History
It was a long meeting of the Richmond City Council Tuesday night, and it lasted into early Wednesday morning, filled with passionate debate regarding where the SS Red Oak Victory Ship should be berthed—and at what cost.
It’s the first Saturday in July, and like every first Saturday of the month, Tom and Jane Kelly are out on the Bay Trail down Rydin Road, off Central Avenue in Richmond, working with volunteers to clear away invasive plants and give native species a chance to survive.
Since it was established in 2000, the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park has been a local gem that preserves the city’s legacy as a booming shipping hub during the war years. But the sites are spread throughout the city, and the park has lacked a central location where visitors can start their tours. That’s about to change. The park’s new Visitor Education Center will be the site of a day of events beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday,…
City and school district officials joined more than 100 residents and students to officially open the new facilities at J.O. Ford Elementary School in Richmond on Saturday, including new classrooms and playgrounds and modern, colorful facade. “When our kids can go to a first-class, world-class facility like this,” Councilman Jim Rogers told the crowd, “we say we care about education, it’s important. The kids can see that we’re walking the walk.” The ribbon-cutting ceremony and pancake breakfast Saturday morning marked…
Donna Summer hit the music chart with the song “Love To Love You” in the mid 1970s. It was a sensuous sound that we had not heard since the late Silvia’s song “Pillow Talk.” Terry Lynn, a Richmond native, conveyed her fanship to Donna Summer as a person of unique style and class. I saw a profile on Donna Summer on ABC’s 20/20 at the time of her Disco reign in the mid 1970s. There the history of her eastern…
The Cinco de Mayo celebration on the 23rd Street corridor has become one of Richmond’s grandest events But it wasn’t always that way. Ten years ago, the street and the holiday became synonymous with an incident that would become a turning point in the city’s history, ushering in a new generation of political leaders and a renewed commitment to citizen oversight of the police department. Those were the themes explored at “2002 5 De Mayo Richmond Police Riot: What Really…
North Richmond is a unique Bay Area community poised for growth and investment in the coming years. But it’s also saddled with a history of decades of poverty and violence, and a jaded outlook toward political leaders and outside forces. How well the tiny community of about 4,000 residents can reconcile those clashing realities could determine the future, according to a report produced by UC Berkeley graduate students. “This is part of a process of building institutional linkages between this…
More than 100 residents and activists turned out in force to work and celebrate Earth Day in North Richmond on Saturday. But they had a lot of help from those no longer here in body, but very much loom over this historic community in spirit. “It feels so good that the community thinks so much of my brother to want to dedicate this garden to him,” said Leo Jackson, brother of longtime community advocate Fred Jackson, who died of cancer…
The baseball field at Kennedy High School was abuzz with activity Saturday. But the sounds weren’t the cracks of bats or the smacks of leather. They were laughs, and rhythmic staccatos of some of the city’s finest hip hop voices. More than 70 people, mostly local rap artists, gathered at the baseball field for an afternoon photo shoot organized by Lil Ric, a Richmond-bred rap artist who has been a prominent hip-hop luminary since the mid-1990s. Rappers and friends chatted…