Running through the heart of Richmond and San Pablo, 23rd Street was once a bustling hub of immigrant-owned businesses. When a protest was held against the Trump administration’s immigration policies in January, it was on 23rd Street where hundreds of people gathered and marched in the pouring rain, waving flags from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. As 2025 comes to a close, immigrant-owned businesses along 23rd are reporting historically low sales. Restaurant owners, servers and organizers attribute this drop…
At 6:33 p.m. on Aug. 6, 2012, two days after moving into her new house in Atchison Village, Marisa Goul looked out her window and saw a towering pillar of black smoke curling into the sky over the Chevron Refinery. Five minutes later, Richmond’s Community Warning System sirens split the air. Her new neighbors told her to shelter in place. Goul began sealing shut all her windows and doors with the roll of painters tape from her recent move. “I’m…