Culture
In the wake of the recent mass shootings in New Zealand, on Monday Oakland residents came together as one at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater for a candlelight vigil against Islamophobia. Hundreds of Oaklanders and citizens from across the Bay Area came out to mourn the 50 people who lost their life on March 15 in two different attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand: The Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre. San Francisco’s Arab Resource and Organizing Center…
When Oakland resident Eddie Velasquez was growing up, he was frequently taunted by his peers for being gay. They called him derogatory slurs and told him to be a “real man.” He was raised in a traditional Latino household, and his cultural identity made little room for homosexuality. To stop the bullying, Velasquez even dated a woman for a short period of time, but he knew he wasn’t being honest with himself, he said. Velasquez’s experience is representative of the…
Welcome back to the Tales of Two Cities podcast! This episode is all about our guilty pleasures. This week we’ll take you to Zoonie’s Candy Shop in Oakland to relive your childhood, learn about how people who have shopped too much are managing all the stuff they have, and hang out with a group of friends trying to solve a murder mystery — and who want you to know that games aren’t just for kids. And finally, we’ll meet up…
Based out of Counter Culture Labs, a community-owned lab in Oakland, Real Vegan Cheese is working on making a cheese that would have less of an environmental effect than making traditional cheese, which requires collecting milk from cows. They are using yeast and E. Coli to create the cheese proteins. In this video, scientists at UC Berkeley discuss whether or not the lab-grown cheese will be sustainable and if people will want to eat it.
If there is one celebration that cannot be stopped, it’s the Mardi Gras parade in Oakland. Whether there is sunshine or it is raining cats and dogs, the good times have to roll on Fat Tuesday. Despite the gloomy weather, people from across the Bay Area came to Oakland last week to celebrate the rich cultural tradition of New Orleans, twirling their parasols and handkerchiefs, and joining the “second line” in the street as drummers and the brass band, the…
Oakland activists Lead to Life melt guns into shovels and use them to plant trees.
On February 7, Oakland native and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson passed away at the age of 83 after a battle with a prolonged illness. The McClymonds High School graduate played 21 seasons in the league, hitting 586 home runs. He was a 14-time All-Star and the only player to win Most Valuable Player Awards in both leagues – 1961 for the Cincinnati Reds in the National League and 1966 for the Baltimore Orioles in the American…
Kids ran around relentlessly, and parents did their best to keep up. This was the scene at the Oakland Museum of California’s Lunar New Year Celebration, an annual event that drew residents from across the Bay Area. A line of traffic formed on Oak St. just for museum parking. As attendees continuously flooded through the museum entrance, the sight of walls adorned with red decorations and multi-colored lanterns welcomed them. The festivities focused on how members of the Asian diaspora…
Tamales come in all shapes, flavors, and sizes. At Oakland’s Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, tamales — and how to make them — took center stage on a recent weekend.