Events

Fun run on the Home Front

More than 200 people ran or walked the Bay Trail at Marina Bay on Saturday as part of the Home Front Festival. Runners and walkers had two options: 5k and 10k courses. The fastest man in the 5k run was 37-year-old Tim Stahler, and BZ Churchman, 49, was the fastest woman. In the 10k run, the champion Jack Wallace, 21, took less than 36 minutes. Emily Ferenzi, 31, was the women’s champion, taking about 39 minutes. The youngest “runner” was…

Richmond native Tania Pulido wins national award for youth activism

Tania Pulido of Richmond will accept a Brower Youth Award for exceptional youth activism and leadership on Tuesday at the Herbst Center in San Francisco. The Brower Youth Award is one of the most prestigious youth activism awards in the country. Presented by the Earth Island Institute the award recognizes six individuals under the age of 22 each year based on recommendations from their individual communities. “I am so proud,” said Urban Tilth member Sherwan Dean outside of Pulido’s earshot….

Affordable housing opens in the Iron Triangle, targeting those in need

When Reina Portillo was diagnosed with breast cancer and her husband, Jose Pedro Albarron Lopez, lost his job, her family, including four children and one grandchild, crammed into whatever one-bedroom apartment they could afford that month. They lived like that for years. Since July, Portillo and her family have lived in the Lillie Mae Jones Plaza, in a spacious four-bedroom apartment, with affordable rent and social services in the building. “My mom couldn’t work any more and it was only…

Dorothea Lange returns to Richmond

When Christina Gardener wrote captions for Dorothea Lange’s photographs in 1943, she used shorthand and kept the backup notes for two days only; with the enormous work flow, saving it all didn’t make any sense. Then 22, Gardener didn’t know that she was dealing with posterity. On Saturday, almost seven decades later, Gardener, 91, held the historic pictures up to illuminate the times behind the moments frozen on silver paper — the sadness of the times, the round-the-clock frenzy of…

Shoreline Festival brings out hundreds and raises awareness about shoreline conservation

Fred Casanares got to Point Pinole Park a little before 8 a.m. on Saturday. He fired up the grill at 10 a.m. with almond wood, because it burns cleaner than charcoal. For the next five hours, Casanares cooked hundreds of pounds of burgers, hot dogs, quesadillas, and skirt steak, while smoke wafted around the festival and the persistent long lines in front of the grill. “I can’t even calculate how many people I’ve fed,” he said, wiping the trails of…

Scenes from the grand opening of Richmond’s Spokeshop Bike Lounge

On Sunday, Oct. 2, the Spokeshop Bike Lounge — billed as Richmond’s first full service professional bike shop — officially opened its doors after three years of planning. The Spokeshop plans to offer new and used bikes, and will offer apprenticeships for Richmond youth. Richmond Confidential was there at the opening to bring you scenes from the festivities.

A World War II preschool rings again with children’s shouts

A Mexican folk dance, an African-American gospel song, a restored World War II era school building, and a happy principal. “There are two things you can give to children, in general: roots and wings,” said Peppina Chang, the principal of the Richmond College Prep Schools. And today her preschoolers are getting their wings in a building whose roots dig deep into the heart of modern American history — although those roots had almost crumbled. After years of fundraising and planning,…

Richmond Art Center celebrates 75 years

The internationally renowned artist Richard Diebenkorn showed his drawings here. Tom Marioni, the conceptual artist known for the One Second Sculpture, was a curator here. Jasper Johns, credited with paving the way for both Pop Art and Minimalism