#50s oakland

[thegikitiki]

Department Store Lunch Counter, 1959

Capwell Department Store, Oakland California

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

ON THIS DAY IN JUVENILE DELINQUENCY -- STRAIGHT OUTTA OAKLAND.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on a mugshot of a young car thief, apprehended, arrested, and booked in Oakland, California, on Saint Valentine's Day, 1957.

"Your whole life, is comin' apart at the seams, You ain't nothin' but a car thief bitin' routines."

-- "Car Thief" (1989) by the BEASTIE BOYS

Source: www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/qikh2.

[wwwdlabrie]

Mon 9/4 Oakland,California -Hiero Day Annual Labor Day Concert & Block Party 2023 performances by Common , Hieroglyphics, Kev Choice, Lil Blood , Paris, Cellski & more +Check out DLabrie x Hiero Collabs, Pix, TouR Stories,Videos Memories, etc

Mon 9/4 Oakland,California -Hiero Day Annual Labor Day Concert & Block Party 2023 performances by Common , Hiero, Kev Choice ,Lil Blood , Paris, Cellski & more

Mon 9/4 Oakland,California -Hiero Day Annual Labor Day Concert & Block Party 2023 performances by Common , Hieroglyphics, Kev Choice ,Lil Blood , Paris, Cellski +Check out DLabrie x Hiero Collabs, Pix, TouR Stories,Videos Memories, etc Get Tickets at HieroDay.com New DLabrie song leak “HIP HOP” ft Kev Choice, Dot Goodie & Marlee Shore New DLabrie song leak “HIP HOP” ft Kev Choice, Dot Goodie &…

[dailyoverview]

A container ship is moored in San Francisco Bay, located in between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California, USA. Recently, the Port of Oakland announced that ships waiting for docking space will no longer queue inside the Bay, but instead will wait 50 miles offshore until they receive an assigned docking time. This effectively creates a “Safety and Air Quality Area” in order to improve air quality with decreased emissions from moored ships and also increases maritime safety with reduced boat traffic in the Bay.

37.670000°, -122.270000°

Source imagery Nearmap

[vintagelasvegas]

Westerner club, 21-23 Fremont St, 1950

Opened in Spring 1950, the Westerner club was a partnership of Benny Binion, Emilio Goergetti, Frank Converse, and landlord Catherine Horden, occupying the original site of Las Vegas Club. The building had been completely remodeled by architect F. A. Ripley of Billings, MT. Binion left the partnership soon after the opening of the club.

The overheard mural titled “Pioneers Westerward” was completed July 1950. The 20 x 45-foot, 7-ton enamel-porcelain piece was created by Payne Mahoney of Oakland, CA, based on an original painting by artists Leroy Green and John Greenleaf. The mural acted as a facade that covered the original building. About two years later a marquee was installed that covered most of the mural. The mural may have been demolished along with the building in '62.

Pioneer Club (25 Fremont), left. Kolstad's Toggery (17 Fremont), right.

Photos: L. F. Manis Photograph Collection (PH-00100) UNLV Special Collections & Archives. Sources: Huge Mural to Adorn Facade of Westerner Club Monday. Review-Journal, 7/16/50. New Sign Goes Up on Westerner Club. Review-Journal, 7/23/50.

[odinsblog]

“How do you enjoy life as the world burns? When the planet is on fire, and the country is falling apart, and the cops shoot another teenager, and half your neighbors are getting evicted or deported, and Bill Maher is still speaking out loud on television, what do you do? I go to the water park with my nephew Miles.

Miles is 12 years old. He is a brilliant, bow-legged troublemaker. I love him despite the fact that he's 12 and still has a rat tail. It's really not that cute anymore, dude. We're not related by blood, but Miles' dad, Kevin, is like a brother to me. So Miles calls me Uncle Josh.

Uncle Josh, when are we going to the Warriors game? Uncle Josh, will you show me how to open that car with a hanger again? Uncle Josh, Uncle Josh, since I'm half Black and half Asian, does that make me Blazian? No, Miles, that makes you Oakland.

It's August, and it's hot, which for the Bay Area, means anything above 67. Today, it's 91. I'm over at Kevin and Miles' place, sitting in no AC, in our tank tops and boxers, watching Key and Peele.

