citymaus

The California Hotel was built in 1929 and operated as a commercial hotel. It was one of the few hotels where blacks could stay and African American musicians could express their art. For nearly three decades, beginning in 1936, many African-American relied on “The Negro Motorist Green Book: An International Travel Guide” to help them decide where they could travel during an era of racial division. The hotel’s ballroom was also famous for the celebrities who played there. From the ‘20s through 1971, the site boosted a “who’s who” reputation, drawing jazz and blues greats who ranged from Fats Domino to Ike & Tina Turner as well as fans who came to listen and dance.

Mayor Quan: “…Remember all of the guys in West Oakland who were working on the railroad? They created the first African-American union in this country. They ran a campaign that said, ‘We don’t work at places where we can’t eat and stay and become customers.’” She paused for more jubilation. “Among the high-class hotels, this became one of the first ones and they were so successful. I know you guys remember this—in the 50’s—when no great jazz artist would come to Oakland without playing in the ballroom back there. How many of you remember that? It’s wonderful to see this West Coast monument come back alive.”

…East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), a corporation that develops affordable housing, acquired the hotel for redevelopment in 2011. The group’s plan is to turn the California Hotel into a place where local economic development can thrive. In addition to affordable housing, the redeveloped site will help bring community and commercial retail spaces nearby, organizers said, and offer non-profit services as well as community gardening…

oaklandnorth, 26.07.12.

yay! another restored building in Oakland! 

this is that building that you’d pass by all the time on the freeway from SF/north to Hayward east/south (580 south). so sad how freeways devastate communities.

now if San Diego would get its shit together and clean up that building on C st. by Fourth already. (…the homelessness problem would start getting solved, and along with a repaving around the trolley tracks on C st., that “downtown” area would start looking nice.)

Modesto egg farmer Eric Benson, chief executive of JS West, said Thursday he didn’t know if bigger cages made his hens happier, but he does know they lay more eggs, live longer and have stronger bones…

Bigger cages

Benson told the Senate Agriculture Committee that the nation should embrace humane standards for hens, under a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., based on Prop. 2. It would set a national standard of doubling the size of hen cages.

But the idea has drawn a fierce backlash from other livestock producers and their House allies who fear that humane standards will spread to other farm animals, especially pigs…

sfgate, 26.07.12.

guess who i’m named after.

thegreenurbanist:

iaminlikewithmybike:

London. Right now.

*bass drop*

…

Fuck the games.

Gross, everyone be safe on your CM rides tonight. 

@JonnieMarbLes

“It would be good to have a live split screen of the opening ceremony and the #criticalmass protesters being beaten up right now#london2012”

WTF London

really shouldn’t have taken the bike lanes away and given them to BMW chauffeurs. 

all the more reason to go out to CM tonight?

“Reverse Copenhagenization” may be the best term to describe what’s happening in Beijing and throughout China, a country once know for its robust bike culture.

In Beijing, cycling has dropped from 60 percent in 1986 to 17 percent in 2010, while car use has grown 15 percent a year over the last decade. Parked cars and rickshaws now crowd the city’s bike lanes, leaving cyclists to weave haphazardly through the traffic-clogged streets.

As China has become increasingly car-centric, bicycles have developed an image problem. Where owning a car has become a widely coveted symbol of status and wealth, cycling is considered the poor man’s mode of transportation.

Though fewer citizens may use bikes to get around, cycling as a sport is making a comeback in China. Fixed gear bicycles, or “fixies,” are also gaining popularity among Chinese youth, prompting some to question whether hipsters may in fact be the saviors of Chinese bike culture.

To encourage the rebound of Beijing’s bike culture, city officials plan to improve the city’s cycling infrastructure by restoring bike lanes, providing 50,000 bikes for hire by 2015 and adding bike parking spaces near train and subway stations. It’s a long way from Copenhagen, but it’s a start.

crosscut, 25.07.12.

and gyahh why everyone think Portland started Bicycle Boulevards??! (other part of article). started in Berkeley first!