Name: Louise O'Dea Age: 59Occupation: Library assistant at the Kensington Library Lives in: El Cerrito How long have you been working here at the library? 24 years this month. A long time. How did you get involved at first? My kids came to Kensington for school and I volunteered here. Pretty soon I interviewed and got the job. And you run the book club? Book club, knitting club, the adult programs here. Did you start those? Yeah, I did. I like to knit, so I started that. And to read, of course. There was a need in the community for those and they've been popular. The book club especially. It'…

Name: Terry Lee Age: 53 Occupation: Singer with Contra Costa Chorale, Mah Jong teacher at the El Cerrito Open House Senior Center Lives in: Richmond Annex How long have you been involved with the Contra Costa Chorale and how did you get involved? Since 2006. I sang with the Albany Community Chorus and we did our last concert in November of 2006. And I said, “Well, where can I sing Christmas carols?” And somebody said, “Well, I sing with the Contra Costa Chorale. They sing Christmas carols, and this Monday they're going to be rehearsing.” So I showed up, and they handed me a book full of …

Name: Kaz Sasaki Age: 49 Occupation: Sushi chef at Taki Sushi in El Cerrito and at Kakui Sushi in the Montclair district of Oakland; guitar and bass player Lives in: North Berkeley How long have you been a sushi chef? Well, you know Yusan Sushi is down the street? That was my dad's (Yuzo Sasaki). He had that place for something like 25 years. Prior to that he had a bunch of different restaurants. I kind of grew up in a restaurant, and I helped him out when I was 15 to 18 years old. Then I got out and came back to help him open up this place for a couple of years. Then I totally escaped the …

Name: Mary Bayer and Ted Bayer Age: “50-something” and 65 Occupation: Mary is a ceramic and metal artist; Ted works with stone sculpture. How long have you lived in El Cerrito? Mary: I'm from Washington, D.C. I went to Virginia Commonwealth School of Art, and my freshman year I ran out of money, so I had to go to work. It was a three-year program, but in one year I spent what they told me I should need for three. I started working in different political offices in Washington, and the reason I went to California is that I was working for the Mondale/Ferraro ticket. I fell in love with San …

Name: Teresa Hickman Age: 48 Occupation: Zumba instructor and bag maker Where do you live? I live in Kensington. What is Zumba and how long have you been teaching it? It's a Latin-based workout, so most of your routine is to Latin music — salsa, samba, cumbia, reggaeton, all sorts of different Latin sounds and rhythms from different countries. I've been teaching at Tatami for three or four months, and I've been teaching Zumba for almost two years. Where did it come from? It was created by this guy named Beto Perez, who is from Colombia. He came to Miami and was teaching over there. He just …

Name: John A. Greene Occupation: Cobbler and owner of Kensington Cobblers How long have you been a cobbler? About 48-50 years. Where are you from? London, England How long ago did you come here? 1983. Is this all going to the FBI? Carry on. Do you want to know where I was trained? It was at Cordwainers College. Now it's something like the London School of Fashion. So when you go into a store and say, “Oh, Jimmy Choo and Kenneth Cole!” they all went to the school I went to. Only I went to it for five years and they went to it for nine months. And what is the difference? Well, the difference is…

Name: Jaimie Morgan Age: 34 Occupation: Bikram yoga (“hot yoga”) instructor at El Cerrito Yoga How long have you been teaching here? I've been teaching here for a little under a year. I also teach in the city, in the Mission, and I also teach in Petaluma. How did you come to yoga and how did you come to Bikram yoga specifically? This is one of the first yoga that I'd ever done, and I started in San Francisco about 10 years ago. I was working in banking at the time, and somebody that I'd worked with invited me to this “hot yoga,” so I went and it was in North Beach. I loved it instantly and I …

Name: Bill Zindel Age: 44 Occupation: Graphic designer and artist How long have you been an artist? Kind of always. I went to art school at Rhode Island School of Design in the 1980s. I work as a graphic designer and I make websites. I've always made art in my spare time. What sort of art do you make? For the past few years, I've been making collages from vintage materials, mostly old magazines. I've been working on a pretty small scale, and most recently I've used a lot more geometric designs. How has your art changed over the years? I think it's gotten more focused and a little bit more …