I say, guys, we gotta go somewhere to cool off. Cooler than the movie theater, cooler than the mall, I'm gonna take us to East Bay's water world. Miles' face lights up. But then Kevin says, I don't know you guys. I mean, those water parks, you know, they're so wasteful.

My man Kevin is the worst kind of Bay Area environmentalist. He's that type of dude who will come over your house and use the bathroom, not flush, but instead write a note on your toilet paper telling you how much water he just saved you. That's a true story.

I say, Kevin, it's so hot out here, I could fry an egg on your face, which I will if we don't go to East Bay Water World. Miles says, please dad. I say, please dad.

Kevin says, fine. Go have fun at the park, but take my car. It's a hybrid.

I grab the keys and soon me and Miles are driving through Oakland. We pass by the Trilingual Liquor Store, the farmer's market that accepts food stamps and we make our way through the tunnel and the hills. We emerge on the other side in the valley.

The further we get from the coast, the ground is drier and drier, browner and browner. The only green is the manicured lawns of the suburbs, the golf courses, the empty field of the sprawling county jail. And then we see it and we arrive at our Mecca, our oasis in the California desert, East Bay Water World. And it's even more beautiful than I imagined. There's four wave pools, there's a 50-foot water park, the air smells like chlorine and sunscreen and funnel cake. Delicious.

Miles' mouth is wide, staring at all these things he's never seen before. Carnival games, Dippin Dots, girls in bikinis, Uncle Josh, this place is awesome. I know, Miles. I know.

We go and we jump in the wave pool, we float down the lazy river, we spin through the whitewater rapids until we're totally drenched, grinning ear to ear and surprisingly thirsty. So I go to the funnel cake vendor for something to drink.

Can I get a bottle of water, please? He says, no problem. That'll be $7. $7 for a bottle of water? He looks at the bottle. It says, and he literally read off the bottle, it says this here is bottled and purified up near Lake Tahoe.

This is California water. California water. I buy two bottles and walk back to where Miles is pointing up towards the sky. I follow his gaze and then I see it. There, staring down at us from the tallest point in the park is the biggest water slide I've ever seen. The tallest slide in Northern California, the Annihilator.

The Annihilator is a seven-story, 80-foot freefall drop down all in just under five seconds. It's one of those slides that's so vertical, your back comes off the ride when you go down, so you feel like if you lean over just a little bit, you're done. It's the type of slide that's illegal in 27 states and most of the European Union, but hey, this is California.

I look and see Miles. His mouth is watering in anticipation. We go and get in line.

Now, the worst part of the Annihilator isn't the ride down. That's only five seconds. The worst part is the 30-minute wait in line, standing in the stairs watching and hearing every kid go down the slide, hearing every scream, every shriek, every, oh, sweet baby, Purple Jesus. The That's a direct quote from a nine-year-old. Shout out to Purple Jesus.

Miles is nervous. His hand is clenching the railing. Uncle Josh, is this thing safe?

Before I can answer, I hear a voice shouting from the top of the stairs, Hands up! Put your hands up!

Hands up!

It's the lifeguard, a tall white teenager in red shorts. He's yelling at the girl about to go down the slide. I'm telling you, it's way more fun if you put your hands up.

And the words hit me like a tsunami. It's August, two weeks after Ferguson, after Mike Brown. After those words, hands up became the calling cry for a movement.

In Missouri, people are putting their hands up to protest the police murdering another black boy in America. In California, I'm watching kids put their hands up as they go down a water slide called the Annihilator, and my nephew asks me if it's safe here. It's August in America.

In Detroit, they're shutting off poor people's water. California is suffocating of thirst. Half of my friends are putting buckets of ice over their faces on Facebook. Israel is bombing water treatment plants in Gaza, and in America, we have water parks in the desert. Industrial Almond Farms in the desert, prisons in the desert, my family, me and my nephew right here in the desert looking for anything that could be called an oasis. And Miles asked me if it's safe here.

What am I supposed to tell him?

I don't want to lie to my nephew. I want him to know that yes, some people will always see him as a threat, but I also want him to laugh and play and go get on this crazy ass waterslide.

