Townrootz

#030 - Today we speak with David Peters from the award winning Black Liberation Walking Tour.  Dave leads guests on a 2 hour 10 stop walking tour through the Hoover-Foster West Oakland neighborhood along the San Pablo corridor.  Audio has been recorded by longtime residents so you get a first hand history.   The tour has been recognized by Conde Nast as one of the “6 Standout Black History Tours in the U.S., From California to Charleston”.

The idea came to life when neighborhood elders were telling stories that captivated both longtime residents and newcomers alike.  Dave knew he had to not only capture and preserve this rich history, but find a way to share it with others.  He says the tour….

"celebrates artistic, cultural, and heritage sites in this neighborhood that spans over 100 years- things, people, and events that Black folks did right here."

The tour highlights the neighborhood’s rich history, which served as one of the early stops for African Americans escaping the Jim Crow South to find better opportunities in the west.  In the early 1960s it birthed The Black Panther Party and the tour includes the Panther's first breakfast program site.  It also includes the home of Delilah Beasley, the first African-American woman to be published regularly in a major American metropolitan newspaper.

Out of his own nostalgia, Dave wanted to create a sense of community and belonging.

"I wanted to create belonging in my neighborhood, particularly for longtime residents.  What if we start to think about and celebrate 100 years of Black history in this neighborhood as a way to encourage people to stay here?  There is a place for us where we could have stories and a culture and places that reflect who we are and who we want to be and what we’ve done."

He does guided tours once per month.  You can find the schedule by clicking on the Eventbrite link below.

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear how Dave thinks the Oakland A’s Howard Terminal project can help the neighborhood and serve as a model for future projects in similar communities across the country.

#029 - Today we speak with Carolyn Johnson from the Black Cultural Zone.  The Black Cultural Zone represents a geographic area that runs from High Street in East Oakland to the San Leandro border and from the hills to the water.  It is a collaboration of Black led and Black owned businesses and organizations.

Since 2014, the East Oakland Black Cultural Zone Collaborative Partners has worked with a coalition of residents, government agencies, churches, and grassroots organizing and community groups to help keep Black folks in East Oakland.

It operates the Black Cultural Zone Hubs which include Liberation Park, which is located at the intersection of 73rd Ave, MacArthur Blvd, and Foothill Blvd (Eastmont Mall).  They have turned an underutilized city owned vacant lot where people used to fight dogs and roosters into a thriving community asset that includes:

Akoma Market - Certified Farmers Market on 1st and 3rd Sundays
Slamming Sunday Skate - the only outdoor wooden skating rink in Northern California
Outdoor movies - Friday nights in the summer
Fo’Show Friday - Food Trucks and skating

“It has been abandoned and owned by the city for over 15 years.”

“This is a 1.2 acre space. It was available.  We went to the city to license it and to operate and create a cultural hub there, which is temporary.  We’re also going to be doing affordable housing and building a permanent market hall there in about 2 years.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear about the displacement of small Black owned businesses in East Oakland and how the Black Cultural Zone is  responding.

#028 - Today’s episode is the second in a 2 part series on home solar. I went solar with a back-up battery in 2021 and am SO GLAD I did.  I got a small check back from PG&E after my 1st year.  I want to introduce you to 2 of the solar professionals I met on my journey - Mark Lauer and Joe Molale.

If you’re starting from ground zero like I was, it probably feels a little overwhelming.  I get asked a lot about my panels and my experience.  I want to share with you the guys that educated me the most.  We focus on many of the questions I had plus the ones I saw on Nextdoor.  My hope is to save you time in your process by sharing the issues that I found most important on my journey.

Both Mark and Joe were extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and patient.  Most importantly, they continued to work with me and educate me with no certainty of a sale.

Today’s discussion is with Joe.  Joe works for West Coast Solar.  I actually bought my system from him.  Joe says the top 5 reasons his customers go solar are:

1 Save Money
2 Helps the Environment
3 Rising PG&E rates
4 Increase the value of your home
5 Taking control of your future energy costs

With respect to picking a company, Joe says,

“I tell people with solar, it's not like cable television, you can't just switch companies.  You are stuck with them for, for life. If the panels go out and they're outta business, guess what, you're on your own….”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear about how buying solar from Joe helps build water wells in India and Africa.

#027 - Today’s episode is the first in a 2 part series on home solar. I went solar with a back-up battery in 2021 and am SO GLAD I did.  I got a small check back from PG&E after my 1st year.  I want to introduce you to 2 of the solar professionals I met on my journey - Mark Lauer and Joe Molale.

If you’re starting from ground zero like I was, it probably feels a little overwhelming.  I get asked a lot about my panels and my experience.  I want to share with you the guys that educated me the most.  We focus on many of the questions I had plus the ones I saw on Nextdoor.  My hope is to save you time in your process by sharing the issues that I found most important on my journey.

