Concrete jungle, naughty E-ville, goodbye Warriors and more

Back in 2004, while I was an intern for Bay Nature magazine, I decided to go for a walk after work one day. I still remember my amazement at randomly stumbling across one of the most unique places I’d ever seen: the Albany Bulb. The term “concrete jungle” is often used to describe cities, but this place felt like a real concrete jungle!

Significant landscaping has smoothed down much of the jagged terrain, but back then the Bulb felt like a post-apocalyptic mish-mash of rubble, twisted metal, psychedelic art, shanties, and untamed greenery. I’ve returned countless times since that first wide-eyed visit, most recently with Rick Paulas, who wrote a fascinating history of this much-contested space that I highly recommend reading. Those of you who’ve enjoyed the Bulb’s many wonders may be interested to learn that the creator of the iconic “beseeching woman” statue is Osha Neumann, one of the East Bay’s most indefatigable legal defenders of homeless folks. If  you want to know more about the octogenarian artist-activist check out this just-published profile. Unfortunately, this article about Neumann is probably the last local story we’ll be seeing from Rick Paulas for a while, since he just moved to NYC, but if you want to read more of his work he just self-published an Oakland-based novel called “Eastern Span” (which you can order from him directly) and you can always listen to my interview with him about some of his more eclectic local stories.      

Upcoming EBY events
-I’m giving a free talk on the surprisingly naughty history of Emeryville on June 17th at the Public Market. If you want to hear about crooked cops, underground gambling, brothels, speakeasies and more… come check out this event that I’m co-presenting with Rob Arias from The E’Ville Eye and the Emeryville Historical Society. Click here for details.

New episodes
-The reason why FBI director J. Edgar Hoover called the Black Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country” wasn't because they carried guns. He was much more worried about the free breakfast program. If you want to hear about the extraordinary life of the woman who started this initiative, check out the new podcast: “I enjoyed every day: A tribute to Ruth Beckford.” [Also, THANK YOU to my Patreon supporters who made this episode possible. The only reason why the frequency of the podcast has increased recently is because of the financial support I’m getting from listeners. If you can afford it, please consider donating.]

More East Bay Yesterday news
-I was quoted in a few more articles about the Warriors’ heartbreaking move to SF. If you still have the emotional energy to delve into this topic after last night’s nail-biting loss, here are the stories: “Eleven Miles, but a World Away: The Warriors Make Their Last Stand in Oakland” (via CBC) and “In heartbreak and euphoria, Oracle Arena has meant the world to Warriors fans” (via The Ringer)

-Shoutout to Martin Backhauss of Sol Gate Studios, who captured this photo of me talking with David Peters, one of the organizers of the recent “Stories of West Oakland” event. If you missed my presentation about Lew Hing, “The king of Oakland’s canning industry,” you can listen to my podcast on the topic here. Also thanks to Lew Hing’s great-grandson Derrick Soo who showed up and also shared some family history! -I just re-stocked Long Lost Oakland maps at Wolfman Books (410 13th St), which was temporarily sold out due to a surge in interest following the maps getting a shoutout in Jenny Odell’s highly acclaimed new book “How to Do Nothing.”  Just FYI, I only printed 1000 of these maps and once they’re gone, I won’t be re-printing them.

In other news…
-The lineup for the next Nerd Nite features two topics related to East Bay history. If you’re interested in the USS Hornet’s role in the Apollo 11 mission and/or Oakland’s Art Deco buildings, check out the details here.

-SF Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub wrote a gorgeous tribute to “an accidental East Bay treasure” – the pedestrian walkway that connects BART to the Coliseum complex. If you didn’t think you’d ever shed tears over “a concrete plank, with industrial fencing on either side,” think again. And check out Peter’s “The Big Event” podcast to hear some touching recollections about the actual Oracle Arena itself.   

-And speaking of local podcasts, I’ve really been digging “Not Your Century.” In each episode, King Kaufman digs into the Chronicle’s archives to give old stories a new telling. I appreciate the diversity of topics that he covers (everything from Angela Davis to Pan Am Clippers) so you never know what to expect.   

-The Oakland Heritage Alliance has an incredible lineup of historical walking tours this summer. They’re happening every weekend in July and August all over town – just don’t forget your sunblock!

-Commons Archive has another event with former Black Panther Satury Ned coming up on June 22 that sounds really interesting: “By looking at archival news footage of Black Panther activities, Saturu will share BPP community-building tools to use in your neighborhood today.”

-If you haven’t seen the short documentary “Welcome to the Neighborhood” yet, BAMPFA is hosting a screening on Jun 19 with longtime Berkeley artist Mildred Howard, who will be discussing the film’s topic of “the impact of gentrification on local residents.”

-KQED Arts has been running a great series on the history of LGBTQI activism called “Pride as Protest.” All the articles are worth checking out, but if you’re looking for one with a strong East Bay connection, start with this great piece by Sarah Hotchkiss: “Lenn Keller: Keeping the Bay Area’s Black Lesbian History Alive.” (And if you want to know more about Lenn Keller, here’s my episode all about her long history of local organizing.)

-A recent snorkeling excursion in Sausal Creek (yes, you read that right) shows that the many years of restoration work done by Friends of Sausal Creek is paying off bigtime – check out these baby rainbow trout!

-Tom Hanks recalled his days as student at Oakland’s Skyline High for this very spirited interview about playing spades.

-Rashad Armstead's great-grandma was a renowned West Oakland chef in the 1970's & 80s' – now he's carrying on the family tradition. Check out the whole story on Berkeleyside.

-Since I started giving historical boat tours a few months ago, I’ve found myself spending more and more time thinking about how rising tides will affect the Bay Area. This piece by Chelsea Leu in Bay Nature provides some sobering insights on the topic: “The Rising Tide Will Catch Us All Eventually.”

-Finally, I just want to share this photo that I recently found in an old Oakland Tribune because... it's crazy! "This daring flight over Oakland was made by Weldon B. Cooke on October 12, 1912. Cooke's plane here is right over the spot now occupied by Tribune Tower." Unsurprisingly Cooke died in a plane crash a few years after this photo was taken...Thanks for reading. If you made it this far, I hope it means you appreciate what I’m doing. If you want to help keep East Bay Yesterday going, please make a donation.

-Liam

PS: Yes, I know there are some weird spacing issues in this newsletter. If anybody has experience trouble-shooting formatting problems in the TinyLetter CMS, please drop me a line: eastbayyesterday@gmail.com