How do you enjoy life as the world is burning? How do you teach your nephew to hate the park but love the ride? The thing is called the Annihilator. I think it might be trying to tell us something.

And now we're next in line. A girl with blonde pigtails is shaking her head. The lifeguard says, it's okay, you don't have to do it.

She backs away and now Miles is up.

He steps to the edge of the slide, puts his feet in the rushing water.

I can see the brown hills in the distance, Oakland and all its beautiful contradictions waiting on the other side. I wave at Miles, say, you got this. You got this, dude.

And he waves back at me, and when he does, he lets go of the railing. His hand shoots up in the air and the rushing water carries him away. He lets go. He shoots out and disappears over the edge. My nephew!

I rush to the side and look over, and there's Miles at the bottom of the slide, safe and alive and pulling up his bathing suit. He jumps up and runs to get back in line, and the cycle continues. Water, blood, life, death, and maybe rebirth.

I'm still on the top platform of the slide.

I walk to the edge, look down at California, lift my hands, and let go.”

—Mr. Josh Healey

[readyforevolution]

"I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say ‘The (N-word) can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel and they would say ‘The (N-word) can’t stay here.’ We want to Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N-word, ‘he can’t come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out. Finally, they let me in. He had said ‘We’re gonna go to a diner and eat hamburgers; we’ll go where we’re wanted.'

“I slept on their couch (Rudi and his wife) four nights a week for about a month and a half,” Jackson said. “Finally, they were threatened that they’d burn the apartment complex down unless I got out. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

Jackson’s response to the one question lasted more than three minutes.

No one on the Fox set interrupted him.

No producer screamed into a headset trying to stop him.

“I really didn’t think it would get as much attention as it has gotten,’’ Jackson told USA TODAY Sports after the game, “but as much response as it generated, I didn’t get one negative response. Not one.

“I didn’t know Alex would ask me that question, but I’m glad they gave me a chance to respond.

“I’m glad people listened."

Reggie Jackson

Loud. And clear.

Really, the oddest reaction was from America itself.

Folks acted as if they were shocked this was happening 50 years ago and not centuries ago.

Wake up.

It was in the ’80s when Al Campanis, general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, uttered on national TV that Blacks lacked “the necessities" to be general managers or managers in the game.

It was in the early ’90s in Los Angeles when Rodney King was brutally beaten by police officers on the city streets and every officer was acquitted.

It was in the mid-’90s in Vero Beach, Florida, when an apartment complex refused to allow a reporter’s two black children to swim in its community swimming pool.

It was in the past five years that George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor was shot and killed in her bedroom in Louisville, and Ahmaud Arbery was murdered jogging in Georgia.

So, really, we’re shocked that Jackson couldn’t eat in restaurants, sleep in hotels and hang in country clubs with his white teammates 57 years ago?

Welcome to America.

Racism still flourishes in this country, but the only difference, as Hank Aaron once told me, “the difference back then is that they had hoods. Now, they have neckties and starched shirts."

“In the South," Jackson said, “you knew they didn’t like you. You knew they didn't want you. They didn’t hide it."

Now, racism may not be as overt, but as Jackson reminded the country this week, don’t be naive to think it has gone away, or even greatly diminished.

Oh, and just in case you needed a reminder, there are only two Black managers in baseball, one Black general manager and there still has never been a majority Black owner. Jackson said Saturday he still is incensed the he was denied the opportunity to bid on the Oakland Athletics in 2005 when it was sold to John Fisher.

So, you really believe things have changed?

“I am glad,’’ Jackson said, “that I said what I did. It needed to be said."

And repeated over and over again.

