In the life of an old house, we know it’s important to renovate, refine, upkeep and maintain or things start to fall apart, or at least not work so well. This week, as we’ve begun to make a few improvements to the look and function of Alameda Old House History, we have learned the blog design framework we’re using is no longer supported. Uh oh. We’ve also been thinking for some time that it might be nice to use more of the visual page here on screen, and to continue to broaden the community of interest in connecting past and present in old homes, buildings and neighborhoods.

So for 2016, a few changes. First, a fresh look that we’ll be rolling out in the next day or so. Nothing fancy, it’s in keeping with our overall tone and style and we think it’s an improvement. Some things will look familiar, all of our existing content will move over, and you’ll be able to find your way around. Stay tuned, and let us know what you think.

Second, we’ve linked the site to a Facebook presence.  One of our goals with the blog has always been to get more people appreciating and hooked on the history of their homes, neighborhoods and old buildings. Click the Facebook like button on the sidebar and share with your friends.

We’ll start the new year with a great piece we’ve found in The Oregonian from 1929 about the soul of an old house. You’ll like it. And then we’ll wrap up the Beaumont photo series with one last great photo before moving into a list of topics for the year ahead including demolitions, the Alameda stairs, more on local mom-and-pop stores, a bunch of then-and-now paired photos and others. Any suggestions or things you’d like to see here? Neighborhood history mysteries to explore? Old photos or documents we should see?

Thanks for being along with us on the history ride, and Happy New Year.

-Doug