Merritt College original site in Oakland

The BART train whirrs by, leaving MacArthur station, as cars exit the freeway. Nobody notices the bit of history below. Under the train tracks at the speedway intersection of the flatlands at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 58th Street in North Oakland is a salmon-colored building spanning the length of five blocks. It is…

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Oakstop in Oakland

People are working at the Oakstop office, sharing the working space each other.

On a Monday morning, about 10 people sat around a big table in the Oakstop office, a shared working and event space in Oakland. Most of them were looking at their laptops and wearing big headphones while typing on their keyboards. One guy was talking with someone on the phone. “Okay, I’ll email you by…

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Easter Hill United Methodist Church in Richmond

The sidewalk in front of Easter Hill United Methodist Church in Richmond was all but empty on Monday at 11 am. A cyclist slowly meandered by on Cutting Boulevard, the clinking of his bike chain breaking up the white noise created by a constant stream of passing cars. The doors of the church were locked,…

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DeFremery Park in Oakland

DeFremery Park is an island. A two-story light blue Victorian sits alone in a massive yard, surrounded by fields of vibrant green grass. It’s quiet in the park on most days, the building’s stoic presence adding a layer of calm to the surrounding West Oakland neighborhood. The house sits next to a tennis court, a…

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