Oakland, the Story of a City by Beth Bagwell

“Chabon lovingly creates a world grounded in pop culture, Kung Fu, 70s Blaxploitation films, vinyl LPs, jazz and soul music and delivers a bravura epic of friendship, race, and secret histories.” – Michiko Kakutani, New York Times March 2023: Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon.February 7, 2023: Wife 22 by Melanie GideonĪ hyper-local (it name-checks the Egg Shop) rom com for Valentine’s Day – note the date change this month to avoid the Valentine’s Day and President’s Day holidays.January 10, 2023: There There by Tommy OrangeĪn encore discussion of this slim but meaty debut novel by a novelist who was born and raised in Oakland.

Come to one discussion, a few or all of them! No pre-registration or commitment is required – all we ask is that you’ve read the book and are ready to discuss it. For 2023, we’ve decided to try meeting every month. Meetings are the second Tuesday of the month from 6:30-7:30pm. We’ll get to learn more about our city, meet some neighbors and discuss what we’ve read. Both sites have sweeping views, grand boulevards, stunning landmarks, and plenty of hills to keep a seasoned walker in shape.After a brief 2-year hiatus (ahem), we’ve brought back our book club reading books set in Oakland! Books will be selected from a variety of genres and eras so you’re sure to find something you’re interested in. They were fortunate that Frederick Law Olmsted was here to help them out. I guess it’s no surprise that the beautiful and elegant Mountain View Cemetery shares a relationship with the University in Berkeley. They were designed and built in the East Bay at a time when Californians wanted to demonstrate their civility and good taste to the world. Maybeck designed many Arts & Crafts buldings in the Bay Area, including the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the Faculty Club on the UC Berkeley Campus. She studied under Maybeck at UC Berkeley and designed the Greek Theater on that campus. Morgan is best known for designing the main building at Hearst Castle. Architects are rarely rich but Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck are famous, and both are interned at Mountain View Cemetery. Many of California’s rich and famous chose Mountain View as their final resting place and created remarkable mausoleums and monuments to celebrate their lives. When the original UC Berkeley campus moved from Oakland, he designed the layout. His concept for the Mountain View Cemetery was to create a place that celebrated the works of man while elevating the beauty and peace of nature. Among the many distinguished places he designed are New York City’s Central Park and the Stanford University Campus. The cemetery’s designer is the Father of Landscape Architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted. Millionaire’s Row with a view of a Gothic Revival aedicula for Frederick Delger and the vault of Charles Crocker, founder of the Central Pacific Railroad

Oakland, the Story of a City by Beth Bagwell