A crown jewel of Alameda is one of the largest and most active centers in the East Bay for older residents to engage in social, recreational and learning activities: the Mastick Senior Center, located at 1155 Santa Clara Avenue on the main island.
The center is named after Edwin Baird Mastick, one of California’s first attorneys and a longtime Alamedan. He settled here with his family in 1864, practiced law in San Francisco, and served as clerk of the state supreme court. As president of the Alameda Board of City Trustees for nine years, Mastick led the city to implement several key infrastructure projects.
After Mastick’s death in 1901, Encinal Elementary School was renamed in his honor. Mastick Elementary continued operations until it was closed in 1980 as part of a school-consolidation plan. The school district then leased the site and facility to the City of Alameda for use as a senior center, also under the Mastick name. In its first year of operation, Mastick Senior Center provided a variety of programs in the areas of health, education and recreation for over 400 members aged 50 and over. Ownership of the property was transferred from the school district to the City in 2000.
Today, Mastick Senior Center (MSC) is recognized by the California Department of Aging for offering a comprehensive range of services, programs and activities for over 4,300 members. Now a division of the City of Alameda Recreation and Parks Department (ARPD), the center is open six days a week and offers nearly a hundred classes on different topics, a program of day trips and extended travel, as well as numerous services and resources, all supported by hundreds of volunteers, fundraising efforts, and the City of Alameda.
The range of class topics and recreational opportunities at MSC is extensive and offers wonderful opportunities to learn, grow and socialize with others in the community with similar interests. A list of Mastick monthly Activities At a Glance is available via the ARPD website. Here is a partial list of options available to all Mastick members (membership is free but individual classes may have an associated charge):
AARP Smart Driver Course; Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support; American Sign Language; Balance & Mobility; Ballroom Dance; Billiards; Bingo; Blood Pressure; Bridge; Cards and Games; Card Making; Case Management Services; Ceramics Lab; Chinese Ink Painting; Computer Basic Skills; Computer Lab; Creative Writing; Drawing and Painting; Egyptian Folklore Dance; Fitness; Fraud (Dealing With); Hula; Jewelry Making & Repair; Knitting & Crocheting; Great American Songbook; Languages (French/German/Italian/Spanish); Legal Assistance For Seniors; Lending Library; Line Dancing; Mah Jongg; Medicare (HICAP); Movie Matinee; Music Appreciation; Needlecraft; Oriental Dance; Podiatry/Blood Pressure; Pickleball; Pilates; Portraits By Woodard; Qigong; Quilting; Sewing; Scrabble; Shakespeare; Shuffle Board; Stained Glass Workshop; Stamp Club; Square Dance; Table Tennis/Ping Pong; Tai Chi; Walking Group; and Yoga. Bungee and BASE jumping are no longer offered due to our inability to keep up with demand.
In addition to the offerings mentioned above, Mastick also has a thriving Thrift Shop, which is very popular in the community due to its wide range of clothes and home furnishings offered at extremely reasonable prices. The Thrift Shop is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic reduction in the volume of activity at Mastick due to government health guidelines to protect the membership, but now Mastick is on the rise again! Membership is increasing and bingo is now back again monthly. In addition, Mastick is always looking to offer further new classes and opportunities for our members.
If you are age 50 or above and live in Alameda or the nearby area, consider joining MSC as a member now and getting involved in their classes and events to engage with others in person, learn new concepts and expand your social network. With the holiday season approaching, MSC will be hosting get-togethers around Halloween and in the month of December. Become a member of the Mastick Senior Center community, learn something new, have different experiences and make new friends!
At age 90, upon seeing a pretty woman crossing a street in Washington, D.C, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. exclaimed to a friend: “Oh, to be 70 again!”
Bill Pai is the president of the Mastick Senior Center Advisory Board.
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