San Francisco’s Fillmore District Looks Toward Its Next Heyday
In San Francisco, a Reckoning With Toppled Statues Gives Rise to New Monuments
In Full-Circle Moment, Christian Vela Is Named Artistic Director of San Jose Jazz
Danny Glover Announces He Has Alzheimer’s
Christopher L. Thompson Wins the San Francisco Symphony’s Emerging Black Composers Project
When Generator Punk Shows Ruled the Mission District
Youth Radio Reopens in Oakland, Providing Programs to New Cohort
The Deluxe Brings Jazz Back to San Francisco’s Haight Street
At Eli’s in Oakland, 98-Year-Olds and Young Blues Fans Keep the Mojo Workin’
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"content": "\u003cp>The sun was out in San Francisco on the Fourth of July, and the corner of Fillmore and Eddy was alive. People danced in the street as DJs spun; the Church of St. John Coltrane Band filled the air with spiritual jazz; and vendors lined the block.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Inside the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Heritage Center\u003c/a>, a sound healing session, film screening and a fireside chat about building bridges across race unfolded simultaneously. Volunteers kept everything moving. Ace Washington, the Fillmore’s longtime corridor ambassador, worked the crowd, moving between the street and the building. Entrepreneur and community organizer Linda Parker Pennington greeted guests as they arrived. It felt less like a reopening and more like a family reunion.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991352\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Austyn Johnson, 20, right, and brother Ashton Johnson, 15, do the Cupid Shuffle during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. The pair flew in from Tennessee with their family for the festival. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Some people brought lawn chairs, and you don’t bring a lawn chair to a ribbon-cutting. You bring one to a place you intend to stay a while. For the first time in years, the Fillmore Heritage Center wasn’t simply open. It seemed to belong to the neighborhood again, if only for an afternoon. On a corridor where so much has been lost, the Fillmore’s Black community was unmistakably still present.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The weekend marked a new phase in the Heritage Center’s reactivation. The July 4 programming was not a one-off, nor was it a permanent reopening. It was part of a temporary activation period: Through December, community organizations and artists will be invited to propose public-facing events as the city assesses the building and develops options for its long-term future. What remains unsettled is who will shape what comes next.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Fillmore’s deep cultural legacy\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Fillmore has had an outsized impact on San Francisco’s culture, but the neighborhood has also faced major challenges. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ask anyone who has loved the Fillmore long enough, and they’ll name a different heyday: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957757/why-san-franciscos-fillmore-district-is-no-longer-the-harlem-of-the-west\">Harlem of the West years\u003c/a>, when Billie Holiday and John Coltrane performed in its jazz clubs; the 1990s, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/for-s-f-rappers-another-dream-deferred-2560404.php\">“Fillmoe” artists\u003c/a> like San Quinn, JT the Bigga Figga and Rappin’ 4-Tay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13895586/a-salute-to-san-francisco-rap\">built a hip-hop legacy\u003c/a>; or the 2000s, when Yoshi’s and 1300 on Fillmore made the corridor buzz with concert- and restaurant-goers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The danger is letting those memories become a ceiling, turning a neighborhood into a museum instead of a community. The advocates working to bring the Heritage Center back aren’t trying to recreate 1958, 1998 or 2008. They’re trying to build a version of the Fillmore that they hope will one day become someone else’s favorite era.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991372\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fernay McPherson, chef and owner of Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, said she wants to see the city implement community input for the Fillmore Heritage Center “so that residents … don’t feel let down.”\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chef and business owner Fernay McPherson, who runs Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement and serves on the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Community Action Plan committee\u003c/a>, sees that future already taking shape. “We are definitely working on the new heyday, and it will happen,” she said. “I’m not going to say what was here, because we’re still here. We’re just fighting to make our presence known.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Fillmore Heritage Center opened in 2007 as an attempt at restitution in concrete and steel. The complex, which cost more than $80 million, was built on land shaped by urban renewal, which displaced thousands of Black residents and hundreds of businesses beginning in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991343\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People walk past the Fillmore Heritage Center on Fillmore Street in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For a moment, it was the cultural and economic anchor the neighborhood had been promised. Then the unraveling came in stages: Yoshi’s San Francisco filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2012 and closed in 2014. Its replacement, The Addition, closed within months of opening — and the city took over the building’s commercial spaces in 2015, after developer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973221/fillmore-heritage-center-michael-johnson-settlement\">Michael Johnson\u003c/a> defaulted on a $5.5 million city loan. By 2017, 1300 on Fillmore, the last holdout, was gone too — tenants worn down by the building’s high operating costs and the weight of a neighborhood’s expectations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For years afterward, the building sat at the center of a long, unresolved dispute. A 2017 attempt to sell it collapsed when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Panel-unimpressed-by-visions-rejects-bidders-12328294.php\">no bidder met the community standards\u003c/a> attached to the sale. Proposals came and went, and COVID consumed what remained of the momentum.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Bringing life back to the Fillmore Heritage Center\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This June, the Heritage Center’s doors began to crack open during Juneteenth celebrations, offering festival support space and a venue for the Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards honoring Black community leaders. Then, over the Fourth of July weekend, came the Dream Center — the first full weekend of public-facing programming in the building’s current activation period.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Organized by Linda Parker Pennington, an early investor in Yoshi’s and former board chair of the Jazz Heritage Center nonprofit, the weekend brought together wellness workshops, art, youth media, a reparations panel, a genealogy workshop and a screening of filmmaker Jalila Bell’s documentary \u003cem>Culture Connects Us\u003c/em>. “I want people to walk in and feel like they’ve arrived at an oasis,” she said. “Regardless of their background. Regardless of their age.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991374\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Linda Parker Pennington speaks during the Power of Interracial Sisterhood workshop at the Fillmore Heritage Center in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Among the community stakeholders who have consistently stepped up to steward the building’s future is Fillmore Rising, a collective co-led by Majeid Crawford, executive director of the New Community Leadership Foundation, and Ericka Scott, the founder of Honey Art Studio who grew up in the community. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group’s vision wasn’t drafted in a city office. It grew out of weekly community mapping sessions at Third Baptist Church, where local leaders dreamt up ideas for the space: a curated gallery, an African diaspora restaurant, a 39-seat screening room for independent film and youth programming and a sliding-scale rental model designed to give local event organizers a real path into the building for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is an opportunity for us to see this space again, filled with life,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Crawford has spent years working to bring vibrancy back to the building. After watching proposal after proposal fall apart, he said he has been explicit with the city about what community stewardship requires: a transparent, open application process, not one where proximity to power determines who gets through the door first.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If a fair, open process cannot be established for all,” Crawford said, “then no one should have access to avoid the appearance of favoritism.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>City leaders have said they are listening. On May 28, Mayor Daniel Lurie joined Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and community leaders at the Heritage Center to announce a package of new investments in the Fillmore, including $230,000 in SF Thrives grants for 23 small businesses in the area. The ribbon-cutting came days after the launch of \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fillmore-after-dark-night-market-sf-bites-blues-bingo-rsvp-for-free-tickets-1988574870970\">Fillmore After Dark\u003c/a>, a new yearlong night market series. And over Fourth of July weekend, the new \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2025/11/18/now-the-fillmore-has-its-own-boozy-entertainment-zone-where-to-go-cocktails-are-good-to-go/\">Lower Fillmore Entertainment Zone\u003c/a> allowed participating businesses to sell alcoholic beverages to-go during the Fillmore Jazz Festival.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991349\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Niecey Livingsingle performs on the John Coltrane Stage located next to the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Diana Ponce de León, acting director of workforce development at the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), acknowledged in an interview that many residents remain skeptical after decades of stalled promises.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The desire has always been there,” she said. “We are just restarting that process again.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She was equally clear about where the current momentum originated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We didn’t come up with these at all,” she said of the first activations. “The community did, and they’re leveraging their partnerships.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OEWD is preparing a formal application process for public-facing, one-day events, with availability for up to eight activations a month through December. For now, programming is limited to the lobby, screening room and gallery while the city assesses the building’s condition, needed repairs and possible future uses. By the end of the calendar year, staff will use that work and ongoing community input to develop options for the Fillmore Heritage Center’s next steps.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thousands of people line the streets during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>A community that refuses to give up\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The question of who shapes what comes next surfaced in nearly every conversation on the corridor. Not everyone is ready to call this a resurgence, including some of the people doing the work.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ashley Smiley, senior programs coordinator at the African American Art & Culture Complex, sees the Fillmore Heritage Center’s reopening with both optimism and caution. As one Black cultural institution begins a new chapter, another is preparing to pause its own. The African American Art & Culture Complex is expected to suspend programming this fall while its building undergoes a seismic retrofit, and Smiley still doesn’t know where the organization will land in the meantime.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Black spaces are very fractured right now,” she said. “I’m 100% optimistic that it can be done. But in that optimism, I also want to acknowledge the things that can be adjusted, because we want sustainability.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991373\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ashley Smiley poses for a portrait outside of the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For Smiley, the Heritage Center’s reopening matters because it represents more than a single building. San Francisco’s future, she argues, depends on investing in the neighborhoods where culture is created, not simply where it is presented.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The art and culture of the city that makes it important isn’t just downtown,” she said. “It grows here. It grows in the Fillmore, it grows in the Bayview, it grows in the Mission.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The stakes beneath her warning are demographic as much as cultural. San Francisco’s Black population has declined from 13.5% in 1970 to roughly 5% today, according to census data. Yet in interviews, many residents reached instinctively for an even smaller number: “3%.” It wasn’t a statistic so much as a feeling, shorthand for what many believe the neighborhood has lost.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991344\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cherronda G performs on the John Coltrane Stage located next to the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Paulette Brown has spent years advocating for families affected by violence, work shaped by the loss of her son, Aubrey Abrakasa Jr., in 2006. On Saturday, she was back at 1330 Fillmore, still showing up for the community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Look at the Heritage Center,” she said. “It’s open. People are having hope again. We’re coming together and sticking together.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Asked why she keeps showing up, she answered simply.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I believe hope will prevail,” she said. “And we will all come together as one, and help each other and love on each other.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The people who filled this building in its first life built a neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The people filling it now are building one too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For updates on the Fillmore Heritage Center, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Community Action Plan website\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003cem>The next \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hot-august-nights-fillmore-carshow-blues-bingo-casino-rsvp-for-free-tickets-1988574870970\">Fillmore After Dark \u003c/a>night market takes place Aug. 14.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The sun was out in San Francisco on the Fourth of July, and the corner of Fillmore and Eddy was alive. People danced in the street as DJs spun; the Church of St. John Coltrane Band filled the air with spiritual jazz; and vendors lined the block.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The sun was out in San Francisco on the Fourth of July, and the corner of Fillmore and Eddy was alive. People danced in the street as DJs spun; the Church of St. John Coltrane Band filled the air with spiritual jazz; and vendors lined the block.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Inside the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Heritage Center\u003c/a>, a sound healing session, film screening and a fireside chat about building bridges across race unfolded simultaneously. Volunteers kept everything moving. Ace Washington, the Fillmore’s longtime corridor ambassador, worked the crowd, moving between the street and the building. Entrepreneur and community organizer Linda Parker Pennington greeted guests as they arrived. It felt less like a reopening and more like a family reunion.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Inside the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Heritage Center\u003c/a>, a sound healing session, film screening and a fireside chat about building bridges across race unfolded simultaneously. Volunteers kept everything moving. Ace Washington, the Fillmore’s longtime corridor ambassador, worked the crowd, moving between the street and the building. Entrepreneur and community organizer Linda Parker Pennington greeted guests as they arrived. It felt less like a reopening and more like a family reunion.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991352\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Austyn Johnson, 20, right, and brother Ashton Johnson, 15, do the Cupid Shuffle during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. The pair flew in from Tennessee with their family for the festival.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991352\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Austyn Johnson, 20, right, and brother Ashton Johnson, 15, do the Cupid Shuffle during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. The pair flew in from Tennessee with their family for the festival.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Some people brought lawn chairs, and you don’t bring a lawn chair to a ribbon-cutting. You bring one to a place you intend to stay a while. For the first time in years, the Fillmore Heritage Center wasn’t simply open. It seemed to belong to the neighborhood again, if only for an afternoon. On a corridor where so much has been lost, the Fillmore’s Black community was unmistakably still present.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Some people brought lawn chairs, and you don’t bring a lawn chair to a ribbon-cutting. You bring one to a place you intend to stay a while. For the first time in years, the Fillmore Heritage Center wasn’t simply open. It seemed to belong to the neighborhood again, if only for an afternoon. On a corridor where so much has been lost, the Fillmore’s Black community was unmistakably still present.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The weekend marked a new phase in the Heritage Center’s reactivation. The July 4 programming was not a one-off, nor was it a permanent reopening. It was part of a temporary activation period: Through December, community organizations and artists will be invited to propose public-facing events as the city assesses the building and develops options for its long-term future. What remains unsettled is who will shape what comes next.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The weekend marked a new phase in the Heritage Center’s reactivation. The July 4 programming was not a one-off, nor was it a permanent reopening. It was part of a temporary activation period: Through December, community organizations and artists will be invited to propose public-facing events as the city assesses the building and develops options for its long-term future. What remains unsettled is who will shape what comes next.\u003c/p>\n"
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"attrs": {
"text": "The Fillmore’s deep cultural legacy",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Fillmore’s deep cultural legacy\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Fillmore’s deep cultural legacy\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Fillmore has had an outsized impact on San Francisco’s culture, but the neighborhood has also faced major challenges. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Fillmore has had an outsized impact on San Francisco’s culture, but the neighborhood has also faced major challenges. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ask anyone who has loved the Fillmore long enough, and they’ll name a different heyday: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957757/why-san-franciscos-fillmore-district-is-no-longer-the-harlem-of-the-west\">Harlem of the West years\u003c/a>, when Billie Holiday and John Coltrane performed in its jazz clubs; the 1990s, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/for-s-f-rappers-another-dream-deferred-2560404.php\">“Fillmoe” artists\u003c/a> like San Quinn, JT the Bigga Figga and Rappin’ 4-Tay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13895586/a-salute-to-san-francisco-rap\">built a hip-hop legacy\u003c/a>; or the 2000s, when Yoshi’s and 1300 on Fillmore made the corridor buzz with concert- and restaurant-goers.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Ask anyone who has loved the Fillmore long enough, and they’ll name a different heyday: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957757/why-san-franciscos-fillmore-district-is-no-longer-the-harlem-of-the-west\">Harlem of the West years\u003c/a>, when Billie Holiday and John Coltrane performed in its jazz clubs; the 1990s, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/for-s-f-rappers-another-dream-deferred-2560404.php\">“Fillmoe” artists\u003c/a> like San Quinn, JT the Bigga Figga and Rappin’ 4-Tay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13895586/a-salute-to-san-francisco-rap\">built a hip-hop legacy\u003c/a>; or the 2000s, when Yoshi’s and 1300 on Fillmore made the corridor buzz with concert- and restaurant-goers.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The danger is letting those memories become a ceiling, turning a neighborhood into a museum instead of a community. The advocates working to bring the Heritage Center back aren’t trying to recreate 1958, 1998 or 2008. They’re trying to build a version of the Fillmore that they hope will one day become someone else’s favorite era.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The danger is letting those memories become a ceiling, turning a neighborhood into a museum instead of a community. The advocates working to bring the Heritage Center back aren’t trying to recreate 1958, 1998 or 2008. They’re trying to build a version of the Fillmore that they hope will one day become someone else’s favorite era.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991372\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fernay McPherson, chef and owner of Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, said she wants to see the city implement community input for the Fillmore Heritage Center “so that residents … don’t feel let down.”\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991372\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fernay McPherson, chef and owner of Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, said she wants to see the city implement community input for the Fillmore Heritage Center “so that residents … don’t feel let down.”\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Chef and business owner Fernay McPherson, who runs Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement and serves on the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Community Action Plan committee\u003c/a>, sees that future already taking shape. “We are definitely working on the new heyday, and it will happen,” she said. “I’m not going to say what was here, because we’re still here. We’re just fighting to make our presence known.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Chef and business owner Fernay McPherson, who runs Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement and serves on the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Community Action Plan committee\u003c/a>, sees that future already taking shape. “We are definitely working on the new heyday, and it will happen,” she said. “I’m not going to say what was here, because we’re still here. We’re just fighting to make our presence known.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Fillmore Heritage Center opened in 2007 as an attempt at restitution in concrete and steel. The complex, which cost more than $80 million, was built on land shaped by urban renewal, which displaced thousands of Black residents and hundreds of businesses beginning in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Fillmore Heritage Center opened in 2007 as an attempt at restitution in concrete and steel. The complex, which cost more than $80 million, was built on land shaped by urban renewal, which displaced thousands of Black residents and hundreds of businesses beginning in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991343\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People walk past the Fillmore Heritage Center on Fillmore Street in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991343\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People walk past the Fillmore Heritage Center on Fillmore Street in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For a moment, it was the cultural and economic anchor the neighborhood had been promised. Then the unraveling came in stages: Yoshi’s San Francisco filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2012 and closed in 2014. Its replacement, The Addition, closed within months of opening — and the city took over the building’s commercial spaces in 2015, after developer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973221/fillmore-heritage-center-michael-johnson-settlement\">Michael Johnson\u003c/a> defaulted on a $5.5 million city loan. By 2017, 1300 on Fillmore, the last holdout, was gone too — tenants worn down by the building’s high operating costs and the weight of a neighborhood’s expectations.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For a moment, it was the cultural and economic anchor the neighborhood had been promised. Then the unraveling came in stages: Yoshi’s San Francisco filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2012 and closed in 2014. Its replacement, The Addition, closed within months of opening — and the city took over the building’s commercial spaces in 2015, after developer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973221/fillmore-heritage-center-michael-johnson-settlement\">Michael Johnson\u003c/a> defaulted on a $5.5 million city loan. By 2017, 1300 on Fillmore, the last holdout, was gone too — tenants worn down by the building’s high operating costs and the weight of a neighborhood’s expectations.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For years afterward, the building sat at the center of a long, unresolved dispute. A 2017 attempt to sell it collapsed when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Panel-unimpressed-by-visions-rejects-bidders-12328294.php\">no bidder met the community standards\u003c/a> attached to the sale. Proposals came and went, and COVID consumed what remained of the momentum.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For years afterward, the building sat at the center of a long, unresolved dispute. A 2017 attempt to sell it collapsed when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Panel-unimpressed-by-visions-rejects-bidders-12328294.php\">no bidder met the community standards\u003c/a> attached to the sale. Proposals came and went, and COVID consumed what remained of the momentum.\u003c/p>\n"
