Women-Owned Businesses we Love in The East Bay
GUEST POST BY NICOLE SKI
You know how sometimes you see something and it says National Margarita Day, National First Born Day? I recently discovered March 8 is International Women’s Day and that the month of March is International Women’s Month. International Women’s Month has been celebrated since 1911, yes it’s a real thing.
I started to wonder how I, and others, can celebrate International Women’s Month in the East Bay. I soon realized, we have a lot of kick ass women doing amazing things from restaurant, bar/venue owners, musicians, photographers to life savers in the East Bay and I thought I would write about them and let you know how to support and celebrate women during not only the month of March, but year round.
Have Fun While Supporting These Women-Owned East Bay Bars
Women-Owned East Bay Bar Owners – (Left to right) Lexi Lodge (Stinky’s), Allison Sadauskas (Heart n Dagger) and Shari Murphy (Baggy’s By The Lake) – photo from Shari Murphy
Grab a drink at this Awesome Oakland Neighborhood Bar
If you’re walking around Lake Merritt or in the Ivy Hill neighborhood- chances are you may have had a drink at Baggy’s by The Lake. Baggy’s is one of the oldest bars in Oakland, which opened in 1934. Shari, the owner took over ownership in September 2021.
Since then, she hosted some awesome events such as chili cook-offs and pumpkin carving contests, but this place is great on any night. Baggys has nonalcoholic beer as well as rotating drink specials and local art for sale on the wall. Shari has had pop-op kitchen nights by a local chef with delicious bbq and says she has a few things she is planning on but can’t share just yet. I’m definitely looking forward to what’s in store.
Shari also co-manages Merchants Saloon and works at Heart and Dagger. When I told her I was going to write an article about women in the East Bay doing amazing things, she wanted me to mention her peers like Allison who co-owns Heart and Dagger and Lexi who owns The Lodge/Stinkys. Shari says their approach is to keep classic Oakland bars alive and thriving, to avoid trendy pitfalls and keep our bars places for the community to gather and shake off the stress of the day.
Shari, owner of Baggy’s by The Lake, smiles while pretending to rock climb on her bar.
Have a Mocktail or Whiskey at The ACME
I found the ACME Bar when I moved to Berkeley and was looking for an East Bay bar. I instantly fell in love with the vibe, cocktail menu, welcomeness of the owner, Jennifer. There have been many changes to ACME since, Jennifer opened the bar in 2002 and since bought out her partner in 2007/2008, Jennifer says, “I like to think that ACME grew with me, “The whiskey collection started very slowly. The first bottle of “fancy” whiskey I bought was a Hudson Baby Bourbon (375ml) at the time around $50 a bottle, which was huge $ for a 375ml bottle. I priced it at $20 a shot, thinking no one would buy it. But they did! So little by little I kept adding and now 15 years later my collection is around 800 bottles of whiskey ranging from $9 – $1200 a pour”
ACME Bar in Berkeley is a warm and welcoming neighborhood bar – photo from their website
ACME, a warm neighborhood bar, also caters to the sober and sober curious. Jennifer said the demand for non-alcoholic drinks has been growing, and her incredibly talented staff have created delicious non-alcoholic drinks but still keep the drinks great tasting. Jennifer also started private catering. She has hosted weddings, engagements, birthday parties at the ACME and other locations.
Jennifer goes on to say “I really love doing events. They are just so much fun. Who doesn’t like being around happy, celebrating people!? When I do a wedding reception and the bride cries and tells me ‘it’s better than she ever imagined’ that’s an awesome compliment. .While events can be hard work and stressful. The feeling of making people happy is well worth it”
In 2015, Jennifer opened the back patio, which was one of the few places I felt safe going to once covid mandates were lifted and I was grateful to have some sort of normalcy. I was also able to order food from La Marcha, which is owned by her new business partner that she opened 4 Bells with, Sergio Manleon. While having discussions trying to keep their businesses opening and thriving during the challenging times of peak covid, they found a formula that works.
4 Bells in Berkeley is a kid-friendly bar – photo from their website
4 Bells is a kid and family friendly restaurant where you can watch a game, have a great burger, gorgeous cocktail, all natural soda that has 5 tv’s to show a game and arcade. “ I love that we offer such high quality food at reasonable prices. It’s so expensive to go out these days. I am glad we offer high quality food and drinks for less than most places. I believe in the philosophy of feeding one person, one thousand times. So I adore seeing our list of regulars grow. Seeing repeat faces. My goal is to create a space that facilitates happy customers and experiences.”
Ivy Room at 860 San Pablo Avenue in Albany, Calif. Photo courtesy of BandWhere
See a show at Ivy Room
Lani Torres and Summer Gerbing, collectively have more than 35+ years of experience working for dedicated music venues in the Bay Area and New York, including The Independent, Warfield, Fox Theater, Regency Ballroom, CBGBs and Bowery Ballroom.
They have said, “Ivy Room is a woman, latinx & lgbtq+ owned, all-inclusive music venue. To us, inclusion and diversity are the backbone of Ivy Room, which means living by the standard of giving value to every person, and every musical genre. We pride ourselves in hosting audiences spanning all ages, gender identities and ethnicities, and have strived to reflect this diversity and general inclusiveness in our musical calendar. We treat everyone with equal respect.”
