A PROFILE OF 4 SQUARES: RAVE REVIEWS!

The 10,000 Steps presentation at Pro Arts was a big success! But don’t take our word for it…the community tells it best. Old Oakland’s Tina Tamale reviewed the show on her blog:

“While I looked at the exhibit with my longtime friend Lupe and pro art staff Vicky, I shared my memories as well as the history shared by those who remember father back than me and I have been fortunate to spend time with over the years. They commented on how much I know and have to share. But see, we all have this capacity. To share the people, places and things that touch each one of us from when we can barely remember up until today. Take some time to share your stories with the young ones coming up and ask to hear stories from the older generations too. If you need ideas how to do this, please visit this exhibit. History is art. Art is sharing. It's connecting a little piece of everyone it touches. These connections are how we build a community.”

We were very pleased that community members brought their friends and family to the exhibit. Upon seeing themselves in the show, either in the video or in photos, many declared: “Now I’m art!”

It doesn’t get much better than that.

People walking in Frank Ogawa Plaza during their lunch break also had the chance to become ‘art’ when they participated in community-led events:

An all levels tai chi class taught by Lincoln Rec Center’s Mr. Wong:

And ‘Mexican Lunch con Poco Dinero, a delicious cooking class led by Tina Tamale, the 3rd generation co-owner of La Borinquena Restaurant:

You can also read more about the show in the Oak Book’s online magazine.

Please join us in celebrating the completion of 10,000 Steps' first phase of green art stewardship with downtown Oakland's historic parks and surrounding communities! This multimedia exhibit, at Pro Arts at the Oakland Art Gallery (in Frank Ogawa Plaza across from City Hall) includes a wide range of exciting events, including guided walking tours and in-gallery interactive community-led demonstrations.

Events:

09.17.09: 6-8PM Artists Reception

09.18.09: 12 – 1:30PM Tai Chi Class

An all-levels class taught at the gallery by Lincoln Rec Center’s Mr. Wong. FREE

09.19.09: 11- 1PM Oakland’s Historic Town Squares

Oakland Heritage Alliance walking tour guided by Annalee Allen. Meet at the corner of 9th & Jackson Streets. Fee: $15

10.02.09: 12 – 1:30PM Mexican Lunch Con Poco Dinero

Cooking demo in the gallery by Tina Tamale, fourth generation co-owner of Old Oakland’s La Boriqueña Restaurant.FREE

10.02.09: 5:30 – 7PM Interactive Neighborhood Ecotour

Tour led by Serena Bartlett, green travel expert and creator of GrassRoutes Travel. Meet at The Pardee House, 672 11th Street. FREE

10.02.09: 6 – 8PM First Friday Reception

Save a bag & support 10,000 Steps at the same time!

All September, Whole Foods Markets in Oakland will donate a nickel to 10,000 Steps every time you bring your own shopping bag. Refreshments for all events provided by Whole Foods Market.

10,000 STEPS IS IN THE NEWS!

Read about the our latest goings-on in Oakland North, a news site that is part of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism: "We all take seriously our Ford Foundation mandate, which is to explore new ways to give communities back the coverage they’re losing as regional newspapers shrink–and also to be inventive about what digital journalism can do for all of us in the future."

5.08.09: The Future of Oakland's Parks

We brought our work cart downtown to the Friend’s annual Taste of Spring Fundraiser to greet the revelers and gather more park stories. The gala event was held at the elegant Rotunda Building; the domed space buzzed with conversation, music and laughter. The evening’s entertainment featured an amazing aerial and acrobatic performance. Given the general economic climate of the state and city, it was reassuring to see so many people coming out to support our parks.

"This is our most important fundraising event of the year," said Kathy Raymond, executive director of FOPR. "We use the money raised from the Taste of Spring to fund grants and scholarships for children to participate in Oakland's varied recreational programs and to provide funding for capital improvement projects for parks and recreational facilities."

The role of Friends is vital, now more than ever, as the city will be implementing drastic cuts in many areas, including Public Works. That means many parks will no longer receive ANY on-going maintenance. Take a look here: www.oaklandparkscoalition.org to download the City’s park priority list to see how parks in your area will be impacted:

“Because of this extreme level of reduction [in PW staff], it was necessary to determine the ‘priority’ locations for continued routine maintenance and the locations that would be ‘no-routine, complaint driven’ locations. There are 104 ‘priority’ locations and 212 ‘no routine’ maintenance locations.”

What will be the fate of these parks and how will the community respond? Time will tell… Let us know what you think!

The event was also a farewell toast to Kathy, who, after seven years as the director of Friends, will be leaving her post. She has been a wonderful partner and ally in the development of 10,000 Steps. Thanks, Kathy! We’ll miss you…

7.26.08: FIELD DAY

“It is a chicken and egg kind of thing: how do you design the park when you don’t know who the users are and what their needs are?”

“I would like to see safety gates to keep animals and kids inside the park.”

“I want to have more social gatherings to get more people to frequent the park. And we need to do something to make it more attractive: it needs flowers!”

“We need to put in a basketball court, tennis wall or court and sound wall on the Jefferson side of the park so they would get more usage. Ping pong and pool tables would be good too. A sound wall next to the freeway would be nice.”

“The Jefferson Street side of the park should have an open feeling; it would be helpful to trim the trees.”

“Better lighting for safety would be great!”

“Though the park is getting used, it is currently no configured for the best potential. More people would use the park if it were open on the Jefferson Street side instead of the side that faces the freeway.”

“More benches and seating!”

“We need a big, cool dog park with a lot of benches, tennis courts instead of the baseball field and a bigger club house for parties! More plants and elegant landscaping would really help.”

“Three words to describe the park: air, peace, green.”

