Culture
On a normal day in Oakland, most passing drivers probably wouldn’t pause to think about the pairs of stone pillars marking the entrances of four streets in the Fairview Park neighborhood. The worn, 100-year-old pillars have long been a visual anchor in the area. But yesterday it was hard to miss them: two of the monuments were decked in huge, lime green bows.
In celebration of Bandaloop’s 20th anniversary, the troupe is debuting their latest work, Bound(less), this weekend, calling the event a hybrid of “the technology of rock climbing with the aesthetics of dance.”
Meet the next watering hole in our new bar series, The Nightcap: The Trappist is owned by a couple guys who fell in love with Belgian beer while travelling through Europe, and wanted to bring the experience of a Belgian pub to Oakland.
About 200 people celebrated Mexico’s Independence Day at Oakland City Hall on Thursday, as Mexican and Latino residents from all over the city recreated the night of September 15, 1810, when Miguel Hidalgo, a priest from the town of Dolores, called his congregation to join him in a revolt against the Spanish colonial government.
In more than 140 years of professional baseball, over 17,000 players have passed through the major leagues. Only two have been openly gay. Glenn Burke was the first. At an event Wednesday night, the late Burke was honored for his contributions to his sport and community.
More than a dozen business and community groups will haul furniture and plants into parking spaces this weekend, establishing miniature curbside parks on the road in front of Oakland shops. In conjunction with Friday’s International PARK(ing) Day, participating groups are building “parklets” to add green public spaces to urban landscapes.
A half decade after the painter Norman Rockwell turned her portrait into a powerful symbol of American public school desegregation, Ruby Bridges-Hall was back in Oakland last weekend, telling a packed church, “At the end of our time, there is not going to be a white heaven and a black heaven. There is only going to be one place.”
Colorful vintage parasols, drop-waist dresses, and newsboy caps dotted Oakland’s historic Dunsmuir Estate lawn as far the eye could see this Sunday for the Art Deco Society’s 27th Gatsby Summer Afternoon, as guests recreated a 1920s garden party.
It was the first time the Seattle-based dance battle called “Rords of the Froor” had come to the Bay Area and a sign on the door spelled out the goal of the evening: “Drunk Break Dancing Competition.”