The Many Enchanting Faces of Martinez

It's FRIDAY, June 24, 2011. The signs of summer are everywhere today -- the Chamber of Commerce carnival is going on over at the intersection of Highway Four and I-680, Friday on the Main is featuring the band Azure Moon tonight, the Music on the Knowles concert is happening all day tomorrow at Alhambra High School. . . there are day camps and organized hikes and bike races abounding. My old journalist buddy Marc Sandalow said it pretty well the last time he was here to give a talk -- he lived in Berkeley, and said that he always thought of Martinez as the refinery he drove by on the freeway. He was astounded to find this city, surrounded on three sides by verdant hills and lush waterfront parks. And I know what he means -- I feel exactly the same way, almost daily. The sheer diversity of scenery, wildlife, plant life is truly amazing, particularly for a place that hosts the world's largest gravity-fed refinery. From most parts of the city, you don't even know the refinery is there. And the same is true for the people of this city -- so many different kinds of folks choose to make this place their home, and we all just sort of bump in to each other on a daily basis, doing our best to get along (or, in some cases, not). But it's always an adventure, every day, in this city -- always some reminder that this is a place like no other, that the old and the new morph together here in ways they don't in other places. From the valley vistas of Elderwood Drive, the bucolic lushness of Reliez Valley Road, the pastoral splendor of Alhambra Valley Road, the suburban peace of Forest Hills, the 1960s strip mall weirdness of northern Alhambra Avenue, the strange and endless pulse of downtown, to the infinite variety of daily shoreline life, all silently watched over by the decaying hull of the Forrester. . . we have a treasure here. Hopefully today, and this weekend, you can take a few moments and just enjoy being here.

Weather:
Today - Sunny, with a high near 80. West southwest wind between 14 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.
Tonight - Clear, with a low around 54. Breezy, with a southwest wind 19 to 22 mph decreasing to between 11 and 14 mph. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.

Events:
Tonight - Happy Hour and a Half at , featuring Cindy Lou Hadley and Mark Comstock, 4:30 to 6 p.m.
, with classic cars and Azure Moon, 6:00 p.m.
Tomorrow - , featuring a day-long line up of local bands, noon to 8 p.m. at Alhambra High School.
, at Viano Winery, benefit for the Martinez Community Swim Team, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday - at the Sleep Train Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.
, Main Street, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Today in History:
1916 - Mary Pickford becomes the first female star to sign a million dollar contract.
1938 - Pieces of a meteor, which exploded when it entered the Earth's atmosphere, fall on Pennsylvania.
1939 - Siam is renamed Thailand.
1957 - The US Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.
2004 - New York declares capital punishment unconstitutional.