Another mini-series hint, "Yelping Oakland's Past" and more
Hi everybody,
I'm finally wrapping up the interviews that I've been doing for my next podcast mini-series. I'm hoping to start releasing those episodes in early February. I'm sorry the podcast hasn't been coming out a frequently, but it'll be worth the wait. I don't want to spill the beans about the topic yet, but here's one more hint. This tiny East Bay towns had more saloons in the 1850s than it does now...
-As a bonus episode, I recently shared my Q&A with Cheryl Fabio, the director of "Evolutionary Blues: West Oakland's Music Legacy." What did you think of this format? Should I keep releasing occasional Q&As into the podcast feed? They're much, much easier to produce than the narrative stories I usually make, which take about 80-100 hours of work per episode. Drop me an email at eastbayyesterday [at] gmail.com if you have feedback to share. Also, check out the show description for a link to Cheryl's upcoming series on Oakland's Black Arts Movement. Big shoutout to KPFA-FM for airing this episode!
** If you enjoy East Bay Yesterday and you want to help keep this project alive, please consider supporting it. Here’s a link to my new Patreon account -- every donation is greatly appreciated: https://www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday **
-Here's my first contribution to Open Space, the journal of SFMOMA: Yelping Oakland's Past. The problem this article identifies is about how the history of Oakland's "underground" arts and music spaces is disappearing. I'm interested in doing a followup series exploring some of the most interesting and important chapters of this local history, so if you have suggestions about who I should interview, photos to share, or any other good tips, please let me know!
[From Sand By The Ton, the grand opening and fundraiser for The Big Art Studios at American Steel, 2009. Photo: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid. License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).]
-In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, here's a little fact: The first time MLK spoke in the East Bay, only about 30 people showed up to hear him. Here's the story of the student group that invited him to Stiles Hall in during the mid-1950s.
-I love it when people send me East Bay history stories. Thanks to Morgan Fletcher who just sent over this fascinating story of Katherine Smith, who escaped slavery and ended up living in Oakland. Mrs. Smith shared her story with the Oakland Tribune in 1933 and you can read Morgan's summary here: "Former slave tells pioneer tales."
-One of my favorite local journalists, Alexis Madrigal, is working on a book about Oakland history ("focused on race and housing") and he just launched this site to share and collect information: How The Bay Was Built. There's a lot to digest here and I haven't fully dug into it yet, but I'm so excited to see the evolution of this project. I'm sure the book will be brilliant when it eventually drops.
-Football factoid: According to the Cal Bears History, UC Berkeley "will become the only school to have 5 quarterbacks start a Super Bowl: Joe Kapp, Craig Morton, Vince Ferragamo, Aaron Rodgers and now Jared Goff."
-If you've ever noticed Red Rock Island -- that little landmass poking up from the Bay that you can see while crossing the Richmond-San Raphael Bridge, KQED's Bay Curious podcast took at look at the history of this rock and answered some interesting questions about its current status.
-I took this photo last week at the corner of 24th and Valdez. The contrast between old and new was so striking, I just had to capture the moment. Anyway, please don't forget to donate to East Bay Yesterday if you can afford it. Either way, please help spread the word about the podcast on social media or just tell your friends and family about it next time you're hanging out!
Thanks,
Liam