From hippies to Hammer, a look at the latest in local history

Hi everybody,

Before getting into the news and updates, I need to share a little rant. At least once a week, I’m contacted by somebody who has an amazing treasure trove of historical materials. I’m talking about boxes of photos, postcard collections, newspaper clippings, oral history tapes, videos of Oakland events, and all kinds of other potentially significant ephemera from days gone by. I love hearing about all these artifacts, but it makes me sad and frustrated that Oakland doesn’t have a local history center to preserve and archive these materials. 

Of course I LOVE the history room at the Oakland Library, but they don’t have the space or capacity to deal with the overwhelming amounts of materials that are in danger of being lost forever if they’re not stored in a safe place soon. With all the money coming into Oakland now from new developments, there really needs to be an effort to establish some kind of (publicly accessible!) local history center before it’s too late. Even if this project started out small, it would be great to start building momentum for this concept. If anybody has thoughts on how to create a mini-museum devoted in East Bay history, get in contact with me: eastbayyesterday@gmail.com 

OK, onto some updates about East Bay Yesterday and other local history news/events: 

-Episode 2 of the “Deep in Canyon” miniseries just dropped! If you haven’t listened yet, there’s a scene that involves building a barricade out of logs and animal skulls to block a police raid, just to give you an indication of how wild this story gets. I think I’m going to be putting out two more episodes in this miniseries, so I hope you’re as fascinated by the history of this wonderfully trippy enclave as I am. 

If you want to know more about Canyon, John van der Zee wrote an incredible book in the early 1970s that’s still available. Here’s a link to the book. 

-One more thing about Canyon: I heard the Grateful Dead played a show out there, but according to this article the “Canyon” show that most people refer to probably actually took place in what is now Briones Regional Park. Here’s an investigation into the concert’s location. (h/t Trapper Byrne) 

-I just got rejected for a grant I spent a week working on, so if you've ever thought about supporting East Bay Yesterday, now would be a great time to visit my Patreon page and make a small donation. Also, if anybody has suggestions for grants/donors/etc, please let me know. Also: thank you so much to everybody who has already become a Patron of the show. I can't even begin to express how grateful I am -- I wouldn't be able to do this without you!

-If you’re thinking about joining one of my waterfront history boat tours, don’t dilly-dally, because they’re selling out super-fast. I haven’t even done one of them yet, but tickets are almost all scooped up. Also, the boat will have a sound-system, so I'm curating some local music that will sound good while we're out on the water! PS: The tours are BYOB, so you can sip on your favorite beverage as the sun sets over the Golden Gate. Here’s a link with more info about what the tours will be covering. And here's a pic from one of my location-scouting missions... 

-My friend Jenny Odell has spent a ton of time hanging out at the Morcom Rose Garden* over the past few years and her experiences connecting with the birds and nature there inspired her to write an brilliant book called “How to Do Nothing.” The book was just published this week and it also talks about Old Survivor (Oakland’s oldest tree!), riding AC Transit, walking around Lake Merritt, and lots of other Oakland-oriented topics -- in addition to the book's main theme of “resisting the attention economy.” Anyway, I’ll be “in conversation with” Jenny at Wolfman Books on May 2. You can find all the details here. Warning: This is a small venue, so if you want a seat, come early! (*I heard that the Rose Garden used to be a quarry -- anybody have info about this?)

-Did you know that the jacuzzi was invented in Berkeley? Or that an Oakland preacher spent $100 million on an ad campaign proclaiming the apocalypse? If you want to hear all about these stories and more, check out my interview with local journalist Rick Paulas, which aired last week on KPFA. Rick is a really great writer and I’m bummed he’s moving to New York, because of the lack of media jobs in the Bay Area. This is the kind of thing that happens when your town doesn’t have a newspaper anymore! (Yes, I read the East Bay Times, but their newsroom is miniscule. We deserve a media outlet with a full staff focused on Oakland!)

In non-East Bay Yesterday news…

-"Rare Footage of Black Panthers, California Activism Digitized by Oakland Library" (Via Sam LeFebvre/KQED Arts) 
-"West Oakland filmmaker set to debut ‘The Maze’ documentary at Bay Area Film Festivals" (via Rob Arias / The Eville Eye) 
-Looking forward to this book release event on 5/2: The Battle for People's Park by Tom Dalzell
-Check out episode 1 of KALW’s new Dubs podcast: How the Warriors became Golden State
-Pendarvis Harshaw, who I interviewed about growing up in Oakland back in episode 22, has a new show called Righnowish -- check it out.
-MC Hammer announced a big comeback tour… but there’s no concert booked in The Town (yet). I’m hoping he’s putting together a massive lineup for a homecoming show at Oracle. Or even better, some lowkey ‘secret’ shows at New Parish before he heads out on tour. If you have any info (like how to get in touch with Hammer), let me know! I really hope he's still got this jacket...

-"Why is Piedmont a separate city from Oakland?" Bay Curious has the answer. (h/t Olivia Allen-Price)
-The New York Times finally got around to publishing an obituary for Julia Morgan. The pioneering architect has been dead since 1957, but better late than never.
-Happy 70th birthday to KPFA!  
-And finally, I was walking around the Berkeley hills yesterday when I happened to notice that I was standing in front of the house that Ursula K. Le Guin grew up in. This Bernard Maybeck-designed house at 1325 Arch St. was the home of The Kroeber family, who you can learn all about in the Arwen Curry's wonderful new documentary...  

xoxo,
Liam

PS: Even if you can't afford to support East Bay Yesterday with a donation, I'm really grateful for everybody who is spreading the word on social media and by telling friends and family. If you dig the show, please let others know about it. Thanks!