Culture
Koreans have lived in Oakland for decades, but in 2007 the city allowed a group of landlords the right to tax and manage several blocks on Telegraph Avenue, renaming the strip Koreatown – Northgate. The neighborhood speaks out on the area’s recent name change. Video by Puck Lo and Laurel Moorhead/Oakland North.
The late Hunter S. Thompson – no stranger to depravity himself – once called Oakland Raiders fans, “beyond doubt the sleaziest and rudest and most sinister mob of thugs and wackos ever assembled in such numbers under a single ‘roof,’ so to speak, anywhere in the English-speaking world.“ Oakland North caught up with Raider Nation at the Coliseum before Monday’s opening night for the 2009 Silver and Black. The evening ended in a 24-20 defeat to the visiting San Diego…
“It’s a sad memory, looking at that, especially at nighttime,” says an Oakland cafe owner whose business view takes in the padlocked, empty theater building that used to be the Parkway. A look at the loss of the popular neighborhood hub and the challenges hampering efforts to bring it back to life. by Sam Laird/Oakland North
Discolored rose petals piled in a corner. Dead rose heads were bending off their stems.“Every time I come here, I get itchy fingers because I want to prune the roses,” said Carol Braves, grasping a pair of clippers as she stared at a limp-looking pink rose bush that was almost as tall as she was. “I feel like a kid in a candy store right now.” For more than 75 years, Oakland’s famous Morcom Rose Garden has been a beautiful…
The Crucible, an industrial and creative arts center in the heart of West Oakland, opened its doors and welcomed the public to its open house demonstrations and workshops Saturday. Starting September 26, the Crucible will offer a wide variety of fall classes, covering everything from glassblowing to blacksmithing. The open house gave the curious a chance to sample the Crucible’s creative and educational offerings, and visit the booths of two dozen community groups, including People’s Grocery, Bay Area Classical Harmonies,…
The Crucible, where students do everything from fixing bikes to giving live performances with flaming batons, is having an open house this Saturday, September 12. “We’re best known for the fire,” says Ismael Plasencia, the Crucible’s Youth and Community Program Manager. “Everyone knows about that, but we’re a school too. We’re a school first.” Twenty-four Oakland community outreach organizations will set up information tables in and around the Crucible’s industrial workspace. The open house will be punctuated by live performances,…
The fifth annual 9/11 film festival, sponsored by the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance, began last night at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater.
Eight years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, a group of people who call themselves “truthers”—those who insist that the American government’s version of that day’s events is a lie—will gather at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater Wednesday and Thursday for a film festival. For the last five years, the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance, an organization that seeks to further people’s understanding about the September 11, 2001 attacks, has sponsored the festival, which brings together filmmakers, speakers and other…
For nearly a decade, residents living near the intersection of Gaskill and 54th Streets in Northwest Oakland enjoyed a hard-won sense of calm. They’d formed a community police group, discouraged loitering and blatant drug dealing, and a diverse group of new homeowners was infusing money into this section of town, which runs along the Emeryville border. Even the owner of the neighborhood convenience store agreed to stop selling liquor in an effort to reduce crime. Yet on Tuesday, neighbors were…