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"blockName": "core/heading",
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"text": "Bringing life back to the Fillmore Heritage Center",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Bringing life back to the Fillmore Heritage Center\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Bringing life back to the Fillmore Heritage Center\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This June, the Heritage Center’s doors began to crack open during Juneteenth celebrations, offering festival support space and a venue for the Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards honoring Black community leaders. Then, over the Fourth of July weekend, came the Dream Center — the first full weekend of public-facing programming in the building’s current activation period.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>This June, the Heritage Center’s doors began to crack open during Juneteenth celebrations, offering festival support space and a venue for the Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards honoring Black community leaders. Then, over the Fourth of July weekend, came the Dream Center — the first full weekend of public-facing programming in the building’s current activation period.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Organized by Linda Parker Pennington, an early investor in Yoshi’s and former board chair of the Jazz Heritage Center nonprofit, the weekend brought together wellness workshops, art, youth media, a reparations panel, a genealogy workshop and a screening of filmmaker Jalila Bell’s documentary \u003cem>Culture Connects Us\u003c/em>. “I want people to walk in and feel like they’ve arrived at an oasis,” she said. “Regardless of their background. Regardless of their age.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Organized by Linda Parker Pennington, an early investor in Yoshi’s and former board chair of the Jazz Heritage Center nonprofit, the weekend brought together wellness workshops, art, youth media, a reparations panel, a genealogy workshop and a screening of filmmaker Jalila Bell’s documentary \u003cem>Culture Connects Us\u003c/em>. “I want people to walk in and feel like they’ve arrived at an oasis,” she said. “Regardless of their background. Regardless of their age.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991374\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Linda Parker Pennington speaks during the Power of Interracial Sisterhood workshop at the Fillmore Heritage Center in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991374\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Linda Parker Pennington speaks during the Power of Interracial Sisterhood workshop at the Fillmore Heritage Center in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Among the community stakeholders who have consistently stepped up to steward the building’s future is Fillmore Rising, a collective co-led by Majeid Crawford, executive director of the New Community Leadership Foundation, and Ericka Scott, the founder of Honey Art Studio who grew up in the community. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Among the community stakeholders who have consistently stepped up to steward the building’s future is Fillmore Rising, a collective co-led by Majeid Crawford, executive director of the New Community Leadership Foundation, and Ericka Scott, the founder of Honey Art Studio who grew up in the community. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The group’s vision wasn’t drafted in a city office. It grew out of weekly community mapping sessions at Third Baptist Church, where local leaders dreamt up ideas for the space: a curated gallery, an African diaspora restaurant, a 39-seat screening room for independent film and youth programming and a sliding-scale rental model designed to give local event organizers a real path into the building for the first time.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The group’s vision wasn’t drafted in a city office. It grew out of weekly community mapping sessions at Third Baptist Church, where local leaders dreamt up ideas for the space: a curated gallery, an African diaspora restaurant, a 39-seat screening room for independent film and youth programming and a sliding-scale rental model designed to give local event organizers a real path into the building for the first time.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This is an opportunity for us to see this space again, filled with life,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“This is an opportunity for us to see this space again, filled with life,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Crawford has spent years working to bring vibrancy back to the building. After watching proposal after proposal fall apart, he said he has been explicit with the city about what community stewardship requires: a transparent, open application process, not one where proximity to power determines who gets through the door first.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Crawford has spent years working to bring vibrancy back to the building. After watching proposal after proposal fall apart, he said he has been explicit with the city about what community stewardship requires: a transparent, open application process, not one where proximity to power determines who gets through the door first.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“If a fair, open process cannot be established for all,” Crawford said, “then no one should have access to avoid the appearance of favoritism.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“If a fair, open process cannot be established for all,” Crawford said, “then no one should have access to avoid the appearance of favoritism.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>City leaders have said they are listening. On May 28, Mayor Daniel Lurie joined Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and community leaders at the Heritage Center to announce a package of new investments in the Fillmore, including $230,000 in SF Thrives grants for 23 small businesses in the area. The ribbon-cutting came days after the launch of \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fillmore-after-dark-night-market-sf-bites-blues-bingo-rsvp-for-free-tickets-1988574870970\">Fillmore After Dark\u003c/a>, a new yearlong night market series. And over Fourth of July weekend, the new \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2025/11/18/now-the-fillmore-has-its-own-boozy-entertainment-zone-where-to-go-cocktails-are-good-to-go/\">Lower Fillmore Entertainment Zone\u003c/a> allowed participating businesses to sell alcoholic beverages to-go during the Fillmore Jazz Festival.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>City leaders have said they are listening. On May 28, Mayor Daniel Lurie joined Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and community leaders at the Heritage Center to announce a package of new investments in the Fillmore, including $230,000 in SF Thrives grants for 23 small businesses in the area. The ribbon-cutting came days after the launch of \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fillmore-after-dark-night-market-sf-bites-blues-bingo-rsvp-for-free-tickets-1988574870970\">Fillmore After Dark\u003c/a>, a new yearlong night market series. And over Fourth of July weekend, the new \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2025/11/18/now-the-fillmore-has-its-own-boozy-entertainment-zone-where-to-go-cocktails-are-good-to-go/\">Lower Fillmore Entertainment Zone\u003c/a> allowed participating businesses to sell alcoholic beverages to-go during the Fillmore Jazz Festival.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991349\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Niecey Livingsingle performs on the John Coltrane Stage located next to the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Diana Ponce de León, acting director of workforce development at the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), acknowledged in an interview that many residents remain skeptical after decades of stalled promises.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The desire has always been there,” she said. “We are just restarting that process again.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>She was equally clear about where the current momentum originated.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We didn’t come up with these at all,” she said of the first activations. “The community did, and they’re leveraging their partnerships.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>OEWD is preparing a formal application process for public-facing, one-day events, with availability for up to eight activations a month through December. For now, programming is limited to the lobby, screening room and gallery while the city assesses the building’s condition, needed repairs and possible future uses. By the end of the calendar year, staff will use that work and ongoing community input to develop options for the Fillmore Heritage Center’s next steps.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>OEWD is preparing a formal application process for public-facing, one-day events, with availability for up to eight activations a month through December. For now, programming is limited to the lobby, screening room and gallery while the city assesses the building’s condition, needed repairs and possible future uses. By the end of the calendar year, staff will use that work and ongoing community input to develop options for the Fillmore Heritage Center’s next steps.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thousands of people line the streets during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991375\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thousands of people line the streets during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"text": "A community that refuses to give up",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The question of who shapes what comes next surfaced in nearly every conversation on the corridor. Not everyone is ready to call this a resurgence, including some of the people doing the work.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ashley Smiley, senior programs coordinator at the African American Art & Culture Complex, sees the Fillmore Heritage Center’s reopening with both optimism and caution. As one Black cultural institution begins a new chapter, another is preparing to pause its own. The African American Art & Culture Complex is expected to suspend programming this fall while its building undergoes a seismic retrofit, and Smiley still doesn’t know where the organization will land in the meantime.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Ashley Smiley, senior programs coordinator at the African American Art & Culture Complex, sees the Fillmore Heritage Center’s reopening with both optimism and caution. As one Black cultural institution begins a new chapter, another is preparing to pause its own. The African American Art & Culture Complex is expected to suspend programming this fall while its building undergoes a seismic retrofit, and Smiley still doesn’t know where the organization will land in the meantime.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Black spaces are very fractured right now,” she said. “I’m 100% optimistic that it can be done. But in that optimism, I also want to acknowledge the things that can be adjusted, because we want sustainability.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Black spaces are very fractured right now,” she said. “I’m 100% optimistic that it can be done. But in that optimism, I also want to acknowledge the things that can be adjusted, because we want sustainability.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991373\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ashley Smiley poses for a portrait outside of the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For Smiley, the Heritage Center’s reopening matters because it represents more than a single building. San Francisco’s future, she argues, depends on investing in the neighborhoods where culture is created, not simply where it is presented.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For Smiley, the Heritage Center’s reopening matters because it represents more than a single building. San Francisco’s future, she argues, depends on investing in the neighborhoods where culture is created, not simply where it is presented.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The art and culture of the city that makes it important isn’t just downtown,” she said. “It grows here. It grows in the Fillmore, it grows in the Bayview, it grows in the Mission.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The art and culture of the city that makes it important isn’t just downtown,” she said. “It grows here. It grows in the Fillmore, it grows in the Bayview, it grows in the Mission.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The stakes beneath her warning are demographic as much as cultural. San Francisco’s Black population has declined from 13.5% in 1970 to roughly 5% today, according to census data. Yet in interviews, many residents reached instinctively for an even smaller number: “3%.” It wasn’t a statistic so much as a feeling, shorthand for what many believe the neighborhood has lost.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The stakes beneath her warning are demographic as much as cultural. San Francisco’s Black population has declined from 13.5% in 1970 to roughly 5% today, according to census data. Yet in interviews, many residents reached instinctively for an even smaller number: “3%.” It wasn’t a statistic so much as a feeling, shorthand for what many believe the neighborhood has lost.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991344\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cherronda G performs on the John Coltrane Stage located next to the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991344\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cherronda G performs on the John Coltrane Stage located next to the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Paulette Brown has spent years advocating for families affected by violence, work shaped by the loss of her son, Aubrey Abrakasa Jr., in 2006. On Saturday, she was back at 1330 Fillmore, still showing up for the community.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Paulette Brown has spent years advocating for families affected by violence, work shaped by the loss of her son, Aubrey Abrakasa Jr., in 2006. On Saturday, she was back at 1330 Fillmore, still showing up for the community.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Look at the Heritage Center,” she said. “It’s open. People are having hope again. We’re coming together and sticking together.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Asked why she keeps showing up, she answered simply.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I believe hope will prevail,” she said. “And we will all come together as one, and help each other and love on each other.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The people who filled this building in its first life built a neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The people filling it now are building one too.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For updates on the Fillmore Heritage Center, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Community Action Plan website\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003cem>The next \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hot-august-nights-fillmore-carshow-blues-bingo-casino-rsvp-for-free-tickets-1988574870970\">Fillmore After Dark \u003c/a>night market takes place Aug. 14.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For updates on the Fillmore Heritage Center, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Community Action Plan website\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003cem>The next \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hot-august-nights-fillmore-carshow-blues-bingo-casino-rsvp-for-free-tickets-1988574870970\">Fillmore After Dark \u003c/a>night market takes place Aug. 14.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The sun was out in San Francisco on the Fourth of July, and the corner of Fillmore and Eddy was alive. People danced in the street as DJs spun; the Church of St. John Coltrane Band filled the air with spiritual jazz; and vendors lined the block.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Inside the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Heritage Center\u003c/a>, a sound healing session, film screening and a fireside chat about building bridges across race unfolded simultaneously. Volunteers kept everything moving. Ace Washington, the Fillmore’s longtime corridor ambassador, worked the crowd, moving between the street and the building. Entrepreneur and community organizer Linda Parker Pennington greeted guests as they arrived. It felt less like a reopening and more like a family reunion.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991352\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_49_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Austyn Johnson, 20, right, and brother Ashton Johnson, 15, do the Cupid Shuffle during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. The pair flew in from Tennessee with their family for the festival. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Some people brought lawn chairs, and you don’t bring a lawn chair to a ribbon-cutting. You bring one to a place you intend to stay a while. For the first time in years, the Fillmore Heritage Center wasn’t simply open. It seemed to belong to the neighborhood again, if only for an afternoon. On a corridor where so much has been lost, the Fillmore’s Black community was unmistakably still present.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The weekend marked a new phase in the Heritage Center’s reactivation. The July 4 programming was not a one-off, nor was it a permanent reopening. It was part of a temporary activation period: Through December, community organizations and artists will be invited to propose public-facing events as the city assesses the building and develops options for its long-term future. What remains unsettled is who will shape what comes next.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Fillmore’s deep cultural legacy\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Fillmore has had an outsized impact on San Francisco’s culture, but the neighborhood has also faced major challenges. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ask anyone who has loved the Fillmore long enough, and they’ll name a different heyday: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957757/why-san-franciscos-fillmore-district-is-no-longer-the-harlem-of-the-west\">Harlem of the West years\u003c/a>, when Billie Holiday and John Coltrane performed in its jazz clubs; the 1990s, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/for-s-f-rappers-another-dream-deferred-2560404.php\">“Fillmoe” artists\u003c/a> like San Quinn, JT the Bigga Figga and Rappin’ 4-Tay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13895586/a-salute-to-san-francisco-rap\">built a hip-hop legacy\u003c/a>; or the 2000s, when Yoshi’s and 1300 on Fillmore made the corridor buzz with concert- and restaurant-goers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The danger is letting those memories become a ceiling, turning a neighborhood into a museum instead of a community. The advocates working to bring the Heritage Center back aren’t trying to recreate 1958, 1998 or 2008. They’re trying to build a version of the Fillmore that they hope will one day become someone else’s favorite era.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991372\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_13_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fernay McPherson, chef and owner of Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, said she wants to see the city implement community input for the Fillmore Heritage Center “so that residents … don’t feel let down.”\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chef and business owner Fernay McPherson, who runs Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement and serves on the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Community Action Plan committee\u003c/a>, sees that future already taking shape. “We are definitely working on the new heyday, and it will happen,” she said. “I’m not going to say what was here, because we’re still here. We’re just fighting to make our presence known.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Fillmore Heritage Center opened in 2007 as an attempt at restitution in concrete and steel. The complex, which cost more than $80 million, was built on land shaped by urban renewal, which displaced thousands of Black residents and hundreds of businesses beginning in the 1960s.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991343\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_04_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People walk past the Fillmore Heritage Center on Fillmore Street in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For a moment, it was the cultural and economic anchor the neighborhood had been promised. Then the unraveling came in stages: Yoshi’s San Francisco filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2012 and closed in 2014. Its replacement, The Addition, closed within months of opening — and the city took over the building’s commercial spaces in 2015, after developer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973221/fillmore-heritage-center-michael-johnson-settlement\">Michael Johnson\u003c/a> defaulted on a $5.5 million city loan. By 2017, 1300 on Fillmore, the last holdout, was gone too — tenants worn down by the building’s high operating costs and the weight of a neighborhood’s expectations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For years afterward, the building sat at the center of a long, unresolved dispute. A 2017 attempt to sell it collapsed when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Panel-unimpressed-by-visions-rejects-bidders-12328294.php\">no bidder met the community standards\u003c/a> attached to the sale. Proposals came and went, and COVID consumed what remained of the momentum.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Bringing life back to the Fillmore Heritage Center\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This June, the Heritage Center’s doors began to crack open during Juneteenth celebrations, offering festival support space and a venue for the Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards honoring Black community leaders. Then, over the Fourth of July weekend, came the Dream Center — the first full weekend of public-facing programming in the building’s current activation period.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Organized by Linda Parker Pennington, an early investor in Yoshi’s and former board chair of the Jazz Heritage Center nonprofit, the weekend brought together wellness workshops, art, youth media, a reparations panel, a genealogy workshop and a screening of filmmaker Jalila Bell’s documentary \u003cem>Culture Connects Us\u003c/em>. “I want people to walk in and feel like they’ve arrived at an oasis,” she said. “Regardless of their background. Regardless of their age.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991374\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_27_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Linda Parker Pennington speaks during the Power of Interracial Sisterhood workshop at the Fillmore Heritage Center in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Among the community stakeholders who have consistently stepped up to steward the building’s future is Fillmore Rising, a collective co-led by Majeid Crawford, executive director of the New Community Leadership Foundation, and Ericka Scott, the founder of Honey Art Studio who grew up in the community. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group’s vision wasn’t drafted in a city office. It grew out of weekly community mapping sessions at Third Baptist Church, where local leaders dreamt up ideas for the space: a curated gallery, an African diaspora restaurant, a 39-seat screening room for independent film and youth programming and a sliding-scale rental model designed to give local event organizers a real path into the building for the first time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is an opportunity for us to see this space again, filled with life,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Crawford has spent years working to bring vibrancy back to the building. After watching proposal after proposal fall apart, he said he has been explicit with the city about what community stewardship requires: a transparent, open application process, not one where proximity to power determines who gets through the door first.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If a fair, open process cannot be established for all,” Crawford said, “then no one should have access to avoid the appearance of favoritism.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>City leaders have said they are listening. On May 28, Mayor Daniel Lurie joined Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and community leaders at the Heritage Center to announce a package of new investments in the Fillmore, including $230,000 in SF Thrives grants for 23 small businesses in the area. The ribbon-cutting came days after the launch of \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fillmore-after-dark-night-market-sf-bites-blues-bingo-rsvp-for-free-tickets-1988574870970\">Fillmore After Dark\u003c/a>, a new yearlong night market series. And over Fourth of July weekend, the new \u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/2025/11/18/now-the-fillmore-has-its-own-boozy-entertainment-zone-where-to-go-cocktails-are-good-to-go/\">Lower Fillmore Entertainment Zone\u003c/a> allowed participating businesses to sell alcoholic beverages to-go during the Fillmore Jazz Festival.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991349\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_37_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Niecey Livingsingle performs on the John Coltrane Stage located next to the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Diana Ponce de León, acting director of workforce development at the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), acknowledged in an interview that many residents remain skeptical after decades of stalled promises.