Community
On a Monday morning, about 10 people sat around a big table in the Oakstop office, a shared working and event space in Oakland. Most of them were looking at their laptops and wearing big headphones while typing on their keyboards. One guy was talking with someone on the phone. “Okay, I’ll email you by tomorrow,” he said. Everyone was surrounded by art pieces hung on the walls. “All of the artwork within Oakstop is done by local artists of…
The soundtrack of Telegraph Avenue at 29th Street is composed of the roar of cars, trucks and the number 6 and 800 buses. There aren’t many passersby on this summery morning. A white car blaring hip hop music stops at the intersection, breaking the monotony of the traffic sounds. The driver stares to his left at a red wooden building: St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church. It’s closed. It’s 11 am on a Monday, and even God has a schedule. Meanwhile, on…
The It’s All Good Bakery smells like sweets. There are all kinds of baked goods on display, such “sock it to me cake,” “7-Up pound cake,” chocolate chip squares, coconut cake, yellow cake, banana pudding cake, and sweet potato cake. There are also Black Panther Party posters up on the wall and pictures from the civil rights movement. One of the posters says: “The Black Panther Party for Self Defense Opened the Party’s first office at this location.” In October,…
The sidewalk in front of the Easter Hill United Methodist Church in Richmond was all but empty on Monday at 11 am. A cyclist slowly meandered by on Cutting Boulevard, the clinking of his bike chain breaking up the white noise created by a constant stream of passing cars. The doors of the church were locked, the interior dimly lit by sunlight sneaking through the high windows in the nave. In a few hours, Easter Hill would come to…
DeFremery Park is an island. A two-story light blue Victorian sits alone in a massive yard, surrounded by fields of vibrant green grass. It’s quiet in the park on most days, the building’s stoic presence adding a layer of calm to the surrounding West Oakland neighborhood. The house sits next to a tennis court, a skate park, a swing set, basketball courts, a baseball diamond, and an indoor swimming pool—all of which go consistently underused on Oakland’s many sunny days….
In the corner of Vicente Way and Claremont in Oakland lies what is a hidden treasure to many, but to others, a jewel in plain sight: Alem’s Coffee, which serves Eritrean food and is a gathering spot for the East African community. As you enter the strategically-placed corner coffee shop, the scent of coffee hits you in the face, then the scent of different spices punches you in the stomach. The sun shines brightly into the seating area through the…
The Nevin Community Center is in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood, a few yards from Kaiser Hospital. The center’s playground is fenced off from a large patch of grass that stretches from the center to the sidewalk on the 800 block of Macdonald Avenue. Across the grass, a couple of older men are hanging out, sipping beers at a picnic table. A woman with a stroller walks by and asks them for a cigarette. Standard park sounds—like the laughter of toddlers—mix…
The corner where this incident occurred is currently a construction zone
It is a very precise place. No plastic bags, no empty bottles, not even in the corners or under the bench. The red plastic edging seems to fence the monument in, to protect it from stranger things. The four bronzes inside are placed symmetrically on two sites framed by a gallery of little busts, bronzed and brushed. Global humanitarians next to local champions: Marcus Foster, Carmen Flores, Oleta Abrams, Fred Korematsu, Rosa Parks, Oskar Schindler, Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela….