This Labor Day weekend, we’re bringing you some of our favorite stories from the California Report Magazine archive.

You may have seen these viral stories on your social media feeds: a frightened shelter dog bonding with their foster; a good samaritan helping a street vendor by buying all their merchandise; an artist drawing a portrait of a stranger and listening to their life story. These acts strike a nerve, and it turns out we humans are actually wired for this kind of kindness, connection and empathy. That’s what Dr. Jamil Zaki has discovered in the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He’s a professor of psychology and the author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. He sat down with host Sasha Khokha in January and shared some data-driven reasons why we shouldn’t be cynical, even in really hard times. 

And we got to Oakland, where the Freedom Community Clinic is providing free herbal remedies, massage services and healing workshops at their two apothecaries. And last fall, they launched the Ancestral Healing Farm, where people of color are encouraged to learn about ancestral practices and reconnect with the land. The goal of founder Dr. Bernie Lim is to reach people who might mistrust the mainstream medical system because of racism or cultural incompetency. KQED Arts & Culture Editor Nastia Voynovskaya brought us this profile in January.

And we end today in Half Moon Bay, where just a few steps from the ocean sits a 60-year-old music venue with an unusual name, an amazing history and some of the best live jazz music you could ever hope to find. We’re digging into our Hidden Gems archives to bring you a story from Reporter Ryan Levi, who visited the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society back in 2018.

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The Independent Journalist Covering Immigration Raids In Her Own Community 

Earlier this summer, 17-year-old Kevin Robles was in his friend's car driving through their neighborhood in Oceanside when he noticed vehicles with tinted windows and nearby, masked men taking someone out of a red car. He started live streaming on Instagram and it went viral. But then a little over a week later agents with Homeland Security Investigations showed up at his family’s home, smashing windows and tossing flash grenades, taking both of his parents into custody. Aisha Wallace Palomares was one of the first journalists to talk to Kevin Robles about what happened.  She is an independent reporter who's covering ICE Raids in her hometown of Escondido, as well as other places around San Diego. She spoke with host Sasha Khokha about covering these raids in her community as an independent journalist. 

⁠⁠Journalists Fleeing Authoritarian Regimes Now at Risk, as Trump Ends Parole Program⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

President Trump is ending a Biden-era humanitarian program that let people from unstable or authoritarian countries come to the United States legally. One of them is a journalist who fled Nicaragua and ended up in the Bay Area. KQED’s Immigration Editor Tyche Hendricks brings us her story.

⁠Legal Immigrants Face Deportation After Decades In the US⁠

A federal program called Temporary Protected Status allows the US to offer residency to immigrants whose home countries have been devastated by natural disasters or war. But for tens of thousands of immigrants, “temporary” has lasted for decades. Now, the Trump administration is moving to end much of the program and that could uproot as many as one million people. Reporter Benjamin Gottlieb spoke to several people in Los Angeles who now find themselves in this immigration limbo.

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How a Pasadena Church is Helping One Senior Through Wildfire Recovery

It’s been more than seven months since the Eaton Fire tore across Altadena, just east of Los Angeles. Rebuilding homes and neighborhoods could take years – a daunting timeline, especially for seniors. Local advocates worry that many elders within Altadena’s historic Black community won’t be able to rebuild. Afro LA’s Corinne Ruff has this story of how members of a church in Pasadena are coming together to support an elder congregant as she works to rebuild her home, and her life. 

Fix a Zipper and Save the Planet at San Francisco’s Free Clothing Repair Clinics

Usually public libraries are quiet spaces, but on a recent evening in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood, the building was buzzing with the sound of sewing machines. Once a month, libraries around the city transform into pop-up clothing repair clinics. On the face of it, it’s a chance to patch that hole in your go-to jacket or finally fix that broken zipper on your skirt, but the goal of the program is to help residents reuse items, and keep them out of the landfill. KQED’s Bianca Taylor takes us inside.

Repairing a 1957 Vintage Radio Rekindled a Daughter’s Bond With Her Dad

For reporter Rachael Myrow, radio has long been a fixture in her life – not just through her career in public broadcasting, but also through a connection to her father. Fred Myrow was an LA composer who wrote soundtracks to films like Soylent Green and Phantasm. She tells us how the discovery of her father’s beloved old radio has strengthened their bond many years after his death. 

The Truth Behind One of the State’s Most Ubiquitous Bumper Stickers

We’ve all seen them before: those bright yellow bumper stickers that read “Mystery Spot” in black lettering. But what, actually, happens at the Mystery Spot? In 2021, reporter Amanda Font  followed the story to the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains for our Hidden Gems series. 

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Recently, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at fundamentally changing how the country addresses homelessness. The order promises to crack down on street homelessness across the country, in part by institutionalizing people with mental illness. Here in California, Governor Gavin Newsom has criticized Trump’s recent order, while at the same time encouraging a more punitive approach to getting people off the streets. There’s so much debate around the issue, but we rarely hear from the unhoused people at the center of this controversy. Vanessa Rancaño introduces us to Armando Herrera Vargas. He once had a family, a house and a job, but he has been living on the streets of San Francisco for the past decade. 

And our series of conversations about resilience continues with Dr. Shanice Robinson. She's a visiting assistant professor at San Francisco State. Resilience is central to her scholarly work, which focuses on the school-to-prison pipeline, and to her advocacy work with incarcerated people. It's also core to her personal experience as a self-described “prison wife” whose husband is serving multiple life sentences in prison.  