This is confirmed by the bands that they book. They go on to tell me, “We book a wide variety of musical genres and pride ourselves on hosting all styles and variations. The bay is a mash up of musical talent. We literally have so much cool music coming out of the bay and on any given night, you might be treated to rock, psych, punk, funk, jazz, experimental, cumbia, honky-tonk, jam, hip-hop, metal, grass, folk and the list just goes on and on, haha. Some bands encompass a handful of genres all in one band! I’ve literally been blown away by seeing an impromptu reunion of a trip-hop, jazz rooted, T.J. Kirk show to doo-wop, garage inspired HOT Laundry literally ripping through a hi-octane all out, balls to the wall set, opening for the Detroit Cobras, just this past Saturday night!”
Black Sabbitch – the all female Black Sabbath cover band comes to Ivy Room March 10th at 8pm
Lani and Summer were excited to share that they’ll be hosting one of their heroes in early May. Look out for an announcement soon, they hinted, “Let’s just say, she is in our top 10 list and her portrait literally has a special place on our wall.” Speaking of wall art – They have commissioned a few bay area artists to do some amazing pieces they proudly have displayed on their walls. Which include their “third eye” mural to hand painted portraits of visionaries and pioneers that they love, to local renowned graffiti artists and photographers.
Ivy Room also is starting to host their Saturday matinee shows again. “We currently don’t have a name for it. (any suggestions welcome😊) For this event, we’ve hosted bands, dj’s food pop-ups, vendors, tarot readings, record swaps, musical residencies, you name it. We’re also bringing back our monthly, Dot’s Hoedown, which features pop-up food as well as country and honky-tonk style music.
Get Hotsy-Totsy
It’s been a long cold rainy winter in the Bay Area. I’ve found myself warming up at the Hotsy Totsy, with their signature drink and version of a Hot Toddy. Where they use a nice aged 151 rum, just enough to ignite it and sprinkle our signature “Hotsy Dust” (created with the Oaktown Spice Company) The mix of spices catch fire and light up the room with a blaze and a warm winter spice smell. We top it off with sherry cask aged Spanish brandy, lemon, honey and hot water. It’s delicious and a show stopper when the bartenders make the drink in the 90 year plus saloon that has been owned by Jessica since 1998.
For the month of March, she is partnering with Pernod Ricard as they are creating menus featuring women-owned bars in the Bay Area. They also change their cocktail menu twice a year (Spring/Summer + Fall/Winter) and Jessica’s approach is always different but it’s always been a collaborative effort with her staff. “We all get together to sample the new offerings then tweak them together as a team. For me personally, inspiration can come in many forms: a name I like, a new product I want to highlight, in-season fruits I may play around with, pretty much anything can be my muse.” The room also has a shuffle table and you can see some interesting throwback movies on the small tv in the corner at this East Bay bar.
A beautiful cocktail from Hotsy Totsy – photo from the Hotsy Totsy Club Instagram
Dance with the China Dolls at this East Bay bar:
In my last article for BAS, I wrote about the Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community. This year they are celebrating their 50th Anniversary. They have restarted their Grateful Dead nights and will have a Women Empowered Grateful Dead Night on March 10.
The band the China Dolls will showcase Sunshine Garcia Becker (Furthur, Melvin Seals & JGBand), Elliot Peck (Midnight North), Matt Hartle (China Cats), Jen Rund (Jenerator) & Anna Elva (Smokedaddies) and more guests to be announced!
Anna has told me that “This will be the first time that this particular arrangement has performed together, however I personally have played with each of these musicians a number of times in various formats” and that she is most excited “to have so many talented, strong women together on the same stage, playing music from what I consider to be one of the greatest song books of all time.”
Over the past few months, Ashkenaz has become sort of a home base for her, and she said this event is one of a few in their milestone 50th Anniversary. When asked if she will be taking the China Dolls on the road, she said, “ I sure hope so. We don’t have anything else booked yet, although a couple of offers have come in already. The Bay Area is sort of a mecca for Grateful Dead music, so I have a feeling you’ll see us again soon.” I hope to not only see the China Dolls on March 10 but many other nights.
Ashkenaz is a great East Bay bar with shows like this event with Jeff Morgan and Free Run – photo from the Ashkenaz Instagram
All of the East Bay Bars I’ve mentioned:
Baggy’s by The Lake
Address: 288 E 18th St., Oakland, CA
IG: @baggysbythelake
The Acme
Address: 2115 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA
IG: @acmebarorders
4Bells Public House
Address: 984 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA
IG: @4bellsberkeley
IVY ROOM
Address: 860 San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA
IG: @ivyroom
Hotsty Totsy
Address: 601 San Pablo Avenue , Albany, CA
IG: @hotsytotsyclub
Ashkenaz
Address: 1317 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA
IG: @ashkenazberkeley
ABOUT GUEST WRITER, NICOLE SKI
Nicole is from New Jersey. She’s lived in the East Bay for 10 years and cherishes all that it has to offer as well as what it’s taught her. She loves to travel, learn new trails in the redwoods, and is a live music aPHISHianato.
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