In 1970, Dr. Marcus Foster was hired as the first Black superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District. Widely recognized as one of the greatest educators of his generation, he was brought here to help rescue a deeply troubled system. Within three years of his arrival, exactly 50 years ago this month, Foster was assassinated by a shady militant group that called itself the Symbionese Liberation Army. Even though many of the details of Foster’s death are known, it remains one of the most mysterious murders of a notoriously turbulent era. Although the SLA supposedly emerged from Berkeley’s revolutionary underground, there are some startling connections that point to a far more complicated story. On the anniversary of this tragic killing, this episode celebrates the legacy of Foster’s impact on Oakland school and also delves into the murky origins of the group responsible for this death. The first segment features Patanisha Williams, the curator “The Audacity to Believe,” an exhibit about Dr. Marcus Foster currently on display at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland. The second half of the show includes bestselling author and investigative journalist David Talbot, who wrote about the SLA in his book “Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love.” Music for this episode was generously provided by Jason Stinnett and Justin Lee. To see images & more, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/he-was-bringing-people-together/ Note: As I was finalizing production on this episode, KQED Arts published an article about alleged financial mismanagement by the Marcus Foster Education Institute. You can read about the allegations here: https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937772/artist-as-first-responder-marcus-foster-education-institute This episode is supported by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. I highly recommend checking out their new podcast, “Revolutionary Care: An Oakland Story,” a series about the history of treating sickle cell anemia: www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/sickle-cell East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your donations. Please make a pledge to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday.

East Bay Yesterday

“He was bringing people together”: Why was Dr. Marcus Foster murdered?

When Oakland’s most prominent graveyard celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2015, SF Gate honored the occasion with this description: “There are 177,000 people at historic Mountain View Cemetery, many of them famous and all of them dead.” The permanent residents of this picturesque site may indeed be deceased, but their stories live on through Michael Colbruno’s blog “Lives of the Dead.” Since 2007, Colbruno has chronicled the politicians, athletes, inventors, and civil rights icons whose names are carved into imposing mausoleums, but he’s also unearthed many fascinating stories behind far less prominent tombstones.  Check out this episode to hear our conversation, which covers the origins of Mountain View, its famous designer Frederick Law Olmstead, the symbolism attached to many iconic monuments, and much more. Listen now via Apple, SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Music for this episode was generously provided by Jason Stinnett and Om Aranda Stinnett. To see photos and links related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/unearthing-lives-of-the-dead/ Special thank you to Shaping San Francisco and the Oakland History Center for co-hosting my live presentation on Mountain View Cemetery history on October 24, 2023. This episode is supported by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. I highly recommend checking out their new podcast, “Revolutionary Care: An Oakland Story,” a series about the history of treating sickle cell anemia: www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/sickle-cell East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your donations. Please make a pledge to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday.

Unearthing “lives of the dead”: A tour of Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery

19-year-old Laura Brown started the Oakland Feminist Women’s Health Center in 1972. In the early days, Laura would answer the clinic’s phone using different voices so it sounded like there were multiple people working there. From its humble beginnings in a tiny Temescal house, this DIY project would eventually grow into an institution that would serve countless patients, help many people from poor and marginalized backgrounds become healthcare professionals, and make a historic impact on the trajectory of reproductive justice in this country. Angela Hume uncovers the history of this clinic, which was later renamed West Coast Feminist Health Project / Women’s Choice, in the new book “Deep Care: The radical activists who provided abortions, defied the law, and fought to keep clinics open.” As the title suggests, this story covers topics that range from underground gynecological “self-help” groups to terrifying battles with swarms of anti-choice militants attempting to violently shut down abortion providers. Amidst an ongoing rollback of reproductive rights, where women are being jailed for accessing abortion pills once again, the lessons that dozens of activists share with Hume in this book are crucially relevant, sometimes heartbreaking, and occasionally even hilarious. To see photos related to this episode: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/abortion-poetry-and-stink-bombs/ This episode is supported by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. I highly recommend checking out their new podcast, “Revolutionary Care: An Oakland Story,” a series about the history of treating sickle cell anemia: www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/sickle-cell East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your donations. Please make a pledge to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday

