Culture
Tamales, a Mexican dish of wrapped cornmeal dough filled with meat or vegetables, are a traditional favorite for holidays, especially Christmas. At La Borinquena Mexi-catessen and Specialty Shop, a family-owned business that has been open since 1944, tamales are a regular feature on the menu, but it is during the holidays that they sell out the most.
As the era of a storied Oakland Chinatown restaurant comes to an end, a new stage will be ushered in for the community’s access to healthcare. Silver Dragon, the banquet hall and restaurant at 9th and Webster Streets, is set to close in the coming months. The iconic building will become home to a brand new, state-of-the-art medical clinic run by community organization Asian Health Services.
Powell’s Sweet Shoppe on College Avenue caters to every candy lover’s dreams. With over 6,000 confections in stock that range from the chewy, taffy, peanut butter-centered Abba-Zabas to all varieties of creamy gelato, this local business carries treats from every era.
The Nightcap is a series that features a favorite Oakland drinking establishment every Friday afternoon. This week, it’s Lounge 3411, a “pub club” in the Laurel/Diamond District.
For more than 60 years, the Chinese Exclusion Act legally prevented Chinese people from legally immigrating to the United States. On Wednesday evening, Mayor Jean Quan hosted an event celebrating the contributions of immigrants to the United States on the anniversary of the day the exclusion act was repealed.
On Wednesday at lunchtime, Oakland’s downtown workforce poured out of their offices and into the City Center Plaza to grab a bite and take in the sounds of the holiday concert series. This week, the theme was Kwanzaa, the celebration of African heritage and culture that is held each year between December 26 and January 1.
CERI is a non-profit organization that provides mental health and social services to refugee and immigrant families, mostly Cambodians. All of the girls in its support group have parents who are Cambodian refugees, and they all live in high crime neighborhoods in the East Bay. Many of them know other girls—friends, former classmates—who have become involved in “the life,” a term for the underground world of prostitution.
Musically Minded, Oakland’s non-profit music school, is holding a series of camps and workshops over the winter break for kids of all ages. The Rockridge academy, which opened early this year, triples as an education facility, community center, and concert venue. Music classes that will be offered this December include a hip-hop workshop and vocal ensemble sessions, and for the lovable but tone-deaf tots out there, there are workshops in topics like jewelry making and science.
In one of many formerly abandoned warehouses in post-industrial West Oakland, a community of artists has taken over. American Steel Studios sits on a six-acre spread with two conjoined buildings. The group, led by artist Karen Cusolito, has transformed the space from a relic of the 19th Century to a symbol of postmodernity, in which technologists, artists and entrepreneurs share skills and ideas.