7.11.08: THE OLD OAKLAND FARMERS' MARKET

"We need more garbage and recycling bins on the streets especially for the Farmers’ Market. Compost bins would also be great, like the ones they have in Berkeley."

"What do I want for the parks? ‘Clean and green!’"

DO YOU know some history about this park?

If you would like to write a short history about this park (from any point in the past), please email us: info@10000stepsoakland.org. We would like to include your historical account here.

The Origin of Oakland's Historic Squares

"The originators of [the 1853 map of Oakland] this plan had a vision. In a symmetrical arrangement about Broadway as an axis seven blocks were reserved as parks, each block having an area of about two acres. Between 4th and 5th Streets, on either side of this axis, and extending from Broadway both ways to Washington and Franklin Streets were two squares, later named Washington and Franklin. Two blocks to the north of these squares between 6th and 7th Streets, and three blocks east and west of the Broadway axis were Harrison Square, between Harrison and Alice Streets and Jefferson Square, between Jefferson and Grove [present-day Martin Luther King, Jr. Way]. Two blocks further north, between 8th and 9th Streets, and six blocks east of Broadway was Caroline Square [present-day Madison Square], between Julia (now Madison Street) and Oak Streets. The corresponding square to the west was not reserved, possibly because it was near the western edge of the survey and 'way out' in the country. Four blocks directly north of Jefferson and Harrison Squares, between 10th and 11th Streets, were Lafayette and Oakland [present-day Lincoln] Squares."

"Clear title to these parks was established in August 1869 through a quit-claim deed stating: 'The title to the above public squares is taken by the party of the second part (the City of Oakland) for the purpose of cutting off all outstanding claims, and of quieting the title to the above described public squares as the same have heretofore been dedicated and used in trust for the inhabitants of said City of Oakland as public squares or plazas and for no other purpose'…In 1887 then-Mayor Davis said, 'Within the city limits we have eight public plazas or little parks. The most of these breathing spaces—rest spots—are not in attractive condition.'”

Oakland Parks & Playgrounds, 1936 (WPA Project)

Neighborhood Memories of Jefferson Square Park

"In the early 1950s West Oakland Catholic elementary schools used to play their baseball season at Jefferson Square Park. I went to Sacred Heart elementary school in North Oakland and there was quite a rivalry between us and St. Patrick's School. When we'd play them there were usually shouting matches and occasionally rocks and sticks thrown by fans at the opposite team and fans. Pretty mild compared to some of today's altercations.

Also, in 1960-61 there were teenage houseparties I attended on Jefferson Street across from the park. Mexican-Americans, African-Americans and whites were there, some with guitars, but mostly dancing and singing to rock'n'roll records. Probably the most integrated youth scene in the area that I can remember at the time.

Later when I heard most of the 7th Street corridor between Market & Jefferson was scheduled for teardown I took photos of the stores, restaurants, clubs and houses. The demolition was the end of West Oakland's Mexican-American community and the beginning of its exodus to the Fruitvale district and other parts of East Oakland.

There was a novel written in the late-1940s-early 1950s about this area. It covered the Zoot Suit era of World War II and the discrimination against Mexican-Americans who lived in the Jefferson area. Unfortunately I forget the title and author and read this paperback when I was a teenager many moons ago. My ex-brother-in-law, raised in the area, told me many tales about life in the 1930s, 40s and 50s that paralleled the novel."

---Al, neighborhood historian

"I started coming here in 1948 to play basketball and met people here, when they had people living around here! When they wanted to build the freeway and the police station, they knocked them people out.

The Rec center Directors were real nice, it was real nice down here. We’d be playing basketball; they closed at 10PM, but they’d let us stay until 1or 2AM when we had a good game going!They used to have a kitchen in the Rec center. We’d take the kids fishing, catch the fish and then come back and I’d cook the fish. They kids would run home and say, 'Mama, they’re selling fish sandwiches down there!' I think we charged 50cents. We sold all the fish we caught.

---Boone, local basketball legend

"Boone, he’s one hell of a ball player. Being a little kid, I idolized him. If you could beat him, you could go anywhere. He made basketball seem fun and that’s the way the game should be played. He taught me a lot and that’s how I made it to the Harlem Globetrotters."

"I consider Boone to be a legend of this park; some of the things he did on the basketball court were amazing to me. Boone was like the protector, the controller. He kept us all in line so there was no fighting, no shooting, no drugs, none of that stuff in this park."

--Roy "Zazu", professional basketball player, grew up in the neighborhood

"The Recreation Center used to be open 10am – 10pm and all you had to do was leave anything of value - a sweater, an ID, your wallet- and they gave you a ball to play with for basketball or volleyball or tennis against the wall. The Rec Center gave the park life. It was not unusual for at least four different types of pick-up games to go on at any given time in this park."

---Gus,long-time neighbor & small business owner

"I got a home run here, too, hit it right in the middle of that tree. That’s my favorite tree, too. I could never climb it, but I loved it, my home run tree. I come through and reminisce; I lived between 5th and 3rd on Filbert. I remember all the kid-things we used to do, not like today. There were kids everywhere around the park! My wife grew up down the street. In my family, there were 10 kids, in hers, there were 22! There were big families here in Oakland."

---Park visitor

"En el verano nos juntabamos (la mayoria eramos latinos) y haciamos un equipo de softball y jugabamos contra otros equipos locales. De vez en cuando tambien jugamos futbol y basketball. Tengo muy buenos recuerdos de el Jefferson Park."

Bernardo, grew up in the neighborhood

"Growing up hearing stories about the neighborhood and this park made me long for a similar sense of community. I returned as a resident in 2000 and have worked at La Borinqueña throughout my life. As children, my siblings and I spent time in this park. I’m excited to see the neighborhood enjoy this green open space again.

"Tina Tamale", small business owner and neighbor since 1969