Featuring stories by Willa Köerner, Robyn Ross, Ariel Sabar, Julian Lucas, and Dan Moore.
Oakland
Posted inEditor's Pick
How to Start a Professional Sports Team, Win Games, and Save the Town
“After the A’s announced they were leaving Oakland, a pair of lifelong fans set out to do something audacious: start a beloved pro baseball team of their own. Remarkably, they pulled it off. Now the Oakland Ballers need to survive.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Rebuilding the Maze
“After a crucial section of a California freeway collapsed, this formidable construction boss pulled off one of the fastest, riskiest, most high-stakes reconstructions in U.S. history.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Too Short’s Long (and Very Raunchy) Life in Rap
“The West Coast rapper is an unsung pioneer of some of the genre’s most central elements.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Bay Area Hip-Hop Found Its Sound in the 1980s
“How is a discussion about street dancers connected to an exploration of the Bay Area hip-hop sound? It’s important to understand the conditions under which the genre emerged locally.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Homegrown and Homeless in Oakland
“Leonard ‘Pumpkin’ Ambrose lives just down the street from the house where he grew up. Derrick Soo lives 2 miles from his former family home, Delbra Taylor is a mile from hers and Gwyn Teninty can walk the distance in 15 minutes. All four grew up here, in Oakland. And they succeeded in their own […]
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quote Posts, Quotes
A City in Upheaval: The Story of a Single Block in West Oakland’s Ghost Town Neighborhood
Annette Miller, a longtime resident of West Oakland’s Ghost Town neighborhood, has witnessed the dramatic transformation of the city as changes sweep the block she’s lived on for over 50 years.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Guardians of Ghost Town
Longtime West Oakland resident Annette Miller has witnessed the dramatic transformation of the city as changes over the past few decades have swept the block she’s lived on for over 50 years.
Posted inFeature, Nonfiction, Sports, Story
From Ghost Town to Havana: Two Teams, Two Countries, One Game
Two baseball teams — one from the tough streets of West Oakland and the other from Havana — decide to play each other. When they meet in Cuba, a Berkeley documentary filmmaker captures it all.
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘Oakland Used to Be More Funky’: Where Have All the Artists Gone?
The staff at Laney Tower take a close look at the past, present, and future of Oakland’s artistic community.