Michael Pandolfo’s childhood comic store was dark, dingy, and intimidating. He remembers the shop was full of the condescending comic book fans he calls “rules lawyers”—comic book experts who show disdain for non-experts. It wasn’t a welcoming place for any but the most shunned, resentful reader. This old store, where he bought his first issues of Conan the Barbarian, loomed large in his mind when he opened his own comic shop Dr. Comics & Mr. Games on Piedmont Avenue in…
Shoppers looking for an alternative to the post-Thanksgiving melee of Black Friday will find one in Oakland. A strong “shop local” push has developed in the city over the past few years, and this year’s day-after-T-Day campaign is the biggest yet.
Community events and activities for the weekend of November 16-18, 2012. Got an event we didn’t know about? Please add it in the comments! Friday, November 16 Secret of the Rocket 11 am, noon, 3:30 pm Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd. Oakland Two young adventurers turn an old cardboard box into a rocket and with the help of a magical book and their vivid imaginations blast off on a journey to the many places in the Solar…
The St. Vincent de Paul Society of Alameda County is seeking turkey donations to help make possible a special holiday meal for those in need.
After several rounds of ranked choice balloting, Oakland and Alameda County election returns are in. In the Oakland at-large contest, after five rounds of balloting, incumbent Rebecca Kaplan secured a victory with 60.74 percent of the vote, while current District 5 representative Ignacio De La Fuente took second with 39.26 percent. Speaking late Tuesday night, Kaplan’s spokesperson Jason Overman called her win “a very decisive victory.” “The voters of Oakland have spoken to move Oakland forward. They chose a record of…
Oakland’s premier cultural event is in flux. Can a grassroots community effort come together to organize and fund First Friday before the city steps out of its planning role?
A billboard campaign initiated by Oakland youth uses personal stories of loss to spread an anti-gun violence message.
Ahead of the November 6 election, Oakland North asked eight Oakland voters to name the local issues they’re most concerned about.
This year’s inaugural Art Gallery Week, which runs from October 3 to 13, showcases galleries through events like artists’ panels and curator-led tours.
The fourth annual event put on by the Temescal-Telegraph Business Improvement District included 27 restaurants this year. Crawl-goers ducked into restaurants or stopped at outside food stalls to sample the diverse offerings.
When it opened in 1912, Oakland’s 16th Street Station was the end of the line for passengers traveling on the Transcontinental Railroad. On Saturday, BRIDGE Housing, the nonprofit affordable housing developer that owns the building, threw a party to celebrate the station’s 100th birthday.
This weekend’s Oakland Underground Film Festival (OUFF) showcases local, independent films and new international works. The four-day festival begins Thursday at the Grand Lake Theater and continues at two other venues throughout the weekend. About 60 films will be screened, a mix of shorts, features and documentaries.
After a July 8 fire forced CommonWealth Café and Pub’s owners to close their business for repairs, other Oakland bar and restaurant owners stepped in to help. In the months since the fire CommonWealth’s owners have collaborated with a number of these local businesses on food and beer events that have benefited the pub and kept their employees working.
Freedom House: Dancing in the Flatlands is a new performance work by Claudine Naganuma. The piece will be shown three times at East Oakland’s EastSide Cultural Center this weekend, starting with an 8 p.m. performance Friday night. Naganuma is the director of Danspace, a dance studio in Rockridge, and the founder of the dance company dNaga, which will be performing the piece.
The small, high-ceilinged gallery was barely big enough for the turnout Friday night. The modest rows of folding chairs easily filled, and then people found space on the paint-smudged concrete floor wherever they could. Some crouched on the stairs, others stood in the back, but everybody listened, because this was a presentation about love.
Years after serving as education director for then-Mayor Ron Dellums, professor Kitty Kelly Epstein aims to recast the controversial mayorship in a new book. “Organizing to Change a City,” released at the end of August, tells the story from a supporter’s view. It describes the community effort that secured Dellums’ victory and defends his tenure – all part of advancing Epstein’s contention that grass roots change is possible, even in a city as complicated as Oakland.
- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next »