You’ll Find So Much Beauty and History When Walking Around West Oakland

05 Jun 2024

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Photo by Ginger Murray

We were part of the Exodus from San Francisco to Oakland back in 2012. Back when rental prices in the city had again become absurd, artists were again, being forced out and what had been so lively had again, been dimmed. This repeated wave has affected the city of San Francisco almost every decade from the first moment when gold was discovered in ‘them thar hills!’ and made folks a little wild-eyed with greed. Yet, those who still want to stay close to the pulsing possibility usually just move across the Bay. I had fallen in love with West Oakland while housesitting for friends over on Wood street. In the 70’s, the family of master ceramicist Antonio Prieto, bought half of a derelict city block. Weeds had long been growing over the old wooden buildings, that had once been the dormitories for employees of the Pacific Coast Cannery built by Lew Hing in 1904. The actual site of the cannery across the street had long since been razed and was then, just empty lots of dirt where wild turkeys roamed. That half a city block, cared for and preserved by the family, however became a space for the arts – wood working, glassblowing, a continuation of the ceramic craft and handmade beeswax candles – to flourish. There were also chickens, coy fish in a pond, and tangerine trees. Staying there was certainly wonderful but it was the walks I regularly took from the train, seeing all the proliferations of the foliage kind and the people kind around, that inspired a desire to live in the neighborhood. “This is the real America”, said my French husband when we first wandered along the streets together. He had a very good point. The stories of war, industry, Western expansion…as well as displacement, fluctuating economies, immigration, integration, and the rise of revolutionary spirit are all evident. To merely drive through is to entirely miss all of the history and indeed, the beauty of this verdant corner of the world.

Photo by Ginger Murray

So, in that interest, I want to take you on a personally curated, walking exploration of West Oakland. As you come up and out from the tunnel on the BART, take a look out the window. You’ll see clotheslines and back gardens. You’ll also see Esther’s Orbit Room which was once a place where all the greats – Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Big Mama Thorton – once played. 7th street back in the 40’s was so percolating it was once called the Harlem of the West. It won’t look very pretty now but if you bend your mind enough you can almost hear them. It’s also where you’ll start your walk. Turn slightly right on 7th street and go to the Mandela Grocery Cooperative. There you will find wonderful options for a picnic that can fit in your bag. Then…Go back down Center street. Turn left at 8th street and you’ll see the amazing mural, emblazoned on the side of an historic house, honoring the women of the Black Panthers.

Photo via Visit Oakland

Keep going left and then turn right on Chester street. Enjoy the old houses built back in the 1800’s when there was a thriving immigrant and Black community partly due to the train station at the end of 16th street. The station, empty now and covered in artful graffiti, once ferried travelers from the wider continent to San Francisco before the Bay Bridge was built in 1936.

On that street is not only a gorgeous weeping willow providing shade but there are also wonderful families out; kids playing in the street, grandmothers on the porch, and activists on the steps. Give a nod hello. This is a neighborly part of the world, so a nod of recognition is very welcome. Turn left at 12th street onto Peralta. If you are feeling a little thirsty by then, for either water or something more, stop at the market on 14th owned by a Yemeni family. There will likely be the cooking of BBQ on the other corner. Not for sale though, just for their own enjoyment. Incidentally, Blindspotting – the film and also the television series – was partly filmed on that corner. But it’s time to keep walking. Turn right on 14th and go to the Cypress Freeway Memorial Park.

Photo by Ginger Murray

Built in 1957, the Cypress Aqueduct served to ease traffic from San Jose to the bridge but its construction cut like a blade through the thriving, yet rather small residential neighborhood, considered by officials to be a slum. But it wasn’t. Where there were once beautiful houses, filled with families who worked to cultivate a better future, suddenly was this double decker freeway that put them all in shadow while cars just roared overhead. The memorial is in honor of those who lost their lives to the highway’s destruction in the 1989 earthquake. But if you spend a little time there, you might very well hear how glad local residents were that it had been brought down. They got their neighborhood back again. As is evident by the flowers on Mandela Parkway just across the street. Named, obviously, for Nelson Mandela the parkway is also an ode to all those who fought with the city to build a park instead of another freeway. In fond memory is Miss Ellen Wyrick-Parkinson, she of great hats, who was part of that fight. Stop on that Parkway and smell the flowers. Genuinely. There are copious flowers regularly cared for by school kids, local cultivators and indeed, the formerly incarcerated.