Plus we visit Fresno where this summer, a group of teens got a chance to study a musical genre they have a deep cultural connection to. And they got to put their own spin on it. Reporter Esther Quintanilla with the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative and KVPR takes us to a rehearsal of Mariachi Unidos. 

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It’s been nearly seven months since the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, killing 30 people and hollowing out a once vibrant community. For many survivors, the fire has impacted their mental health, as many try to navigate rebuilding their homes and their lives. Reporter Steven Cuevas lives in Altadena, and he’s been talking to therapists who are finding ways to support their community at the same time they’re grappling with their own losses. 

Later, we dive into the troubling history of a California wine dynasty. Wine aficionados may now look down on white zinfandel, but in the 1980s and ‘90s, it was the most popular wine in the US. The rise in demand for this sweet, pink wine is the backdrop of a wild story covered in a new podcast called Blood Vines. It’s about the largest grape fraud in US history, the powerful family at the center of it, and how betrayal and murder triggered the fall of a California dynasty. The California Report Magazine’s Sasha Khokha talks to investigative journalist Chris Walker – who wrote and produced the podcast – about the scandal, and how it changed the course of winemaking across the country. 

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Luis Rodriguez credits reading and writing for keeping him resilient his whole life. He’s best known for his 1993 memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., which chronicles how he joined a gang at age 11, found himself homeless and using heroin, and wound up in the juvenile justice system. He went on to write 17 books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and he served as poet laureate of Los Angeles from 2014 to 2017. As part of our series on resilience, host Sasha Khokha sits down with Luis Rodriguez to talk about his life and work, and what advice he has for getting through tumultuous times.

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In May, the Golden State Valkyries kicked off their inaugural season. Even though they just started playing games in front of Bay Area fans, the team is said to be valued at $500 million dollars, the most of any franchise in the WNBA. And the team just had their first player named to the All-Star team: Forward Kayla Thornton was named as a reserve. These days the WNBA is on fire with record viewership and attendance. And more sold out games than ever. But that growth has taken nearly 28 years since the league launched in 1997. And while Caitlin Clark has become a household name, we rarely hear about the early players who fought for professional women’s basketball to get respect. Judy Mosley McAfee was one of them. She was the sixth woman drafted into the WNBA. Her daughter, reporter Audy McAfee, brings us this tribute.

And we go to San Francisco’s Castro District to visit Maitri Compassionate Care Center. In addition to providing hospice care for people living with AIDS, for the last several years, it’s provided affordable care for those preparing for or recovering from gender affirmation surgery. At a moment when the Trump administration is issuing executive orders to dismantle protections for transgender people, Maitri remains committed to their work. KQED’s Kyana Moghadam takes us inside the center to learn about its legacy, and what it means to provide care in the heart of San Francisco.

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You can hear elements of hip-hop, R&B and even jazz in Tokimonsta’s intricate drum loops, synths and bass lines. On her latest album, Eternal Reverie, the Grammy-nominated producer found inspiration in a Brazilian record, and created music tinged with the memories of a close friend. For our series on California composers, Reporter Clare Wiley brings us this profile of Tokimonsta and the devastating setback that almost stole her ability to make music.

And we visit Oakland's 100-year-old produce market. Summer is peak season for many of California’s fruits and vegetables, but that produce makes a lot of stops on the way to your table. One of those places is the Oakland Produce Market, which supplies small markets, restaurants and other food providers with the freshest foods. You don’t have to work for a grocery store or run a restaurant to shop here, as long as you buy in bulk. For her series, California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse got up in the middle of the night to meet some of the people who keep the Oakland Produce Market humming.   

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Summer is the heart of the baseball season. But recently the country’s oldest professional sport has been going through some changes. It’s not just the moves to speed up the pace of play. These days, along with training in the weight room or the bullpen, players are also spending time with their team’s sports psychologist. KQED’s health correspondent April Dembosky goes behind the scenes at the San Francisco Giants’ ballpark to understand how the team keeps an athlete's mind in shape, both on and off the field.

And we explore the history of the bacon-wrapped hot dog. Vendors selling the popular street food can be seen outside of most major gathering spots, from baseball games and concerts to tourist attractions like Pier 39. Bay Curious listener Olivia Godfrey wanted to find out the history of these food carts. But as KQED’s Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman found out…it’s complicated.

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88-Year-Old Audio Engineer Sandy Stone Survived Transphobic Backlash and Made History

Audio engineer Sandy Stone got her start working alongside Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills & Nash. When she joined the California lesbian music label Olivia Records, some feminists wanted to kick her, and all trans women, out of women’s spaces. But Stone went on to become the first openly transgender woman inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. KQED Arts Editor Nastia Voynovskaya brings us this profile of Stone, who became a world-class academic and paved the way for the field of transgender studies. 

Cancer Stole Her Voice. Curse Words, Children’s Books and AI Saved It

You can hear AI-generated voices when you call into a customer service line, read news articles online, and watch movies. Now some tech companies are starting to use the technology to help people who’ve lost the ability to speak due to ALS or oral cancer.  KQED’s health correspondent April Dembosky has the story of one woman’s journey to find her natural-sounding voice again.

Hidden Gems: The Pirate Ship on Big Bear Lake

Set in the San Bernardino Mountains, Big Bear Lake is a popular tourist destination for Southern California families looking for lakeside recreation in the summer. One of the attractions? A pirate ship called the Time Bandit. In this story from our Hidden Gems archives, reporter Amanda Font set sail on this historic vessel.  

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