Leona Heights Neighborhood News

by Gordon Laverty

One neighborhood dog is known by most but claimed by no one we can name. A tall, brown, mixed-heritage old fellow, he moves about our area like a UPS delivery person on a mission. He doesn't sit around and beg, perhaps because neighbors have an informal cafeteria set up for him near one of our street intersections. He doesn't have a particular job either, unless his close scrutinizing of cars on Mountain Boulevard can be called work. He is always businesslike and on the move. He bothers no one that we know of just lives and lets live all day long. He doesn't snarl; he isn't mean; he just tends to his business as we tend to ours. We're glad he's around, this savvy old hound adds personality to our history. Name? Some of us call him Leon (short for Leona), and others call him Rusty. Maybe you know his real name.

Recent burglaries in our area have heightened the resolve of residents to zero in on specific activities to defend ourselves. The Leona Heights Improvement Association is scheduling a meeting early in September at the Redwood (basement) Room of Leona Lodge. Leonans, watch for the soon-to-be distributed notice.

The August 16 walking tour of the Leona Heights area was a resounding success! Sponsored by the Oakland Heritage Alliance (OHA), the two-hour tour visited areas where our early forebears got their pigments for ceremonial and art activities, where 19th-century entrepreneurs opened mines and carried on timbering for the building and rebuilding of San Francisco and Oakland, and where early Oaklanders went for rest and recreation. Plan to go on the next OHA walking tour.