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The desire has always been there,” she said. “We are just restarting that process again.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She was equally clear about where the current momentum originated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We didn’t come up with these at all,” she said of the first activations. “The community did, and they’re leveraging their partnerships.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OEWD is preparing a formal application process for public-facing, one-day events, with availability for up to eight activations a month through December. For now, programming is limited to the lobby, screening room and gallery while the city assesses the building’s condition, needed repairs and possible future uses. By the end of the calendar year, staff will use that work and ongoing community input to develop options for the Fillmore Heritage Center’s next steps.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_48_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Thousands of people line the streets during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>A community that refuses to give up\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The question of who shapes what comes next surfaced in nearly every conversation on the corridor. Not everyone is ready to call this a resurgence, including some of the people doing the work.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ashley Smiley, senior programs coordinator at the African American Art & Culture Complex, sees the Fillmore Heritage Center’s reopening with both optimism and caution. As one Black cultural institution begins a new chapter, another is preparing to pause its own. The African American Art & Culture Complex is expected to suspend programming this fall while its building undergoes a seismic retrofit, and Smiley still doesn’t know where the organization will land in the meantime.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Black spaces are very fractured right now,” she said. “I’m 100% optimistic that it can be done. But in that optimism, I also want to acknowledge the things that can be adjusted, because we want sustainability.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991373\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_20_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ashley Smiley poses for a portrait outside of the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For Smiley, the Heritage Center’s reopening matters because it represents more than a single building. San Francisco’s future, she argues, depends on investing in the neighborhoods where culture is created, not simply where it is presented.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The art and culture of the city that makes it important isn’t just downtown,” she said. “It grows here. It grows in the Fillmore, it grows in the Bayview, it grows in the Mission.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The stakes beneath her warning are demographic as much as cultural. San Francisco’s Black population has declined from 13.5% in 1970 to roughly 5% today, according to census data. Yet in interviews, many residents reached instinctively for an even smaller number: “3%.” It wasn’t a statistic so much as a feeling, shorthand for what many believe the neighborhood has lost.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991344\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/20260704_FillmoreHC_EG_22_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cherronda G performs on the John Coltrane Stage located next to the Fillmore Heritage Center during the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Paulette Brown has spent years advocating for families affected by violence, work shaped by the loss of her son, Aubrey Abrakasa Jr., in 2006. On Saturday, she was back at 1330 Fillmore, still showing up for the community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Look at the Heritage Center,” she said. “It’s open. People are having hope again. We’re coming together and sticking together.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Asked why she keeps showing up, she answered simply.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I believe hope will prevail,” she said. “And we will all come together as one, and help each other and love on each other.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The people who filled this building in its first life built a neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The people filling it now are building one too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For updates on the Fillmore Heritage Center, visit the \u003ca href=\"https://sfplanning.org/fillmore-community-action-plan\">Fillmore Community Action Plan website\u003c/a>.\u003c/em> \u003cem>The next \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hot-august-nights-fillmore-carshow-blues-bingo-casino-rsvp-for-free-tickets-1988574870970\">Fillmore After Dark \u003c/a>night market takes place Aug. 14.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "In San Francisco, a Reckoning With Toppled Statues Gives Rise to New Monuments",
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"headTitle": "In San Francisco, a Reckoning With Toppled Statues Gives Rise to New Monuments | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the weeks of protests following the murder of George Floyd, monuments across the country became the focus of intense, righteous energy. For too long, the demonstrators argued, these representations of oppression and violence — sometimes, of outright sedition — had presided over public spaces, warping our understanding of America’s past.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In some instances, the statues had been the subject of years of organizing and petitions for removal, to no avail. So in 2020, people \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11824381/historical-figures-reassessed-after-george-floyds-death\">took matters into their own hands\u003c/a>, either tagging the monuments’ pedestals, pouring red paint on them or toppling the statues altogether. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It was these actions — and the physical danger to those doing the toppling — that led the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to preemptively remove the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825103/san-francisco-removes-controversial-christopher-columbus-statue-on-telegraph-hill\">Christopher Columbus statue\u003c/a> from the base of Coit Tower on June 18, 2020. The following day, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11826151/how-do-we-heal-toppling-the-myth-of-junipero-serra\">protesters pulled down three statues\u003c/a> in Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse: monuments to Francis Scott Key, Junípero Serra and Ulysses S. Grant.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While the plinths have stood empty, the SFAC has engaged in an unprecedented effort to truly reckon with the city’s monuments. Over the past six years, the agency has deeply researched all 105 monuments in San Francisco’s Civic Art Collection, holding community meetings and soliciting feedback. In 2025, the SFAC released a \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/SL_Audit_Final_Report_Tear_Sheets_Web_05052025.pdf\">521-page audit report\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Now, as its final act, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/shaping-legacy\">Shaping Legacy project\u003c/a> has commissioned five artists and collaboratives to create temporary monuments to subjects of their choice.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Instead of nativist leaders or military victories, these artworks celebrate refugees, paleteros, garment and shipyard workers, and families of the Great Migration. Currently playing out as installations and events, and spreading from Civic Center to Hunters Point, these pieces of public art challenge the very notion of what San Francisco’s future monuments can be. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"919\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2000x919.jpg\" alt=\"man wraps metal scaffolding in gold mylar, group poses on scaffolding\" class=\"wp-image-13991396\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2000x919.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-768x353.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-1536x706.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2048x941.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A team of artist ambassadors works on ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ in San Francisco’s Fulton Plaza. (Courtesy of Kaleb Duarte)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>A monument to invisible labor\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Civic Center is home to nearly a quarter of the city’s monuments, the most prominent of which sits between the main library and the Asian Art Museum. Created in 1894 by sculptor Frank Happersberger, the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em> tells a selective and glorified story of California’s founding, illustrated by the white Americans (plus a few Spanish and Mexican leaders) who conquered the land and its Indigenous people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, Native American activists called for the removal of one especially offensive component of the monument. \u003cem>Early Days\u003c/em> depicted Junípero Serra “converting” a supine Indigenous man (depicted as a Plains Indian). A triumphant vaquero stood by with his arm raised.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2018, after successful lobbying, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13840748/early-days-statue-in-sf-deemed-racist-will-be-removed-following-re-vote\">\u003cem>Early Days\u003c/em> was removed\u003c/a>. Even so, according to a 2023 community survey by the Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee (MMAC, a precursor to the Shaping Legacy project), the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em> remains one of the city’s least-liked monuments.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The site’s contentious history provides a rare opportunity for an artist to confront such historical symbols of power. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.calebduarte.org/\">Kaleb Duarte\u003c/a> is up to the task.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Currently, a delicate scaffolding and scrim sits around the center of the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em>, obscuring the view of its bronze reliefs. Since early June, Duarte and a team of “artist ambassadors” have been working on site, covering the metal poles of the scaffolding with strips of gold mylar. They are, in effect, gilding the structure. The piece, titled \u003cem>Embassy of the Refuge\u003c/em>e, is part of an ongoing series.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The scaffold is an ugly thing that you try to not look at when you’re looking at architecture,” Duarte says on a windy farmers market day, “but I think it represents the worker and the forgotten.” Duarte’s collaborators are from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico; the participants have been in the United States anywhere from two to 15 years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5.jpg\" alt=\"two people stand on scaffolding beside bronze statue\" class=\"wp-image-13991394\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Artist ambassadors work on ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ in Fulton Plaza. (Courtesy of Kaleb Duarte)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In outdoor workshops, the group has discussed memories of home next to the installation, recording these histories as a way of documenting the Bay Area’s larger immigrant and refugee networks. The gold mylar, which flutters in the plaza’s always-present breeze, references the emergency blankets used at detention centers. Turning “a symbol of potential trauma into something beautiful,” as Duarte says, is one of the piece’s many acts of transformation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In keeping with the idea of a living, active monument, \u003cem>Embassy of the Refugee\u003c/em> will host performances on July 25 by Guatemala-based artists Regina José Galindo and Marilyn Boror Bor (Maya-Kaqchikel), along with Duarte’s frequent collaborator Mia Eve Rollow.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Within the scaffolding, a ghostly mesh tent echoes both refugee tents and the pediment of City Hall. “The idea of home and house is carried by the body and by memory, not by architecture,” Duarte says, gesturing at the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em>. “Memory is always in movement, rather than these solid structures that force us to remember certain things. They don’t really engage us.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘More work to be done’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>By design, most monuments are built to withstand the ravages of time, even as the world shifts radically around them. It takes events like the 2020 topplings to shift a city’s inertia into action. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shortly after the removal of the Golden Gate Park statues, Mayor London Breed called on the SFAC and other city agencies to change the guidelines around monuments “to reflect the values of the city.” In May 2023, the MMAC’s \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/SF_MMAC_Final_Report_2023.pdf\">final report\u003c/a> made recommendations for evaluating the collection further, while noting, hopefully, that “this is the beginning phase of a larger process; there is more work to be done.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The city loves reports,” says Angela Carrier, Shaping Legacy’s senior project manager. Normally, she explains, that MMAC report might have just sat there, inert. But a $3 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.mellon.org/news/monuments-project-giving-exceeds-150-million\">Mellon Foundation grant\u003c/a> meant the city could actually implement some of the MMAC recommendations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL.jpg\" alt=\"gold covered metal posts of scaffolding in front of a stone plinth\" class=\"wp-image-13991401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">‘Embassy of the Refugee’ sits around the ‘Pioneer Monument,’ created in 1894 by sculptor Frank Happersberger and funded by James Lick. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shaping Legacy’s first step was to truly audit the San Francisco’s 105 monuments: what do they commemorate, who paid for their construction, what was the context of their creation? “‘We don’t know what we don’t know,’ is what my colleague Allison Cummings says often,” Carrier says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The audit found that 41 of the city’s monuments pre-dated the SFAC, which was established by city charter in 1932. Another 46 entered the Civic Art Collection as gifts from wealthy donors or organized civic groups. Only 18 monuments were explicitly commissioned or acquired by the city. A whopping 77% of the city’s monuments were made by male artists.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then, the work shifted to the present: “Who’s here now? What’s our new understanding of these monuments and the power and public memory at play?” Carrier says. Partnering with the community organizations Gray Area, 500 Capp Street, the Samoan Community Development Center and the Tenderloin Museum, Shaping Legacy funded artist-led film screenings, walking tours, discussions and performances across the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This year, further collaborations with SOMA Pilipinas, the California Migration Museum and Shaping San Francisco have addressed some of the city’s most contentious sites: the Dewey Monument in Union Square, the now-empty plinth of Christopher Columbus, and the trio of sculptures toppled in Golden Gate Park.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the SFAC will make recommendations about the future of these sites, and how the city should consider the removal, relocation or destruction of monuments moving forward. One of the crucial findings from the Shaping Legacy audit is that the public is far more interested in the creation of new work than the removal of existing statues. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“New monuments have the opportunity to tell the complete story of San Francisco by memorializing stories previously untold and marginalized,” the report states. “New monuments can also be an opportunity for community empowerment, celebration and joy.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"man in glasses on stool in painting studio with artworks behind him\" class=\"wp-image-13991399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adrián Arias sits in his studio in Oakland on July 7, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Memorializing the everyday\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s difficult to find something more joyful than \u003ca href=\"https://adrianarias.com/\">Adrián Arias\u003c/a>’ enthusiasm for paletas. The Shaping Legacy grantee has built a roving, multifaceted homage to the paleteros and paleteras who trace a “sweet route” through the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A Sweet Route\u003c/em> kicked off during Carnaval with a small army of paleteros handing out free treats, as they rolled down the parade route. At their center was Arias’ sculpture of eight-foot-tall vibrantly painted paleta. “It was a very happy moment for everybody,” he says. “And a very special recognition for immigrant workers.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The celebrations continued on June 20 with a music- and dance-fueled walk from the 24th Street BART Plaza to Parque Niños Unidos, where the Oakland band LoCura and Anaís Azul performed the specially commissioned (and very catchy) song “\u003ca href=\"https://locuramusica.bandcamp.com/track/paleter\">Paleter@\u003c/a>.” A painted wooden monument to two local paleteros now stands in the park, watching over playing children. On Aug. 2, the project will move, with equal fanfare, to Potrero del Sol.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"885\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2000x885.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991397\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2000x885.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-160x71.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-768x340.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-1536x679.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2048x906.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Left: Artist Adrián Arias works on a ‘A Sweet Route: Tribute to Paleteros.’ Right: ‘A Sweet Route’ at the Carnaval parade in San Francisco on May 24, 2026. (Courtesy of Adrián Arias)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Arias is brimming with ideas for even more temporary monuments, particularly for the Mission, which has no permanent city monuments. “I really like the idea of the ephemeral thing that is a temporary monument moving around,” Arias says. He believes ardently in “recognizing our own heroes in our own neighborhoods.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A hallmark of the five Shaping Legacy artists is a drive toward dispersal — to share their own enthusiasm for their chosen subject with as many members of the public and in as many formats as possible. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sew_frisco/\">Ariana Martinez-Cruz\u003c/a> is currently hard at work on \u003cem>Threaded Histories\u003c/em>, a monument to San Francisco’s garment workers, which will connect the city’s Latino and Chinese immigrant communities through a July 11 mending workshop, a Chinatown-Rose Pak Station information kiosk, a large-scale textile sculpture and the distribution of custom-made patches (among other manifestations).\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For Martinez-Cruz, a big part of her work is empowering others to see the monumental in their own ordinary actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“When I do community workshops, at least three if not more people will come to me and say ‘I remember when my mom sewed like this,’” she says. “And then I’m listening to their stories of their loved things that were mended or made for a special occasion. It’s helping people connect to what they didn’t realize was living history in front of them.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL.jpg\" alt=\"brightly painted wooden monument in park with playground behind\" class=\"wp-image-13991403\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adrián Arias’ ‘A Sweet Route: Tribute to Paleteros’ at Parque Niños Unidos in the Mission District of San Francisco on July 6, 2026, honors and celebrates immigrant ice cream vendors. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Monuments to the future\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The many aspects of the Shaping Legacy commissions fill a timeline that stretches well into October, including forthcoming temporary monuments by \u003ca href=\"https://afatasi.com/\">Afatasi the Artist\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.staceycarter.net/home.html\">Stacey Carter\u003c/a> and a team of collaborators, both in Bayview-Hunters Point. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The grant period comes to a close at the end of 2026. Carrier says the project aims to leave the city with real recommendations about the future of its monuments, especially the ones that have been removed from view in recent years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There will be no one-size-fits-all solution, she emphasizes. But so far, public feedback and the current commissions make a very good case for the power of adding even temporary artwork to the city’s so-called “commemorative landscape.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It may take another infusion of non-taxpayer money like the Mellon grant, however, for Shaping Legacy’s final recommendations to be turned into action. The SFAC has limited staffing and funding to continue commissioning temporary artworks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the desire for more monuments to everyday life and ordinary people is palpable. Arias recalls, “Installing the other day at Parque Niños Unidos, a group of nannies came to me and said, ‘Where will be the monument for nannies?’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For the most up-to-date list of Shaping Legacy artworks and events, \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/shaping-legacy\">\u003cem>click here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Upcoming events include Ariana Martinez-Cruz’s ‘Threaded Histories’ Community Mending Circle at Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas (683 Florida St., San Francisco), on July 11, 12–4 p.m. and a ‘Threaded Histories’ Monument patch distribution and celebration at CANA on July 25, 12–4 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaleb Duarte’s ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ will host performances on July 25 at Fulton Plaza. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Adrián Arias’ ‘A Sweet Route’ will be on view at Parque Niños Unidos (23rd and Treat Streets) through July 20 and will move to Potrero del Sol (Potrero Avenue and 25th Street) for a celebration on Aug. 2.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Stacey Carter’s ‘CRANE project’ will illuminate the Hunters Point Shipyard Gantry Crane Oct. 9–11 and 16–18.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the weeks of protests following the murder of George Floyd, monuments across the country became the focus of intense, righteous energy. For too long, the demonstrators argued, these representations of oppression and violence — sometimes, of outright sedition — had presided over public spaces, warping our understanding of America’s past.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In some instances, the statues had been the subject of years of organizing and petitions for removal, to no avail. So in 2020, people \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11824381/historical-figures-reassessed-after-george-floyds-death\">took matters into their own hands\u003c/a>, either tagging the monuments’ pedestals, pouring red paint on them or toppling the statues altogether. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In some instances, the statues had been the subject of years of organizing and petitions for removal, to no avail. So in 2020, people \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11824381/historical-figures-reassessed-after-george-floyds-death\">took matters into their own hands\u003c/a>, either tagging the monuments’ pedestals, pouring red paint on them or toppling the statues altogether. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It was these actions — and the physical danger to those doing the toppling — that led the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to preemptively remove the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825103/san-francisco-removes-controversial-christopher-columbus-statue-on-telegraph-hill\">Christopher Columbus statue\u003c/a> from the base of Coit Tower on June 18, 2020. The following day, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11826151/how-do-we-heal-toppling-the-myth-of-junipero-serra\">protesters pulled down three statues\u003c/a> in Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse: monuments to Francis Scott Key, Junípero Serra and Ulysses S. Grant.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It was these actions — and the physical danger to those doing the toppling — that led the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to preemptively remove the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825103/san-francisco-removes-controversial-christopher-columbus-statue-on-telegraph-hill\">Christopher Columbus statue\u003c/a> from the base of Coit Tower on June 18, 2020. The following day, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11826151/how-do-we-heal-toppling-the-myth-of-junipero-serra\">protesters pulled down three statues\u003c/a> in Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse: monuments to Francis Scott Key, Junípero Serra and Ulysses S. Grant.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While the plinths have stood empty, the SFAC has engaged in an unprecedented effort to truly reckon with the city’s monuments. Over the past six years, the agency has deeply researched all 105 monuments in San Francisco’s Civic Art Collection, holding community meetings and soliciting feedback. In 2025, the SFAC released a \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/SL_Audit_Final_Report_Tear_Sheets_Web_05052025.pdf\">521-page audit report\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Now, as its final act, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/shaping-legacy\">Shaping Legacy project\u003c/a> has commissioned five artists and collaboratives to create temporary monuments to subjects of their choice.