Name: Charlotte Britton Occupation: Publicity Chair of the Friends of the El Cerrito Library There is an event coming up on Thursday. Can you tell me a little bit about it? Well, it's our annual meeting, and this year the public is invited. John McMurtrie, who also lives in El Cerrito and is the editor of the book section of the San Francisco Chronicle, will be speaking. The name of the talk is, “Is the Book Dead?” I assume he will be speaking about the fate of books and reading. What do you think about the future of books? Is the book dead? We're sitting here, then, in the midst of a …

Name: Nell RollinsAge: 54Occupation: Massage therapist. Do you live in El Cerrito? No, I live in Richmond. How did you start playing bass? I always enjoyed bass and watching people play. Recently, on the last Super Bowl Sunday I won $500 in a pool. So I came in here (Guitar Center) to buy a bass. I first thought I was going to get a new one, but there was a guy jamming here who said, “Have you thought about getting a used guitar?” So I bought a guitar for $80 and an amp for $90 and started playing. I wanted to play the drums, but they're a little loud and you can't take them anywhere. A few …

Name: Keiji Ohshita Age: 52 How did you come to El Cerrito? I came here eight years ago. We had a friend who lived in Kensington and she wanted us to live in her house. I was born in Oshima. It's a small island across from Osaka, so the western part. How long have you had Ichiban Kan? Seven years. I'm the owner of this store, but Ichiban Kan started as a franchise. This is the third Ichiban Kan. The president at the time wanted me to open a franchise somewhere in the East Bay. I picked this space because we have Japanese stores next door. There are a lot of Japanese Americans in the area. It'…

Name: Russell Morton Age: 28 What do you do at the Village Shops and Galleries? I'm the general manager, and it's also the home base for my catering and event design company, Russell Jacade Events. Do you live in El Cerrito yourself? No, I commute from Danville. So what brought you to El Cerrito? I've been a friend of the Canepa family for over 10 years now, and they're the owners of the building, which formerly was El Cerrito Lighting. It was a pretty natural fit for me here at the Village. How did come to open your own business? I attended the California Culinary Academy, and then I worked …

Name: Michael Mak Occupation: Co-owner of Butler's Uniforms on San Pablo Avenue Do you live in El Cerrito yourself? No, I live in Lafayette. Why did you go into the uniform and tuxedo business? I've been working with uniforms since I was teenager, for about 20 years. My parents moved from China when I was very little, and they went into the clothing business. I started working at Selix Formalwear in Oakland, and then I was promoted to this store in El Cerrito. After that, my brother (George Mak) and I bought the uniform business here and added the tuxedo department. We've grown a lot since …

Name: Larry Sullivan Age: 63 Occupation: Retired engineer; treasurer for the Friends of the Kensington Library. How long have you lived in Kensington? I've been here for 36 years now. How have you seen Kensington change in your time here? Well, they paved the streets one year (laughs). I guess it hasn't changed much. That's maybe what draws people to it. That's the charm of it, I suppose. How did you get to be involved with the Friends of the Kensington Library? I came by one day to donate my collection of science fiction paperbacks, and some of the people here said, “How would you like to …

Name: Jazz Poitier Age: 41 Occupation: Yoga teacher at Ojas Yoga Center Do you live and work in El Cerrito? I live right on the Albany/El Cerrito border, but I moved to Berkeley 20 years ago. I studied anthropology at UC Berkeley. It's the study of humankind and it's related to yoga. I also teach at another studio, Groove Yoga, on Oxford and Kittredge. How did you transition from studying anthropology to being a yoga teacher? I was in my final year of college and I had my daughter who was one year old at the time. I had a big problem with weight and I was also struggling with a shoulder …

Name: Erika L. Seid, MFT Age: 43 Occupation: Psychotherapist in El Cerrito Plaza Can you tell me a little bit about what you do? I'm here to help people process through challenge in their lives and decide how they want to go through them based on who they are. How did you get into this profession? I took a job in intercultural communication helping people who have been assigned to work in foreign countries deal with the stress of transition, not having a place to belong or anyone to talk to. I liked that work, but the interactions with my clients were very brief. I wanted to find out what …