Culture
If winemaking is an art, consider The Punchdown Oakland’s newest gallery. The uptown bar, which opened its doors at 2212 Broadway in December, offers wine connoisseurs and neophytes alike a polished, unpretentious space to sip, nibble and chat. But be warned: there’s no Yellowtail on tap at The Punchdown—the bar only carries natural, sustainably produced wines.
A state bill that would ban the possession and distribution of shark fins in California has led to debate between conservationists and Chinese American leaders, and has its share of critics in Oakland’s Chinatown. The bill would prevent hundreds of restaurants from serving shark-fin soup, a traditional Chinese delicacy that is a mark of prestige at banquets.
It was early, raining and Sunday, but about 300 people still gathered in front of the Oakland Marriot City Center last weekend for the final official training run for the Oakland Running Festival’s marathon and half-marathon races.
This three-piece experimental pop band from Oakland — and no, Religious Girls are not actually girls — is the next feature in our “Bandwidth” video series on East Bay music.
Now in its 52nd year, the Oakland Museum’s “White Elephant” sale is legendary. So are the lines to get in and the lengths that folks will go to to be the first inside. What’s not so legendary – or the unsung heroes of the annual sale – are the ladies (and a few gents) of the Oakland Museum Women’s Board.
On Wednesday, the International Community School put on a Dr. Seuss pajama party—with the help of local PBS affiliate KQED—during the time when their after school program normally meets. The party started out with an appearance by a costumed avatar of the Cat in the Hat (the real deal if you ask any of the students) and branched off into story time in each of the Kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.
Hiroko Kurihara is building the 25th Street Collective step by step—recruiting other entrepreneurs to share the space with her brand, making improvements to the interior, and fundraising on the collective’s web site. The collective will allow businesses to share space, resources, employees and feedback from fellow artisans.
On Saturday, the Oakland Museum of California will kick off its new show Splendors of Faith/ Scars of Conquest, which features 110 pieces of art from the mission churches that dot the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. This is the first time many of the artworks will be seen outside of their original locations.
At PayLess Self Storage auctions in Richmond, the winner takes all: the good, the bad and the worthless.