Paige A. Ricks

Black Critical Mass

The Black critical mass group, Red, Bike, Green, is a Bay Area urban bicycling group that meets every first Friday of each month to mingle and ride their bikes. The one requirement: you must be of African descent. The group, which began a year ago, started to “improve the physical health, individual economy and local environment of African Americans by strengthening the relevance of bike culture within the Black community,” which is pushed by the group’s founders Jenna Burton, 27,…

Christmas Shopping: Stun guns and pepper spray?

Are you looking for the perfect Christmas present? Something unique? If the answer is yes, then Reed Brothers Security, at 46th and Telegraph, is the place where you would find this gift. The store, which specializes in locks and other security devices, has those last few items that you can check off your Christmas list. I’m not personally in a dire need of a stun gun, but to each her own.

McDonald’s on Telegraph Avenue

“Can I help you?” asks one of the McDonald’s cashiers. “421!” another employee shouts, calling out an order number. The McDonalds on 46th and Telegraph is a relatively quiet fast-food stop. People come in and out, but very few sit inside to eat. Underneath the McDonald’s large sign it reads, “over 70 billion served,” but the restaurant seems so empty inside. Between 9 and 10 a.m., only ten people walk inside, although the drive-through window has steady traffic. The majority…

Golden Gate Playground

It was a quiet afternoon last week around 2 p.m. on San Pablo Avenue. No one was on the play ground. Very few pedestrians on the sidewalk, but this rusty wire fence and the old playground sign caught my eye.

The Crucible’s opening art showing: “eARTth”

On Friday night, more than 50 people crammed into the small narrow studio of the Crucible’s new art studio, the Cathedral Gallery, on Broadway in downtown Oakland. The show, which runs until Dec. 18, displays art ranging from a beautiful clay sculpted statue of a woman to brightly colored neck ties made of glass. The title: eARTh (with an emphasis on art). The art: made from glass, clay, marble, stone and plaster. The price: $50 to $3,000.  Or am I…

Best? Fire?

The Best Equipment Company, on San Pablo Avenue, began in 1958. Deep red and yellow painted signs caught my eye. “Best? Fire?” That’s what the sign says. Now, I know where to go to get my very own fire extinguisher.

November 4, 2009: Maine vote on gay marriage

Today is the one-year anniversary of Proposition 8, a California proposition that altered the state constitution so as to bar gay marriage.   Same-sex marriage is legal in a handful of states.  Maine was one of them, briefly, until 53 percent of Maine voters voted against same-sex marriage in the state.

The sun sets…

It was almost 5:30 p.m. when I caught the sunset peeking through the telephone poles near 67th Street and San Pablo Avenue.