“So at some point people realized that Oakland is lit. They told a friend, who told a friend who told a friend who told her friend and yeah, now it’s fucking weird as fuck.” Your name and age. I would just say DAGHE, people that know me know my real name, but I’m 34. […]
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BROOKFIELD DEUCE
“I don’t want anybody to listen to this interview and take it as the gospel. I think that the best thing would be for people to listen to this interview as well as the others, and that kickstarts them to start researching more about the stuff that’s being talked about. Let’s start a fire. That […]
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“SHAK” IRONS
‘Some people will say, “Yeah, you know, I’m from Oakland or whatever.” But you know they’re full of shit and they just really ain’t, they don’t really know what it’s all about. It’s a tough town, but it’s a good town. It’s a place where you got to stay on your toes and watch your […]
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SHAYLA BANG
“It’s just one of the best places to be from. We’re just so carefree. Our vibe is like nothing else. I’m just super proud to be from this place because it has really made me who I am today. I have learned the game from Oakland, my ways, and it has helped me survive in […]
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JENNIFER JOHNS
“You have a right to be yourself and that is a very Oakland trait and you’re going to find all manner of people who are willing to fight for your right to be who you are. I think that Oakland is the best of the American experiment. It is the best of the American experiment […]
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PENDARVIS “OGPENN” HARSHAW
“You know how it goes. San Francisco sneezes Oakland catches the cold. So anything that happens in San Francisco is going to be amplified in Oakland. So you’re seeing even greater poverty out here in a place that had already had low income people, people working class people. You’re also seeing greater wealth out here. […]
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FRANKLIN “HIPSTER KILLER” CARTEGENA
“I don’t like that there’s this kind of eraser of the culture now that people want to come live here. And it’s weird. It doesn’t make sense to me. They want to come here for the culture, but when they come here, they want to change the culture.” What is your name and age? […]
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VAY MIKO HOANG
“I hope we maintain this, I hope there continues to be love for folks born and raised in Oakland and I hope there still continues to be open space for the working class, for the immigrants. Cause I feel like in so many ways, that’s what makes Oakland Beautiful it’s our culture. And I would […]
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ROBBIE CLARK
“I always felt like Oakland was a black city. I felt like it was a black city. I felt like it was about black people about black resistance, about like black creativity, you know? And so, so yeah. So for me, being an Oakland native, I feel like it’s about that. It’s about preserving that […]
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WREN SONGBIRD
“It’s always been about embracing difference, uniqueness, putting a little, of our own thing on it, coming up with unique words to describe something. That’s Oakland…” Your full name and age. My name is Wren Michelle Robb and I’m 31 years old. What neighborhood of Oakland are you from or would you say you grew […]
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ANNETTE MILLER
“Respect us. Don’t act like we came here, because I was born and raised here, so I feel I like have privileges to be here long as I pay my taxes, pay my insurance, pay my rent. I’m good to be here.” Your name and age. Annette Miller. 52. What neighborhood of Oakland are […]
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CHARLES “BIG CHUCK” JOHNSON
“You literally could leave your door opened at that time because your neighbors was your neighbors. If you hear somebody opening the door, it’s your neighbor coming in to just come kick it with you like we normally do.” What’s your name and age? Charles Johnson. People call me Chuck, I’m 44 years old. What […]
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FEMI ANDRADES
“It’s small but it’s mighty like I said, it’s the people and the culture and the vibe of the Revolutionary ness that is in Oakland. It’s just innate. It’s something in the that makes people very active activists in some way, shape or form. “ What is your full name and age? My name […]
DEBORAH ZIERTEN
“I would hope, as I said before, that all of that pride that people feel in Oakland and all of the new people that are moving to this area, that they really start to put pressure on the political figures to make positive changes with a lot of the problems that I mentioned. So that […]
VINCENT CORTEZ
“I know that my grandfather, when my father, the oldest of, I think five total was born, they were still living in West Oakland on the rail yard. So for the first year of his life, my father lived in this little shack on the southern Pacific railroad yard. My grandfather was just saving up […]
SAL “CHAMUCO” CORTEZ
“Oakland has always been a place for original thinkers. I definitely feel lucky to have come up in it and to have been able to soak up all that inspiration from the streets and from music, from everything. But to me being an Oakland Native is loving this town, understanding this town from how grimy […]
MICHAEL AUSTIN
“My buddy, he has this good definition of gentrification and it’s where people come into a place and try to change it to what they want it to be or to something near. So some people they want to make West Oakland, San Francisco East, but it’s not San Francisco East, it’s West Oakland. So […]
RYAN NICOLE AUSTIN
“People have very short memories, especially as progress happens, they forget where things start and they’re just looking towards the horizon. I think sometimes we have to turn around and look back, even though that’s discouraged, you have to turn around and look back, especially when you’re building a community, especially when it’s urban development because a city is nothing without it’s legacy and without its lineage. I encourage the newcomers and the people who are seeing the precipice of this change and supporting the precipice of this change to turn around and look back at the people who started it, look back at what made them come here. Look back at what makes investments so exciting in Oakland right now.”
NICOLE LEE
“I just feel I’m super grateful to have grown up here and you know, I think this place, Oakland, California is the place that I have more roots than probably anywhere else in the world. Even China. I know that sounds crazy, but I have four generations here and I think one of the things […]
FALCON DAVES SON “LIL DAVE”
“I wish people knew that Oakland was actually more of a community. It was more of a unity kind of thing back in the day. You don’t see much of that anymore. What I would tell my new neighbors just to do their best to stay as close knit as possible.” What is your […]
FALCON DAVE
“I could speak on the Falcon boys for one, as a car club that originated in 1979 in Oakland, on 96th and Birch Street, East Oakland. And that was the first car that was customized for the African Americans. After the Falcons came the Mustangs, Cougars, like Granadas, you know, Mavericks. But yeah, that’s just […]
JAZZ MONIQUE HUDSON
“Oakland has a sense of medicine. Like there is a sense of healing here all the way down in the roots of the soil, in the ground from the people you meet. It to me, you’ll meet somebody, a stranger and it will feel like you’ve known them for a long time and they’ll welcome […]
