Community
On most weekend mornings in September, Oakland residents turn Lake Merritt into their outdoor track, with packs of joggers and cyclists circumnavigating the sunlit lake. But a canopy of gray clouds chilled the air one recent Saturday, making the morning in the emptier-than-usual park feel like winter rather than late summer.
Walk into the Walgreens at 30th Street and Telegraph and it will not take long to realize that this is a pharmacy on a mission. Every two minutes, a peppy voice cajoles customers into making the most of the 10-til-4 daily seasonal flu shot available at all stores, nationwide. Outside, signs remind customers that the flu jab costs just $24.99. Inside, they’re immediately informed that both Medicare and Medical can foot the bill, and on a recent weekday afternoon a…
They wear plaid laceless sneakers and tattered jeans scrawled with indelible pen. They are self-proclaimed “high school rejects.” They are no older than 19, but they can absolutely school you on many aspects of contemporary Japanese popular culture—particularly as expressed in the comic book and video phenomena called manga and anime.
This week’s Game On: The Rockridge Ninjas. by Richard Parks/Oakland North
Dozens gathered at Lake Merritt in Oakland Sunday afternoon at a rally for healthcare reform. Laurel Moorhead and Becky Palmstrom captured the event in video and audio slideshow form.
Koreans have lived in Oakland for decades, but in 2007 the city allowed a group of landlords the right to tax and manage several blocks on Telegraph Avenue, renaming the strip Koreatown – Northgate. The neighborhood speaks out on the area’s recent name change. Video by Puck Lo and Laurel Moorhead/Oakland North.
The late Hunter S. Thompson – no stranger to depravity himself – once called Oakland Raiders fans, “beyond doubt the sleaziest and rudest and most sinister mob of thugs and wackos ever assembled in such numbers under a single ‘roof,’ so to speak, anywhere in the English-speaking world.“ Oakland North caught up with Raider Nation at the Coliseum before Monday’s opening night for the 2009 Silver and Black. The evening ended in a 24-20 defeat to the visiting San Diego…
“It’s a sad memory, looking at that, especially at nighttime,” says an Oakland cafe owner whose business view takes in the padlocked, empty theater building that used to be the Parkway. A look at the loss of the popular neighborhood hub and the challenges hampering efforts to bring it back to life. by Sam Laird/Oakland North
Discolored rose petals piled in a corner. Dead rose heads were bending off their stems.“Every time I come here, I get itchy fingers because I want to prune the roses,” said Carol Braves, grasping a pair of clippers as she stared at a limp-looking pink rose bush that was almost as tall as she was. “I feel like a kid in a candy store right now.” For more than 75 years, Oakland’s famous Morcom Rose Garden has been a beautiful…
“I bet you don’t even take the bus,” one West Oakland resident chided AC Transit planner Sean Diest Lorgion. “I take the bus seven days a week.” She was one of scores of Oakland residents crowding a room in the transit building in downtown Oakland Saturday, who had come to hear AC Transit’s presentation on a proposed 15 percent service reduction. Oversize, full-color foldout maps were distributed to all in attendance, detailing the proposed changes. Other handouts included comment forms…