Abortion, poetry, and stink-bombs: A different kind of “self-help” movement

These days the East Bay’s waterfront is lined with parks, restored wetlands, marinas, and beaches, but for most of the twentieth century this shoreline was a dirty, dangerous wasteland. Factories stretching from Emeryville to Richmond treated the San Francisco Bay as a garbage bin. The habit of using the Bay as a dump was so common in Berkeley that the city legitimized the practice by creating a massive landfill on its western border in 1923. Beneath the idyllic grassy hills of Cesar Chavez Park and the bird-filled marshes of McLaughlin Eastshore State Seashore lay hidden mountains of trash. The transformation of this area from a leaky dump into a beautiful site for recreation and nature, a controversial process that unfolded over several decades, has been well-documented. Less has been said about the day-to-day activities of the landfill before its closure in 1983. Although the dump was a loud, smelly, wind-blasted environmental hazard, some of the people who worked there still carry fond memories of the place, and several significant Berkeley institutions emerged from friendships that were nurtured in that toxic soil. This episode explores the interconnected stories of folks who remember “the pit” long before it was turned into a park. First, you’ll hear from Margie Ellis and her daughter Ruby Quintana, whose family were the unofficial managers of the landfill from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s. Then Martin Borque, executive director of The Ecology Center, and Dan Knapp, co-founder of Urban Ore, will discuss the dump’s connection to Berkeley’s pioneering recycling movement, as well as a consequential battle over a proposed incinerator. Finally, Katherine Davis and Steve Smith of the recently closed Ohmega Salvage, will explain how lessons learned at the dump informed a lifelong dedication to combatting the wastefulness of contemporary culture. Listen now via Apple, SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Music for this episode was generously provided by Pacific Bells: https://pacificbells.bandcamp.com/album/7-days East Bay Yesterday relies on listener donation to survive. To support this program, visit: https://www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday

Tales from the pit: Lessons from Berkeley’s landfill

Long before BART or AC Transit, East Bay commuters relied on the Key System, a network of electric streetcars, for local travel and even to cross the Bay (there used to be tracks on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge!). Despite serving millions of passengers annually, the rails were ripped out and the network was completely dismantled by 1958. This episode explores the forces that brought down the Key System and the lessons this history might hold for those interested in a more transit-friendly future. Listen to the podcast to hear memories from former riders who remember taking many exciting excursions on the streetcars, and also from volunteers at the Western Railway Museum, an organization dedicated to celebrating the legacy of track-based modes of transport. Big thanks to this episode’s guests: John Harder, Robert Immergluck, Cambridge Lutèce, and Mickey Simmons. See photos related to this episode here: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/end-of-the-line/ This episode marks the launch of my new line of apparel with Oaklandish. The design on the hats and shirts is based on the Key System’s “flying key” logo. Over on the Oaklandish blog, I share some additional thoughts on what inspired the theme of this collaboration. I hope you’ll check it out, especially if you’re interested in thinking about ways to make the Bay Area’s roads safer, cleaner, and less gridlocked. https://www.oaklandish.com/blogs/news/east-bay-yesterday-the-history-of-the-key-system This episode is supported by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. I highly recommend checking out their new podcast, “Revolutionary Care: An Oakland Story,” a series about the history of treating sickle cell anemia: www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/sickle-cell

"End of the line": How we lost the Key System

Up until the 1850s, the East Bay was home to hundreds of grizzlies and some of the tallest redwoods in the history of the planet. Within about a decade of the Gold Rush, nearly all of the bears and the trees were wiped out. This episode looks back at the local environment before colonization—and explores how such a massive wave of devastation was able to change the landscape so quickly. Note: This episode was originally released in 2018. It’s being reposted now in celebration of the Long Lost Puzzle, available now for pre-order: https://oaklandpuzzle.com/products/long-lost-oakland Come to a free Long Lost Oakland presentation on July 31! Details here: https://eastbayyesterday.com/events/journey-through-long-lost-oakland/ To listen to the rest of the Long Lost Oakland miniseries, find the links on this page: https://eastbayyesterday.com/long-lost-oakland/

Long Lost Puzzle: What happened to the grizzly bears and old growth redwoods?