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>While the plinths have stood empty, the SFAC has engaged in an unprecedented effort to truly reckon with the city’s monuments. Over the past six years, the agency has deeply researched all 105 monuments in San Francisco’s Civic Art Collection, holding community meetings and soliciting feedback. In 2025, the SFAC released a \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/SL_Audit_Final_Report_Tear_Sheets_Web_05052025.pdf\">521-page audit report\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Now, as its final act, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/shaping-legacy\">Shaping Legacy project\u003c/a> has commissioned five artists and collaboratives to create temporary monuments to subjects of their choice.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Instead of nativist leaders or military victories, these artworks celebrate refugees, paleteros, garment and shipyard workers, and families of the Great Migration. Currently playing out as installations and events, and spreading from Civic Center to Hunters Point, these pieces of public art challenge the very notion of what San Francisco’s future monuments can be. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Instead of nativist leaders or military victories, these artworks celebrate refugees, paleteros, garment and shipyard workers, and families of the Great Migration. Currently playing out as installations and events, and spreading from Civic Center to Hunters Point, these pieces of public art challenge the very notion of what San Francisco’s future monuments can be. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2000x919.jpg\" alt=\"man wraps metal scaffolding in gold mylar, group poses on scaffolding\" class=\"wp-image-13991396\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2000x919.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-768x353.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-1536x706.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2048x941.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A team of artist ambassadors works on ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ in San Francisco’s Fulton Plaza.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2000x919.jpg\" alt=\"man wraps metal scaffolding in gold mylar, group poses on scaffolding\" class=\"wp-image-13991396\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A team of artist ambassadors works on ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ in San Francisco’s Fulton Plaza.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"text": "A monument to invisible labor",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>A monument to invisible labor\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>A monument to invisible labor\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Civic Center is home to nearly a quarter of the city’s monuments, the most prominent of which sits between the main library and the Asian Art Museum. Created in 1894 by sculptor Frank Happersberger, the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em> tells a selective and glorified story of California’s founding, illustrated by the white Americans (plus a few Spanish and Mexican leaders) who conquered the land and its Indigenous people. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Civic Center is home to nearly a quarter of the city’s monuments, the most prominent of which sits between the main library and the Asian Art Museum. Created in 1894 by sculptor Frank Happersberger, the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em> tells a selective and glorified story of California’s founding, illustrated by the white Americans (plus a few Spanish and Mexican leaders) who conquered the land and its Indigenous people. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For decades, Native American activists called for the removal of one especially offensive component of the monument. \u003cem>Early Days\u003c/em> depicted Junípero Serra “converting” a supine Indigenous man (depicted as a Plains Indian). A triumphant vaquero stood by with his arm raised.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For decades, Native American activists called for the removal of one especially offensive component of the monument. \u003cem>Early Days\u003c/em> depicted Junípero Serra “converting” a supine Indigenous man (depicted as a Plains Indian). A triumphant vaquero stood by with his arm raised.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2018, after successful lobbying, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13840748/early-days-statue-in-sf-deemed-racist-will-be-removed-following-re-vote\">\u003cem>Early Days\u003c/em> was removed\u003c/a>. Even so, according to a 2023 community survey by the Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee (MMAC, a precursor to the Shaping Legacy project), the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em> remains one of the city’s least-liked monuments.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In 2018, after successful lobbying, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13840748/early-days-statue-in-sf-deemed-racist-will-be-removed-following-re-vote\">\u003cem>Early Days\u003c/em> was removed\u003c/a>. Even so, according to a 2023 community survey by the Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee (MMAC, a precursor to the Shaping Legacy project), the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em> remains one of the city’s least-liked monuments.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The site’s contentious history provides a rare opportunity for an artist to confront such historical symbols of power. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.calebduarte.org/\">Kaleb Duarte\u003c/a> is up to the task.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The site’s contentious history provides a rare opportunity for an artist to confront such historical symbols of power. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.calebduarte.org/\">Kaleb Duarte\u003c/a> is up to the task.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Currently, a delicate scaffolding and scrim sits around the center of the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em>, obscuring the view of its bronze reliefs. Since early June, Duarte and a team of “artist ambassadors” have been working on site, covering the metal poles of the scaffolding with strips of gold mylar. They are, in effect, gilding the structure. The piece, titled \u003cem>Embassy of the Refuge\u003c/em>e, is part of an ongoing series.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Currently, a delicate scaffolding and scrim sits around the center of the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em>, obscuring the view of its bronze reliefs. Since early June, Duarte and a team of “artist ambassadors” have been working on site, covering the metal poles of the scaffolding with strips of gold mylar. They are, in effect, gilding the structure. The piece, titled \u003cem>Embassy of the Refuge\u003c/em>e, is part of an ongoing series.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The scaffold is an ugly thing that you try to not look at when you’re looking at architecture,” Duarte says on a windy farmers market day, “but I think it represents the worker and the forgotten.” Duarte’s collaborators are from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico; the participants have been in the United States anywhere from two to 15 years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The scaffold is an ugly thing that you try to not look at when you’re looking at architecture,” Duarte says on a windy farmers market day, “but I think it represents the worker and the forgotten.” Duarte’s collaborators are from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico; the participants have been in the United States anywhere from two to 15 years. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5.jpg\" alt=\"two people stand on scaffolding beside bronze statue\" class=\"wp-image-13991394\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Artist ambassadors work on ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ in Fulton Plaza.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5.jpg\" alt=\"two people stand on scaffolding beside bronze statue\" class=\"wp-image-13991394\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Artist ambassadors work on ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ in Fulton Plaza.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In outdoor workshops, the group has discussed memories of home next to the installation, recording these histories as a way of documenting the Bay Area’s larger immigrant and refugee networks. The gold mylar, which flutters in the plaza’s always-present breeze, references the emergency blankets used at detention centers. Turning “a symbol of potential trauma into something beautiful,” as Duarte says, is one of the piece’s many acts of transformation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In outdoor workshops, the group has discussed memories of home next to the installation, recording these histories as a way of documenting the Bay Area’s larger immigrant and refugee networks. The gold mylar, which flutters in the plaza’s always-present breeze, references the emergency blankets used at detention centers. Turning “a symbol of potential trauma into something beautiful,” as Duarte says, is one of the piece’s many acts of transformation.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In keeping with the idea of a living, active monument, \u003cem>Embassy of the Refugee\u003c/em> will host performances on July 25 by Guatemala-based artists Regina José Galindo and Marilyn Boror Bor (Maya-Kaqchikel), along with Duarte’s frequent collaborator Mia Eve Rollow.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In keeping with the idea of a living, active monument, \u003cem>Embassy of the Refugee\u003c/em> will host performances on July 25 by Guatemala-based artists Regina José Galindo and Marilyn Boror Bor (Maya-Kaqchikel), along with Duarte’s frequent collaborator Mia Eve Rollow.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Within the scaffolding, a ghostly mesh tent echoes both refugee tents and the pediment of City Hall. “The idea of home and house is carried by the body and by memory, not by architecture,” Duarte says, gesturing at the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em>. “Memory is always in movement, rather than these solid structures that force us to remember certain things. They don’t really engage us.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Within the scaffolding, a ghostly mesh tent echoes both refugee tents and the pediment of City Hall. “The idea of home and house is carried by the body and by memory, not by architecture,” Duarte says, gesturing at the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em>. “Memory is always in movement, rather than these solid structures that force us to remember certain things. They don’t really engage us.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "‘More work to be done’",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘More work to be done’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘More work to be done’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>By design, most monuments are built to withstand the ravages of time, even as the world shifts radically around them. It takes events like the 2020 topplings to shift a city’s inertia into action. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>By design, most monuments are built to withstand the ravages of time, even as the world shifts radically around them. It takes events like the 2020 topplings to shift a city’s inertia into action. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shortly after the removal of the Golden Gate Park statues, Mayor London Breed called on the SFAC and other city agencies to change the guidelines around monuments “to reflect the values of the city.” In May 2023, the MMAC’s \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/SF_MMAC_Final_Report_2023.pdf\">final report\u003c/a> made recommendations for evaluating the collection further, while noting, hopefully, that “this is the beginning phase of a larger process; there is more work to be done.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shortly after the removal of the Golden Gate Park statues, Mayor London Breed called on the SFAC and other city agencies to change the guidelines around monuments “to reflect the values of the city.” In May 2023, the MMAC’s \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/SF_MMAC_Final_Report_2023.pdf\">final report\u003c/a> made recommendations for evaluating the collection further, while noting, hopefully, that “this is the beginning phase of a larger process; there is more work to be done.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The city loves reports,” says Angela Carrier, Shaping Legacy’s senior project manager. Normally, she explains, that MMAC report might have just sat there, inert. But a $3 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.mellon.org/news/monuments-project-giving-exceeds-150-million\">Mellon Foundation grant\u003c/a> meant the city could actually implement some of the MMAC recommendations. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The city loves reports,” says Angela Carrier, Shaping Legacy’s senior project manager. Normally, she explains, that MMAC report might have just sat there, inert. But a $3 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.mellon.org/news/monuments-project-giving-exceeds-150-million\">Mellon Foundation grant\u003c/a> meant the city could actually implement some of the MMAC recommendations. \u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL.jpg\" alt=\"gold covered metal posts of scaffolding in front of a stone plinth\" class=\"wp-image-13991401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">‘Embassy of the Refugee’ sits around the ‘Pioneer Monument,’ created in 1894 by sculptor Frank Happersberger and funded by James Lick.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL.jpg\" alt=\"gold covered metal posts of scaffolding in front of a stone plinth\" class=\"wp-image-13991401\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">‘Embassy of the Refugee’ sits around the ‘Pioneer Monument,’ created in 1894 by sculptor Frank Happersberger and funded by James Lick.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shaping Legacy’s first step was to truly audit the San Francisco’s 105 monuments: what do they commemorate, who paid for their construction, what was the context of their creation? “‘We don’t know what we don’t know,’ is what my colleague Allison Cummings says often,” Carrier says.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shaping Legacy’s first step was to truly audit the San Francisco’s 105 monuments: what do they commemorate, who paid for their construction, what was the context of their creation? “‘We don’t know what we don’t know,’ is what my colleague Allison Cummings says often,” Carrier says.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The audit found that 41 of the city’s monuments pre-dated the SFAC, which was established by city charter in 1932. Another 46 entered the Civic Art Collection as gifts from wealthy donors or organized civic groups. Only 18 monuments were explicitly commissioned or acquired by the city. A whopping 77% of the city’s monuments were made by male artists.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The audit found that 41 of the city’s monuments pre-dated the SFAC, which was established by city charter in 1932. Another 46 entered the Civic Art Collection as gifts from wealthy donors or organized civic groups. Only 18 monuments were explicitly commissioned or acquired by the city. A whopping 77% of the city’s monuments were made by male artists.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Then, the work shifted to the present: “Who’s here now? What’s our new understanding of these monuments and the power and public memory at play?” Carrier says. Partnering with the community organizations Gray Area, 500 Capp Street, the Samoan Community Development Center and the Tenderloin Museum, Shaping Legacy funded artist-led film screenings, walking tours, discussions and performances across the city. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Then, the work shifted to the present: “Who’s here now? What’s our new understanding of these monuments and the power and public memory at play?” Carrier says. Partnering with the community organizations Gray Area, 500 Capp Street, the Samoan Community Development Center and the Tenderloin Museum, Shaping Legacy funded artist-led film screenings, walking tours, discussions and performances across the city. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This year, further collaborations with SOMA Pilipinas, the California Migration Museum and Shaping San Francisco have addressed some of the city’s most contentious sites: the Dewey Monument in Union Square, the now-empty plinth of Christopher Columbus, and the trio of sculptures toppled in Golden Gate Park.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>This year, further collaborations with SOMA Pilipinas, the California Migration Museum and Shaping San Francisco have addressed some of the city’s most contentious sites: the Dewey Monument in Union Square, the now-empty plinth of Christopher Columbus, and the trio of sculptures toppled in Golden Gate Park.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the SFAC will make recommendations about the future of these sites, and how the city should consider the removal, relocation or destruction of monuments moving forward. One of the crucial findings from the Shaping Legacy audit is that the public is far more interested in the creation of new work than the removal of existing statues. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the SFAC will make recommendations about the future of these sites, and how the city should consider the removal, relocation or destruction of monuments moving forward. One of the crucial findings from the Shaping Legacy audit is that the public is far more interested in the creation of new work than the removal of existing statues. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“New monuments have the opportunity to tell the complete story of San Francisco by memorializing stories previously untold and marginalized,” the report states. “New monuments can also be an opportunity for community empowerment, celebration and joy.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“New monuments have the opportunity to tell the complete story of San Francisco by memorializing stories previously untold and marginalized,” the report states. “New monuments can also be an opportunity for community empowerment, celebration and joy.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"man in glasses on stool in painting studio with artworks behind him\" class=\"wp-image-13991399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adrián Arias sits in his studio in Oakland on July 7, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"man in glasses on stool in painting studio with artworks behind him\" class=\"wp-image-13991399\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adrián Arias sits in his studio in Oakland on July 7, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s difficult to find something more joyful than \u003ca href=\"https://adrianarias.com/\">Adrián Arias\u003c/a>’ enthusiasm for paletas. The Shaping Legacy grantee has built a roving, multifaceted homage to the paleteros and paleteras who trace a “sweet route” through the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It’s difficult to find something more joyful than \u003ca href=\"https://adrianarias.com/\">Adrián Arias\u003c/a>’ enthusiasm for paletas. The Shaping Legacy grantee has built a roving, multifaceted homage to the paleteros and paleteras who trace a “sweet route” through the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A Sweet Route\u003c/em> kicked off during Carnaval with a small army of paleteros handing out free treats, as they rolled down the parade route. At their center was Arias’ sculpture of eight-foot-tall vibrantly painted paleta. “It was a very happy moment for everybody,” he says. “And a very special recognition for immigrant workers.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A Sweet Route\u003c/em> kicked off during Carnaval with a small army of paleteros handing out free treats, as they rolled down the parade route. At their center was Arias’ sculpture of eight-foot-tall vibrantly painted paleta. “It was a very happy moment for everybody,” he says. “And a very special recognition for immigrant workers.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The celebrations continued on June 20 with a music- and dance-fueled walk from the 24th Street BART Plaza to Parque Niños Unidos, where the Oakland band LoCura and Anaís Azul performed the specially commissioned (and very catchy) song “\u003ca href=\"https://locuramusica.bandcamp.com/track/paleter\">Paleter@\u003c/a>.” A painted wooden monument to two local paleteros now stands in the park, watching over playing children. On Aug. 2, the project will move, with equal fanfare, to Potrero del Sol.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The celebrations continued on June 20 with a music- and dance-fueled walk from the 24th Street BART Plaza to Parque Niños Unidos, where the Oakland band LoCura and Anaís Azul performed the specially commissioned (and very catchy) song “\u003ca href=\"https://locuramusica.bandcamp.com/track/paleter\">Paleter@\u003c/a>.” A painted wooden monument to two local paleteros now stands in the park, watching over playing children. On Aug. 2, the project will move, with equal fanfare, to Potrero del Sol.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2000x885.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991397\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2000x885.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-160x71.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-768x340.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-1536x679.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2048x906.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Left: Artist Adrián Arias works on a ‘A Sweet Route: Tribute to Paleteros.’ Right: ‘A Sweet Route’ at the Carnaval parade in San Francisco on May 24, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2000x885.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991397\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Left: Artist Adrián Arias works on a ‘A Sweet Route: Tribute to Paleteros.’ Right: ‘A Sweet Route’ at the Carnaval parade in San Francisco on May 24, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Arias is brimming with ideas for even more temporary monuments, particularly for the Mission, which has no permanent city monuments. “I really like the idea of the ephemeral thing that is a temporary monument moving around,” Arias says. He believes ardently in “recognizing our own heroes in our own neighborhoods.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Arias is brimming with ideas for even more temporary monuments, particularly for the Mission, which has no permanent city monuments. “I really like the idea of the ephemeral thing that is a temporary monument moving around,” Arias says. He believes ardently in “recognizing our own heroes in our own neighborhoods.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A hallmark of the five Shaping Legacy artists is a drive toward dispersal — to share their own enthusiasm for their chosen subject with as many members of the public and in as many formats as possible. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A hallmark of the five Shaping Legacy artists is a drive toward dispersal — to share their own enthusiasm for their chosen subject with as many members of the public and in as many formats as possible. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sew_frisco/\">Ariana Martinez-Cruz\u003c/a> is currently hard at work on \u003cem>Threaded Histories\u003c/em>, a monument to San Francisco’s garment workers, which will connect the city’s Latino and Chinese immigrant communities through a July 11 mending workshop, a Chinatown-Rose Pak Station information kiosk, a large-scale textile sculpture and the distribution of custom-made patches (among other manifestations).\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sew_frisco/\">Ariana Martinez-Cruz\u003c/a> is currently hard at work on \u003cem>Threaded Histories\u003c/em>, a monument to San Francisco’s garment workers, which will connect the city’s Latino and Chinese immigrant communities through a July 11 mending workshop, a Chinatown-Rose Pak Station information kiosk, a large-scale textile sculpture and the distribution of custom-made patches (among other manifestations).\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For Martinez-Cruz, a big part of her work is empowering others to see the monumental in their own ordinary actions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For Martinez-Cruz, a big part of her work is empowering others to see the monumental in their own ordinary actions. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“When I do community workshops, at least three if not more people will come to me and say ‘I remember when my mom sewed like this,’” she says. “And then I’m listening to their stories of their loved things that were mended or made for a special occasion. It’s helping people connect to what they didn’t realize was living history in front of them.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“When I do community workshops, at least three if not more people will come to me and say ‘I remember when my mom sewed like this,’” she says. “And then I’m listening to their stories of their loved things that were mended or made for a special occasion. It’s helping people connect to what they didn’t realize was living history in front of them.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL.jpg\" alt=\"brightly painted wooden monument in park with playground behind\" class=\"wp-image-13991403\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adrián Arias’ ‘A Sweet Route: Tribute to Paleteros’ at Parque Niños Unidos in the Mission District of San Francisco on July 6, 2026, honors and celebrates immigrant ice cream vendors.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL.jpg\" alt=\"brightly painted wooden monument in park with playground behind\" class=\"wp-image-13991403\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adrián Arias’ ‘A Sweet Route: Tribute to Paleteros’ at Parque Niños Unidos in the Mission District of San Francisco on July 6, 2026, honors and celebrates immigrant ice cream vendors.