East Bay Yesterday

A few generations ago, the San Francisco Bay was filthy, smokestacks clogged the air with sooty black clouds, and many local plants and animals were on the verge of extinction. Although our region still faces threats from invasive species, pollution, and climate change, an incredible amount of progress has been made. Explaining his motivation for writing San Francisco Bay Area: An Environmental History (Backcountry Press), an encyclopedic new overview that covers everything from beavers to earthquakes, David Schmidt said “I thought that people would appreciate the Bay Area and all of its beautiful natural areas much more if they knew how hard it was to preserve them.”

Listen to the podcast to hear an interview with David Schmidt that delves into Native history, the real-life incident that inspired Hitchcock’s The Birds, our favorite local lookout points, and much more. Find the program via Apple, SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Shoutout to Steven Whitright and Ethan Goldwater for helping out with recording and production on this episode.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/how-we-recovered-from-environmental-catastrophe/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://eastbayyesterday.substack.com/

Donate to keep this show alive: https://www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

One of the coolest things about Oakland’s DIY culture of the early 2000s is that we did so much with so little. With no corporate sponsorships or major funding, scrappy groups of artists and musicians were able to create a thriving scene built on creativity, resourcefulness (dumpster diving!), and the determined ambition to turn bizarre fantasies into tangible reality. This episode features two stories that exemplify the weird brilliance that made this era so special.

The first segment is about how Jhon Benson bought a steel-plated AC Transit bus from an Oakland Police officer and turned it into a veggie oil-fueled party on wheels. Like a Gen X Ken Kesey, Benson loaded his bus up with a motley crew of pranksters (and some random strangers) who brought music, comedy, and myriad shenanigans to scenic vistas, highway underpasses and even cemeteries throughout the Bay Area and beyond.

The second segment is about Lobot, one of the largest and longest running live/work artist warehouses & DIY galleries of the early millennium. Former residents Sabrina Sierra and Ben Valis share stories of an Armageddon party, “the night of 1000 punks,” unexpected visits from the FBI, and how Lobot temporarily transformed into a free spa for sex workers. They also discuss several of the unglamorous aspects of living at Lobot, like how the space evolved politically amidst the gentrification of West Oakland and what it was like to share a shower with 15 people.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/dancing-at-the-end-of-the-world/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://eastbayyesterday.substack.com/

Donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

In Oakland on any given weekend in the early 2000s there might’ve been be a punk show in an old Victorian happening down the block from a warehouse rave while, at the same time, a bunch of burners were doing pyrotechnics in an old factory and a few blocks away, experimental noise musicians were making bizarre sounds in an abandoned train station within spitting distance of hardcore kids moshing under a freeway overpass while the nearest intersection was being taken over by a sideshow blasting hyphy. It was raw, unpermitted, cheap, and people weren’t doing it to get rich or famous. 

There was cross-pollination, collaboration and confrontation. It could be wild and dangerous, problematic and annoying… it could be whatever you wanted it to be because it wasn’t being sold to us from the outside, we were making it happen ourselves. For some folks, these overlapping DIY scenes were all about art, music, and building community. For others, it looked like gentrification, a wave of hipsters setting the stage for rising rents.  

Inspired by Jessalyn Aaland’s article in the Oakland Review of Books, “Please do not hang out in the street: Oakland DIY music spaces of the early 21st century,” the Oakland Underground miniseries will explore why there was such a big explosion of underground activity happening here during this particular era – and how things have changed. This episode features interviews with Aaland, an artist and publisher of Current Editions, as well as Heather Freinkel (aka Heather Blotto), a musician and photographer who organized countless shows and cultural events at DIY spaces like Dead Rat Beach and Unimatrix Zero. This episode features music from High Castle, Ettrick, Vholtz, Circuit, Your Pest Band, and Eats Tapes.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/no-ones-trying-to-get-famous/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://eastbayyesterday.substack.com/

Donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

On the night that 18-year-old Joan Gelfand moved to Berkeley in 1972, she experienced her first riot, as protesters infuriated by President Nixon’s re-election raged down Telegraph Avenue. That was the beginning of a wild ride that soon found Gelfand immersed in a radical scene of lesbian musicians and poets, hippie drag queens, and acid freaks. After suffering the trauma of her father’s death back in New York City, Gelfand found everything she was seeking here in the Bay Area: excitement, refuge, and a tight-knit group of friends and collaborators. 

Her memoir “Outside Voices: A Memoir of the Berkeley Revolution” captures the vibrancy and promise of a radical feminist movement that Gelfand came here to join. It also shares the pain and disillusionment she felt as the scene fractured and consumed itself. Listen to the new episode to hear Gelfand share stories of cheap rent, militant poetry, and women’s empowerment.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/berkeley-was-heaven-until-it-wasnt/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://eastbayyesterday.substack.com/

Donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

Walter Riley first got involved with political organizing when he was a 12-year-old boy protesting against Jim Crow-era segregation laws in North Carolina. Since then, he hosted an event with Malcolm X, managed a campaign for the Black Panther Party, helped lead the struggle for ethnic studies, and participated in countless political actions. His new book, “Civil Rights and Structural Attacks,” co-authored with Jesse Strauss, shares lessons from a lifetime of movement-building.

