be in some hot water with the state of California. He's pleaded not guilty to tax evasion charges in San Mateo County court, with the authorities claiming he underreported taxable sales at his three restaurants for eight years to the tune of almost $1 million, as CBS 5 reports.

Deutsch was found to owe $950,628 in back taxes to the state, and upon serving a search warrant, authorities discovered $600,000 in cash at Deutsch's Portola Valley home.

He was remanded into custody Tuesday following his plea, as the San Mateo Daily Journal reports, and he's being held on $950,000 bail.

Almanac News further reports that Deutsch recently opened a fourth restaurant, Rusty's Roadside Grill at the Ladera shopping center in Portola Valley. CBS 5 notes that he had plans to expand the Lobster Shack empire to Sacramento and Portland, Maine as well.

Home prices in Atherton, already sky high as of last fall when Forbes declared it America's toniest zip code, continue to climb, in part because Forbes published that article. As SFGate's real estate blog notes, home prices in the Silicon Valley suburb are up 40 percent over last year, meaning that mansions and even little bungalows there are now 40 percent more expensive than what qualified as the most expensive place in the country 8 months ago.

CNBC reported last week that mansions are regularly going for prices over $10 million, and some of that is being fueled by foreign buyers, including those in China, who want to claim the prestige of living in America's wealthiest zip code. One Chinese buyer just plopped down $14 million for a mansion, sight unseen.

The median home price there is now a stupidly insane $9.44 million, up from $6.67 million last year.

Just in the first quarter of this year, brokers in Atherton sold seven properties that were priced over $10 million. Currently, the most expensive listing there is $25 million.

And this just goes to show that this guy's ranking of America's richest zip codes, which was not taking into account home prices, is way off — he had Atherton at #151.

[CNBC]
[SFGate]
[Curbed]

The same two suspects appear to be connected to at least three burglaries, one in Burlingame, one in San Mateo, and one in Fremont, in which homeowners were distracted by one suspect in their backyard while the other one broke into their home and robbed them.

The scam goes like this: A woman comes to the door claiming to be with Animal Control and saying she needs to inspect the backyard and lay traps for poisonous snake abatement, because a neighborhood girl was recently bitten. The woman's male "supervisor" is typically present, and while she escorts the homeowner to the backyard and speaks to them about the snake issue, the male suspect looks around the house for easy things to steal, like jewelry, or in one case, a coin collection.

This little ruse is not dissimilar from this one that we heard about last week involving an elderly couple in Oakland who were robbed by some fake PG&E workers.

The female was described in all three incidents as a heavyset Hispanic woman with blond hair, about 5 feet 2 inches tall, with a "Bronx-type" accent. The woman also appears to have been involved in a door-to-door operation in the small town of Niles, but this time with a female accomplice, last Saturday.

So, this lady grifter's getting around! Beware, homeowners!

[KTVU]
[NBC Bay Area]