Thanks to its natural deepwater port, San Francisco quickly emerged as the West Coast’s leading metropolis during California’s Gold Rush era. In the decades since, many of Oakland’s development patterns have been influenced by its competitive relationship with the sparkling and sophisticated city across the Bay. As a result, the elitist ambitions of Oakland’s political and business leaders often overlooked, or actively harmed, many of The Town’s existing residents. For wealthy developers dreaming of car-friendly, upscale shopping malls and homogenous office towers, Black neighborhoods, immigrant enclaves, and working class districts were treated as obstacles to be bulldozed. This paradigm pre-dates common usage of the term “gentrification” by generations.

Cycles of displacement are one of the main themes explored in “Hella Town: Oakland’s History of Development and Disruption” (UC Press) by Mitchell Schwarzer. As opposed to focusing primarily on individual power brokers, Schwarzer, a professor of architectural and urban history at California College of the Arts, zooms out to identify the broad economic and technological trends that have shaped the place where he’s lived for most of the past four decades. The book weaves together topics ranging from the rise of car culture to the consolidation of commerce in order to explain more than a century of policies and priorities that shaped our current landscape.

In this episode of East Bay Yesterday, we discuss Oakland’s tumultuous evolution, and also some of the best and worst development proposals that failed to become reality. To see photos related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/theres-no-reason-to-be-san-francisco/

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William Gee Wong almost didn’t exist. A few years before Wong was born, his father was shot four times over a dispute involving Oakland Chinatown’s underground lottery. Thanks to the quick work of doctors at Highland Hospital, Wong’s father survived, and after retiring from the gambling business, he opened the Great China restaurant on a busy commercial stretch of Webster Street. William Gee Wong was born just around the corner, at the family’s house on Harrison Street, the youngest of seven children. Even after his family moved to the “China Hill” area east of Lake Merritt, one of the few neighborhoods open to Asian-Americans during the 1940s, William spent most of his time either working for the family business or at Lincoln School. This is why he says “Chinatown was my whole universe” for about the first 20 years of his life.

As the decades passed, Bill learned journalism writing for The Daily Cal, before breaking racial barriers at the San Francisco Chronicle and Wall Street Journal. Eventually, he returned to his hometown to write for The Oakland Tribune about culture and politics from an Asian-American perspective, something practically unheard of at mainstream media outlets in the 1980s. Since retiring he’s published two books, “Yellow Journalist” and “Oakland’s Chinatown,” and he’s currently working on a memoir about his father, who immigrated from China in 1912.

In today’s episode, William Gee Wong discusses the history of Chinese immigration to California, the rise of Oakland’s Chinatown, his memories of working in a “hybrid” restaurant, the systemic racism of urban renewal projects that gutted his neighborhood, and much more. To see photos related to this story, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/

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A few years ago, Aussie Holcomb was going through a divorce, and her relationship with her dad wasn’t going well, either. Feeling lost and lonely, she began reading her grandparents’ old love letters, which had recently been uncovered after sitting at the back of a dusty closet for more than 60 years. As Aussie made her way through bundles of envelopes, the emotions captured in those letters spilled off the pages and infused her life with the contagious joy of young love. Wanting to retrace her grandparents’ path, the letters sparked an adventure that led Aussie to a remote corner of California, far from home. In this unlikely place, she found reconciliation with her dad, and much more.

Listen to the full episode now to hear the love story of Ray Hertz and Ginny Stewart, as told by their granddaughter, Aussie Holcomb, and their son, Mark Hertz. Ray and Ginny’s letters, which were written between 1949 and 1951, are read by their dear friend Carl Weinberg and their daughter Tracy Hertz. You can see photos related to this story at: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/dear-brown-eyes/

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The quickest way to start a dance party in the Bay Area is to play a Mac Dre song. Countless times, I’ve seen mellow crowds instantly transform as soon as the first few beats from hyphy hits like “Feelin’ Myself” and “Thizzle Dance” come blasting out of the speakers. Everyone from little kids to grandmas know how to bust the lyrics, the dance moves, and, of course, the thizz face. In the 17 years since his death, the Oakland-born, Vallejo-raised rapper’s popularity only continues to grow.

Since his 2004 murder in Kansas City, rumors, accusations, and retaliatory violence have swirled around the unsolved case. Although nobody has ever been charged for the crime, investigative journalist Donald Morrison recently published an investigation that draws on 1,200 documents and dozens of interviews in order to fill in some of the missing puzzle pieces. Nothing will bring back the “Legend of the Bay”, but this article provides some stunning new clues that may help shed light on the devastating question: “Who killed Mac Dre?”

