A longtime Montclair Village business is doubling down on fitness with the addition of a wellness suite. Healthy Life Vitamins at 6130 Medau Place is offering customers infrared sauna therapy, red light therapy, aromatherapy and the use of their zero-gravity 4D massage chair — all new additions to a former office space that’s been converted into a spa.
Bree Fletcher, the shop’s sales and marketing manager, says Healthy Life Vitamins already gets people coming in after physical therapy or a workout at one of the gyms in Montclair. “We get a lot of people who have pain, aches, injuries. People are looking to get healthy and restore their muscles and just find overall wellness. So we thought, ‘why not give back to the community?’ ”
The massage chair is a high-tech lounger often used by chiropractors to relieve muscle tension, reduce stress and promote relaxation. It even has speakers so you can listen to your own music while you relax. The chair is voice-controlled, so you can command it to do things like turn down the heat or the music. The wellness suite costs $69 for anhour, with discounts for two- and four-session packages.
Firehouse update: Oakland Firefighters say they’re close to finding the suspect or suspects who started a blaze in the historic storybook firehouse on July 21.
The fire did significant damage to the roof of the 99-year-old building, which has been under renovation by volunteers with a vision to reopen it as a performing arts center. Suspiciously, a burning log was discovered on the Montclair Railroad Trail around the same time as the fire station blaze broke out. Whether the two incidents are connected is unknown.
The “Gingerbread House” fire station opened in 1927 and closed in 1989, when it was found to need extensive retrofit work to make it earthquake-safe. Since its closure, vandals have set fires, spray-painted graffiti and left drug paraphernalia, bottles and other trash.
Sweet times: Fentons is celebrating its 132nd birthday. Elbridge Seth Fenton opened the creamery at 41st and Howe streets in Oakland in 1894, followed by its first restaurant and soda fountain in 1922 and the famed Piedmont Avenue shop and production facility in 1961. On National Ice Cream Day, July 21, they had an all-day celebration, scooping out their legendary Black & Tan Jr. Sundaes for $1.32.
Movie nights: At 6450 Moraga Ave., Red Oak Realty’s parking lot turns into a walk-in theater each summer with the first Montclair Outdoor Cinema night of the season on Aug. 22. The classic coming-of-age dramedy “Stand by Me” will show on their big screen, with lawn games and a DJ starting at 7 p.m. The second movie night will be on Sept. 12, featuring “Zootopia 2.”
Ginny Prior can be reached at ginnyprior@hotmail.com and followed on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com.