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The many aspects of the Shaping Legacy commissions fill a timeline that stretches well into October, including forthcoming temporary monuments by \u003ca href=\"https://afatasi.com/\">Afatasi the Artist\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.staceycarter.net/home.html\">Stacey Carter\u003c/a> and a team of collaborators, both in Bayview-Hunters Point. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The many aspects of the Shaping Legacy commissions fill a timeline that stretches well into October, including forthcoming temporary monuments by \u003ca href=\"https://afatasi.com/\">Afatasi the Artist\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.staceycarter.net/home.html\">Stacey Carter\u003c/a> and a team of collaborators, both in Bayview-Hunters Point. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The grant period comes to a close at the end of 2026. Carrier says the project aims to leave the city with real recommendations about the future of its monuments, especially the ones that have been removed from view in recent years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The grant period comes to a close at the end of 2026. Carrier says the project aims to leave the city with real recommendations about the future of its monuments, especially the ones that have been removed from view in recent years. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>There will be no one-size-fits-all solution, she emphasizes. But so far, public feedback and the current commissions make a very good case for the power of adding even temporary artwork to the city’s so-called “commemorative landscape.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>There will be no one-size-fits-all solution, she emphasizes. But so far, public feedback and the current commissions make a very good case for the power of adding even temporary artwork to the city’s so-called “commemorative landscape.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It may take another infusion of non-taxpayer money like the Mellon grant, however, for Shaping Legacy’s final recommendations to be turned into action. The SFAC has limited staffing and funding to continue commissioning temporary artworks.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It may take another infusion of non-taxpayer money like the Mellon grant, however, for Shaping Legacy’s final recommendations to be turned into action. The SFAC has limited staffing and funding to continue commissioning temporary artworks.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the desire for more monuments to everyday life and ordinary people is palpable. Arias recalls, “Installing the other day at Parque Niños Unidos, a group of nannies came to me and said, ‘Where will be the monument for nannies?’”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the desire for more monuments to everyday life and ordinary people is palpable. Arias recalls, “Installing the other day at Parque Niños Unidos, a group of nannies came to me and said, ‘Where will be the monument for nannies?’”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For the most up-to-date list of Shaping Legacy artworks and events, \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/shaping-legacy\">\u003cem>click here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For the most up-to-date list of Shaping Legacy artworks and events, \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/shaping-legacy\">\u003cem>click here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Upcoming events include Ariana Martinez-Cruz’s ‘Threaded Histories’ Community Mending Circle at Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas (683 Florida St., San Francisco), on July 11, 12–4 p.m. and a ‘Threaded Histories’ Monument patch distribution and celebration at CANA on July 25, 12–4 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Upcoming events include Ariana Martinez-Cruz’s ‘Threaded Histories’ Community Mending Circle at Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas (683 Florida St., San Francisco), on July 11, 12–4 p.m. and a ‘Threaded Histories’ Monument patch distribution and celebration at CANA on July 25, 12–4 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaleb Duarte’s ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ will host performances on July 25 at Fulton Plaza. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaleb Duarte’s ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ will host performances on July 25 at Fulton Plaza. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Adrián Arias’ ‘A Sweet Route’ will be on view at Parque Niños Unidos (23rd and Treat Streets) through July 20 and will move to Potrero del Sol (Potrero Avenue and 25th Street) for a celebration on Aug. 2.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Adrián Arias’ ‘A Sweet Route’ will be on view at Parque Niños Unidos (23rd and Treat Streets) through July 20 and will move to Potrero del Sol (Potrero Avenue and 25th Street) for a celebration on Aug. 2.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Stacey Carter’s ‘CRANE project’ will illuminate the Hunters Point Shipyard Gantry Crane Oct. 9–11 and 16–18.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Stacey Carter’s ‘CRANE project’ will illuminate the Hunters Point Shipyard Gantry Crane Oct. 9–11 and 16–18.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the weeks of protests following the murder of George Floyd, monuments across the country became the focus of intense, righteous energy. For too long, the demonstrators argued, these representations of oppression and violence — sometimes, of outright sedition — had presided over public spaces, warping our understanding of America’s past.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In some instances, the statues had been the subject of years of organizing and petitions for removal, to no avail. So in 2020, people \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11824381/historical-figures-reassessed-after-george-floyds-death\">took matters into their own hands\u003c/a>, either tagging the monuments’ pedestals, pouring red paint on them or toppling the statues altogether. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It was these actions — and the physical danger to those doing the toppling — that led the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to preemptively remove the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825103/san-francisco-removes-controversial-christopher-columbus-statue-on-telegraph-hill\">Christopher Columbus statue\u003c/a> from the base of Coit Tower on June 18, 2020. The following day, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11826151/how-do-we-heal-toppling-the-myth-of-junipero-serra\">protesters pulled down three statues\u003c/a> in Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse: monuments to Francis Scott Key, Junípero Serra and Ulysses S. Grant.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While the plinths have stood empty, the SFAC has engaged in an unprecedented effort to truly reckon with the city’s monuments. Over the past six years, the agency has deeply researched all 105 monuments in San Francisco’s Civic Art Collection, holding community meetings and soliciting feedback. In 2025, the SFAC released a \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/SL_Audit_Final_Report_Tear_Sheets_Web_05052025.pdf\">521-page audit report\u003c/a>.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Now, as its final act, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/shaping-legacy\">Shaping Legacy project\u003c/a> has commissioned five artists and collaboratives to create temporary monuments to subjects of their choice.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Instead of nativist leaders or military victories, these artworks celebrate refugees, paleteros, garment and shipyard workers, and families of the Great Migration. Currently playing out as installations and events, and spreading from Civic Center to Hunters Point, these pieces of public art challenge the very notion of what San Francisco’s future monuments can be. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"919\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2000x919.jpg\" alt=\"man wraps metal scaffolding in gold mylar, group poses on scaffolding\" class=\"wp-image-13991396\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2000x919.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-768x353.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-1536x706.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_Diptych-2048x941.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A team of artist ambassadors works on ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ in San Francisco’s Fulton Plaza. (Courtesy of Kaleb Duarte)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>A monument to invisible labor\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Civic Center is home to nearly a quarter of the city’s monuments, the most prominent of which sits between the main library and the Asian Art Museum. Created in 1894 by sculptor Frank Happersberger, the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em> tells a selective and glorified story of California’s founding, illustrated by the white Americans (plus a few Spanish and Mexican leaders) who conquered the land and its Indigenous people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, Native American activists called for the removal of one especially offensive component of the monument. \u003cem>Early Days\u003c/em> depicted Junípero Serra “converting” a supine Indigenous man (depicted as a Plains Indian). A triumphant vaquero stood by with his arm raised.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2018, after successful lobbying, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13840748/early-days-statue-in-sf-deemed-racist-will-be-removed-following-re-vote\">\u003cem>Early Days\u003c/em> was removed\u003c/a>. Even so, according to a 2023 community survey by the Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee (MMAC, a precursor to the Shaping Legacy project), the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em> remains one of the city’s least-liked monuments.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The site’s contentious history provides a rare opportunity for an artist to confront such historical symbols of power. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.calebduarte.org/\">Kaleb Duarte\u003c/a> is up to the task.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Currently, a delicate scaffolding and scrim sits around the center of the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em>, obscuring the view of its bronze reliefs. Since early June, Duarte and a team of “artist ambassadors” have been working on site, covering the metal poles of the scaffolding with strips of gold mylar. They are, in effect, gilding the structure. The piece, titled \u003cem>Embassy of the Refuge\u003c/em>e, is part of an ongoing series.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The scaffold is an ugly thing that you try to not look at when you’re looking at architecture,” Duarte says on a windy farmers market day, “but I think it represents the worker and the forgotten.” Duarte’s collaborators are from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico; the participants have been in the United States anywhere from two to 15 years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5.jpg\" alt=\"two people stand on scaffolding beside bronze statue\" class=\"wp-image-13991394\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/KalebDuarte_CourtesyPhotos_5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Artist ambassadors work on ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ in Fulton Plaza. (Courtesy of Kaleb Duarte)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In outdoor workshops, the group has discussed memories of home next to the installation, recording these histories as a way of documenting the Bay Area’s larger immigrant and refugee networks. The gold mylar, which flutters in the plaza’s always-present breeze, references the emergency blankets used at detention centers. Turning “a symbol of potential trauma into something beautiful,” as Duarte says, is one of the piece’s many acts of transformation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In keeping with the idea of a living, active monument, \u003cem>Embassy of the Refugee\u003c/em> will host performances on July 25 by Guatemala-based artists Regina José Galindo and Marilyn Boror Bor (Maya-Kaqchikel), along with Duarte’s frequent collaborator Mia Eve Rollow.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Within the scaffolding, a ghostly mesh tent echoes both refugee tents and the pediment of City Hall. “The idea of home and house is carried by the body and by memory, not by architecture,” Duarte says, gesturing at the \u003cem>Pioneer Monument\u003c/em>. “Memory is always in movement, rather than these solid structures that force us to remember certain things. They don’t really engage us.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘More work to be done’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>By design, most monuments are built to withstand the ravages of time, even as the world shifts radically around them. It takes events like the 2020 topplings to shift a city’s inertia into action. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shortly after the removal of the Golden Gate Park statues, Mayor London Breed called on the SFAC and other city agencies to change the guidelines around monuments “to reflect the values of the city.” In May 2023, the MMAC’s \u003ca href=\"https://media.api.sf.gov/documents/SF_MMAC_Final_Report_2023.pdf\">final report\u003c/a> made recommendations for evaluating the collection further, while noting, hopefully, that “this is the beginning phase of a larger process; there is more work to be done.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The city loves reports,” says Angela Carrier, Shaping Legacy’s senior project manager. Normally, she explains, that MMAC report might have just sat there, inert. But a $3 million \u003ca href=\"https://www.mellon.org/news/monuments-project-giving-exceeds-150-million\">Mellon Foundation grant\u003c/a> meant the city could actually implement some of the MMAC recommendations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL.jpg\" alt=\"gold covered metal posts of scaffolding in front of a stone plinth\" class=\"wp-image-13991401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-10-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">‘Embassy of the Refugee’ sits around the ‘Pioneer Monument,’ created in 1894 by sculptor Frank Happersberger and funded by James Lick. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shaping Legacy’s first step was to truly audit the San Francisco’s 105 monuments: what do they commemorate, who paid for their construction, what was the context of their creation? “‘We don’t know what we don’t know,’ is what my colleague Allison Cummings says often,” Carrier says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The audit found that 41 of the city’s monuments pre-dated the SFAC, which was established by city charter in 1932. Another 46 entered the Civic Art Collection as gifts from wealthy donors or organized civic groups. Only 18 monuments were explicitly commissioned or acquired by the city. A whopping 77% of the city’s monuments were made by male artists.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then, the work shifted to the present: “Who’s here now? What’s our new understanding of these monuments and the power and public memory at play?” Carrier says. Partnering with the community organizations Gray Area, 500 Capp Street, the Samoan Community Development Center and the Tenderloin Museum, Shaping Legacy funded artist-led film screenings, walking tours, discussions and performances across the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This year, further collaborations with SOMA Pilipinas, the California Migration Museum and Shaping San Francisco have addressed some of the city’s most contentious sites: the Dewey Monument in Union Square, the now-empty plinth of Christopher Columbus, and the trio of sculptures toppled in Golden Gate Park.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the SFAC will make recommendations about the future of these sites, and how the city should consider the removal, relocation or destruction of monuments moving forward. One of the crucial findings from the Shaping Legacy audit is that the public is far more interested in the creation of new work than the removal of existing statues. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“New monuments have the opportunity to tell the complete story of San Francisco by memorializing stories previously untold and marginalized,” the report states. “New monuments can also be an opportunity for community empowerment, celebration and joy.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"man in glasses on stool in painting studio with artworks behind him\" class=\"wp-image-13991399\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/070726-StatuesinSFToppled-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adrián Arias sits in his studio in Oakland on July 7, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Memorializing the everyday\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s difficult to find something more joyful than \u003ca href=\"https://adrianarias.com/\">Adrián Arias\u003c/a>’ enthusiasm for paletas. The Shaping Legacy grantee has built a roving, multifaceted homage to the paleteros and paleteras who trace a “sweet route” through the Mission District.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A Sweet Route\u003c/em> kicked off during Carnaval with a small army of paleteros handing out free treats, as they rolled down the parade route. At their center was Arias’ sculpture of eight-foot-tall vibrantly painted paleta. “It was a very happy moment for everybody,” he says. “And a very special recognition for immigrant workers.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The celebrations continued on June 20 with a music- and dance-fueled walk from the 24th Street BART Plaza to Parque Niños Unidos, where the Oakland band LoCura and Anaís Azul performed the specially commissioned (and very catchy) song “\u003ca href=\"https://locuramusica.bandcamp.com/track/paleter\">Paleter@\u003c/a>.” A painted wooden monument to two local paleteros now stands in the park, watching over playing children. On Aug. 2, the project will move, with equal fanfare, to Potrero del Sol.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"885\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2000x885.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991397\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2000x885.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-160x71.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-768x340.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-1536x679.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/AdrianArias_CourtesyPhotos_A-Sweet-Route-part1-Paleta-at-carnaval-Diptych-2048x906.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Left: Artist Adrián Arias works on a ‘A Sweet Route: Tribute to Paleteros.’ Right: ‘A Sweet Route’ at the Carnaval parade in San Francisco on May 24, 2026. (Courtesy of Adrián Arias)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Arias is brimming with ideas for even more temporary monuments, particularly for the Mission, which has no permanent city monuments. “I really like the idea of the ephemeral thing that is a temporary monument moving around,” Arias says. He believes ardently in “recognizing our own heroes in our own neighborhoods.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A hallmark of the five Shaping Legacy artists is a drive toward dispersal — to share their own enthusiasm for their chosen subject with as many members of the public and in as many formats as possible. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sew_frisco/\">Ariana Martinez-Cruz\u003c/a> is currently hard at work on \u003cem>Threaded Histories\u003c/em>, a monument to San Francisco’s garment workers, which will connect the city’s Latino and Chinese immigrant communities through a July 11 mending workshop, a Chinatown-Rose Pak Station information kiosk, a large-scale textile sculpture and the distribution of custom-made patches (among other manifestations).\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For Martinez-Cruz, a big part of her work is empowering others to see the monumental in their own ordinary actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“When I do community workshops, at least three if not more people will come to me and say ‘I remember when my mom sewed like this,’” she says. “And then I’m listening to their stories of their loved things that were mended or made for a special occasion. It’s helping people connect to what they didn’t realize was living history in front of them.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL.jpg\" alt=\"brightly painted wooden monument in park with playground behind\" class=\"wp-image-13991403\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/260706-StatuesinSFToppled-12-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adrián Arias’ ‘A Sweet Route: Tribute to Paleteros’ at Parque Niños Unidos in the Mission District of San Francisco on July 6, 2026, honors and celebrates immigrant ice cream vendors. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Monuments to the future\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The many aspects of the Shaping Legacy commissions fill a timeline that stretches well into October, including forthcoming temporary monuments by \u003ca href=\"https://afatasi.com/\">Afatasi the Artist\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.staceycarter.net/home.html\">Stacey Carter\u003c/a> and a team of collaborators, both in Bayview-Hunters Point. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The grant period comes to a close at the end of 2026. Carrier says the project aims to leave the city with real recommendations about the future of its monuments, especially the ones that have been removed from view in recent years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There will be no one-size-fits-all solution, she emphasizes. But so far, public feedback and the current commissions make a very good case for the power of adding even temporary artwork to the city’s so-called “commemorative landscape.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It may take another infusion of non-taxpayer money like the Mellon grant, however, for Shaping Legacy’s final recommendations to be turned into action. The SFAC has limited staffing and funding to continue commissioning temporary artworks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the desire for more monuments to everyday life and ordinary people is palpable. Arias recalls, “Installing the other day at Parque Niños Unidos, a group of nannies came to me and said, ‘Where will be the monument for nannies?’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For the most up-to-date list of Shaping Legacy artworks and events, \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/shaping-legacy\">\u003cem>click here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Upcoming events include Ariana Martinez-Cruz’s ‘Threaded Histories’ Community Mending Circle at Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas (683 Florida St., San Francisco), on July 11, 12–4 p.m. and a ‘Threaded Histories’ Monument patch distribution and celebration at CANA on July 25, 12–4 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaleb Duarte’s ‘Embassy of the Refugee’ will host performances on July 25 at Fulton Plaza. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Adrián Arias’ ‘A Sweet Route’ will be on view at Parque Niños Unidos (23rd and Treat Streets) through July 20 and will move to Potrero del Sol (Potrero Avenue and 25th Street) for a celebration on Aug. 2.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Stacey Carter’s ‘CRANE project’ will illuminate the Hunters Point Shipyard Gantry Crane Oct. 9–11 and 16–18.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As a freewheeling kid growing up in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose\">East San Jose\u003c/a> in the late 1990s, Christian Vela anticipated each San Jose Jazz Festival with a mounting excitement that he can still recall vividly.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was the feeling you get the last day of school, or right before Christmas, then I’d get on my bike and ride down to the festival,” he recalls, still sounding amazed at seeing musicians he loved on the same downtown plaza stage where he’d skateboard. “One year, I ended up getting backstage and took a photo with Poncho Sanchez, who was a hero of mine. I couldn’t believe it!”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/8SM3Cqm9xL0?si=kHiiK7v2lH323QWe\">today’s announcement\u003c/a> that Vela will take over as artistic director of that very same festival — now known as \u003ca href=\"https://summerfest.sanjosejazz.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=2085391436&gbraid=0AAAAAD_iJiL4JfAucAzI0YPHHUZqS8UDV&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3qLSBhDaARIsAFTiVh6rdHAuzfgsaXmd_1I1VarYYWt5M2bCDGwE3cNUQIWhS_t4ds-gRwsaAvNOEALw_wcB\">Summer Fest\u003c/a>, which from Aug. 7–9 brings dozens of jazz, blues, R&B, Latin and soul acts to downtown San José — he’s made a full-circle journey back to the organization that shaped his love of music.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Vela’s already made an impact since taking over as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose-jazz\">San Jose Jazz\u003c/a>’s production manager in 2024, and his appointment last year as associate artistic director. He steps into the lead curator role in September, filling the big shoes of Bruce Labadie, the pervasively influential South Bay music programmer who’s booked Summer Fest since its inception in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson.jpg\" alt=\"A white man in a mustache and colorful sweatshirt poses against a wood paneled wall with a striking Black woman in a tan suit jacket and decorative rings.\" class=\"wp-image-13991321\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson-768x514.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson-1536x1028.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Jose Jazz founder Bruce Labadie, at right, with singer Nancy Wilson in 1986. (Courtesy San Jose Jazz)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At 45, Vela brings a wealth of experience to the position — and not just from riding his bike to the festival each year as a teenager. He served as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/sfjazz\">SFJAZZ\u003c/a>’s senior production manager for 11 years, from 2013-2024, followed by a year-long stint as COO of the Presidio Theatre. After coming back home, he’s spent the past two years under Labadie’s wing at San Jose Jazz.