The book, which features a foreword from Walter’s son, the revolutionary rapper and director Boots Riley, looks back at the anti-apartheid movement, the Oscar Grant uprising, and many other rebellious moments to analyze the victories and shortcomings of these struggles. In this episode, which was recorded in front of a live audience at Local Economy in Oakland, Walter also discusses strategies for overcoming sectarianism and the legacies of local political figures including Jerry Brown, Ron Dellums, and Jean Quan. Special thanks to Rose Khor for audio engineering.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/from-jim-crow-to-oscar-grant/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://eastbayyesterday.substack.com/

Donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

Berkeley’s waterfront has undergone many transformations. For millennia, the shoreline was dotted with Ohlone village sites, thriving amidst an abundance of fish and fowl. In the decades following the Gold Rush, factories and neighborhoods sprouted up, clogging the former wetlands with human and industrial waste. Over the past century, the waterfront transitioned into a place for recreation and nature, thanks to the creation of a marina, parks, and restoration projects.

Today’s episode was inspired by “On the Waterfront: The Other Side of Berkeley,” an exhibition currently on display at the Berkeley Historical Society and Museum. The first segment features stories collected by Camille Antinori as part of the Berkeley Fishing Oral History Project, which gathered memories of local anglers who grew up fishing at the Berkeley Pier. The second segment includes an interview with Berkeley Historical Society co-president Mitchell Fleischer. If you really want to the full experience, listen to this podcast while taking a stroll along Berkeley’s waterfront trails.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/fishing-kept-us-out-of-trouble/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://eastbayyesterday.substack.com/

Donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

In a small, bunker-like laboratory in the East Bay hills, Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin created some of the world’s most powerful psychedelic drugs. Astonishingly, he didn’t try to hide his activities. On the contrary, Sasha published instruction manuals on how to make his mind-expanding compounds, and his farm in Lafayette became a mecca for scientists, therapists, artists, and others who were drawn into his world of pharmacological experimentation. Along with his wife, Ann, Sasha was a pioneer who helped lay the groundwork for the therapeutic use and decriminalization of psychoactive drugs that is unfolding today.

Although Sasha and Ann both passed away, their legacy is being carried on at the Shulgin Farm, which continues to be a space for psychedelic research, educational gatherings, and other activities. On May 2, the Shulgin Foundation will be launching “MDMA: From Molecule to Movement” at the Berkeley Alembic, an exhibit tracing the history of Shulgin’s influence in synthesizing and spreading the drug now known widely as “molly.” This episode features interviews with Wendy Tucker, chair of the Shulgin Foundation, Paul Daley, co-founder of the Alexander Shulgin Research Institute, and Shulgin Foundation director Megan Bowers. Get comfortable, because we’re going deep with this one!

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/no-casual-experiments/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://eastbayyesterday.substack.com/

Donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

During the 1960s, America’s Cold War era monoculture was shattered by the arrival of birth control pills, civil rights protests, anti-war riots, LSD, rock & roll, and an unprecedented upsurge in youthful rebellion. As the Bay Area emerged as ground zero for this constellation of revolutionary movements, Rolling Stone magazine was created to document stories that the mainstream media was either ignoring or not taking seriously. Rolling Stones’ contributors were immersed in the scenes they covered and helped translate what happened here for the rest of the country, and for future generations.

Peter Richardson's new book “Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine” (UC Press) explores this still-controversial time period and seeks to understand the true legacy of “the long sixties.” Listen now to hear our conversation about the political potential of music, the rise and fall of the hippies, and much more.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/covering-the-counterculture/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://eastbayyesterday.substack.com/

Donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

In February, America’s nuclear arms treaty with Russia expired, ushering in “a global rush for new weapons,” according to New York Times. Much of the next generation of the US nuclear arsenal will be developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which has been designing and testing nuclear weapons since the early 1950s. The Lab’s history of hiding hazardous health impacts, security failures, and other troubling behavior should raise concerns not only in eastern Alameda County, but across the entire region.

This episode features interviews with Marylia Kelley and Scott Yundt of Tri-Valley CARES, a watchdog group that’s been monitoring the Livermore Lab and advocating for community safety since 1983. Additionally, Sherry Pratt, a retired Lab employee and cancer survivor, joins the program to share her story.

Listen now to hear about the stunning history of Lawrence Livermore National Lab, the origins of the nuclear weapons complex, and why transparency around the Lab’s operations is shrinking while its budget is booming.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/i-felt-burning-in-my-throat/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://substack.com/@eastbayyesterday

Donate to keep this show alive: https://www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday

To learn more about Tri-Valley CARES, visit: https://trivalleycares.org/

The USS Hornet fought in some of the biggest naval battles in world history, picked up astronauts returning from the first moon landing, and is allegedly one of the most haunted places in America. Three decades ago, this aircraft carrier was sold to a scrap dealer and seemingly destined for destruction until a group of preservationists saved the Hornet and turned it into a floating museum. Since the 1990s, the Hornet has been docked at the former site of Alameda Naval Air Station, but now the museum’s management are exploring a move across the Bay to San Francisco. 

This episode features interviews with Russell Moore, the museum’s Chief Experience Officer and author of the official book on the USS Hornet; and Bruce Douglas, a Navy veteran who served aboard the Hornet half a century ago and currently volunteers as a museum docent. Listen now to hear about USS Hornet history, how the Hornet was saved, and why it might be relocating.

To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/welcome-to-the-floating-city/

Don’t forget to follow the East Bay Yesterday Substack for updates on events, boat tours, exhibits, and other local history news: https://substack.com/@eastbayyesterday

Donate to keep this show alive: https://www.patreon.com/c/eastbayyesterday