Community

Ensemble Mik Nawooj brings a chamber hip-hop opera to Oakland

Sitting at a low table in the dining room of the home he shares with his business partner Christopher Nicholas and his girlfriend, JooWan Kim poured tea for everyone at the table as the conversation about the upcoming concert began. He took his seat at the table, crossing his long legs and swinging that shoulder length black hair slightly as he shifted onto the pillow on the floor.

Photos: 24 Hours in Oakland

April 25-26, 2010. We sent ten reporters out with their cameras, and invited community members to help us capture images of a day in the life of the city. Work and play, rest and motion: Just an ordinary 24 hours in Oakland. There will never be another one exactly like it. Photography by: Richard Koci Hernandez, Allison Davis, Elise Craig, Lillian Mongeau, Will Jason, Ayako Mie, Melanie Mason, Ryan Phillips, Mary Flynn, Kirstyn Russell, MSmithWriter and jjreview. 2 am to…

Small businesses and plans for a parklet breathe new life into 40th Street

A parklet is slated to be built in front of Subrosa Coffee and Manifesto Bicycles, and will continue a trend of new business and innovation that 40th Street has enjoyed over the last few years. There’s a record store, a restaurant, and even a new fresh produce market where there used to be only office spaces and an excess of abandoned buildings.

Thousands flock to Chabot to witness the historical transit of Venus

Tuesday’s transit of Venus—a celestial passage of the planet across the Sun—attracted thousands of people from across the Bay Area to Chabot Space and Science Center, all eager to see an orbit that will go back into hiding until December, 2117. The line of people stretched so far outside of the observatory that workers inside were calling out the headcount by the hour on walkie talkies, saying that the day could set the attendance record for America’s largest public telescope facility.

Projet En Vue hosts final gallery show in Oakland

It’s Sunday afternoon at the Macarthur B. Arthur Gallery in North Oakland as Saskia Levy-Sheon chooses songs on her laptop to play as background music. It’s the last day of her gallery show. As she does this, a local resident who only gives his name as Pierre comes in and takes a look around the exhibit. “Man this is beautiful!” Pierre exclaims as he examines the photographs and artwork arranged neatly around the gallery. “It’s about time somebody started represented…