Neighborhoods
Oakland’s Chinatown has been hit hard by the recession. Fewer and fewer customers shop there, and job opportunities have been hurt. Food-related industries have suffered greatly, especially the small markets and restaurants.
Placemaking–using art to create places of meaning and significance–is catching on in the Golden Gate District with a new project created by neighbors that aims to tell the story of the area, both its history and what people would like to see in the future.
This December, a “pop-up” neighborhood is coming to Old Oakland: three downtown blocks of hip—albeit temporary—retail shops that showcase local designers, artists and goods…just in time for holiday shopping.
Bank Transfer Day was an initiative started by a Los Angeles art gallery owner that urged people to move their money from commercial banks to credit union accounts by Saturday, November 5. According to the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), a Washington D.C.-based coalition of state-chartered credit unions, 650,000 people have joined its member institutions since September 29, one week after the launch of the Occupy Wall Street protests.
This busy part of 8th Street is the site for one of the many proposed bikeways in Oakland. However, some Chinatown leaders said the city should think twice before adding bikes to the mix on 8th Street, as well as parallel 9th Street, which has a similar bustling vibe.
Hundreds gathered on College Ave. this Sunday for the Out and About Festival, Rockridge’s annual celebration of food, music, crafts, community organizing, and good-natured neighborhood noise. The festival featured Bay Area musicians such as The Clifford Lamb Trio and The Blue Monday Jazz Jam. Young children had their faces painted, practiced hula hooping, painted small pumpkins, planted seeds, and tried to climb a gigantic rock wall…
Souley Vegan, located at Broadway and 3rd Street in downtown Oakland, conjures up a sense of Southern comfort with murals of jazz artists like Louis Armstrong and Big Mama Thornton covering the walls. The air is scented by the steaming gravy wafting off the top of one patron’s mashed potatoes. Blues tunes carry over the entire seating area and bar, as does the sizzling of something frying in a batter: tofu.
Rockridge residents, many who feel they are left on their own while a reduced and overworked police force focuses on violent crime, spoke of their concerns with crime in the area at a meeting Thursday night.
James and the Giant Cupcake opened last week, near the corner of San Pablo and Alcatraz. Owner Eurydice Manning had to shut the store down for a two hours the third day the shop was open because they were sold out, and frantically bake more.