[transit-fag]

Here is a list of all US transport mega projects (according to Wikipedia and projects I can think of) and their costs, rail projects are marked in blue:

Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel - 3.1 billion dollars

The Big Dig in Boston - 24.3 billion

Brightline West - 10 billion

California High-speed Rail - 100 billion

Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program - 4.6 billion

CTA Red Line Extension - 3.7 billion

Cresent Corridor Expansion - 2.5 billion

East Side Access - 11.1 billion

Evergreen Point Floating Bridge - 4.56 billion

Gateway Program - 16 billion

Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel expansion- 3.9 billion

The Interstate Highway system - 500 billion

John F. Kennedy International Airport Redevelopment - 19 billion

LaGuardia Airport Project - 8 billion

LAX renovations - 14 billion

Newark Airport Terminal A - 14 billion

O'Hare Modernization Plan - 8.8 billion

Ohio River Bridges Project - 2.3 billion

Project Connect in Austin - 7.1 billion

Puget Sound Gateway Program - 2.38 billion

Reagan Airport's Project Journey - 1 billion

San Francisco International Airport Redevelopment - 2.4 billion

Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge - 6.4 billion

Second Avenue Subway - 17 billion

DC metro Silver Line - 6.8 billion

MTA purple Line - 10 billion

Sound transit 3 - 50 billion

[eptodaytommorowforever]

Events In The History And Of The Life Of Elvis Presley Today On The 12th Of November In 1972

Elvis Presley Tour And Show Comes To San Bernardino CA.

A look back at Elvis Presley's 1972 outstanding concert at swing auditorium in San Bernardino CA

Sunday night, Nov. 12, 1972. The Santa Ana winds were howling, so typical of San Bernardino in November. And it was cold. But a sold-out crowd stood patiently to have an audience with The Legend . Elvis Presley was in the Swing Auditorium.

The Swing was the place east of L.A.'s Fabulous Forum to see virtually every top name act in the rock world, circa 1964 through 1981. Located on E Street, the auditorium was built in 1949 on the grounds of the National Orange Show and was named for Senator Ralph E. Swing, a San Bernardino legislator. What a glorious barn it was and what history played out on that stage. The Rolling Stones did their first American concert there in June 1964. The place rocked until a small plane crashed into it on Sept. 11, 1981 and the auditorium had to be demolished. One of the last shows played there featured Iron Maiden.

In between, rock royalty were regulars. Fleetwood Mac played more than five times. The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Black Sabbath, Ramones (as opening act), Chicago, Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper, the Grateful Dead (multiple times), Faces with Rod Stewart (also multiple times), Santana, the Kinks, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, the Beach Boys, and more. Look up how many of these acts are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Just about everybody but the Beatles made it to the Swing.

Prior to the modern rock era, Bob Hope was almost an annual fixture at the Swing during the National Orange Show Fair. Other notables who performed there in the '50s and '60s included Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Benny, Judy Garland, Jerry Lewis, and George Burns. But never had a King played there before that night.

Yet, it wasn't as if Elvis Presley had never been to the IE. He did own a house for several of the Priscilla years in Palm Springs and was known to do some boating in Big Bear Lake. Many scenes of the totally forgettable remake movie 'Kid Galahad' were shot in Idyllwild. And, some of the outdoor footage in 1964's 'Kissin' Cousins' was shot in the San Bernardino Mountains. Still, this was different.

Elvis Presley's nationwide tour began at Madison Square Garden in New York, a city he had never before performed live in. The four concerts there were sold out and got rave reviews. At 37, he was 'lean, tanned and greasily handsome, his coal-black hair glistening with an oily 1950s sheen', as the New York Times' Grace Lichtenstein put it. At a press conference before the Madison Square Garden appearance, he was asked about the secret of his longevity on the pop music scene. 'I take Vitamin E', he told reporters.

From New York, the tour moved west, passing through cities like Milwaukee, Chicago, Wichita and Tulsa before continuing on to Las Vegas. Elvis stayed there for most of October before continuing the tour, which took him to Texas, Arizona, and into California. He hit Oakland, then San Bernardino, where he performed two sold-out shows - one on Nov. 12 and another on Nov. 13. rom there, he headed to the Long Beach Arena for two shows, the last stop before catching a plane for Honolulu where the tour would wrap up. Originally, the Honolulu show was planned to be broadcast worldwide by satellite, but the broadcast date was changed to early 1973 so it wouldn't conflict with the release of MGM's musical documentary Elvis on Tour. No matter. The show (actually four of them) went on. And in Honolulu, as well as in other cities on the tour, fans of all ages crowded concert venues to get a live view of the King.

