This themed collection of news chum all has to do with transitions — and I’m not talking about recent obituaries (such as Charlie Tuna, George Kennedy, George Martin, or Nancy Reagan, or even the death of civility in political rallies). Here are some different transitions of interest:
- Black Oak Bookstore, Berkeley. Another independent bookstore bites the dust: this time, Black Oak on San Pablo. When I last visited Berkeley, I had a wonderful time in this store, which was walking distance from not only the AirBNB where I was staying, but a used record shop a great tea joint. According to my daughter, more and more indie bookstores in Berkeley are closing. This is sad; used bookstores make a great college town. I still think the decline of Westwood started when University Bookstore on Westwood closed.
- Oakland Tribune. The Oakland Tribune is closing, being merged into an East Bay conglomeration by it’s owner, BANG (Bay Area News Group). BANG is also doing something similar with the San Jose Mercury News. This should be a warning for Los Angeles: BANG is owned by Digital First Media, who also own the LANG (LA News Group). LA News Group, in turn, owns the LA Daily News and a bunch of smaller papers in the region ripe for consolidation. Digital First also just made a bid for the Orange County Register and Press Enterprise. They will be competing with Tribune Publishing (LA Times) and a group of OCR investors.
- Western Federal Credit Union. Following the trend of credit unions to move away from their original member group origins, WFCU is becoming the Unify Financial Credit Union. Otherwise known as Single UFCU, from Double UFCU. At least it isn’t Logix. I still remember when it was Westernaire Federal.
- Target. It appears that changes are in store for Target, our favorite non-department department store. Target executives have laid out a plan to become the ultimate one-stop grocery, apparel and home destination for American families. When they are done, a shopping trip through Target’s app or online and finishing it in a store will become more seamless, with text notifications when online orders for in-store pickup are ready and dedicated areas of the store for these orders. Online orders will ship faster, as Target transitions more of its physical stores to double as fulfillment centers.
- San Fernando Observatory. The San Fernando Observatory, originally started by The Aerospace Corporation, has found a new home at CSUN. This is great news for the CSUN Astrophysics program.
- 747, marked down to 740. The 747 aircraft continues its descent into oblivion. This time it is United Airlines accelerating the retirement of the aircraft. So production will stop, and this great aircraft will be relegated to special purpose and cargo usage.
- Valley Outreach Wanders No More. Valley Outreach Synagogue, long wandering across the valley, has finally found a home. They are now preparing a new home in Calabasas. In addition to a sanctuary, the 15,000-square-foot facility will have offices, learning spaces and a social hall for bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and other events.
