Temescal
As global temperatures rise, the frequency and size of dangerous blue-green algae blooms are increasing worldwide. For East Bay residents, that means more warnings not to touch the water at local lakes and reservoirs. Warnings and closures have been seen across the East Bay in recent years, from Lake Anza in Berkeley to Lake Merritt in Oakland, where an algal bloom deprived the water of oxygen and killed thousands of fish in 2022. Coming into contact with the toxic algae…
Every Saturday morning, Will Scott Jr. wakes at 4 a.m. and drives from Fresno to Oakland to sell his fruits and vegetables at the Freedom Farmers Market in Temescal. Among the Black small business owners at the market this day, he is the only farmer. At 81, Scott is part of a diminishing group — one of just 429 Black farmers in California. He said he travels 175 miles each week to make a point. As president of African American…
Cycling has become safer on Telegraph Avenue over the years, thanks to protected bike lanes that impose a barrier between two-wheel and four-wheel traffic. In 2016, Oakland supported a pilot project that made the thoroughfare bike friendly from 20th to 29th streets. With the introduction of protected lanes came a dramatic decrease in car-bike collisions. Since then, the city has been working to bring the same safety measures to the corridor between 37th and 52nd streets. The advocacy group Bike…
New Study Shows How The Bay Area Was Built Through A History Of Racist Housing Laws
A bygone world of whimsy and magic lies beyond the gate to Oakland’s Canine Circus School for dogs. The Metcalfs, masterminds behind the school, have curated their backyard with unusual trinkets, archeological artifacts and colorful collectibles, turning the space into part sculpture garden, part creative playground for man’s best friend.
Adnan Ahmed, a Pakistani immigrant in a blue plaid shirt, looks gloomily around the 41 St Discount Store, just south of 41st Street on Telegraph Avenue in Temescal. At 10 a.m. on a recent Wednesday morning, the aisles of the small grocery and liquor store are devoid of customers, and the only thing that seems to cheer Ahmed up is having somebody listen as he recounts his tale of woe.
Sacred Wheel, an unpretentious cheese shop in Temescal, offers a funky menu featuring Pabst Blue Ribbon tomato soup, pickled eggs, and a Sriracha-infused sloppy Joe on what the menu calls “the trashiest bun we could find.” The eclectic menu is mirrored in the décor (a toy dinosaur with a chunk of cheese in its jaws presides over the cheese counter), and the staff (nearly all employees have a caricature of themselves on the wall, and the staff are decorated with…
The quiet but vibrant Telegraph Avenue in the northwest side of Temescal is lined with busy coffee shops, small candlelit restaurants and thrift shops. It is a prime location for mugging — mostly cell phone snatching — in a neighborhood that is seeing robberies go up. The response to these crimes is dividing the neighborhood.
An open forum Monday night at Homeroom in North Oakland drew nearly a hundred concerned residents who packed into the restaurant and onto the surrounding sidewalks to discuss the Temescal area’s recent surge in crime.