To see photos related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/who-ordered-the-hit/

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When Andre Jones (AKA Natty Rebel) does a mural in Oakland’s Hoover-Foster neighborhood, he doesn’t just paint whatever he feels like. Andre meets with longtime residents, shop owners, and other local artists to dig into the area’s rich history. He’ll study old family photos to make sure the vibrant images that cover the walls along San Pablo Ave. reflect the people who walked these streets in the decades before he got here. Explaining this collaborative process, Jones said, “As a public artist, you become an art anthropologist, because you have to do the research so that you can add a little bit of background imagery to the [mural] that adds to the overall narration.”

For the second volume of this Hoover-Foster Stories mini-series, I wanted to interview Jones because one of the most striking things that participants of the Black Liberation Walking Tour will notice in this neighborhood is the proliferation of street art. The organization that Jones founded, Bay Area Mural Program, has collaborated with crews and artists like Refa One (Aerosoul), Del Phresh, Dead Eyes, Kiss My Black Arts, and others, on an ever-evolving outdoor gallery full of tributes to the Black Panther Party, deceased community members, and other symbols celebrating Hoover-Foster’s cultural legacy.

Long before Bay Area Mural Program moved into its current headquarters in the iconic California Hotel, this building hosted Expressions Art Gallery, which served not only as a place to showcase art, but also an informal gathering space for unhoused folks living in the area. This episode also features an interview with Oakland native Alan Laird, who ran Expressions in the early 2000s, and had previously experienced housing insecurity himself. In our conversation, Laird recalls the mid-century heyday of the California Hotel, when a ground floor nightclub called the Zanzibar hosted musicians like Pete Escovedo, Ray Charles, and Billie Holliday. He also recalls some of the more disturbing elements of this era, such as how Oakland police enforced segregation by stopping Black people who ventured “above Broadway.”

This episode is co-hosted by 3rd generation Hoover-Foster resident David Peters, one of the main organizers of the Black Liberation Walking Tour. Peters shares what visitors can expect at the Tour’s launch party this weekend, his thoughts on how street art can be used to challenge displacement, and much more.

To see images related to this story and a link to the tour, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/hoover-foster-stories-vol-2/

Oakland’s Hoover-Foster neighborhood encapsulates more than a century of Black Liberation struggles. It was a destination for migrants fleeing the Jim Crow South to find work in the East Bay’s booming shipyards or as Pullman Porters. The newcomers brought their music, cuisine, and creativity with them, changing California forever. Civil rights leaders, pioneering writers, revolutionary activists, and athletes who smashed through racist color barriers all lived and worked here.

The elders who came of age during the post-World War II years recall growing up in a flourishing and close-knit community. However, as this ethnically diverse neighborhood became predominantly African American, the forces of institutional racism literally came crashing down upon it. The construction of freeways destroyed dozens of blocks of homes and businesses, displaced thousands, and encircled the area with a dangerous border of pollution and noise. Then a Drug War characterized by mass incarceration and police abuse flooded these streets with misery and death, leaving a legacy that still lingers heavily. In more recent years, predatory banks, institutional investors, and real estate speculators exploited this devastation for quick profits, pushing many long-time residents out of Oakland altogether.

But instead of giving up hope, many who still remain are working to restore this neighborhood’s reputation as a beacon of Black self-determination and achievement. One of the organizations leading this push is the Friends of Hoover-Durant Public Library, who have been hosting “pop-up streetcorner libraries” to build momentum towards re-establishing a permanent library in this community, which hasn’t had its own branch in four decades. As an outgrowth of this effort, third generation Oaklander David Peters brought together a group of neighbors, artists, educators, programmers, and other volunteers to highlight this neighborhood’s history through a self-guided Black Liberation Walking Tour. For the past several months, I’ve been collecting oral histories of current and former Hoover-Foster residents and today’s episode of East Bay Yesterday is a preview of the Black Liberation Walking Tour, based on what I’ve gathered.

