Community

The Martinez Unified School District is spearheading a week-long campaign to encourage donations for the 35 families displaced in a fire early last month.

Just after midnight on Sept. 6, an unattended oven kindled a blaze that quickly ravaged the Regency Plaza Apartments at 600 J Street. Many of families remained in Martinez motels for weeks after the early Sunday morning five-alarm fire destroyed their homes and possessions.  more...

Civic-minded resident Philip Ciaramitaro, as part of his newly-created Community Initiative of Martinez, has organized a 3-day music festival at the Muir Amphitheater. Various local musical acts are lined up to hit the stage at the John Muir Amphitheater on October 9, 10 and 11 for the festival subtitled, “Under the sun, moon and stars by the Bay.”more...

Calling all former and current Rankin Pool aficionados, particularly those residents who learned to swim or kept lifeguard duty there in its early days of the late 1940s and 1950s.

This Sunday, August 23, at 5 p.m., the Martinez Municipal Pool closes the doors after 61 years of service. Over the next year, the entire site will be bulldozed and a new facility built in its stead. more...

Proceeds from Kick Bak Motorcycle Supply’s annual 4th of July picnic totaled $1,551, which Kick Bak’s owners and staff donated to the Taylor’s Wish Foundation, a program of the Hospice of the East Bay. For the past eight years, the Kick Bak team have donned elf costumes during the holidays and fired up the summertime grill in an effort to raise money for Taylor’s Wish. In 2001, John Muir Elementary student Taylor Hoover was diagnosed with brain stem cancer at age eight.more...

16-year-old Allison Angove, a Junior at Alhambra High School, suffered severe head trauma during an equestrian competition on April 10 when her horse fell. An experienced equestrian, Allison has been competing for several years. It’s not clear what caused the fall. The extent of the damage is still unknown, as she is still in a coma. She was recently moved from Fresno to Kaiser Oakland. Her family is keeping an online journal on the Caring Bridge site, www.caringbridge.org/visit/allisonangove.more...

SATURDAY - In a testament to the community spirit in Martinez, 600 people came to JT LaBeau’s restaurant to eat, drink, listen to live music and bid on items at a silent auction—all in an effort to save the popular watering hole, which has fallen on rough times.

Over 50 items, all donated by local merchants and residents, as well as about 70 raffle prizes, kept the crowd coming (and staying on) for 12 hours.more...