Photo by Ginger Murray

You will see homeless encampments on this walk. You’ll also see people exhausted by desperation and addiction. Don’t be afraid. If you’re so inclined, a few dimes delivered, like little silvery fish from one palm to another, might be good. It’s not at all required but it can be noticed and one act of kindness might just mean you are given kind notice in return. As you walk, walk on by. You’ll also see a few who shout out to no one in particular. There was one man I once witnessed who shouted out repeatedly, “Thank you, you goddamn beautiful trees!”. They are goddamn beautiful trees. Keep going along 14th and you’ll pass the weird, old factory still in operation. It looks like a fevered dream of Kafka, that factory, with windows blazing red. However, they are in the business of making cereal. When the warm wind blows, the scent of roasting grain does indeed waft into our windows. Stop for a moment and enjoy not only the old railroad tracks carving through the cement but also a fun bit of a graffitti on the electrical box outside the fence. At Magnolia Street take another left. You’ll then come upon DeFremery Park. Considered to be the heart and soul of the neighborhood, in 1907 the estate and land also became the city’s first commissioned playground. In the 1860’s, Dutch merchant James de Fremery of Savings and Union wealth, purchased a large plot of land, already planted with oak trees, and built a grand house for his wife Virginie Therese Herckenrath, the daughter of a former slave. But by 1904, The area was becoming more industrial and, “filled with residents who were not getting their needs met, particularly the children”, who, according to the City of Oakland’s Parks and Playground Commission at the time, “had their divine right to play.” The estate was sold to the city by bond and ever since, it has been a public park. One that still houses the Parks & Rec program and is host to great yearly events, including the Life is Living Festival and the Black Cowboy Parade. But it’s also a beautiful park resplendent with old and newly planted oak trees. There is a wonderful oak near the corner of 16th and Adeline that I recommend sitting under for your own little picnic. A blanket isn’t necessary but wild geese do roost there and not only, sassily face off against the cars, but also make that park ahem, their own. So even a little sheet, again easily brought in a bag, might be a good idea.

Photo by Ginger Murray

Enjoying your picnic while the sun dapples across the grass, you might encounter an older fellow walking his very cute little terrier. He’s a resident of the Senior Center on the corner and not only famously played trumpet back in the day but he was also part of the protest rallies in the late 60’s curated by the Black Panthers on the porch of that old estate. He helped with the Breakfast Program too. If you do this walking adventure on a Thursday, come 6pm you might start to hear from the basketball court, some great music starting to play. Go walking along the winding path. You will be treated then to the amazing and beautiful sight of roller skaters rolling around the tarmac. Panther Prowl is a great weekly event from 6pm to 9pm that seeks to, “create a safe, inclusive and accessible space for roller skaters of all identities, ages, and abilities that is organized by the community for the youth, while contributing to the rich history of West Oakland and DeFremery Park.” If you don’t have your own skates but want to join, there are skates available from their Skate Library, as well as knee pads and helmets. But even if you don’t get up to skate, it’s also very nice to just sit near the playground and watch those who are. Appreciate prodigiously, either by clapping or with smiles, when someone makes a good spin around the court. You’ll have to clap a lot as there are many great and sweet skaters there. You can also donate to the community cause.

Photo by Hassan Said.

Whew, I’ve sent you on a potentially, very momentous day! But we need to get you home. The 36 bus stops at the corner of the park and takes 5 minutes to get to the BART station. Voila! I hope you enjoy your adventure. May it be both delightful and illuminating.

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