North Star Cooperative Podcast

The Che Cafe is a radical collective that has existed on UCSD since the 1960's. It started out as the student center, then became eventually became the C.H.E (Cheap, Healthy, Eats). It now doubles as a world renowned music venue, and a community space for students and community members alike.

North Star Cooperative sits down with two legends of the space, David Morales & Arnie Schoenberg, as we discuss the history of the radical collective and its struggles to remain in existence, against UCSD's attempts as shutting it down. You don't want to miss this discussion!

This will be the first of two episodes about the Che Cafe, with this episode focusing on the history of the Che and the next focusing what members are up to currently.

If you are interested in supporting North Star Cooperative, then please:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northstarcoopsd/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@northstarcoopsd
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575398042899

Welcome to the North Star Cooperative Podcast!

North Star Cooperative is a worker-owned bookstore café that aims to offer a combination of foundational and newly released left-wing and social justice-oriented literature, while also serving food and drinks and hosting a full calendar of community events and media programming. Our mission is to serve as a welcoming third space that supports learning, activism, and community organizing while helping to build a robust left-wing community.

Our very first episode is about Alexander Kraft, a socialist running for mayor of El Cajon! El Cajon, and East County San Diego more broadly, has a reputation for being a bastion of right-wing politics in the county. Alexander Kraft wants to change that by bringing a socialist program to the residents of the city.

Take a listen to hear how he aims to do that!

If you are interested in supporting North Star Cooperative, then please:

• Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northstarcoopsd/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@northstarcoopsd
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575398042899

And please consider donating to our Kickstarter!: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/northstarcoopsd/north-star-cooperative-pop-up-cargo-van

Introducing the North Star Cooperative Podcast!

This podcast is a project being put on by our radical bookstore cafe worker cooperative that has just started this past April, 2026, in San Diego.

Our mission is to provide the San Diego community with a cooperative-owned and operated space that can serve as a hub of left wing, social justice politics in the city by providing foundational, as well as current, left wing literature, while at the same time providing high-quality food and drinks to our patrons.

We want to support organizing around the city and help incubate new social justice organizations in San Diego by providing a space where they can hold their meetings, events, and secure access to knowledgeable personnel who can help them along their political journey and development.

This podcast will act as a conduit to connect with and highlight left-wing social justice organizing and politics around the County. We want to bring a spotlight to all the amazing work others are doing in the city, while also providing analysis of our current moment.

This podcast will start off mainly doing interviews of organizations and projects happening in San Diego County, but we anticipate expanding into other formats as we progress and evolve.

If you want to help support worker owned businesses like ours, you can:

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/northstarcoopsd/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@northstarcoopsd

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575398042899

And donate to our Kickstarter!: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/northstarcoopsd/north-star-cooperative-pop-up-cargo-van

Thank you all and we hope you enjoy the podcast!.