Ethan Fletcher

1 month ago | destabilized.substack.com | Ethan Fletcher

The New York Times just published a big article called How to Shop for a Home That Won’t Be Upended by Climate Change. It goes through a long series of questions you one ask in determining whether a prospective home will be resilient to climate impacts. As someone who’s been on the climatedurablehomes beat for a number of years, it’s great to see. I’m especially pleased the Times piece goes beyond the “climate havens” mode of thinking about climate resilience.

1 month ago | diablomag.com | Ethan Fletcher

The word institution is thrown around lightly, but if any Contra Costa restaurant qualifies, it’s the Walnut Creek Yacht Club. Whether it’s for a drink at the hopping bar, a casual daytime burger on the “aft deck” patio, or a cup of clam chowder, fish and chips, or full-on crab or lobster dinner at a cozy interior booth, the Yacht Club has provided welcoming safe harbor for downtown Walnut Creek diners for nearly three decades. But soon no longer.

1 month ago | diablomag.com | Ethan Fletcher

Danville’s Vine and Spirits is trading in earthy cabernet for island breezes. The casual wine bar annex to Bridges Restaurant and Bar is shuttered temporarily, but plans to reopen in early April as Kaia’s Island Kitchen and Tiki Bar. According to owner Randy Negi—a longtime owner of Bridges who sold the restaurant last year but retained the Vine—Kaia’s will be more of a food-forward concept with a full menu of Hawaiian-influenced fare.

1 month ago | destabilized.substack.com | Ethan Fletcher

We’re really in it now, folks. The Trump-Musk shock-and-awe assault on American democracy and governing capacity remains on full blast. They are eviscerating federal agencies, programming backdoors into highly sensitive government code bases, and exacting revenge on their enemies. The fog of war is pervasive. Much of what they’re doing is illegal, but in many cases the line between constitutional and not is fuzzy, and nobody is sure how much the distinction will ultimately matter.

1 month ago | diablomag.com | Ethan Fletcher

The Breakfast Club at Midtown remains in expansion mode. The popular San Jose–based brunch concept launched a new restaurant in Walnut Creek last year, followed in short order by another in Lafayette. And this Monday saw an expansive new location quietly open on the ground floor of the new Legacy at Livermore apartment complex at 1960 First Street.