So it was in San Bernardino. The Swing could hold about 10,000 people with a concert take of around $60,000. On that cold November night, fans crammed into the sold-out auditorium. With reserved seating, there was none of the festival seating chaos that marked the Swing rock shows - kids pushing and shoving and fighting to get to the stage area. This crowd was real diferent. I was way too young at 21. For the usual Swing rock show, most of the concertgoers were my age or younger. The guys had long hair, wore boots, Levis and denim work shirts (think the cover of a Creedence album.) The girls went braless, wore tight jeans or peasant dresses. There were always more guys than girls.

For Elvis Presley though, these fans had jobs, mortgages, and kids. The women clearly outnumbered the guys. They wore bright yellow or orange dresses, lots of makeup. Hairspray was huge. And, there were more than a few suicide blondes with hot pants and go-go boots. (I would never have sat on anything in the Swing in hot pants.) Jean Naté was locked in mortal combat with Charlie in a fragrance war. My Sin perfume held its own. Smoke from the bathrooms came from real Marlboro men (and women.)

My seat was in the cheap section - off to the side and high up, close to the glued-on tinsel that was a prominent feature of the Swing. The place always had a peculiar smell. Close to show time, greedy Colonel Tom's minions were at the stage hawking T-shirts, photos, and other assorted gee-gaws. I wonder just how much of that cash Elvis Presley received.

Finally, the lights lowered. The band started playing the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Then, there he was - The King. He was resplendent in a black and red concert suit.

Though his show was typical of his Vegas show that he performed at the International Hotel (later known as the Las Vegas Hilton and now called the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino), it didn't matter to his loyal subjects. He was live in San Berdoo! Old ladies screamed. It was hard to tell from my cheap seat, but I believe there were a few panties thrown at him.

His voice and physique were in A-plus form. He ripped through concert standards such as 'Polk Salad Annie', crooned to crowd favorite 'Can't Help Falling In Love', and did a couple of religious numbers with the gospel group J.D. Sumner and The Stamps.

No Elvis Presley show would be complete without the hits 'Hound Dog', 'All Shook Up', 'Jailhouse Rock', and 'American Trilogy'.

His band and entourage - the Sweet Inspirations, legendary guitar hero James Burton - provided a full sound that could not be duplicated by the typical four-man rock act. It was a show truly becoming of a King. The crowd responded as if seeing him for the first time. Bedlam broke out among the thousands of fans.

After about 90 minutes, despite fans calling for more, Elvis Presley left the auditorium for the San Bernardino Hilton, about $60,000 richer. I was a poor college kid. I went to Del Taco. What a Sunday night! rare candid photo's one captured of elvis presley leaving Oakland CA captured here by a female ep fan boarding is executive chartered jet heading to San Bernardino CA and performing here at this show wearing the white pinwheel jumpsuit and the white cape and the lions head belt captured by a fan audience member who was at this show concert.

[whatevergreen]

The "other" Hampton: Carl Hampton of Houston, Texas, 1948-1970

Co-founder and chairman of the People's Party II, an offshoot of the Black Panther Party.

Carl Hampton was active with the Black Panthers in Oakland. In Houston, he and others set up the People's Party II. Hampton and the Party regularly distributed food and clothes as well as published and distributed their own newspaper. They were passionate anti-racists and Communists who spoke out against the racial profiling and lynchings carried out by the Houston Police

Hampton was assassinated by HPD CID snipers from the roof of a church, using illegal dum-dum (expanding) bullets.

"Hall of Fame broadcaster and former Forward Times reporter Ralph Cooper remembers the strength and impact that Carl Hampton had, as well as how things went down on then-Dowling Street that fateful night. “It was no surprise Carl was killed,” said Cooper. “He stood up and voiced his opinion about HPD in the 1970s, especially about their history of brutalizing Black men. The Peoples Party II had the support of several other groups at the time, who were armed also. A White man by the name of Barter Haile, of the John Brown Revolutionary Party, was also wounded, but survived. Many people in the area were arrested that night. Not only was HPD involved, but many other area law officials were on standby in Houston. This was the first time that many of us had seen the white HPD Tank. It was something to behold.” Cooper states that the details surrounding Hampton’s assassination became even more crystal clear to him, when he went to St. John Missionary Baptist Church on assignment for the Forward Times that next morning. “The next morning, several Black leaders met at St. John Church, because they had heard HPD snipers shot from the roof of the church,” said Cooper. “It was verified when empty shells and unused shells – the military type – were found on the roof of the church. I know, because I went on the roof where I discovered the used and unspent shells, and put them in a bag and gave them to the Black men who were at the church that day"