As a librarian at the Oakland History Center, Dorothy Lazard helped countless patrons research their connections to the past. In her new memoir “What You Don’t Know Will Make a Whole New World,” digs into her own history, examining the forces that shaped her young life in San Francisco and Oakland. After getting bounced around between relatives, schools, and towns in her early years, Dorothy found refuge in reading, a habit that would have a profound impact on how she established her place in a tumultuous world. To commemorate the release of this memoir, I recorded a conversation with Dorothy in front of a live audience at Clio’s Books on June 4, 2023. In addition to discussing her book, we also cover her favorite History Center memories, what it was like to live through “urban renewal,” the importance of libraries, and much more. To see photos related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/you-get-to-play-a-game-of-detective/ East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your donations. Please make a pledge to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday

“You get to play a game of detective”: Longtime librarian Dorothy Lazard uncovers a whole new world

For the past eight years, Olivia Allen-Price has been solving local mysteries and debunking myths on her KQED podcast Bay Curious. Each week the show tackles listeners’ questions on topics ranging from architecture to salad dressing. Now a new book called “Bay Curious: Exploring the Hidden True Stories of the San Francisco Bay Area” has compiled some of the show’s best investigations along with a batch of new stories. On May 18, I interviewed Olivia about the joys and challenges of investigating forgotten histories, legendary local figures, and all the quirks and oddities that make the Bay Area so unique. To make this special evening even more immersive, the event was held at the Camron-Stanford House, the last of the beautiful Victorian mansions that once surrounded Lake Merritt. If you want to hear about the origins of iconic local cocktails, the saga of the Bay Bridge troll, some very difficult trivia questions, and much more, check out the episode now: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/a-curious-conversation/ East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your donations. Please make a pledge to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday This episode is supported by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. I highly recommend checking out their new podcast, “Revolutionary Care: An Oakland Story,” a series about the history of treating sickle cell anemia: https://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/sickle-cell

A curious conversation: Myth-busting and more with Olivia Allen-Price

Did you know that downtown Oakland is built on ancient sand dunes? Or that the East Bay hills used to be honeycombed with quarries and mines? Or why Fruitvale was such a great place to plant orchards in the 1800s? These are just a few of the stories Andrew Alden explores in his new book “Deep Oakland: How Geology Shaped a City.” (Heyday) According to Alden, Oakland has the most rock diversity of any U.S. city, and in today’s episode we discuss stories below the soil. The conversation covers everything from earthquakes and volcanoes to landslides and potholes. Check out photos related to this episode at: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/from-volcanoes-to-potholes/ East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your donations. Please make a pledge to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday This episode is supported by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. I highly recommend checking out their new podcast, “Revolutionary Care: An Oakland Story,” a series about the history of treating sickle cell anemia: www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/sickle-cell

From volcanoes to potholes: Excavating stories below the soil with Andrew Alden

In her new book “Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock,” Jenny Odell takes a tour of the Bay Area. She begins at the Port of Oakland and travels as far as the Pacific Ocean before turning around and heading back to Mountain View Cemetery in the East Bay hills. Along the way, she also brings readers on a different kind of journey. At each location, she uses these physical spaces to illustrate different ways of thinking about time itself. Are there really 24 hours in a day? By the end of this book, you won’t be so sure. I interviewed Jenny onstage at the Backroom in downtown Berkeley on April 4, 2023 in front of a live audience. The conversation covers everything from deconstructing linear conceptions of history to traffic jams on 880. Original music for this episode was produced by Mark Pantoja. Thank you to KPFA’s Brandi Howell for recording this event and Kevin Hunsanger for production. To see photos related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/time-is-not-money/ If you want to hear my interview with Jenny about her first book, “How to do Nothing,” check out episode 46 of East Bay Yesterday. That conversation was recorded in 2019 at the dearly departed Wolfman Books in downtown Oakland. East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your donations. Please make a pledge to keep this show alive: www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday

