Thursday morning, 11 am

Oakland North reporters went out to different locations across Oakland on Thursday, October 22, between 11 a.m. and noon to observe what happens throughout the city on an ordinary weekday morning.

Read More

60 years after it was built, Children’s Fairyland keeps the tradition of storytelling alive

Over the years, Fairyland has kept its focus on storytelling alive. Each week, the puppets go live in front of a crowd of children, telling classic tales like “Sleeping Beauty” and more obscure ones the puppet masters have borrowed from other cultures. “You don’t need a lot of technology to tell a story,” says C.J. Hirschfield, Director of Fairyland. “And it is how we pass along our culture – whatever it is – through the stories, through generations.”

Read More

Grown-ups gather for a night out at Children’s Fairyland

On Friday night, the spell that had been cast over Children’s Fairyland for the past 60 years ago was broken: adults were allowed into the park without a child.

For one night only, Oakland’s historic Children’s Fairyland opened its magical doors to the young at heart aged 21 and over. The spell that has been cast over Children’s Fairyland for 60 years was broken: adults were allowed into the park without a child last Friday night. For three hours, close to 1,200 adults, most of them in their 20s and 30s, marauded the historic wonderland. Some visited for the first time, others for the first time in more than 20 years.

Read More