https://www.forwardtimes.com/archives/featured/the-assassination-of-carl-hampton-remembering-another-victim-of-police-brutality-50-years-later/article_41f35d07-3a82-5901-94d0-0e96531f1447.html

https://www.workers.org/2008/us/hampton_0807/

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

50 years ago, September 11, 1974, the Weather Underground bombed the Oakland office of the Anaconda mining company in retaliation for their "decisive role in the US-sponsored fascist coup in Chile" one year earlier, after the socialist Allende government nationalized copper mines.

Via Left in the Bay

[solarpunkbusiness]

Part of a growing movement of Indigenous restaurants dedicated to reclaiming cultural heritage and educating the public, Cafe Ohlone opened in 2018 with the goal of bringing oṭṭoy (repair) to a place where the Ohlone were long denied sovereignty. Kickapoo chef Crystal Wahpepah runs Wahpepah’s Kitchen in Oakland, and there’s Mitsitam Cafe at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.

“Indigenous foods are the original foods of this continent,” writes Sean Sherman, who helms Owamni in Minneapolis. “It’s important we recognize that and start celebrating those foods.”

Thousands of Ohlone once lived along California’s coast and inland in roughly 50 groups, but Spanish missionaries and 19th-century state-backed massacres fractured their communities and left some survivors in exile. Medina (East Bay Ohlone), who runs the cafe with his partner, Louis Trevino (Rumsen/Carmel Valley), notes that the Ohlone presence has endured despite the hardships: “Our culture is beautiful, and we have always been here.”

At Cafe Ohlone, traditional foods meet modern tastes, highlighting continuity and adaptation. The restaurant incorporates recordings, storytelling, and education into the dining experience. Medina, an Indigenous language activist fluent in Chochenyo, is a powerful orator who often enlightens diners about Ohlone traditions. When I stopped by in May for a sunny lunch on the patio, I appreciated the recorded sounds of crickets, birds, and Chochenyo songs sung by the tribe’s youngest and eldest members. My grandma, a We Wai Kai Nation member, would adore the multigenerational Chochenyo rendition of “Angel Baby.”

The cafe serves another role, too: an attempt by the university to atone for past wrongs. For much of a century, the adjacent anthropology museum housed a vast collection of Native artifacts and bones. As I walk by, I queasily remember Ishi, one of the last Yahi Tribe members, who lived in the museum and was made to fashion arrows at the behest of anthropology professor Alfred Kroeber. In 1925, Kroeber controversially declared the Ohlone people “extinct” in Handbook of the Indians of California. This led to the Ohlone Tribe losing its federal recognition, while the building housing the museum was later christened Kroeber Hall.

[eretzyisrael]

by Seth Mandel

ITEM: In Oakland, California, a Jewish woman walks into her son’s seventh-grade classroom on back-to-school night to see a poster that says, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

ITEM: In New York City, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, angry pro-Palestinian crowds surround a Jewish man and bloody his head with a chair.

ITEM: In Philadelphia, hundreds mob a Jewish-owned restaurant, chanting, “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide.” The restaurant is named Goldie.

ITEM: In Berkeley, California, the only Jewish teacher at an elementary school returns to find her door covered in Post-it notes that say, “Stop bombing babies!”

ITEM: In Chicago, home to the third-largest Jewish population in America, unions organize a high- school walkout in which students call for the destruction of Israel. “I’m incredibly proud of our students for exercising their constitutional rights to be able to speak out and speak up for righteousness,” said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

ITEM: In Washington, D.C., attendees arriving at a concert by the American-Jewish singer Matisyahu are greeted by a pro-Hamas demonstration.

At school, at work, and at play, American Jews find themselves increasingly ostracized by their peers. On college campuses, the quiet reestablishment of unofficial quotas has, over the course of a generation or two, halved the Jewish enrollment at a selection of elite universities. These days, stories of higher education’s turn against the Jews are ubiquitous. But as the above examples demonstrate, the attempt to cast Jews and Judaism out from the public square—or make Jews extremely uncomfortable inside the public square—has spread far beyond the college quad. And the statistics unambiguously say the same.

