Station Restoration

We are tired

The Pumps got turned on!

Pump set-up specialist reads the manual while the Solar panel installers take their lunch

This is Rye Hudak.  He and Chris Wallner run Stonelace Designs--they create artistic natural wall finishes.  Rye is a long time BioFuel Oasis customer and unapologetic paint nerd.  Four years ago, Rye shyly asked if he could paint our bathroom at the Fourth street location –“you have a purple toilet!” he pointed out.  In 1 day he transformed a yellowing-wall warehouse bathroom into a multi-textured, tri-hue cohesive Zened-out girlie gas station bathroom.

Rye came out to the Ashby locatin early one morning to teach us how to use a paint sprayer– an efficient tool for painting the highly recessed bricks on our building–inside and out.  Paint sprayers call for full coverage–we got suited up like ghostbusters.

The exterior colors are: Clay-hue walls, Blue Trim and Dark Red doors. It sure is colorful!

We’ve come a long way baby

Some photos from our sneak preview event

A toast to our new diggs

Daryl Hannah stopped by to see the station.  We are going to be on her tv show: dhlovelife ! She is big sustainable biodiesel activist and helped start the organization: Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance.

Notice Daryl's sweet Biodiesl El Camino behind us

Some other important supporters…..

From Left to Right: Ari Derfel of Terrain Restaurant, David Arkin (architect of our project), Brian Hobbs (our electrictian), Dan Fingerman, Eric Fenster of Back to Earth Catering, Melinda Kramer of Women’s Earth Alliance, Baby Joaquin, a Berkeley Biodiesel Collective lovechild, and Lynne Fingerman.

From L to R: Helpful boyfriends: Billy and Kevin,  Melissa, Kumar Ploucher and Sunny Beaver of Yokayo Biofuels, Jeff Ashburn bodyworker giving 15 minute “thank you” massages to guests.

We made that turd shine! Long hours the week leading up to this event meant we painted the whole building–inside and out along with endless other tasks large and small.   In one breath we are construction workers and the next Betty Crocker party hostessess.  It feels so close to being done, I can’t stop both squealing with excitement and falling asleep standing up.

For a reference on how far we have come..check out the  “Polishing a Turd” blog entry from September.

It is so cute! We have a “cute” tank.  Its proportions are really nice.

First a big crane came, and extended its boom 50-70 feet in the air.

The Tank pulls up on a second truck

so cute!

the tank gets into its place on the back corner of the lot