by C. J. Hirschfield Gary has lived in his home by Lake Merritt for over 15 years. Between the pandemic and a fire that destroyed part of his living quarters, Gary was forced to find a temporary home, and it wasn’t so easy. Gary is somewhat elderly, requires a specific diet, and has many special […]
C. J. Hirschfield
The Short, Flamboyant Reign of Victoria the Corpse Flower
by C. J. Hirschfield In 2017, more than 130,000 people came to see a corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) bloom in person at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, DC and more than 650,000 viewers accessed the live web stream. The public’s fascination with this endangered Sumatran rainforest plant is no doubt due to its great […]
Neighbor Mary C. Daly Uses “Escape Velocity” to Increase Economic Mobility
by C. J. Hirschfield Quick—describe what you think the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco would be like. If you answered a former high school dropout, an enthusiastic texter, someone with a flair for dressing hip, a lesbian podcaster, and a neighbor of the Grand Lake Theater, you’d be right. […]
The Sounds of Success – and Empathy
by C. J. Hirschfield Glynn Washington is a wonder. He grew up in an apocalyptic cult, holds a law degree, and has worked as an educator, diplomat, community activist, actor, and political strategist. But it was when he beat out 1,400 entries in a National Public Radio Talent Quest in 2008 that he found the […]
Crowdfunding Love
by C. J. Hirschfield Ain’t Love Grand – – Avenue A bookstore. A bar. A beloved storybook park. What do they all have in common? A community that can’t imagine the world without it and that rallied to keep itself alive through highly successful online crowdfunding campaigns. And in each case, a special “angel” arrived […]
East Side Sushi on Netflix
by C. J. Hirschfield A Little Film Shot on Grand Avenue Continues to Win Hearts and Minds Nine years ago, a modest independent feature film was shot in Oakland, with many scenes inside Coach Sushi on Grand Avenue. The earnest—and underfunded—filmmaker appreciated the fact that local restaurateurs (Bacheesos, Sidebar, Chop Bar) stepped up to provide […]
Oysters in a Pandemic
by C. J. Hirschfield Learning a new instrument, a second language, how to create and maintain a sourdough starter. These are some of the most popular skills people are mastering during the pandemic. Me? I’ve mastered the art of oyster shucking. I know that raw oysters aren’t for everybody, but I’m a big fan. And […]
Murals of Time and Place
by C.J. Hirschfield In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the nation is grappling with both implicit biases and overt images of white supremacy in public places. At the first of the year, Virginia Judge David Bernhard refused to try a Black man in a courtroom lined with portraits of white people. “A […]
Lake Merritt: An “Accidental Zoo” with a Major Mystery
by C. J. Hirschfield – On December 4, International Wildlife Conservation Day, more than 70 people attended the premiere of a new Lakeside Chats series, offered for free by Rotary Nature Center Friends. The title of the talk was “An Unsolved Mystery: The Enigmatic Beach-Hopper of Lake Merritt,” and the speaker was Dr. Jim Carlton, an […]
Festival at the Lake: The Early Years
by C. J. Hirschfield – Gather ‘round, young‘uns, while I tell you the story of a magical event that was born way back in the early eighties, the likes of which we haven’t seen here in Oakland since. It was billed as a multicultural extravaganza, with art-making, foods, sports, art, dance, a flower show—and music. […]