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Christian knows how to work with artists,” says Labadie, whose half-century career encompasses booking three dozen venues and festivals across the state, including last summer’s Monterey Jazz Festival. “He’s involved in all kinds of other things that San Jose Jazz is doing, like the Break Room, but Summer Fest is a different level. I cautioned him, it’s non-stop work.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Judging by his track record at the Break Room, an intimate venue that San Jose Jazz opened during the pandemic, Vela has already brought in a trove of new ideas. A self-described vinylphile, he added artist residencies into the Break Room mix, which includes taking musicians record hunting before they spin albums and discuss their formative influences for an audience.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1600\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1-768x614.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1-1536x1229.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christian Vela, at left, with the Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. (Courtesy San Jose Jazz)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s actually very selfish, bringing together all the things that I like,” Vela says. “My partner and I are into vinyl — she spins as DJ Weekend Girl — and I wanted to think of a unique way to introduce a vinyl night.” Another idea of Vela’s was having the resident artist join an all-ages jam session that takes place on \u003ca href=\"https://www.southfirstfridays.com/\">First Fridays\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of four children born in San José to parents from Ciudad Juárez, Vela got his start as a musician playing guitar in church. When a group of friends at Independence High School gained traction with the ska band Firme, he became their tour manager. As the keeper of the band’s van, he ended up providing transportation for Manu Chao, and struck up a friendship with the polyglot French-Spanish star.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Around 2011, Manu Chao’s people dropped his name to the Malian couple Amadou and Mariam, who at the time were seeking a tour manager. Despite speaking rudimentary French, Vela jumped into the role.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I did my homework on the instruments, learning how to set them up and mic them, and did my part in trying to learn French, taking courses on my phone,” Vela says. “I think they saw the effort I put forth, and I toured with them for almost three years.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He was ready to come off the road and spend some time at home when Amadou and Mariam concluded a long tour with an SFJAZZ performance at Davies Symphony Hall in 2013. “I’m like a roadrunner all over the place, and the SFJAZZ production manager on stage was watching me,” recalls Vela, who ended up signing on with the recently opened SFJAZZ Center. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1411\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991323\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles.jpg 1411w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles-160x227.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles-768x1089.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles-1084x1536.jpg 1084w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1411px) 100vw, 1411px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Saxophonist Kamasi Washington performs as part of Summer Fest in downtown San José. (Grason Littles)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If he was helping forge a new venue identity at SFJAZZ, he’s taking on a very different role at San Jose Jazz, which for decades has maintained one of the West Coast’s premiere festivals by building upon San José’s downtown resources, like the Tech Museum, Montgomery Theater and expansive plaza.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s one of my favorite festivals, and an advantage Christian has is that Bruce Labadie has given him a runway,” says bassist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/marcus-shelby\">Marcus Shelby\u003c/a> — who, as the artistic director of Healdsburg Jazz since 2020, knows all about taking over programming from a festival’s founder.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the perfect opportunity and situation for him,” Shelby adds. “He’s someone who loves and knows the heartbeat of the city.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>With \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/8SM3Cqm9xL0?si=kHiiK7v2lH323QWe\">today’s announcement\u003c/a> that Vela will take over as artistic director of that very same festival — now known as \u003ca href=\"https://summerfest.sanjosejazz.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=2085391436&gbraid=0AAAAAD_iJiL4JfAucAzI0YPHHUZqS8UDV&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3qLSBhDaARIsAFTiVh6rdHAuzfgsaXmd_1I1VarYYWt5M2bCDGwE3cNUQIWhS_t4ds-gRwsaAvNOEALw_wcB\">Summer Fest\u003c/a>, which from Aug. 7–9 brings dozens of jazz, blues, R&B, Latin and soul acts to downtown San José — he’s made a full-circle journey back to the organization that shaped his love of music.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Vela’s already made an impact since taking over as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose-jazz\">San Jose Jazz\u003c/a>’s production manager in 2024, and his appointment last year as associate artistic director. He steps into the lead curator role in September, filling the big shoes of Bruce Labadie, the pervasively influential South Bay music programmer who’s booked Summer Fest since its inception in 1990.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Christian knows how to work with artists,” says Labadie, whose half-century career encompasses booking three dozen venues and festivals across the state, including last summer’s Monterey Jazz Festival. “He’s involved in all kinds of other things that San Jose Jazz is doing, like the Break Room, but Summer Fest is a different level. I cautioned him, it’s non-stop work.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Judging by his track record at the Break Room, an intimate venue that San Jose Jazz opened during the pandemic, Vela has already brought in a trove of new ideas. A self-described vinylphile, he added artist residencies into the Break Room mix, which includes taking musicians record hunting before they spin albums and discuss their formative influences for an audience.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s actually very selfish, bringing together all the things that I like,” Vela says. “My partner and I are into vinyl — she spins as DJ Weekend Girl — and I wanted to think of a unique way to introduce a vinyl night.” Another idea of Vela’s was having the resident artist join an all-ages jam session that takes place on \u003ca href=\"https://www.southfirstfridays.com/\">First Fridays\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of four children born in San José to parents from Ciudad Juárez, Vela got his start as a musician playing guitar in church. When a group of friends at Independence High School gained traction with the ska band Firme, he became their tour manager. As the keeper of the band’s van, he ended up providing transportation for Manu Chao, and struck up a friendship with the polyglot French-Spanish star.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Around 2011, Manu Chao’s people dropped his name to the Malian couple Amadou and Mariam, who at the time were seeking a tour manager. Despite speaking rudimentary French, Vela jumped into the role.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I did my homework on the instruments, learning how to set them up and mic them, and did my part in trying to learn French, taking courses on my phone,” Vela says. “I think they saw the effort I put forth, and I toured with them for almost three years.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He was ready to come off the road and spend some time at home when Amadou and Mariam concluded a long tour with an SFJAZZ performance at Davies Symphony Hall in 2013. “I’m like a roadrunner all over the place, and the SFJAZZ production manager on stage was watching me,” recalls Vela, who ended up signing on with the recently opened SFJAZZ Center. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s one of my favorite festivals, and an advantage Christian has is that Bruce Labadie has given him a runway,” says bassist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/marcus-shelby\">Marcus Shelby\u003c/a> — who, as the artistic director of Healdsburg Jazz since 2020, knows all about taking over programming from a festival’s founder.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The kid who once rode his bike to the downtown jazz festival each year will now run the show.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As a freewheeling kid growing up in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose\">East San Jose\u003c/a> in the late 1990s, Christian Vela anticipated each San Jose Jazz Festival with a mounting excitement that he can still recall vividly.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was the feeling you get the last day of school, or right before Christmas, then I’d get on my bike and ride down to the festival,” he recalls, still sounding amazed at seeing musicians he loved on the same downtown plaza stage where he’d skateboard. “One year, I ended up getting backstage and took a photo with Poncho Sanchez, who was a hero of mine. I couldn’t believe it!”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/8SM3Cqm9xL0?si=kHiiK7v2lH323QWe\">today’s announcement\u003c/a> that Vela will take over as artistic director of that very same festival — now known as \u003ca href=\"https://summerfest.sanjosejazz.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=2085391436&gbraid=0AAAAAD_iJiL4JfAucAzI0YPHHUZqS8UDV&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3qLSBhDaARIsAFTiVh6rdHAuzfgsaXmd_1I1VarYYWt5M2bCDGwE3cNUQIWhS_t4ds-gRwsaAvNOEALw_wcB\">Summer Fest\u003c/a>, which from Aug. 7–9 brings dozens of jazz, blues, R&B, Latin and soul acts to downtown San José — he’s made a full-circle journey back to the organization that shaped his love of music.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Vela’s already made an impact since taking over as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-jose-jazz\">San Jose Jazz\u003c/a>’s production manager in 2024, and his appointment last year as associate artistic director. He steps into the lead curator role in September, filling the big shoes of Bruce Labadie, the pervasively influential South Bay music programmer who’s booked Summer Fest since its inception in 1990.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson.jpg\" alt=\"A white man in a mustache and colorful sweatshirt poses against a wood paneled wall with a striking Black woman in a tan suit jacket and decorative rings.\" class=\"wp-image-13991321\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson-768x514.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/1986_Bruce_Labadie_with_Nancy_Wilson-1536x1028.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Jose Jazz founder Bruce Labadie, at right, with singer Nancy Wilson in 1986. (Courtesy San Jose Jazz)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At 45, Vela brings a wealth of experience to the position — and not just from riding his bike to the festival each year as a teenager. He served as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/sfjazz\">SFJAZZ\u003c/a>’s senior production manager for 11 years, from 2013-2024, followed by a year-long stint as COO of the Presidio Theatre. After coming back home, he’s spent the past two years under Labadie’s wing at San Jose Jazz.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Christian knows how to work with artists,” says Labadie, whose half-century career encompasses booking three dozen venues and festivals across the state, including last summer’s Monterey Jazz Festival. “He’s involved in all kinds of other things that San Jose Jazz is doing, like the Break Room, but Summer Fest is a different level. I cautioned him, it’s non-stop work.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Judging by his track record at the Break Room, an intimate venue that San Jose Jazz opened during the pandemic, Vela has already brought in a trove of new ideas. A self-described vinylphile, he added artist residencies into the Break Room mix, which includes taking musicians record hunting before they spin albums and discuss their formative influences for an audience.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1600\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1-768x614.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/Christian-and-Chucho-1-1536x1229.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christian Vela, at left, with the Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. (Courtesy San Jose Jazz)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s actually very selfish, bringing together all the things that I like,” Vela says. “My partner and I are into vinyl — she spins as DJ Weekend Girl — and I wanted to think of a unique way to introduce a vinyl night.” Another idea of Vela’s was having the resident artist join an all-ages jam session that takes place on \u003ca href=\"https://www.southfirstfridays.com/\">First Fridays\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of four children born in San José to parents from Ciudad Juárez, Vela got his start as a musician playing guitar in church. When a group of friends at Independence High School gained traction with the ska band Firme, he became their tour manager. As the keeper of the band’s van, he ended up providing transportation for Manu Chao, and struck up a friendship with the polyglot French-Spanish star.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Around 2011, Manu Chao’s people dropped his name to the Malian couple Amadou and Mariam, who at the time were seeking a tour manager. Despite speaking rudimentary French, Vela jumped into the role.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I did my homework on the instruments, learning how to set them up and mic them, and did my part in trying to learn French, taking courses on my phone,” Vela says. “I think they saw the effort I put forth, and I toured with them for almost three years.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He was ready to come off the road and spend some time at home when Amadou and Mariam concluded a long tour with an SFJAZZ performance at Davies Symphony Hall in 2013. “I’m like a roadrunner all over the place, and the SFJAZZ production manager on stage was watching me,” recalls Vela, who ended up signing on with the recently opened SFJAZZ Center. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1411\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991323\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles.jpg 1411w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles-160x227.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles-768x1089.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/SJZ-SF_Kamasi-Washington_photo-by-Grason-Littles-1084x1536.jpg 1084w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1411px) 100vw, 1411px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Saxophonist Kamasi Washington performs as part of Summer Fest in downtown San José. (Grason Littles)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If he was helping forge a new venue identity at SFJAZZ, he’s taking on a very different role at San Jose Jazz, which for decades has maintained one of the West Coast’s premiere festivals by building upon San José’s downtown resources, like the Tech Museum, Montgomery Theater and expansive plaza.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s one of my favorite festivals, and an advantage Christian has is that Bruce Labadie has given him a runway,” says bassist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/marcus-shelby\">Marcus Shelby\u003c/a> — who, as the artistic director of Healdsburg Jazz since 2020, knows all about taking over programming from a festival’s founder.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the perfect opportunity and situation for him,” Shelby adds. “He’s someone who loves and knows the heartbeat of the city.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>On the TODAY show Wednesday morning, Danny Glover announced that he has Alzheimer’s disease. The San Francisco-based actor and activist said he was initially diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I can live with it, in a sense,” Glover told NBC’s Lester Holt during an on-air interview. “I’m sure as it advances, things are going to be different.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Now 79, the award-winning actor has etched an indelible legacy, known for roles in films like \u003cem>The Color Purple,\u003c/em> \u003cem>Lethal Weapon\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Angels in The Outfield\u003c/em>. Local productions he’s appeared in include \u003cem>Sorry to Bother You\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Last Black Man in San Francisco\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He has said his favorite film to work on was \u003cem>Places in the Heart\u003c/em>, and dedicated his performance to his mother, who was killed in a car accident on the day he was cast.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"574\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"Actor Danny Glover speaks during a rally on jobs December 7, 2016 at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC to demand good jobs and workers' rights from the incoming President-elect Donald Trump administration.\" class=\"wp-image-13859513\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Actor Danny Glover speaks during a rally on jobs December 7, 2016 at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC to demand good jobs and workers’ rights from the incoming President-elect Donald Trump administration. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>An activist before his acting career, Glover has remained involved in civic discourse. Since 2004, he’s been a \u003ca href=\"https://www.unicef.org/goodwill-ambassadors/danny-glover\">UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador\u003c/a>, in addition to sitting on the board of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackaids.org/\">Black AIDS Institute\u003c/a> and serving on the \u003ca href=\"https://ibw21.org/initiatives/national-african-american-reparations-commission/page/9/?ref=opendemocracy.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National African American Reparations Commission\u003c/a>. In 2010, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danny-glover-11-others-arrested-during-protest/\">Glover and 11 others were arrested\u003c/a> for protesting what the SEIU alleged were “unfair and illegal treatment of workers” by Sodexo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following year, during the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50IXNRiIuWg\">Glover spoke to protesters\u003c/a> in Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza. “It’s not only taking back our democracy,” Glover told the audience, “we have to remake it, we have to transform it, we have to build something better than that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50IXNRiIuWg\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Glover’s activism led to a career in acting. As a San Francisco State University student, he was involved in the historic \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">1968–1969 student-led strike\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/alumni/made-in-the-csu/san-francisco/Pages/glover.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco State University\u003c/a> (then San Francisco State College), which resulted in the establishment of the first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974210/revisiting-the-1968-sfsu-student-strike-while-trump-targets-campus-protesters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">College of Ethnic Studies\u003c/a>. It was then that a young Glover, as an organizer and protestor, crossed paths with well-known poet \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2014/01/09/261101520/amiri-baraka-poet-and-co-founder-of-black-arts-movement-dies-at-79\">Amiri Baraka\u003c/a> and was challenged to take his fight to the world of theatre.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During his interview on TODAY, Glover discussed the connection between art and activism. “We have challenges in the world,” he said, “and I think art becomes a reframe, a way of looking at that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glover is now one of an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures\">7.4 million Americans over the age of 65\u003c/a> living with Alzheimer’s disease. The fifth leading cause of death among senior citizens, the disease disproportionately impacts African Americans. Older Black people are nearly twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older White Americans, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.alz.org/\">Alzheimer’s Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Now 79, the award-winning actor has etched an indelible legacy, known for roles in films like \u003cem>The Color Purple,\u003c/em> \u003cem>Lethal Weapon\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Angels in The Outfield\u003c/em>. Local productions he’s appeared in include \u003cem>Sorry to Bother You\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Last Black Man in San Francisco\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He has said his favorite film to work on was \u003cem>Places in the Heart\u003c/em>, and dedicated his performance to his mother, who was killed in a car accident on the day he was cast.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>An activist before his acting career, Glover has remained involved in civic discourse. Since 2004, he’s been a \u003ca href=\"https://www.unicef.org/goodwill-ambassadors/danny-glover\">UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador\u003c/a>, in addition to sitting on the board of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackaids.org/\">Black AIDS Institute\u003c/a> and serving on the \u003ca href=\"https://ibw21.org/initiatives/national-african-american-reparations-commission/page/9/?ref=opendemocracy.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National African American Reparations Commission\u003c/a>. In 2010, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danny-glover-11-others-arrested-during-protest/\">Glover and 11 others were arrested\u003c/a> for protesting what the SEIU alleged were “unfair and illegal treatment of workers” by Sodexo.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The following year, during the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50IXNRiIuWg\">Glover spoke to protesters\u003c/a> in Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza. “It’s not only taking back our democracy,” Glover told the audience, “we have to remake it, we have to transform it, we have to build something better than that.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Glover’s activism led to a career in acting. As a San Francisco State University student, he was involved in the historic \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">1968–1969 student-led strike\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/alumni/made-in-the-csu/san-francisco/Pages/glover.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco State University\u003c/a> (then San Francisco State College), which resulted in the establishment of the first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974210/revisiting-the-1968-sfsu-student-strike-while-trump-targets-campus-protesters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">College of Ethnic Studies\u003c/a>. It was then that a young Glover, as an organizer and protestor, crossed paths with well-known poet \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2014/01/09/261101520/amiri-baraka-poet-and-co-founder-of-black-arts-movement-dies-at-79\">Amiri Baraka\u003c/a> and was challenged to take his fight to the world of theatre.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During his interview on TODAY, Glover discussed the connection between art and activism. “We have challenges in the world,” he said, “and I think art becomes a reframe, a way of looking at that.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Glover is now one of an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures\">7.4 million Americans over the age of 65\u003c/a> living with Alzheimer’s disease. The fifth leading cause of death among senior citizens, the disease disproportionately impacts African Americans. Older Black people are nearly twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older White Americans, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.alz.org/\">Alzheimer’s Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "‘I can live with it, in a sense,’ the San Francisco actor and activist said. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On the TODAY show Wednesday morning, Danny Glover announced that he has Alzheimer’s disease. The San Francisco-based actor and activist said he was initially diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I can live with it, in a sense,” Glover told NBC’s Lester Holt during an on-air interview. “I’m sure as it advances, things are going to be different.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Now 79, the award-winning actor has etched an indelible legacy, known for roles in films like \u003cem>The Color Purple,\u003c/em> \u003cem>Lethal Weapon\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Angels in The Outfield\u003c/em>. Local productions he’s appeared in include \u003cem>Sorry to Bother You\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Last Black Man in San Francisco\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He has said his favorite film to work on was \u003cem>Places in the Heart\u003c/em>, and dedicated his performance to his mother, who was killed in a car accident on the day he was cast.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"574\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"Actor Danny Glover speaks during a rally on jobs December 7, 2016 at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC to demand good jobs and workers' rights from the incoming President-elect Donald Trump administration.\" class=\"wp-image-13859513\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/DannyGlover-featured.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Actor Danny Glover speaks during a rally on jobs December 7, 2016 at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC to demand good jobs and workers’ rights from the incoming President-elect Donald Trump administration. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>An activist before his acting career, Glover has remained involved in civic discourse. Since 2004, he’s been a \u003ca href=\"https://www.unicef.org/goodwill-ambassadors/danny-glover\">UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador\u003c/a>, in addition to sitting on the board of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackaids.org/\">Black AIDS Institute\u003c/a> and serving on the \u003ca href=\"https://ibw21.org/initiatives/national-african-american-reparations-commission/page/9/?ref=opendemocracy.net\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National African American Reparations Commission\u003c/a>. In 2010, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/danny-glover-11-others-arrested-during-protest/\">Glover and 11 others were arrested\u003c/a> for protesting what the SEIU alleged were “unfair and illegal treatment of workers” by Sodexo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The following year, during the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50IXNRiIuWg\">Glover spoke to protesters\u003c/a> in Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza. “It’s not only taking back our democracy,” Glover told the audience, “we have to remake it, we have to transform it, we have to build something better than that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/50IXNRiIuWg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/50IXNRiIuWg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Glover’s activism led to a career in acting. As a San Francisco State University student, he was involved in the historic \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11830384/how-the-longest-student-strike-in-u-s-history-created-ethnic-studies\">1968–1969 student-led strike\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/alumni/made-in-the-csu/san-francisco/Pages/glover.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco State University\u003c/a> (then San Francisco State College), which resulted in the establishment of the first \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974210/revisiting-the-1968-sfsu-student-strike-while-trump-targets-campus-protesters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">College of Ethnic Studies\u003c/a>. It was then that a young Glover, as an organizer and protestor, crossed paths with well-known poet \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2014/01/09/261101520/amiri-baraka-poet-and-co-founder-of-black-arts-movement-dies-at-79\">Amiri Baraka\u003c/a> and was challenged to take his fight to the world of theatre.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During his interview on TODAY, Glover discussed the connection between art and activism. “We have challenges in the world,” he said, “and I think art becomes a reframe, a way of looking at that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glover is now one of an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures\">7.4 million Americans over the age of 65\u003c/a> living with Alzheimer’s disease. The fifth leading cause of death among senior citizens, the disease disproportionately impacts African Americans. Older Black people are nearly twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older White Americans, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.alz.org/\">Alzheimer’s Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "christopher-l-thompson-wins-san-francisco-symphony-emerging-black-composers-project",
