Bertola's Will Close by the End of March

It's THURSDAY, March 10, 2011. Some things we have in store for your reading pleasure today: At 10 a.m., watch for the list of things to do this weekend. The feature is called Get Out, but it's meant in the nicest way. And at 1 p.m., watch for another photo essay of people and places around Martinez. It's called Viewfinder, and this week it's the sharp eye of photographer Spencer Horton on display. And at 5 p.m., it's the always-phenomenal Walk About Martinez column by Scott Williams. But first, here's some breaking news for you:

1. will be closed by the end of the month, according to Mayor Rob Schroder and City Manager Phil Vince. In its place, scheduled to open in May, will be a brew pub. Stay tuned to Martinez Patch for further details. Meanwhile, if you have a hankering for that prime rib, soup, salad and bread Bertola's is famous for, get over there quick.
2. Just a heads-up that the Youth Baseball Parade is Saturday at 10 a.m. on Main Street. The Martinez Baseball and Softball Association and the Martinez Baseball Club will be represented. Line up and cheer them on.
3. To follow up on yesterday's , the topic of which was "How do you get dinner on the table every night": The responses have been interesting and worth checking out if you haven't yet. Dinner is even more of a challenge these days, as the price of everything continues to rise, including oil prices because of turmoil in the Middle East. In Martinez, gas is hovering near the very painful $4/gallon mark. Yikes.
4. If you feel like a little shopping, on Pine Street is having a brown bag sale today through Saturday. Anything you can fit into a brown bag from the shop is 20 percent off. 
5. Finally, we all get to spring forward Sunday, as daylight saving time kicks in. According by our Concord colleague Peggy Spear, that means it's time to change the battery on your smoke alarm. Can't figure out how to do that? The fire department will come out and do it for you. Now that's service.