Meet Your Neighbor - Roy Childress

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Roy Childress and I am owner of the Englander Sports Pub and Restaurant.

What do you love about San Leandro?

I love the progress that San Leandro is really getting into.  The community, it’s a nice community.  San Leandro is growing; they are putting new buildings up, new businesses, new housing which helps our business of course, and everyone around here.

Very cool.  What I love about the Englander is that you always have a variety of sports games on TV.  You have the Womens World Cup coming up.  Are you getting large crowds in for that?

Yes, the ladie’s games are drawing big crowds.  The women’s USA team brings in a big crowd.  The COPA America has a big crowd and then we have the Gold Cup next month which should be really good for us and all of our patrons that love soccer.

And then there are The Warriors!

Amazing! 

Wow

And you know what was nice about it, there were NO problems at all.  There were no issues at all.  It was wonderful, it really was.  Every seat was taken in the house and it was really good for us.  And of course the Warriors fans were wonderful.

It’s been a long time coming.

It sure was.  40 years.  I was at the first two games back in 1975.  My father actually took me to both of those games.  They actually won in a sweep – 4 games. 

You guys have always supported the community.  How many organizations come in here and use your facility?

Quite a few, I’ve never really counted them.  There is a lot!  The Ski Club, Soroptomist, Rotary, Kiwanis, Book Club, GTO club, MG club, I mean a lot.  They will have usually lunch or dinner.   It’s good for us, it’s good for the community. 

We all appreciate what you do for all of us.

Thank you so much

Do you have any final quote or word of wisdom?

Well, just keep working hard and it will pay off.

That’s good. Thank you Roy

The Englander Website

Meet Your Neighbor - Brian Bishop

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Brian Bishop, I am the Assistant General Manager here at Monarch Bay Golf Club. I oversee the operations, staffing for the golf shop, outside services,  food and beverage. I assist with the merchandising , accounting, anything to do with operating a facility of this sort. I work with our general manager Kevin Kobayashi.

What do you love about San Leandro?

The location, we have a beautiful place here in the East Bay, we are by the water. We are very lucky to have a beautiful golf course on the bay overlooking the downtown skyline (SF).  We have a very generous community that comes in here and gives us great patronage. We are lucky to be in a beautiful place in Northern California.

There are some great things about this facility, The main course, the executive course, footgolf and a Junior Golf Program. Tell us a little about that?

As you pointed out the 9 hole executive course we do have 18 holes of footgolf. It's a new craze that is going on within the golf community, it's a way of bringing a younger demographic to the game of golf. Those who may not have picked up a club or been shown the game, a lot of them play soccer. The golf community has melded foot golf into our courses. It's been great, we have hosted some tournaments for footgolf, we have got some great feedback from the community of San Leandro, it's something new, it's something fun.

It's a lot easier than golf!

Yes (Laughs) the hole is much wider, you can get out of the hazard a lot easier, out of the sand bunkers, especially if you get a good kick on it.

We also have the junior golf program, we are currently starting our Nike camp. Last week was our first week, that runs through the whole of August. Junior from 6 all the way to 13/14 years old. It's a wonderful opportunity to expose your child to the game of golf. You learn the fundamentals of the swing, fundamentals of chipping and putting, everything to engross them into the game of golf. We really reinforce having fun on the golf course, not taking themselves or the game to seriously. Setting them up with the skills of not only being a good golfer but a good individual, to respect the etiquette of the game.

What do you think about the US Open and the finish?

You hate to see someone lose it, Jordan is a wonderful champion. Everyone was putting on the same greens, there was some controversy based on the rolling surfaces... It's all you could ask for, last group, 18th hole, putt to win the championship, you wouldn't even think he would 3 putt to lose it. The flat stick is the great equalizer. Shows you where to spend your time while you practice.

Like the US Open course this year we have a links style course here.

We do, and we have poa annua greens like Chambers Bay, maybe not as bumpy (smiles). We have a links style course, dried out a little bit like Chambers Bay without the extravagant elevation changes.

I was out here the other day, I noticed they are working on a couple of the fairways, number 2. The course is in great condition right now.

We are doing quite well, we have been doing a re-sodding project in the last month so we are filling up some of the bare spots. Greens are in great shape. We are really proud with what our superintendant has been doing.

Any Words of wisdom?

Specifically for golf? Enjoy it and have fun. For Juniors and Adults if you take yourself or your game too seriously you lose the enjoyment, the vigor, the importance of what we come out here to do. Go out have fun with your friend and family, enjoy a beautiful day right on the bay with a wonderful backdrop. Enjoy that and you will have a better golf experience.