In the American Jewish Committee’s comprehensive survey of anti-Semitism in 2023, respondents were asked: “In the past 12 months, have you avoided certain places, events, or situations out of concern for your safety or comfort as a Jew out of fear of antisemitism?” Twenty-six percent—a quarter of U.S. Jews—responded in the affirmative. That is a 10-point increase over last year. In the poll, the number of those who admitted to avoiding “wearing, carrying, or displaying things that might help people identify you as a Jew,” as well as those who said they “avoided posting content online that would identify you as a Jew or reveal your views on Jewish issues,” increased as well.

All of this reflects the modern reality across the country. FBI reports show Jews are the target of more than half of all religiously motivated crimes. According to the Anti-Defamation League, over the course of the three months after October 7, there were more than 600 reported anti-Semitic incidents against Jewish institutions. And the ADL found a nearly 50 percent increase in security costs for Jewish schools in New York, New Jersey, and Florida.

[beardedmrbean]

OAKLAND, California — The organizers of California Forever, a tech billionaire-backed plan to build a new city outside San Francisco, pulled their initiative from the local Solano County ballot in a surprise move on Monday.

The plan is supported by Bay Area tech investors and venture capitalists, including the co-founders of LinkedIn and Netscape, seeking to transform the wheat fields 50 miles north of San Francisco into a futuristic city.

Organizers hoped to use the ballot measure process to win approval in Solano County more quickly, bypassing much of the red tape and planning requirements typically involved in such projects. The California Forever campaign said it will continue to work on the project and return to the ballot for zoning approval in 2026.

But the withdrawal nevertheless marks a setback for a campaign that has already spent over $2 million to bypass the typical county planning process and rezone nearly 20,000 acres of wheat fields for urban development. It also shows how even campaigns with major resources can run aground in the face of local resistance, with farmers, small-town mayors and recent college graduates banding together in recent months to lobby against it.

Jan Sramek, the CEO and founder of California Forever, said pulling the ballot measure would not impact their “ambitious timeline” to build the new city. He said in a statement they were simply reordering the steps needed to complete the project to allow for more community input, while also arguing California no longer offers the same “opportunity and optimism” that it used to.

His group will now try to push the plans forward through the normal county planning process, which includes negotiating environmental impact reports and development agreements. Solano County Supervisor Mitch Mashburn said California Forever has agreed to reimburse the county for these costs.

“Delaying the vote gives everyone a chance to pause and work together,” Mashburn said in a statement. “With the ballot measure off the table, it will be far easier.”

California politicians skeptical of the project quickly applauded the move and said the county process would allow it to be properly scrutinized. Democratic Rep. John Garamendi, whose district contains Solano County, called the original plan a “pipedream” and said in a statement California Forever’s decision would ensure the community was “sustainable, transparent, and beneficial for all residents.”

State Assemblymember Lori Wilson, also a Democrat representing the area, said the plan for a new city could offer benefits to the county, but only after careful consideration.

“The initiative being pulled is the best outcome for Solano County,” Wilson said. “Now we can properly vet the full impact of the development without lingering ballot deadlines.”

California Forever organizers had tried to soften their approach to the project over the past year, including by rebranding it as the East Solano Plan, amid local resistance and skepticism. They shifted from suing farmers who refused to sell their land for the project to promising to build a state-of-the-art sports complex and new urgent care facilities in the county, among other sweeteners.

That approach seemed to be showing early returns after their plan won the support of the Bay Area Council, a business-backed public policy and advocacy organization, last week.

But local opposition groups argued Monday’s decision showed the project still had an uphill battle to win broader support.

“You can paint it a lot of different ways, as they obviously have, but they pulled their initiative because they knew they weren’t going to win,” said Sadie Wilson, whose regional Greenbelt Alliance nonprofit had led the main opposition group to the plan. “This is a major victory.”