“Time is not money”: Challenging clocks, nostalgia, and more with Jenny Odell

Oakland’s largest city park is named after Joaquin Miller, an eccentric writer who lived on the property more than a century ago. After gaining international attention as the flamboyant “Poet of the Sierra,” Miller transformed the Oakland hills by planting an estimated 75,000 trees. He called his estate “The Hights” [sic] and it became a renowned creative hub under Miller’s stewardship, attracting artists and authors from as far away as Japan. Although Miller’s literary fame has faded in the decades since his passing in 1913, his name is still familiar to the countless Bay Area residents who flock to Joaquin Miller Park for its stunning views and shaded trails. In 2022, Oakland made history by transferring control of Sequoia Point, a nearly five-acre parcel in Joaquin Miller Park, to Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an organization led by local indigenous women focused on returning land to Native people and revitalizing Ohlone culture. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, this deal made Oakland “the first city in California to use municipal property as reparations for European settlers stealing Native American territories.” Sogorea Te’ co-founder Corrina Gould envisions this location becoming a place of ceremony, education, and a model for Native land management techniques. Sogorea Te’ launched the decolonization process by changing the name of the site from Sequoia Point to Rinihmu Pulte’irekne, a Chochenyo phrase meaning “Above the Red Ochre.” Now, as Sogorea Te’ prepares for the next phase, which will involve replacing non-native trees with more ecologically appropriate plants, Corinna has begun to wonder about the man who planted some of those trees—but finding answers to her questions hasn’t been easy. Due to Joaquin Miller’s lifelong habit of mixing fact with fiction, understanding his legacy, specifically his relationship with California’s Native people, is a complicated and often bewildering undertaking. Making things even more difficult is the fact that several long out-of-print biographies about Miller contradict each other and newspaper articles about him are usually peppered with myths and inaccuracies. With a section of the park named after Miller set to become a beacon of decolonization, the relevance of his legacy has gained new significance. Was he a champion of Native rights or a traitor? A brave ally to California’s Native people or a participant in their genocide? These are a few of the questions confronted in this episode of East Bay Yesterday, which features interviews with Corrina Gould, Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, author and historian Alan Rosenus, and Joaquin Miller Park writer-in-residence Kristen Caven. Listen now via Apple, SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Original music for this episode was produced by Mark Pantoja. To see photos related to this episode, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/who-was-joaquin-miller/ This episode is supported by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. I highly recommend checking out their new podcast, “Revolutionary Care: An Oakland Story,” a series about the history of treating sickle cell anemia: www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/sickle-cell

"Who was Joaquin Miller?": Assessing the legacy and land of a controversial icon

Delilah Beasley didn’t have much education or money, but when she saw that African Americans were being ignored by history books, she knew she had to do something. Beasley ended up spending nearly a decade interviewing elders and digging through crumbling archives to compile “The Negro Trailblazers of California,” a book that rescued dozens of notable Black figures from historical oblivion. However, Beasley didn’t just focus on the past. Her weekly Oakland Tribune column, “Activities among the Negroes,” documented the East Bay’s Black community at a time when positive portrayals of people of color in the media were almost nonexistent. This episode explores Beasley’s life as a historian and journalist through a conversation with the authors of “Trailblazer: Delilah Beasley’s California,” a new work by Dana Johnson and Ana Cecilia Alvarez. We discuss Beasley’s motivation, her impact, and why her work still remains so valuable. Check out photos and links related to this episode here: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/we-were-being-erased/ This episode is supported by UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. I highly recommend checking out their new podcast, “Revolutionary Care: An Oakland Story,” a series about the history of treating sickle cell anemia: https://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/sickle-cell