More details will be coming soon, but the plan is to launch the first phase of this tour in June, with additional phases and attractions to follow in the coming months, including a new mural created by the Bay Area Mural Program. Many people are involved with making the Black Liberation Walking Tour happen – my interviews are only one part of a much bigger project – but if you want a taste of what to expect, listen now to the the first episode of the “Hoover-Foster Stories” mini-series, co-hosted by David Peters and featuring interviews with: Crystal and Lynette Martin of Flint’s Barbecue, Alternier Baker Cook of the Friends of Hoover-Durant Public Library, and community organizer Annette Miller. To get involved, visit: https://black-liberation-tour.vercel.app/

To see photos and more details related to this episode: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/hoover-foster-stories-vol-1/

Before Huey Newton and Bobby Seale started the Black Panther Party, they spent years learning from the leaders of the Afro-American Association. During the early 1960s, when the struggle for racial justice was evolving from a civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the rise of Black Power, the Afro-American Association brought leaders like Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali to the East Bay for public conversations about philosophy, religion, economics, politics, and more. Members and close associates of this organization, such as Ron Dellums, Judge Thelton Henderson, and Cedric Robinson, went on to become some of the most influential cultural and political Black leaders of their generation. Kamala Harris’ parents even met at one of these gatherings.

This episode explores the mostly forgotten* legacy of the Afro-American Association and its leader, Donald Warden (who later changed his name to Khalid Abdullah Tariq al Mansour), through interviews with four former members – Anne Williams, Margot Dashiell, and brothers Loye and Lee Cherry – as well as Oakland History Center head librarian Dorothy Lazard. Listen now to hear about this group’s origins on the campus of UC Berkeley, their “Mind of the Ghetto” conferences in West Oakland, and much more. To see photos related to this episode, check out: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/were-no-longer-afraid-to-be-black/

East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your support. Please donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday

It’s nearly impossible to summarize the magnitude of the New Deal’s impact in the Bay Area. From the creation of Lake Anza, Woodminster Amphitheater, and Treasure Island to countless murals, schools, and other public amenities, federal funding dramatically transformed the local landscape and culture during the 1930s. President Roosevelt’s decision to invest in arts and infrastructure as a response to the Great Depression is one of the greatest success stories in the history of American politics. Could something on this scale ever happen again?

As a new Democratic administration takes power amidst a crisis of unemployment and vast inequality, today’s episode explores the lessons of the New Deal with historians Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith of The Living New Deal, an organization dedicated to uncovering and preserving public works from this era. From airports to sewers, the legacy of the New Deal is still utilized by millions, even if the history connecting these crucial components of modern society has mostly been forgotten. Listen now to hear about how a trip to Berkeley’s rose garden inspired a lifelong obsession with “uncovering a lost civilization” – and why the New Deal is still such a controversial topic. See images for this story here: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/were-uncovering-a-lost-civilization/

East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your support. Please donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday

Two decades ago, Brontez Purnell fled his Christian family in Alabama, landed in a warehouse full of punks in East Oakland, and quickly got to work hooking up with as many guys as he could get his hands on. Janelle Hessig, creator of influential zines like Tales of Blarg and Desperate Times, urged Brontez to chronicle his eclectic trysts, and in 2014 they published an illustrated compilation of this self-described “anti-erotica.” The combination of Brontez’s gleeful debauchery and Janelle’s laughably lurid drawings made “The Cruising Diaries” an instant Bay Area underground classic, with the first print run (that Janelle financed with settlement money from getting hit by a car) selling out rapidly.

Since then, Brontez has written three acclaimed novels and been celebrated by the New York Times as an essential “Black male writer for our time.” In this episode, Brontez and Janelle recall the roots of the friendship that helped launch this distinguished career. First, we discuss the thriving 1990s/2000s warehouse culture that incubated a generation of broke Bay Area artists and musicians. Then, Brontez takes us on a tour of some notable East Bay cruising spots of yesteryear. Listen now to hear stories of nefarious potlucks, horny wizards, landfill parties, go-go boys, and more.

Images for this story can be found at: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/bart-bathhouses-beyond/

East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your support. Please donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday

When Jose Rivera started researching the Bay Area’s Chicano history, he was frustrated by how difficult it was to find information. To remedy this problem, Jose created Oakland Latinos Unidos as a platform for sharing stories that are often left out of mainstream narratives. We recently met up at a picnic table in San Antonio Park where Jose laid out some of the archives he’s amassed over the past two decades – newspaper clippings, grainy black-and-white photographs, and rare, out-of-print books. Under a redwood tree, we discussed everything from the De Anza expedition to the gang wars that Jose lived through while growing up in Jingletown. See images for this episode here: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/we-were-here-before-california-was-a-state/ Follow Oakland Latinos Unidos: https://www.facebook.com/Oakland-Latinos-United-353349838807/

East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your support. Please donate to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday