Solano Avenue Stroll Opening Ceremony
2024 (9/8) Grand Marshal:
Amy Thomas, Pegasus Books
In the summer of 1980 Amy sealed her fate in all directions and graduated from Cal, got married, and got a job at Pellucidar and Pendragon Books in Berkeley and Oakland. In 1995 she bought the business from the founders, Matt and Karen Wyse, and has been selling books and tearing out her hair at three locations ever since. Pellucidar closed in 1983 and re-opened as Pegasus Books on Solano, so this year we are celebrating 41 years in business on Solano Avenue, and 55 years in the East Bay.
Amy has been active in many organizations over the years She served as President of the Northern California Booksellers association for several years, and on the board of the American Booksellers for Free Expression. She has also served on the boards of the Solano Avenue Association and the Downtown Berkeley Association, as well as the Solano Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) Advisory Panel for the City of Berkeley. She was a founding member of Buy Local Berkeley and Oakland Grown. She also helped develop the River of Words poetry and art contest for young people, and the Watershed Festival held yearly in downtown Berkeley.
Amy and her family and staff are pleased and happy that they have been able to keep these special bookstores open through thick and thin, and wish to remind one and all of the importance of a robust local economy for our community – readers, authors, neighbors and friends. Thank you to all of our staunch customers over the years, we appreciate you very much.
2023 (9/10) Grand Marshal:
John Nakamura, Albany Subaru
John was born and grew up in Berkeley until Bart decided to run a thoroughfare through their neighborhood. His family next moved to a small home in Orinda whose real estate prices were still low as back then it was considered out in the country. With a father who was a prominent Architect, and a mother who was an award-winning school teacher in Oakland, education was key focus in his family. With both father and mother being Cal graduates, John was given one option for college and got his bachelors at Cal, then earning a Masters degree at Cal State East Bay.
His entry into the auto industry was shuttling cars between the Bay Area and Southern California. After graduation this led to an offer to head up a new leasing office down South, where he worked until recruited back North by the Bay Area Auto Group, Val Strough Automotive. John rapidly worked his way up from sales to general manager, and then to regional Vice President. When a merger lead to the decision to sell the company’s Albany location, John managed to convince them to sell it to him, despite them wanting to keep him on as an employee. Pooling all the cash he could, and liquidating his 401K he got enough that Ford Motor Credit would loan him the rest and the deal was done. At the time of their sale to Victory Automotive, Albany Subaru was consistently one of the top performing Subaru dealerships in sales volume and employee and customer satisfaction.
John credits Ford, Subaru, Don Strough, and Rick Hendrick with helping him get started in the industry, and feels immensely lucky to have had the honor of working with talented teams of employees over the decades. He also feels lucky to have had his business in Albany which was always welcoming, and to have been a part of the wonderful Albany business community.
2022 (9/11) Grand Marshal:
Sue Johnson, Sue Johnson Lamps
Celebrating 50 years on Solano Avenue!
Since 1972 Sue Johnson and her staff of artisans have created a breathtaking range of beautiful, functional home lighting, from tiny table lamps with mounted Netsuke to four-foot wide ceiling canopies of golden mica decorated with natural leaves. Drawing inspiration from our natural environment and from the rich decorative arts heritage in the Bay Area, we have worked hard to establish our reputation for creating extraordinary home lighting.