[wub-fur-radio]

Pspring Psych Pspectacular 2024

As sure as spring Coats our little piece of land in green The turnin' earth takes all of what it brings – La Luz

Wub-Fur is pleased to announce the worldwide availability of our seventh (!) annual Pspring Psych Pspectacular. Twenty-three powerful and 100% pure hits of contemporary neo-psychedelic pspringtime music for your pseasonal listening needs. Featuring contributions from Redd Kross, Black Sand, the Asteroid No. 4, Mondo Drag, Ty Segall, Meatbodies, Shannon and the Clams, Winter McQuinn, the See No Evils, Druid Fluids, Sons of Zöku, and a dozen more wild, trippy, far out, rockin’ and/or groovy bands from around the world and across the universe of psych.

Apologies (and happy fall) to all the bands from the southern hemisphere.

Previous Pspring Psych Pspectaculars: 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

▶︎��� Listen on Mixcloud

Running Time: 1 hour, 29 minutes, 50 seconds

Tracklist

Candy Coloured Catastrophe (3:25) — Redd Kross | Hawthorne, CA

Dandelion (2:26) — The Asteroid No.4 | Philadelphia / San Francisco

The Moon Is in the Wrong Place (2:57) — Shannon and the Clams | Oakland, CA

Cool It, Baby (3:20) — Levitation Room | Los Angeles

Silly Cybin (3:36) — Meatbodies | Los Angeles

Spring Time (3:00) — The See No Evils | Leeds, UK

Living in the Night (4:16) — MOOON | Aarle Rixtel, Netherlands

Daffodil (3:11) — Winter McQuinn | Melbourne, Australia

Pale Blue Dot (3:34) — Joe Ghatt | New Zealand

Burning in the Sun (4:26) — Custard Flux | Detroit, MI

Burning Bright (3:52) — Sun Dial | England †

Bobbin' For Apples (2:21) — Hot Apple Band | Sydney, Australia †

Butterfly (3:51) — Black Sand | New Zealand

Planetary (5:11) — Magic Machine | Sydney, Australia

Death in Spring (6:06) — Mondo Drag | Oakland, CA †

Nu Poeme (4:05) — Sons of Zöku | Adelaide, Australia

The Last Midnight (3:33) — Project Gemini | London

Last Flight of the Moon Goose (4:49) — Moon Goose | Hay on Wye, UK

Palus Somni (4:58) — Valley of the Sun | Cincinnati, OH

Watcher (5:26) — Ty Segall | Los Angeles

Layers (5:27) — Druid Fluids | Adelaide, Australia †

I Need Your Love Like I Need a Hole in My Head (2:50) — The Silk RailRoad | Portland, OR

Jerusalem Road (3:08) — Empty House | Blackpool, UK

All tracks released in 2024, except those marked † released 2023.

🌼 🌿 🌷 🌱 🌸 🌼 🌿 🌷 🌱 🌸 🌼 🌿 🌷 🌱 🌸

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Feral Friday! 

This week we’re taking a look at This Land is My Land, a newly acquired addition to our collection from book artist, concrete poet, & graphic designer Thad Higa. This 100-page work is “a fictional narrative from the imagined headspace of current day, online white supremacists, nationalists, and their sympathizers”. It was digitally printed, features Coptic binding with uncovered boards as well as two multi-page foldouts, and was self-published in a limited edition of 50 numbered copies in Oakland, CA in 2023. 

Higa is an Okinawan-Korean American cultural worker born in California in 1989 and raised in Hawaiʻi. His practice “investigates the intersections of language, technology, capitalism and eurocentrism, and their roles in controlling perceptions of reality and legibility.” In This Land is My Land, Higa “weaves together all manner of rhetorical devices and strategies, creating an experience familiar to anyone who has read the comments on an online article or listened to attendees at a Trump rally.” The structure of the book inherently encourages interaction, emphasizing the participatory and performative nature not only of reading & text-based communication but also of the formation and enaction of political identity.  

His work has been highlighted on the Lantern Review, Artists’ Book Reviews, Art Review, Art Papers & Hawai’i Public Radio, and featured in the exhibitions whistling the avant garde (Small Press Traffic, San Francisco CA, 2023) and O, (FiveMyles, Brooklyn NY, 2021).  

--Ana, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

View more Feral Friday posts. 

View more Artists’ Books posts. 

View more Concrete Poetry posts. 

View more Graphic Design posts.