Meet Your Neighbor - Jan Woycheshin

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Jan Woycheshin. Its pronounced like your wristwatch, "a" and then the sun. I do a lot of things, I am a small business owner, my Husband and I are partners in J & P Video Productions, we produce corporate event and training videos along with audio reinforcement, background music for receptions and parties. I also volunteer at the Chamber 2 days a week, I am also at the Chamber for event coordination. I am on the board of Friends of San Leandro creek. We organize creek cleanups and are stewards for the creek. I am on the San Leandro Senior Commission, I am the chair for that. I am on the board of directors for a nonprofit called the Acme Foundation out of Lake County, they provide monetary assistance for the elderly and disabled for their seriously ill dog and cats (Jan is also a Chamber Ambassador)

What do you love about San Leandro?

I love San Leandro because it is so centralized to everything, its 25 minutes from San Francisco, its 4 hours from the mountains. I love the weather. I love the people. It has a small town feels, but it's a big town. It's a good place to live, the weather is great and I like being involved in the community, it's a very community oriented city.

You have been involved in Coffee connection for a long time, tell us about that?

I took over coffee connection in 2005 when we were still at the Davis street location, there was only about 3 people in attendance, it was just coffee, we tried to get people to talk about their business. Especially for the small business owners.  I thought if you feed them, they will come, let's have an open house at the Chamber.  So that December we had what I thought would be just an open house, during the course of it the then CEO said "Let's get the meeting started". I had not planned on a meeting.  That is how I started out with Coffee Connection.  It grew, we out grew the conference room. For a while we had our meeting at the Englander, when the Englander couldn't accommodate us any more we started moving the venue around.

That works out better. Each month we have a speaker that can talk about their business, they must be a Chamber member and the venue must be a Chamber member . Changing the venue allows each venue to show off their place of business.

It seems a fairly relaxed networking event.

It's a networking opportunity for about 20 minutes, then the speaker gets about 25 minutes, then everyone gets a chance to introduce themselves. Coffee connections tend to be anywhere from 20 to 60 people depending on the venue and what is going on.

If someone wants to attend a coffee connection do they have to be a Chamber member?

No. The Chamber does not have a prospective membership or orientation meeting. I tell people that if they are interested in finding out what the Chamber is about, come to a coffee connection. You will get a taste of the people who are in the Chamber, you will find out what we do, you will find a mix of people. Each coffee connection is about an hour, sometime people hang out a little longer networking. A lot of people have connected through coffee connection, it's not always who you know, it's who other people know.

You recently received an award?

Last year I received the leadership award for district 3 from San Leandro City council for some of the things I have done

Any final Words of Wisdom?

Come to San Leandro, It's a growing city, a growing community. It's a wonderful place to live. I have lived here since 1975 and I have seen a lot of changes, and things are still changing and I don't see them stopping for a very long time. I think everyone who comes here will fit right in.

Jan, Thank you so much.

Meet Your Neighbor - Jonathan Davis

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Jonathan Davis from San Leandro California. I am a manager at Orbit Skate Boutique and I love what I do. I travel, I am a wide eyed wanderer.

What do you love about San Leandro?

I was raised here, I was born in Alameda but raised here.  I love the diversity. It's the city element, being the suburbs of Oakland and San Francisco. It has a little bit of everything, it has the hiphop, you can go to the Englander, go to the skateshop. There is so much to do.

Back in the day my Dad said they had a roller-rink across the street from here. They had Neil Young, and The Byrds play. That was in San Leandro, not in Oakland or San Francisco.

You have younger sponsored skaters and a program for children keeping their grades up?

We do have a sponsor program. On top of that we have a GPA program, which we have been doing since 2001. You bring in your report card at the end of the year, K - 12 and we will give you a free gift. You have a 4.0 you get a free skateboard deck. 3.0 a free sticker pack and then gifts in-between. We get people who come from the Central Valley. It's a great incentive for the kids.

The shop always feels so friendly, doesn't matter if you are coming in to browse or to buy something. Where do you think that comes from?

We are a family. We work in a great work environment, everyone is really happy, everyone has been here for a while, we love what we do. Everything we carry we are really, really into. From the skate people to people coming to buy statues.

Final Quote?

Live in the positive of life, live in the good, live in the essence, live in the moment. Take everything for what it is and try to always effect yourself in the positive.  There is the neutral and then the middle but try and push yourself in the positive for everything you do.

Orbit is Celebrating it's 20th Birthday, they are having a street party on July 15th with Pro Skateboarders. From Dawn until Dusk

Meet Your Neighbor - Mrs. Domin

Who are you and what do you do?

I'm Marilyn Domin, I've been the Kindergartener teacher at Assumption School for the past 35 years and I am just about to retire.

What do you love about San Leandro?

What I love about San Leandro is it has a small town feel  but it has everything a city could want and people here are so friendly.

Any words of Wisdom?

Love every minute. The past is gone and the future you don't know what holds, so just enjoy the present.

Photo's taken at Mrs. Domin's retirement party.

More Photos to come