Have you heard? After years of being subjected to its arguably clever commercials, Hayward residents will soon get to sample the Hot Fudge Shakes, Coney Dog & Tots, and Xtra-long Bacon Cheddar Cheese Steaks that come along with a Sonic Burger Drive-In.

The sign is up at the Fairway Park shopping center, and a wooden frame is rising at the former Arby’s site, 31187 Mission Blvd. While the official Bay Area Sonic Web site states a December opening, we contacted Rashid Cinos, the man behind the new Sonic.

“It’s a bit too early to touch bases,” Cinos said. “Give me two weeks. By then we should have some immediate milestones, a better idea of when we will be opening.”

Will do, Mr. Cinos. Last we heard, there was some design modification that had to be completed to make the site appropriate for the Sonic business model, which is carhop-style fast-food, with no indoor sit-down restaurant.

Jon Fong shot us an e-mail seeking more information about what he says is “quite some news” for a lot of people, at least his peers, who have been tantalized by the commercials but denied easy Sonic access.

Read Jon’s thoughts and more after the jump.

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Caltrans just faxed the following info re: northbound I-238, which will be closed between I-880 and I-580 beginning midnight and until 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Detours for motorists traveling westbound on I-580 will exit at Strobridge Avenue; turn left onto Castro Valley Boulevard, heading west, make a right onto Mission Boulevard and heading north, turn left onto Lewelling to access I-880. Signs will also be in place to guide motorists to the detours.

Caltrans: The closure is necessary so contractors can install bridge joint seals on the several bridges along I-238. Motorists should expect minor delays and proceed with caution through construction work zones.

Here’s the press release. It’s PR, for sure, but hey — it’s also a free meal:

(Hayward, CA)—Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar is poised to say thank you to area veterans and active duty military personnel with free entrées all day on Veterans Day, November 11th.

The restaurant, located at 24041 Southland Drive, will offer complimentary entrées to dine-in guests all day if they show proof of military service, which includes U.S. Uniform Services Identification Card, U.S. Uniform Services Retired Identification Card, Current Leave and Earnings Statement (LES), Veterans Organization Card (i.e., American Legion and VFW), photograph in uniform, wearing uniform, DD214 and Citation or Commendation. In addition to this event, Applebee’s will be offering an open-ended 25-percent discount on all entrées to any uniformed police, fire, paramedic and military personnel who patronize the restaurant. The promotion does not include discounts on beverages and gratuity and is limited to one entrée per customer.

For more information, visit http://www.applebees.com/vetsDay/default.aspx or contact the management company, Gala Corporation, at marketing@galacorp.com.

 Ann Romick, who used to contribute feature stories to the Daily Review, checked in with a Halloween tale of bad deeds, good deeds, a little boy and his giant pumpkin:

THE BIG PUMPKIN HEIST

By Ann Romick

“It was a dark and stormy night………” Isn’t that the way mysterious Halloween stories begin?  Well, actually, the storm has come and gone and the heist took place during the daylight hours — about 10 a.m. in the morning of October 27, but it’s a special Halloween story which needs to be shared.

We, who become a little jaded by the bad things touching our lives, could do with a reminder that while there are thoughtless people in the world, there are also those who are good and kind, and willing to take a moment to heal the broken heart of a little boy. (Story continues after jump.)

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The latest improvements to San Lorenzo Creek near Centennial Hall have been completed, and it’s worth checking out. The work is along City Center Drive, just east of Foothill Boulevard.

Starting up above 2nd Street, there’s an overlook with interesting bilingual historical placards about early settlers in the area.

Crossing the bridge, there’s an access staircase that goes down to a platform beside the bridge for a look at the creek and a large street drain output, which had some impressive flow during the major rainstorm on Oct. 13.

The concrete path ends, but a dirt trail continues under the bridge. There’s evidence that homeless people are camping there, and a spray-paint scrawl on the opposite bridge support advises that “Art is OK, Tags no way.”

At Foothill, there’s another access point in De Anza Park. It leads to a short trail and some ground erosion control efforts. Unfortunately, people are still dumping trash there.