Both Mark and Joe were extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and patient.  Most importantly, they continued to work with me and educate me with no certainty of a sale. 

Today’s discussion is with Mark.  Mark’s company is Solar by Mark.  He is a solar consultant and represents a few solar contractors. Mark says the top 5 reasons his customers go solar are:

1 Save Money

2 Save the Environment

3 Energy Independence

4 Energy Expansion in the Future

5 Increasing Property Value

With respect to cost savings, Mark says,

“… the way to think about that is, is not what their utility bill is on any given month, but it's what does electricity costs add up to over years that they're living in the home….”

“I look at what are they gonna spend over six or seven years on electricity from the utility.  Well, normally they're gonna spend about the same amount of money they would spend to buy solar. So after that point, they're saving money every month, they've eliminated their bill.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear about how the Pandemic has impacted the demand for solar.

#026 - Today we talk with Nik Dehejia, CEO of the Oakland Zoo, which is celebrating its Centennial Anniversary in 2022.  The zoo started in June of 1922 at the corner of 19th and Harrison at what is today called Snow Park.

“Imagine in 1922, two lions being brought back into the City of Oakland and out there.  Henry Snow was the founder of the Oakland Zoo and established a museum and a zoo in 1922.”

The location moved to Joaquin Miller Park in the 1920s and to its current location in the 500 acre Knowland Park in the 1930s.  The 100 acre zoo campus is home to over 850 species. What sets the Oakland Zoo apart from other zoos is that they really value that the animals have enough space to live in a natural habitat.  They need to live their best life in this space.  They will have less species so they can have more space.

“Animals need to have adequate space.  Their habitats have to be complex.  They have to be large.  They have to have choice & control on how they move around.”

The Oakland Zoo gets over 1 million visitors every year from all over Northern California.  Their robust school programs account for about 25% of that.  Their educational programs include camps for kids, small ambassador animals that go out to schools, and field trips where school groups come into the zoo.  They even purchased a bus that brings school groups to the zoo.

Nik shares with us the diverse backgrounds of the zoo employees and that the zoo is proud to be one of the largest employers of local youth.

“Many young adults are getting their first or second job at the Oakland Zoo.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear about how the zoo’ community really stepped up to help the zoo emerge from the Pandemic shutdown bigger and stronger than ever.

#025 - Today we talk with Ariana Mabley, East Oakland native and owner of Esscents of Flowers, a floral design company, which she started as a side hustle pop up business while still working a full time career.  Ariana wears MANY hats -  wife, mother, chauffeur AND entrepreneur.  She credits the tremendous support from friends, family as well as the team at the Uptima Business Bootcamp for helping her business succeed, but she credits her grandfather for planting the gardening seed in her…

“It is something I used to do with my grandfather - who has since passed.  But it was because of his love for nurturing the ground, growing things from the ground that even allows me to be where I am today.  He showed me how to garden.  And that was one of our favorite pastimes.”

Every other Saturday she would pop up in front of cafes, bike shops, and other small Oakland and San Leandro businesses.  That led to a contract with a wedding venue.  It took off organically so in the summer of 2019 she decided to go full time.  And then the Pandemic happened.

“All of my events were canceled.  I had to figure it out really quickly. There goes the art of the pivot - being able to think just super quickly about how you’re going to steer this business that you created.  From there I worked with some small farms that are local to the Bay Area and I started offering delivery services throughout the week because what I realized is that people wanted to stay connected to one another but they couldn’t physically be with one another. And so I was like I can still provide flowers, it just has to be a different way.”

This is truly a family business. Ariana married her high school sweetheart and they have 2 boys. Everyone pitches in when needed.  You can find her E of F Studio at 329 17th St. - Downtown Oakland.

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear about Ariana’s amazing support system that keeps her thriving.

#024 - Today we talk with Berkeley native and Oakland wine entrepreneur and Black Vines founder Fern Stroud.  Fern founded Black Vines to celebrate black history while focusing on black future. Black Vines focuses on the future of wine, the future of art, the future of jazz, the future of culinary experiences while featuring black owned companies.

“we want to create community and do our part in the building, maintaining and sustainability of a black economic ecosystem”

Community is so important to Fern.  She grew up going to musical and cultural festivals in the East Bay and that is what she set out to recreate.  Wine was not the primary focal point, but it quickly became the conduit.  When she stumbled across the Association of African American Vintners, she knew it was a perfect pairing and she was on to something.

“to bring those elements together, the art, the food, the wine, the jazz.  We also wanted to patronize black owned spaces and so we were the first to go to every black serving gallery or black owned gallery and activate the space with this experience.”

Fern knows a long time successful business cannot be built on mere transactions - relationships are important to her.  She is most proud of the deep relationships she has developed that have benefited both Black Vines and the wine makers alike.