"We were being erased": The woman who saved California’s Black history

Journalists Ali Winston and Darwin Bondgraham have been investigating the Oakland Police Department for more than a decade. Their coverage of violent misconduct, corruption, and sexual abuse has led to multiple resignations and terminations within the department, but even more shocking is the relative lack of consequences for many of the officers responsible for this illegal behavior. Winston and Bondgraham’s new book “The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover Up in Oakland” proves that this pattern of impunity has characterized the department since its very inception.  “The Riders Come Out at Night” compiles more than a century of OPD scandals in order to understand why the department has been unable to reform itself according to the demands of a court-ordered consent decree, despite two decades of federal oversight. History repeats itself in scandal after scandal as a toxic stew of racism, machismo, resentment, carelessness and lethal violence is brushed aside or even rewarded, while taxpayers cover the costs and victims’ families are left devastated. For Oaklanders desperately yearning for safer streets, this book paints a sad and frustrating picture about the relationship between law enforcement and public safety. On January 21, I recorded an interview with Winston and Bondgraham in front of a live audience at Clio’s Books in Oakland. We discussed the history of the Oakland Police Department, the current scandal that has resulted in Chief LeRonne Armstrong being placed on administrative leave, and much more. For more info, visit: https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/is-reform-possible/ East Bay Yesterday can’t survive without your support. Please donate to keep this show alive:www.patreon.com/eastbayyesterday

“Is reform possible?”: Investigating Oakland’s dysfunctional police department

Oakland’s Paramount Theater is now recognized as one of the grandest examples of Art Deco architecture still in existence, but this masterpiece almost met the same fate as many other prestigious movie palaces of its era. Originally constructed in 1931, the Paramount was a torn and tattered dump by the late 1960s. At the time, the Oakland Symphony was looking for a new home, and its leaders realized that beneath decades of grime lay a unique gem. After extensive restoration, the Paramount reopened in 1973, and has been hosting icons like Bob Marley, Prince, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Seinfeld, and Chris Rock ever since.  On today’s episode, the Paramount’s head curator David Boysel discusses the turbulent history of this 2,996-seat venue as well as the backstory to his never-ending quest to keep the building in perfect condition. Expect to hear about the Paramount’s famed architect Timothy Pflueger, the many historical mysteries that Boysel has solved over the years, the network of local artisans who keep the Paramount looking pristine, and much more. One additional note: This episode is a followup to a profile that I wrote for SF Gate last month. To see some truly stunning photos of the Paramount in all its glory and to read the article, visit: https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/paramount-theatre-curator-david-boysel-17595816.php If you have suggestions for topics I should cover in an upcoming article, please drop me a line: eastbayyesterday [at] gmail. I’m primarily interested in East Bay-related stories with a local history angle.

Saved from the wrecking ball: The resurrection of Oakland’s Paramount Theater

For the past year, I’ve been part of a team developing Rooted in Richmond, a free app that allows visitors to take a self-guided tour through the city’s history. The tour covers 16 locations over 6 miles and includes maps, photos, videos, 3D renderings of historic objects, and more. Topics range from sacred Ohlone shellmounds to the formation of environmental justice groups in the wake of a toxic industrial accident.  Now that the app has launched, I wanted to share a preview of the oral histories I gathered to accompany various tour stops. In this episode, you’ll hear audio clips featuring: –Shirley Ann Wilson Moore on how Black residents stood up against a front yard cross-burning –Flora Ninomiya on what happened to flower nurseries owned by Japanese-Americans during World War II –Melinda McCrary on saving a long-long treasure from a flooded basement –Ahmad Anderson on how Martin Luther King Jr’s visit inspired a generation of Black political leaders –Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez on the remarkable transformation of a trash-strewn lot into a community oasis -Bonus segment: Shirley Ann Wilson Moore on why so many blues clubs were run by women Joining me on today’s episode is Desiree Heveroh, a born and raised Richmondite who is currently the innkeeper at Point Richmond’s historic Hotel Mac and also a live-in caretaker aboard the SS Red Oak Victory, the last surviving vessel manufactured at the Kaiser Shipyards during World War II. Desiree is also the former director of the Richmond Museum of History and Culture and she spent the first 14 months of the pandemic living in Richmond’s oldest building, the East Brother Light Station, which was built on a tiny island in the Bay in 1873. For more info and to see photos related to this episode, visit https://eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/rooted-in-richmond/

Rooted in Richmond: Touring a "cultural gold mine"

East Bay history podcast that gathers, shares & celebrate stories from Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

hubhopper

East Bay Yesterday

hubhopper