In July, I joined my friends Sarolta and Marcus on a "Historic Bicycle Tour of West Oakland," hosted by Bikes 4 Life, a local bike shop that hires youth from the neighborhood. The tour was a gaggle of mostly white folks with matching bike helmets being followed by a camera crew, staff from "green" companies spending a week together doing community service projects. We all worried at first about joining a group that would be gawking its way through a majority black neighborhood like some it was some kind of a zoo. But I also wanted to learn more about Oakland's history, and the folks running the tour were long-time residents, so we pedaled on.
The first stop on the tour was a former Black Panther Party house. In front of the house, a woman passing by stopped to ask us, skeptically, what we were doing. The answer that we were on a historic bike tour didn't seem to clear up matters, she just gave us a strained smile and looked confused. As we rode bikes to the next stop, three guys on a street corner cheered us on like some kind of parade. We, it turned out, were the spectacle.
The next stop was 16th St. Station, old home to the Pullman Porters, who formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, one of the nation's first black-led unions. The roof was unstable and we had to sign a waiver before going in. The station, built in 1912, suffered damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and was soon abandoned. According to Marcus, punks used to sneak in to have roller skating parties there. I could just imagine them sliding and shrieking across the polished wood floors, listening to mixed tapes of The Germs.
The first stop on the tour was a former Black Panther Party house. In front of the house, a woman passing by stopped to ask us, skeptically, what we were doing. The answer that we were on a historic bike tour didn't seem to clear up matters, she just gave us a strained smile and looked confused. As we rode bikes to the next stop, three guys on a street corner cheered us on like some kind of parade. We, it turned out, were the spectacle.
The next stop was 16th St. Station, old home to the Pullman Porters, who formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, one of the nation's first black-led unions. The roof was unstable and we had to sign a waiver before going in. The station, built in 1912, suffered damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and was soon abandoned. According to Marcus, punks used to sneak in to have roller skating parties there. I could just imagine them sliding and shrieking across the polished wood floors, listening to mixed tapes of The Germs.
"Cameras, Films," Side Room, 16th St. Station, West OaklandNow an affordable housing developer has bought the place and its adjacent lots and started building those loft-style apartments that sprung up all over San Francisco during the dot-com boom. According to the developer, HBO recently removed 20 years' worth of pigeon poop and graffiti, moved a marble staircase, and added wainscoting and elevator doors to the main hall, restoring the station to a romantically dilapidated state to film a 1930s period piece. The windows bear the painted patina of an experienced set designer, and are nonetheless beautiful.
Window, 16th St. Station, West Oakland
Elevator Door, Detail, 16th St. Station, West Oakland
The developers spoke awkwardly about the community process they had been through to determine the future use of the old train station. One thing residents and developers agreed upon, they said, was wanting to preserve the building, but beyond that, it seemed like visions diverged. Some of the ideas floated included a museum for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, an event space, a restaurant and commercial kitchen that would serve food grown in an organic garden out front, and a space like New York's high line on the elevated tracks behind the station. There was talk of collaborating with the People's Grocery. The commitment to community involvement was well-meaning, but there were also off-color remarks, like, "There is the Revolution Cafe but otherwise there are no cafes or restaurants in West Oakland. It's a food desert." (Translation: there are no food establishments yet catering to the wealthy white people who will presumably live in these lofts).
After the tour, I asked the affordable housing developer what proportion of the new housing developments at the site were to be affordable. Something like 15-20%, he said. And what is considered affordable?Entry level prices. So, around here that would mean something like $300,000 right? Yeah. Something like that, he said. Wow, I can't imagine ever being able to afford something like that, I said, and I'm not even low-income.
After the train station, the tour continued on to American Steel, an abandoned factory used by local artists to make large metal sculptures and forms. Instead of continuing on with the tour, we veered away from the land of Burning Man aesthetics and ventured instead to Souley Vegan for mac and cheese and greens. Sarolta and I closed the afternoon on a bench, watching seagulls greet the container ships at Jack London Square, welcoming them back to West Oakland.
Window, 16th St. Station, West Oakland
Elevator Door, Detail, 16th St. Station, West OaklandThe developers spoke awkwardly about the community process they had been through to determine the future use of the old train station. One thing residents and developers agreed upon, they said, was wanting to preserve the building, but beyond that, it seemed like visions diverged. Some of the ideas floated included a museum for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, an event space, a restaurant and commercial kitchen that would serve food grown in an organic garden out front, and a space like New York's high line on the elevated tracks behind the station. There was talk of collaborating with the People's Grocery. The commitment to community involvement was well-meaning, but there were also off-color remarks, like, "There is the Revolution Cafe but otherwise there are no cafes or restaurants in West Oakland. It's a food desert." (Translation: there are no food establishments yet catering to the wealthy white people who will presumably live in these lofts).
After the tour, I asked the affordable housing developer what proportion of the new housing developments at the site were to be affordable. Something like 15-20%, he said. And what is considered affordable?Entry level prices. So, around here that would mean something like $300,000 right? Yeah. Something like that, he said. Wow, I can't imagine ever being able to afford something like that, I said, and I'm not even low-income.
After the train station, the tour continued on to American Steel, an abandoned factory used by local artists to make large metal sculptures and forms. Instead of continuing on with the tour, we veered away from the land of Burning Man aesthetics and ventured instead to Souley Vegan for mac and cheese and greens. Sarolta and I closed the afternoon on a bench, watching seagulls greet the container ships at Jack London Square, welcoming them back to West Oakland.
Jack London Square