“we have built some of the most amazing business relationships with our partners that anyone could ever dream of and that is probably the most beneficial thing - just the community in itself”.

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear about Black Vines future plans and events.

#023 - Today we talk with San Francisco native and longtime Oakland resident and wine entrepreneur Paula Harrell of P Harrell Wines.  Paula’s love for wine and wine culture began while studying abroad in Spain while in college.  Paula had no formal education in wine making.  For 15 years it was a fun little hobby - she would blend other peoples’ wines.  After sharing her concoctions with her wine connoisseur uncle, he told her to make her own wine.

“And so that was when I thought, oh my God, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make my own wine. So to your question, I'm very involved because I don't want anybody deciding what my wine is going to taste like. So I'm choosing where the grapes are coming from. I'm spending time during harvest and crush.”

After learning about custom crush, she knew she did not need to make the large capital investment required to buy a winery, but she could remain in control of the taste and quality of her wine.  So, in 2015 P Harrell Wines was born.

Paula enjoys being an Oakland based wine company - doing events all around the Bay Area.  She loves opening peoples eyes and answering their questions and helping them through their own wine journey.  Many people are surprised to find wine businesses beyond the wine country.  Paula says…

"I think now it's a really great time to be in the wine business and be in Oakland and be in an urban area because, this has really taken off, like people are really interested in that and being able to have it local."

The key takeaways from my discussion with Paula are:

#1  Being a wine connoisseur and indulging in wine culture for fun is very glamorous - making wine and running the business is a lot of work

#2 She loves events - sharing her wine knowledge with others

#3 Figuring out the sales and marketing channels early on was important

#4 The names of her wines pay homage to her family legacy

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear how Paula is mentoring young people of color in the wine business.

#022 - Today we talk with Oakland Laurel District resident and restaurateur James Whitehead of Fist of Flour.  James has loved pizza his entire life - it is his favorite food.  He loves pizza so much he even scopes out the pizza scene whenever he travels to new cities.

When James arrived in Oakland 26 years ago, he realized East Oakland was yearning for better pizza options.  He started messing around at home, making pizzas in his own kitchen and using friends and family as taste testers.  After a couple of years a friend hit him with the same question so many food entrepreneurs get…

“wow, this is pretty good pizza. Did you ever think about selling it?”

At that moment, James was comfortable with his day gig and was not ready to give it up.  Then one day while delivering proofs to a client in downtown Oakland, James noticed a guy on the street at the Old Oakland Farmers Market with a wood-fired pizza oven on a trailer.

"And I was like, huh, pretty interesting. So I sat and watched him for a good half an hour and I was like, just counting the dollars as he was making pizzas. And it was like, wow, okay. So maybe this is something I could do. I was immediately like, yes, this will be my next thing. This is what I'm going to do.”

In 2014, James noticed a pizza place up for sale at 4166 MacArthur Blvd.  He approached the owner for his asking price.  When he said $10k for all the equipment, James brought a check the next day.  He went from having only a handful of people and very low overhead to a physical location and a growing team.  He is very proud to 1) pay a living wage to his employees and 2) serve people in the neighborhood.

“I think everybody that I employ lives in Oakland and most of them live within a couple miles of the restaurant.  I've always tried to hire Oakland people and, you know, and support the city that I've lived in for so long.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear what you should do if you see his pizza oven trailer hauling down the freeway.

#021 - Today we talk with Oakland native, resident and entrepreneur Nicole Felix Borders of Pound Bizness.  Pound Bizness is literally a labor of love.  Nicole’s husband Reggie made 4 pound cakes from a family recipe for Nicole’s mom to take to the church fish fry.  When she came home with a dozen orders, Nicole said…

“how you got us a dozen orders when we're not even a business.”

More and more people were requesting their cakes and Pound Bizness was on the verge of a number of corporate opportunities before the pandemic brought everything to a halt. There were several moments where they thought they were done, but didn't realize they were just beginning because what happened next was epic!

Dave Clark from KTVU Channel 2 News posted on social media that he was looking for a recommendation for a brick and mortar shop to purchase a pound cake.  People replied with “try Pound Bizness”.  Nicole’s mom told her to ignore the brick and mortar part and send Dave a cake.  So, she did - she sent a cake to Dave at the KTVU station AND Dave posted it on his page…..

“slowly slicing into it and enticing his followers.  And everybody just had to have what Dave Clark had. And so we had customers from Oakland to Discovery Bay to Fairfield and everything. And that just really opened up a new channel for us.”

Everyone thinks Nicole is the baker, but Reggie actually brought the recipe via his Aunt Ira - Nicole added the flavor.  They relish in demystifying the assumptions around traditional roles.  Pound Bizness has grown to 13 different cake flavors which mostly come from customer suggestions.  You can find their cakes at local farmers markets and on their website.

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear how the “love ingredient” makes it all work.