Overall, the work looks terrific and will be much enjoyed by those who would like to take a closer look at our main local waterway. Let’s hope dumpers don’t keep treating the creek like a landfill and ruin that. Thanks for the heads up that work is finished, Alex!

Morning radio reports sounded dire — Hayward city streets in gridlock due to a deluge of commuters trying to get to the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. Jackson Street backed up, solid, to Foothill.

However, Hayward Police traffic division Sgt. Jeff Lutzinger said it wasn’t so bad.

“We had some minor congestion, but we get that every day,” Lutzinger said. “For the spontaneousness of the (Bay Bridge) closure, I was surprised we didn’t have bigger problems.”

Lutzinger said he was very worried coming in to work about what the morning traffic would look like.

“I didn’t know what I would get stuck in,” he said. “But if the bridge does not open tomorrow, I only hope things can go as smoothly as they did today.”

Officer Christina Tagle of the California Highway Patrol said that all things considered, Hayward-area freeways “went pretty smoothly. Traffic cleared out and by 9:30 or 10 it was back to normal, and nothing major happened.”

However, Tagle said that doesn’t mean there weren’t a lot more cars on the road. She estimated that it took commuters about twice as long to get through the area. “Plan on giving yourself an extra hour,” she advised. “People just need to be patient.”

Online traffic reports indicated things were getting sticky around 3 p.m., and we will soon see what the afternoon commute brings. There’s also a CHP incident report page that’s useful for finding potential freeway troubles.

Anyone have an eyewitness report, either from a.m. or p.m.? Or suggested alternatives to the main arteries that you’d care to share?

There’s one less auto recycler around after Pick Your Part closed its NorCal scrap yards, including the one at the end of W. Winton Road. Sure, there are plenty of other such recyclers in the industrial areas near the shoreline, but I have fond memories of the octopus yard as the site of great bounty: Cheap parts for a 1966 Volvo 1800S  back in the mid ’90s.

Even then, good specimens were a rare find in a scrap yard, and after an exhaustive search, PYP proved to be a veritable treasure chest of old Swedish iron.

Not sure why they closed — the guy at the PYP number confirmed that both Hayward and Milpitas branches are gone, but had no idea why. Seems like an auto recycler would do well during a recession. Will look into it.

The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for the Hayward area, meaning that nuisance flooding could occur. Not nearly as extreme as a flash flood watch. Regardless, we went down to take a look at San Lorenzo Creek in a number of spots and found it flowing rather rapidly.

Here it is near Foothill Boulevard and City Center Drive.

Here it is at the Grove Street Bridge.

Here it is behind the Meek Mansion.

Want to know how your surrounding area would fare in a 100-year-flood? Here’s a FEMA site where you can punch in your address and get an overview.

And here’s a Daily Review from the mid-1950s, before the San Lorenzo Creek was calmed by dams and culverts.

Let us know if you are aware of any particularly flood prone areas in the greater Hayward area that we should be keeping an eye on.

Speaking of Phil Long, the Castro Valley artist who made the Oakland police tribute in this year’s Day of the Dead exhibit, here’s a really neat video of him making his first such work out of leather. It honors his father, who was murdered off the coast of Mexico while trying to sail to Ireland. Long said it took more than 500 hours of cutting, gluing and stitching to make the piece.

There’s a lot of neat stuff over at the Meek Mansion, the site of “The Art of Remembrance: Days of the Dead 2009,” an exhibit that kicks off with a Saturday event. In addition to the works mentioned in our article that ran today and Phil Long’s amazing tribute to four fallen Oakland police officers, there’s a columbarium entry that we are particularly fond of.

Mary Ann Davis created this, depicting the death of her obsession with collecting newspapers. A cover-to-cover reader, she would hoard the papers in her living room.

“Always local papers — the Daily Review,” she wrote in an artist statement. “I could toss a San Francisco Chronicle in a heartbeat.”

What’s not to love about that? Bravo, Mary Ann Davis!