After a six-year absence, Pinot’s Palette has returned to Alameda, bringing its combination of painting, drinks, and socializing back to South Shore Center.
The paint-and-sip studio held a soft opening on Saturday, August 8, giving invited guests a chance to test their artistic skills with a simplified version of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” The studio officially opened on August 10 and will formally mark its return with a ribbon-cutting ceremony [1] on Tuesday, August 18, at 5 p.m.
[2]For owner Mike Berkowitz, opening the studio has been more than a year in the making. Pinot’s Palette previously operated in Alameda for about five years before closing around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its space subsequently remained vacant. Seeing the empty storefront eventually got Berkowitz thinking about bringing the concept back.
“Maybe we should do something about it,” he recalled thinking. “Maybe bring a little more art to South Shore Center.”
As the owner of Color Me Mine Alameda, Berkowitz was already familiar with operating an art entertainment-oriented business. Still, getting from decision to opening night proved more complicated than he expected.
The existing space already had a bar, but Berkowitz wanted to add a kitchen. That brought additional construction and code requirements, including lowering a ceiling and installing fire sprinklers. The permitting and construction process stretched the project out for more than a year, with final approvals arriving just before the soft opening.
[3]Berkowitz said interest began building even before the doors opened. People passing the storefront repeatedly asked when the studio would be ready.
“People were excited to see it coming back,” Berkowitz said.
Saturday’s soft opening offered a preview of what customers can expect. The class was designed to be approachable, including for people who had rarely or never held a paintbrush. A team of local professional artists circulated through the room to provide help and encouragement while also learning the Pinot’s Palette teaching method.
“This is not a fine art class. This is fun art,” the evening’s instructor, Mel, told participants. Instead of lessons about vanishing points or color theory, painters were guided step by step through brushes, colors and techniques.
Each guest received a canvas, acrylic paints, three brushes and a mixing plate. Mel demonstrated one stage at a time, then turned up the party music while participants worked before calling the room back together for the next step. However, following directions did not mean everyone was expected to produce an identical canvas.
“If you want to put the Death Star in the sky, let’s go,” Mel told the class. “You want to put a volcano in there? Yeah. Let’s do it.”
[4]The point, she said, was to give people permission to make the painting their own.
“Go easy on yourself, give yourself some grace,” she said, noting that everyone could look at the same model and still produce something different. “That’s the good part about making art.”
One woman who said she had no painting experience remarked that she had been nervous about her inexperience, but the teacher “made it feel doable.” One young woman joked that the wine helped: “I feel a little loopy right now. I think that’s helping my impressionist technique.” Her friend agreed: “I like that this feels intuitive rather than perfectionist.” Yet another young woman, in class with her boyfriend, effused that it was a fun date night activity.
Before the brushes hit the canvases, participants raised their glasses in a toast to Berkowitz and the long road to opening the studio.
“This has been over a year in the making,” Mel said. “It has been a lengthy journey, and he has overcome every single obstacle.”
For Berkowitz, the appeal of Pinot’s Palette is less about producing a masterpiece than providing people with a few hours away from the pressures of everyday life.
“Just seeing happy faces, painting,” is what he said he is most looking forward to. “It’s stress-free. You forget your troubles. Just go and paint.”
Although the studio will primarily cater to adults, Berkowitz said he also plans to offer opportunities for children, including Saturday morning sessions. The space is also attracting interest from private gatherings and team-building events. Berkowitz is hoping the reopened studio will become a lasting part of Alameda.
“I expect it to be here a good long time,” he said.
[5]Opening it, he acknowledged, has been a substantial undertaking. Despite having owned several businesses, Berkowitz called Pinot’s Palette his “biggest undertaking.”
After more than a year of construction, approvals and anticipation, Saturday night offered a much simpler measure of success: music playing, glasses raised, and a roomful of people turning blank canvases into their own versions of a starry night sky.
Join the fun
Pinot’s Palette Alameda is located at 2210D South Shore Center. Sign up for public and private events online at the Pinot’s Palette [6] website.
Contributing writer Karin K. Jensen covers boards and commissions for the Alameda Post [7]. Contact her via [email protected] [8]. Her writing is collected at https://linktr.ee/karinkjensen [9] and https://alamedapost.com/Karin-K-Jensen [10].