Culture

Local boxing gym hosts weekend “Showdown in Oakland”

Former professional boxer Roberto Garcia, who moved here from the Philippines, is the head boxing trainer at Pacific Ring. Garcia has held the position for nearly two years, but has had more than a three-decade-long history with the sport, spending the last 16 as a trainer.

Halloween goes DIY at Rock Paper Scissors trunk show and burlesque

It was hard to know what to expect. This was Thursday evening, three days before Halloween.  The title of the event was only semi-instructive: The D.I.Y. Emporium: A Benefit for Rock Paper Scissors, an art collective in Oakland. The entry fee was five dollars, proceeds to go to the collective. Samantha Stevens, a filmmaker and event planner from Oakland, put the show together. A deep maroon carpet, faded after years of use, covered the floor of the entryway and continued…

Haunted Oakland: Searching for the ghosts of Mills College

Oakland has accumulated many paranormal tales: A ghost at the-now-defunct Holmes Book Company on 14th Street allegedly liked to throw books around, and customers reported feeling uneasy while browsing shelves alone; Ghostly orbs have been said to appear in photographs taken at Preservation Park downtown, particularly at the historic Pardee Home, the house of former California governor George Pardee; One man told Oakland North that he felt an overwhelming sense of “pure evil” while visiting the master bedroom during open house on Mall Court in Oakland.

“Emporium” event showcases locally made Halloween costumes, risque performers

“Back in the day, your mom made your Halloween costume,” says Samantha Stevens, a filmmaker and event planner, and the creator of Thursday night’s D.I.Y. Emporium: A Benefit for Rock Paper Scissors. “That was so much better than the little dinosaur costume you would buy at Wal-Mart.” The Emporium is a combination showcase and sale of clothing, jewelry, hats and homemade costume pieces, some of which would make a mother blush.

Lavish creations honor cycle of life and death at Fruitvale’s Dia de Los Muertos

On Sunday, hundreds of Oaklanders stepped out into the rain to pay homage to those who’ve passed on. The 14th annual Fruitvale Dia de Los Muertos Festival, put on by Oakland’s Unity Council, was a stunning study in eye-popping color as visitors perused altars set up in booths along E. 12th Street dedicated to the deceased, ate hot churros and watched traditional dances backed by a thunderous chorus of drums. Dia de Los Muertos, which means Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday with roots in an Aztec celebration of the goddess Mictecacihuatl, queen of the underworld. The festivities take place on November 2, the day after the Catholic celebration of All Souls Day.

The community meets the makers at mini-faire

A little rain didn’t keep Oaklanders away from the first annual East Bay Mini Maker Faire on Sunday. The fair, which was an indoor and outdoor exhibition of over 100 Bay Area businesses and tech projects, was held at Temescal’s Park Day School.

Locals chip in on globally popular LGBT support videos

The It Gets Better Project serves as a digital chorus of solidarity and support for LGBT adolescents and teens all over the world. The video project, which in less than a month has turned into an international phenomenon, was spearheaded by Seattle-based advice columnist Dan Savage in the wake of a sequence of gay teen suicides in September. Each teen death has been traced to peer bullying, and to the harsh reality of being a gay teenager in America.

Film profiles The Trust, San Quentin inmates working to better themselves

An eclectic group gathered last Thursday at the Oakland Cultural Center to view the Oakland premier screening of the work in progress, THE TRUST: Reclaiming Community In the Heart of the Prison Crisis. Produced and directed by yoga teacher Tamara Perkins, the film puts faces on the incarcerated and brings light to the issues they confront.