"title": "Christopher L. Thompson Wins the San Francisco Symphony’s Emerging Black Composers Project",
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"headTitle": "Christopher L. Thompson Wins the San Francisco Symphony’s Emerging Black Composers Project | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The San Francisco Symphony on Tuesday announced that the winner of its sixth annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/EmergingBlackComposers/ABOUT\">Emerging Black Composers Project\u003c/a> (EBCP): Christopher L. Thompson.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It is always an amazing feeling to hear that others see and believe in your vision,” said Thompson in a release shared by the Symphony.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The award, made possible by the Symphony and the \u003ca href=\"https://sfcm.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco Conservatory of Music\u003c/a> (SFCM), comes with a $15,000 grant, mentorship from established composers and the opportunity to debut a commissioned piece at Davies Symphony Hall during the 2027-2028 season.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The EBCP is a competitive program launched in 2020 amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. The classical music repertory is well known to skew toward white male composers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“[The] project is an attempt to address some of that, and to provide points of access to young people from a community that has often previously been denied access,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.danielbartholomewpoyser.com/bio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser\u003c/a>, chair of the EBCP selection committee and the San Francisco Symphony’s resident conductor of engagement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909289/emerging-black-composers-project-san-francisco-symphony-conservatory-music-trevor-weston\">told KQED in 2022\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a white suit with a brown tie plays the xylophone.\" class=\"wp-image-13991218\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Composer and percussionist Christopher L. Thompson, also known as ‘Master Christopher,’ is a proponent of blending musical genres and mixing traditional symphonic elements with notated raps. (Ricky A. Richardson)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Thompson is a contemporary jazz musician and percussionist who blurs the lines between musical genres. By merging traditional symphonic elements with notated raps, he creates a new take on classical music. (His style is prominently shown on his debut album, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://masterchristopher.bandcamp.com/album/music-desegregation\">Music Desegregation\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, released in July of 2022.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t wait to explore the power of rap notation as a compositional force with the San Francisco Symphony in a way that is genuine and authentic, without sacrificing the ensemble’s classical identity and technical prowess,” said Thompson in a release.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Originally from North Carolina and currently based in Philadelphia, Thompson is a music lecturer at Kingsborough Community College in New York and a student at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where he’s currently pursuing a doctoral degree in music composition.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With an undergraduate degree from North Carolina A&T State University and a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro School of Music, Thompson’s résumé also boasts performances at the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues festival in North Carolina, the Eurovision Song Contest in Germany and other esteemed institutions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQpCu2dlgX0\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Looking forward to his time with the San Francisco Symphony, and anticipating the relationships to come by working with “a high-class group of musicians,” Thompson said winning this award feels like a dream come true.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I am truly honored to be selected for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13901635/michael-morgan-visionary-oakland-symphony-conductor-dies-at-age-63\">Michael Morgan\u003c/a> Prize,” he says of the award, which is named for the late longtime head of the Oakland Symphony. Thompson joins previous award winners \u003ca href=\"https://tylertaylorcomposer.com/about/\">Tyler Taylor,\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.xaviermuzik.com/\">Xavier Muzik\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.seattlechambermusic.org/composers/kyle-rivera/\">Kyle Rivera\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jensibsen.com/\">Jen Ibsen\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.trevorweston.com/about\">Trevor Weston\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Christopher Thompson was the clear favorite among the jurors this year,” said Bartholomew-Poyser in a release from the Symphony, noting his compelling voice, memorable music and detailed scores.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Christopher is poised to take the orchestral world in new directions,” Bartholomew-Poyser said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The award, made possible by the Symphony and the \u003ca href=\"https://sfcm.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco Conservatory of Music\u003c/a> (SFCM), comes with a $15,000 grant, mentorship from established composers and the opportunity to debut a commissioned piece at Davies Symphony Hall during the 2027-2028 season.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“[The] project is an attempt to address some of that, and to provide points of access to young people from a community that has often previously been denied access,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.danielbartholomewpoyser.com/bio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser\u003c/a>, chair of the EBCP selection committee and the San Francisco Symphony’s resident conductor of engagement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909289/emerging-black-composers-project-san-francisco-symphony-conservatory-music-trevor-weston\">told KQED in 2022\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I can’t wait to explore the power of rap notation as a compositional force with the San Francisco Symphony in a way that is genuine and authentic, without sacrificing the ensemble’s classical identity and technical prowess,” said Thompson in a release.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The San Francisco Symphony on Tuesday announced that the winner of its sixth annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/EmergingBlackComposers/ABOUT\">Emerging Black Composers Project\u003c/a> (EBCP): Christopher L. Thompson.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It is always an amazing feeling to hear that others see and believe in your vision,” said Thompson in a release shared by the Symphony.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The award, made possible by the Symphony and the \u003ca href=\"https://sfcm.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco Conservatory of Music\u003c/a> (SFCM), comes with a $15,000 grant, mentorship from established composers and the opportunity to debut a commissioned piece at Davies Symphony Hall during the 2027-2028 season.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The EBCP is a competitive program launched in 2020 amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. The classical music repertory is well known to skew toward white male composers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“[The] project is an attempt to address some of that, and to provide points of access to young people from a community that has often previously been denied access,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.danielbartholomewpoyser.com/bio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser\u003c/a>, chair of the EBCP selection committee and the San Francisco Symphony’s resident conductor of engagement, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909289/emerging-black-composers-project-san-francisco-symphony-conservatory-music-trevor-weston\">told KQED in 2022\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a white suit with a brown tie plays the xylophone.\" class=\"wp-image-13991218\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/735111956_1955487798466459_3825383235520291372_n-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Composer and percussionist Christopher L. Thompson, also known as ‘Master Christopher,’ is a proponent of blending musical genres and mixing traditional symphonic elements with notated raps. (Ricky A. Richardson)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Thompson is a contemporary jazz musician and percussionist who blurs the lines between musical genres. By merging traditional symphonic elements with notated raps, he creates a new take on classical music. (His style is prominently shown on his debut album, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://masterchristopher.bandcamp.com/album/music-desegregation\">Music Desegregation\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, released in July of 2022.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t wait to explore the power of rap notation as a compositional force with the San Francisco Symphony in a way that is genuine and authentic, without sacrificing the ensemble’s classical identity and technical prowess,” said Thompson in a release.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Originally from North Carolina and currently based in Philadelphia, Thompson is a music lecturer at Kingsborough Community College in New York and a student at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where he’s currently pursuing a doctoral degree in music composition.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With an undergraduate degree from North Carolina A&T State University and a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro School of Music, Thompson’s résumé also boasts performances at the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues festival in North Carolina, the Eurovision Song Contest in Germany and other esteemed institutions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/SQpCu2dlgX0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/SQpCu2dlgX0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Looking forward to his time with the San Francisco Symphony, and anticipating the relationships to come by working with “a high-class group of musicians,” Thompson said winning this award feels like a dream come true.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I am truly honored to be selected for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13901635/michael-morgan-visionary-oakland-symphony-conductor-dies-at-age-63\">Michael Morgan\u003c/a> Prize,” he says of the award, which is named for the late longtime head of the Oakland Symphony. Thompson joins previous award winners \u003ca href=\"https://tylertaylorcomposer.com/about/\">Tyler Taylor,\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.xaviermuzik.com/\">Xavier Muzik\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.seattlechambermusic.org/composers/kyle-rivera/\">Kyle Rivera\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jensibsen.com/\">Jen Ibsen\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.trevorweston.com/about\">Trevor Weston\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Christopher Thompson was the clear favorite among the jurors this year,” said Bartholomew-Poyser in a release from the Symphony, noting his compelling voice, memorable music and detailed scores.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Christopher is poised to take the orchestral world in new directions,” Bartholomew-Poyser said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mission-district-punk-generator-shows-san-francisco",
"title": "When Generator Punk Shows Ruled the Mission District",
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"headTitle": "When Generator Punk Shows Ruled the Mission District | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The scene: 16th and Mission BART in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, 1998. Trains careen underground, while above, another kind of noise is happening.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ivy Jeanne’s raspy, blues-inflected voice screams out of PAs borrowed from friends, powered by a generator borrowed from other friends. Erica Lyle’s guitar wails into the ether, making its way to Capp Street. Young punks dance, free of harassment. The show is over before anyone really knows it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Miami and Shotwell have just played an illegal show at BART.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“You’d roll up. Sometimes I was with whoever had the PA. You would just see punks on the periphery. Nobody was assembled in the plaza exactly. You could just see people around, and as soon as the gear started coming out, everyone would just descend,” said Karoline Collins, a local photographer and roadie for the band \u003ca href=\"https://mattyluv.com/\">Hickey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1326\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991192\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1326px) 100vw, 1326px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivy McClelland sings with the Mission District punk band Miami at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This would be one of many illegal generator-powered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/punk\">punk\u003c/a> shows happening on Mission Street, a tradition that would carry into San Francisco’s present day. While San Francisco’s punk shows of the ’70s and ’80s had taken place in unlikely settings — a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13980619/mabuhay-gardens-reopening-sf-punk-club-north-beach\">Filipino restaurant\u003c/a>, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938024/old-san-francisco-punk-venues-deaf-club-farm-sound-music-tool-die\">social club for the deaf\u003c/a>, literal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13902953/alternative-voices-1980s-san-francisco-punk-jeanne-hansen-photography-jonah-raskin\">beer vats\u003c/a> — the tradition of guerilla generator shows that flourished in Mission District’s ragged and dedicated punk scene of the ’90s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923420/punk-show-on-bart\">continues today with bands like False Flag, Surprise Privilege and WIFE\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mission-district\">Mission District\u003c/a>’s punk history runs deep, boasting bands like MDC and Jawbreaker, and venues like Tool & Die, Kommotion and Epicenter. But in the late ’90s, something shifted. A new wave of punks dedicated to cheap living, harm reduction and the DIY ethos took over the streets. From 1994 through 2002, bands like Hickey, Shotwell, 50 Million and the aforementioned Miami would creatively resist San Francisco’s then-Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/willie-brown\">Willie Brown\u003c/a> and the powers that be with both music and action.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Their headquarters would become Mission Records, and later 16th and Mission BART Plaza, for amplifying their frustrations with gentrification, war and the police.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The City That Never Sleeps\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ivy Jeanne McClelland moved to San Francisco in 1997 after years of moving back and forth, sometimes by hopping trains, between her hometown of Miami and the East Bay as a teenage runaway. Though she’d crossed paths with Bay Area bands like Rancid, Green Day and Blatz, she decided to make San Francisco home thanks to Hickey. That year, McClelland hopped in the band’s van on their final tour, and moved into the band’s squalid apartment, the Hickey Hotel, on 24th Street.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1326\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991186\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aesop Dekker screenprints Hickey patches in the kitchen at the Hickey Hotel, circa mid-1990s. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>McClelland had played in bands like the Tri-Rails and Los Canadians, but when she made it to San Francisco, she teamed up with best friend and fellow Floridian Erica Dawn Lyle to start a new band called Miami, bolstered by Dekker and Luv from Hickey.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With more and more local venues like Klub Kommotion, Starcleaners Warehouse and Epicenter Records winding down operations, Miami and their longtime friends in the band Shotwell colluded to create a new commotion down Mission Street. Lyle and Broutis decided to host an illegal pop-up show, powered by generators, in front of the defunct Leed’s Shoes building at 22nd and Mission. Borrowing the idea from a band of buskers known as Rube Waddell, the two fueled their iteration with political angst.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The generator shows were a product of when gentrification really ramped up in the Mission,” said McClelland. “There was already this feeling of frustration and upset about all of these DIY show spaces that were targeted and shut down, and in our grumblings, we decided to have generator shows in response to them.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1326\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991194\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1326px) 100vw, 1326px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matty Luv plays with Mission District punk band Miami at 16th and Mission BART Plaza, circa 2000. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Miami didn’t last long, breaking up around 2001. Luv’s addiction to heroin had gotten more serious. He’d moved back to Florida for a time before being convinced to come back to San Francisco. Luv helped operate Mission Records in its near-final days, and played music with friends, but the scene was on its last legs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Miami and its generator shows, to be clear, came from a lineage of Mission punks before them. Half of Miami, after all, had roots in a band that had started four years prior. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Naked Cult of Hickey\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.mattyluv.com/\">Matty Luv\u003c/a>, a charismatic, manic frontman dedicated to a DIY anticapitalist interpretation of punk rock, Hickey was the band often called The Naked Cult of Hickey. With best friend Aesop Dekker behind the drum kit, the two produced a controlled chaos that would come to define the band. Originally accompanied by friend Chubby on bass, Hickey became known for confrontational antics and a prolific catalog of music, fueled by members’ use of both methamphetamine and heroin. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hickey burned bright and fast, touring constantly. Their song titles included “Hickey Is About Long Hair and Getting High” and “Everything I Know About Sex I Learned From KISS.” Live shows would often devolve into standoffs with the crowd, where the band might play one or two songs and then rant at the audience.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We would show up with the intention of being a band and playing our fucking songs as good as we could for an adoring crowd,” said Dekker. “A lot of times that would go fucky because the promoter was a dick, or, before we even played, would express how they weren’t going to pay us. Or the bands we were playing with were dicks.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The band’s live sets amplified their view on how punk rock should operate, with the members dedicated to an ethic that rebelled against the intrusion of money and power into their scene.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"766\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991199\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-160x77.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-768x368.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-1536x735.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(L–R) Hickey’s full-length self-titled LP, and ‘Various States of Disrepair,’ a compilation of songs released posthumously. (Probe Records / Poverty Records)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We hated the fucking corporatization of punk, and we hated people making money off of this. And we were at war with people that didn’t care about this shit,” said Dekker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The chaos that famously propelled the band eventually led to their downfall. During a 1997 U.S. tour, the band decided to break up. The three members had a fight in Tuscon, Arizona, and realized that none of them wanted to continue with the project. After that decision, they felt a shift amongst themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“A weird curse had been lifted, because we went back to our friend’s house and sat under the fire, drank and talked,” said Dekker. “We were friends again, like, this fucking weight had been lifted.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1326\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991187\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1326px) 100vw, 1326px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivy McClelland (center) during a show at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mission Records \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After opening its doors in 1997, Mission Records, run by Adam White and Chris Myers, quickly became a place of refuge. Located at 2548 Mission Street, the shop soon had to move to its more permanent location across the street, on the corner of Mission and 19th, and gradually shifted to exist less as a record store and more as a living space and venue for shows.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It started off as a straight-up business proposition,” said White. “I got a bunch of credit cards. We both borrowed as much money as we could from whoever, and fucking went for it. And then, right away, we started getting decimated as a record store. It was the worst time. CDs were at their peak, and the internet was just starting to take the whole thing and destroy it. And we also didn’t know what the fuck we were doing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As time went on, members of several bands lived at Mission Records, helping volunteer and put on shows. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991188\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-768x589.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-1536x1179.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">‘The cops can shut down Mission punk clubs, but not Mission Street’: A flyer for a ‘short, illegal show’ on 22nd and Mission. (Erica Dawn Lyle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Across the Bay, another wave of bands was gaining traction. Green Day had already signed to a major label and released their massive record \u003cem>Dookie\u003c/em>, and Rancid was taking off. The East Bay and San Francisco punk scenes weren’t completely isolated, and Mission District bands still made their way across the bridge. But in San Francisco, there was a different energy emanating. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Maybe they played faster, maybe they were more confrontational. And maybe it was the drugs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was all benzos,” said Broustis. “You go to Mission Records, and there’d be a band rehearsing there at two in the morning while people are trying to sleep.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Band members got drugs from local corner stores, and used that to fuel their productivity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We did so much crystal meth in the fucking ’90s, and then it was heroin, and we were also eating lots of pills and drinking a lot — all the things that go with doing tons of crystal meth,” said Dekker. “That’s why we did so much in three years. Because we didn’t fucking sleep.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1319\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991189\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC.jpg 1319w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-768x1165.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-1013x1536.jpg 1013w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1319px) 100vw, 1319px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matty Luv, and a broken bathtub, at the Hickey Hotel, circa mid-1990s. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A sudden shock \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the drugs took their toll, elements of the scene wound down. Miami broke up, White left Mission Records, and increasingly, cops harassed local punks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Oct. 5, 2002, Matty Luv, 34, was found dead of a heroin overdose at the Hickey Hotel. He had spent the day helping out at Mission Records, while McClelland and other friends went to a protest against the Iraq war. The group of friends had crossed paths on the way to the protest, and Luv waved hi. It would be the last time many of them would see him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The next day, a show at Mission Records was turned into a wake. Later, a number of his friends gathered at Dolores Park for his funeral, where \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20180107014931/https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/make-sure-there-arent-any-squares-at-my-funeral/Content?oid=2146143\">zines and Hickey records were handed out\u003c/a>, and where Luv was remembered by his friends as funny, prolific and intense.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Learning how to take better care of each other. I think that’s the lesson. And the wisdom of losing him was about really changing. It changed my relationship to what it meant to show up for people in need or in crisis,” said McClelland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“He was the funniest person I’ve ever met, and I think I was the funniest person he ever met. And when we met, that was our bond, is that we felt the same way ideologically about everything, and we were both funny,” said Dekker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shortly after Luv’s death, Mission Records closed. White attempted to pass the business on to Buzz Lee, but the finances weren’t there. Dekker had recently found sobriety and become a father. McClelland continued to play in bands, and remains active in activism and harm reduction to this day.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1326\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991191\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(L–R) Erica Dawn Lyle and Aesop Dekker of the punk band Miami play a generator show at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today, a new generation is picking up the torch. San Francisco bands False Flag and Surprise Privilege have played generator shows on the sidewalks in front of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/228217405293069/posts/1372002734247858/\">the Warfield \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13984468/best-concerts-2025-bay-area-live-music\">and the Castro Theatre\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923420/punk-show-on-bart\">on a moving BART train\u003c/a>. (Their store \u003ca href=\"https://ihaterecords.com/pages/about-us\">I Hate Records\u003c/a>, in the Lower Haight, carries echoes of Mission Records.) A group known as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/outhouse_sf/?hl=en\">Outhouse Collective\u003c/a> puts on their own generator shows, and have been taken under the wing by McClelland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last year saw the return of the \u003ca href=\"https://clarionalleymuralproject.org/clarion-alley-block-party/\">Clarion Alley Block Party\u003c/a>, which has largely been organized by McClelland since 1998. In its most recent installment, McClelland brought on members of Outhouse Collective to help organize the day’s live music. The combining of these two forces hints at an intergenerational cross-pollination which McClelland sees as essential for the continuation of the punk community into the future.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have shared visions, we have shared values. We have shared connection through these rad creative and rad political movements,” said McClelland. “When we are able to embrace people across community lines, build solidarity across race, gender, ability, mental health — finding those connections is really, really sacred.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The scene: 16th and Mission BART in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, 1998. Trains careen underground, while above, another kind of noise is happening.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The scene: 16th and Mission BART in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, 1998. Trains careen underground, while above, another kind of noise is happening.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ivy Jeanne’s raspy, blues-inflected voice screams out of PAs borrowed from friends, powered by a generator borrowed from other friends. Erica Lyle’s guitar wails into the ether, making its way to Capp Street. Young punks dance, free of harassment. The show is over before anyone really knows it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Ivy Jeanne’s raspy, blues-inflected voice screams out of PAs borrowed from friends, powered by a generator borrowed from other friends. Erica Lyle’s guitar wails into the ether, making its way to Capp Street. Young punks dance, free of harassment. The show is over before anyone really knows it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Miami and Shotwell have just played an illegal show at BART.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Miami and Shotwell have just played an illegal show at BART.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“You’d roll up. Sometimes I was with whoever had the PA. You would just see punks on the periphery. Nobody was assembled in the plaza exactly. You could just see people around, and as soon as the gear started coming out, everyone would just descend,” said Karoline Collins, a local photographer and roadie for the band \u003ca href=\"https://mattyluv.com/\">Hickey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“You’d roll up. Sometimes I was with whoever had the PA. You would just see punks on the periphery. Nobody was assembled in the plaza exactly. You could just see people around, and as soon as the gear started coming out, everyone would just descend,” said Karoline Collins, a local photographer and roadie for the band \u003ca href=\"https://mattyluv.com/\">Hickey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991192\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivy McClelland sings with the Mission District punk band Miami at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991192\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivy McClelland sings with the Mission District punk band Miami at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This would be one of many illegal generator-powered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/punk\">punk\u003c/a> shows happening on Mission Street, a tradition that would carry into San Francisco’s present day. While San Francisco’s punk shows of the ’70s and ’80s had taken place in unlikely settings — a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13980619/mabuhay-gardens-reopening-sf-punk-club-north-beach\">Filipino restaurant\u003c/a>, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938024/old-san-francisco-punk-venues-deaf-club-farm-sound-music-tool-die\">social club for the deaf\u003c/a>, literal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13902953/alternative-voices-1980s-san-francisco-punk-jeanne-hansen-photography-jonah-raskin\">beer vats\u003c/a> — the tradition of guerilla generator shows that flourished in Mission District’s ragged and dedicated punk scene of the ’90s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923420/punk-show-on-bart\">continues today with bands like False Flag, Surprise Privilege and WIFE\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>This would be one of many illegal generator-powered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/punk\">punk\u003c/a> shows happening on Mission Street, a tradition that would carry into San Francisco’s present day. While San Francisco’s punk shows of the ’70s and ’80s had taken place in unlikely settings — a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13980619/mabuhay-gardens-reopening-sf-punk-club-north-beach\">Filipino restaurant\u003c/a>, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938024/old-san-francisco-punk-venues-deaf-club-farm-sound-music-tool-die\">social club for the deaf\u003c/a>, literal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13902953/alternative-voices-1980s-san-francisco-punk-jeanne-hansen-photography-jonah-raskin\">beer vats\u003c/a> — the tradition of guerilla generator shows that flourished in Mission District’s ragged and dedicated punk scene of the ’90s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923420/punk-show-on-bart\">continues today with bands like False Flag, Surprise Privilege and WIFE\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mission-district\">Mission District\u003c/a>’s punk history runs deep, boasting bands like MDC and Jawbreaker, and venues like Tool & Die, Kommotion and Epicenter. But in the late ’90s, something shifted. A new wave of punks dedicated to cheap living, harm reduction and the DIY ethos took over the streets. From 1994 through 2002, bands like Hickey, Shotwell, 50 Million and the aforementioned Miami would creatively resist San Francisco’s then-Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/willie-brown\">Willie Brown\u003c/a> and the powers that be with both music and action.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Their headquarters would become Mission Records, and later 16th and Mission BART Plaza, for amplifying their frustrations with gentrification, war and the police.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mission-district\">Mission District\u003c/a>’s punk history runs deep, boasting bands like MDC and Jawbreaker, and venues like Tool & Die, Kommotion and Epicenter. But in the late ’90s, something shifted. A new wave of punks dedicated to cheap living, harm reduction and the DIY ethos took over the streets. From 1994 through 2002, bands like Hickey, Shotwell, 50 Million and the aforementioned Miami would creatively resist San Francisco’s then-Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/willie-brown\">Willie Brown\u003c/a> and the powers that be with both music and action.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Their headquarters would become Mission Records, and later 16th and Mission BART Plaza, for amplifying their frustrations with gentrification, war and the police.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The City That Never Sleeps\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The City That Never Sleeps\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ivy Jeanne McClelland moved to San Francisco in 1997 after years of moving back and forth, sometimes by hopping trains, between her hometown of Miami and the East Bay as a teenage runaway. Though she’d crossed paths with Bay Area bands like Rancid, Green Day and Blatz, she decided to make San Francisco home thanks to Hickey. That year, McClelland hopped in the band’s van on their final tour, and moved into the band’s squalid apartment, the Hickey Hotel, on 24th Street.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Ivy Jeanne McClelland moved to San Francisco in 1997 after years of moving back and forth, sometimes by hopping trains, between her hometown of Miami and the East Bay as a teenage runaway. Though she’d crossed paths with Bay Area bands like Rancid, Green Day and Blatz, she decided to make San Francisco home thanks to Hickey. That year, McClelland hopped in the band’s van on their final tour, and moved into the band’s squalid apartment, the Hickey Hotel, on 24th Street.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991186\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aesop Dekker screenprints Hickey patches in the kitchen at the Hickey Hotel, circa mid-1990s. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991186\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aesop Dekker screenprints Hickey patches in the kitchen at the Hickey Hotel, circa mid-1990s. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>McClelland had played in bands like the Tri-Rails and Los Canadians, but when she made it to San Francisco, she teamed up with best friend and fellow Floridian Erica Dawn Lyle to start a new band called Miami, bolstered by Dekker and Luv from Hickey.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>McClelland had played in bands like the Tri-Rails and Los Canadians, but when she made it to San Francisco, she teamed up with best friend and fellow Floridian Erica Dawn Lyle to start a new band called Miami, bolstered by Dekker and Luv from Hickey.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>With more and more local venues like Klub Kommotion, Starcleaners Warehouse and Epicenter Records winding down operations, Miami and their longtime friends in the band Shotwell colluded to create a new commotion down Mission Street. Lyle and Broutis decided to host an illegal pop-up show, powered by generators, in front of the defunct Leed’s Shoes building at 22nd and Mission. Borrowing the idea from a band of buskers known as Rube Waddell, the two fueled their iteration with political angst.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>With more and more local venues like Klub Kommotion, Starcleaners Warehouse and Epicenter Records winding down operations, Miami and their longtime friends in the band Shotwell colluded to create a new commotion down Mission Street. Lyle and Broutis decided to host an illegal pop-up show, powered by generators, in front of the defunct Leed’s Shoes building at 22nd and Mission. Borrowing the idea from a band of buskers known as Rube Waddell, the two fueled their iteration with political angst.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The generator shows were a product of when gentrification really ramped up in the Mission,” said McClelland. “There was already this feeling of frustration and upset about all of these DIY show spaces that were targeted and shut down, and in our grumblings, we decided to have generator shows in response to them.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The generator shows were a product of when gentrification really ramped up in the Mission,” said McClelland. “There was already this feeling of frustration and upset about all of these DIY show spaces that were targeted and shut down, and in our grumblings, we decided to have generator shows in response to them.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991194\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matty Luv plays with Mission District punk band Miami at 16th and Mission BART Plaza, circa 2000.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991194\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matty Luv plays with Mission District punk band Miami at 16th and Mission BART Plaza, circa 2000.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Miami didn’t last long, breaking up around 2001. Luv’s addiction to heroin had gotten more serious. He’d moved back to Florida for a time before being convinced to come back to San Francisco. Luv helped operate Mission Records in its near-final days, and played music with friends, but the scene was on its last legs.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Miami didn’t last long, breaking up around 2001. Luv’s addiction to heroin had gotten more serious. He’d moved back to Florida for a time before being convinced to come back to San Francisco. Luv helped operate Mission Records in its near-final days, and played music with friends, but the scene was on its last legs.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Miami and its generator shows, to be clear, came from a lineage of Mission punks before them. Half of Miami, after all, had roots in a band that had started four years prior. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Naked Cult of Hickey\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.mattyluv.com/\">Matty Luv\u003c/a>, a charismatic, manic frontman dedicated to a DIY anticapitalist interpretation of punk rock, Hickey was the band often called The Naked Cult of Hickey. With best friend Aesop Dekker behind the drum kit, the two produced a controlled chaos that would come to define the band. Originally accompanied by friend Chubby on bass, Hickey became known for confrontational antics and a prolific catalog of music, fueled by members’ use of both methamphetamine and heroin. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.mattyluv.com/\">Matty Luv\u003c/a>, a charismatic, manic frontman dedicated to a DIY anticapitalist interpretation of punk rock, Hickey was the band often called The Naked Cult of Hickey. With best friend Aesop Dekker behind the drum kit, the two produced a controlled chaos that would come to define the band. Originally accompanied by friend Chubby on bass, Hickey became known for confrontational antics and a prolific catalog of music, fueled by members’ use of both methamphetamine and heroin. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hickey burned bright and fast, touring constantly. Their song titles included “Hickey Is About Long Hair and Getting High” and “Everything I Know About Sex I Learned From KISS.” Live shows would often devolve into standoffs with the crowd, where the band might play one or two songs and then rant at the audience.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Hickey burned bright and fast, touring constantly. Their song titles included “Hickey Is About Long Hair and Getting High” and “Everything I Know About Sex I Learned From KISS.” Live shows would often devolve into standoffs with the crowd, where the band might play one or two songs and then rant at the audience.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We would show up with the intention of being a band and playing our fucking songs as good as we could for an adoring crowd,” said Dekker. “A lot of times that would go fucky because the promoter was a dick, or, before we even played, would express how they weren’t going to pay us. Or the bands we were playing with were dicks.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We would show up with the intention of being a band and playing our fucking songs as good as we could for an adoring crowd,” said Dekker. “A lot of times that would go fucky because the promoter was a dick, or, before we even played, would express how they weren’t going to pay us. Or the bands we were playing with were dicks.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The band’s live sets amplified their view on how punk rock should operate, with the members dedicated to an ethic that rebelled against the intrusion of money and power into their scene.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The band’s live sets amplified their view on how punk rock should operate, with the members dedicated to an ethic that rebelled against the intrusion of money and power into their scene.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-160x77.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-768x368.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-1536x735.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991199\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-160x77.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-768x368.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-1536x735.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(L–R) Hickey’s full-length self-titled LP, and ‘Various States of Disrepair,’ a compilation of songs released posthumously. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991199\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(L–R) Hickey’s full-length self-titled LP, and ‘Various States of Disrepair,’ a compilation of songs released posthumously. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We hated the fucking corporatization of punk, and we hated people making money off of this. And we were at war with people that didn’t care about this shit,” said Dekker.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We hated the fucking corporatization of punk, and we hated people making money off of this. And we were at war with people that didn’t care about this shit,” said Dekker.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The chaos that famously propelled the band eventually led to their downfall. During a 1997 U.S. tour, the band decided to break up. The three members had a fight in Tuscon, Arizona, and realized that none of them wanted to continue with the project. After that decision, they felt a shift amongst themselves.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The chaos that famously propelled the band eventually led to their downfall. During a 1997 U.S. tour, the band decided to break up. The three members had a fight in Tuscon, Arizona, and realized that none of them wanted to continue with the project. After that decision, they felt a shift amongst themselves.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“A weird curse had been lifted, because we went back to our friend’s house and sat under the fire, drank and talked,” said Dekker. “We were friends again, like, this fucking weight had been lifted.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“A weird curse had been lifted, because we went back to our friend’s house and sat under the fire, drank and talked,” said Dekker. “We were friends again, like, this fucking weight had been lifted.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991187\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivy McClelland (center) during a show at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991187\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivy McClelland (center) during a show at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mission Records \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mission Records \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After opening its doors in 1997, Mission Records, run by Adam White and Chris Myers, quickly became a place of refuge. Located at 2548 Mission Street, the shop soon had to move to its more permanent location across the street, on the corner of Mission and 19th, and gradually shifted to exist less as a record store and more as a living space and venue for shows.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After opening its doors in 1997, Mission Records, run by Adam White and Chris Myers, quickly became a place of refuge. Located at 2548 Mission Street, the shop soon had to move to its more permanent location across the street, on the corner of Mission and 19th, and gradually shifted to exist less as a record store and more as a living space and venue for shows.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It started off as a straight-up business proposition,” said White. “I got a bunch of credit cards. We both borrowed as much money as we could from whoever, and fucking went for it. And then, right away, we started getting decimated as a record store. It was the worst time. CDs were at their peak, and the internet was just starting to take the whole thing and destroy it. And we also didn’t know what the fuck we were doing.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It started off as a straight-up business proposition,” said White. “I got a bunch of credit cards. We both borrowed as much money as we could from whoever, and fucking went for it. And then, right away, we started getting decimated as a record store. It was the worst time. CDs were at their peak, and the internet was just starting to take the whole thing and destroy it. And we also didn’t know what the fuck we were doing.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As time went on, members of several bands lived at Mission Records, helping volunteer and put on shows. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As time went on, members of several bands lived at Mission Records, helping volunteer and put on shows. \u003c/p>\n"
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"imageCredit": "Erica Dawn Lyle",
"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-768x589.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-1536x1179.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991188\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-768x589.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-1536x1179.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">‘The cops can shut down Mission punk clubs, but not Mission Street’: A flyer for a ‘short, illegal show’ on 22nd and Mission. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991188\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">‘The cops can shut down Mission punk clubs, but not Mission Street’: A flyer for a ‘short, illegal show’ on 22nd and Mission. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Across the Bay, another wave of bands was gaining traction. Green Day had already signed to a major label and released their massive record \u003cem>Dookie\u003c/em>, and Rancid was taking off. The East Bay and San Francisco punk scenes weren’t completely isolated, and Mission District bands still made their way across the bridge. But in San Francisco, there was a different energy emanating. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Across the Bay, another wave of bands was gaining traction. Green Day had already signed to a major label and released their massive record \u003cem>Dookie\u003c/em>, and Rancid was taking off. The East Bay and San Francisco punk scenes weren’t completely isolated, and Mission District bands still made their way across the bridge. But in San Francisco, there was a different energy emanating. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Maybe they played faster, maybe they were more confrontational. And maybe it was the drugs.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It was all benzos,” said Broustis. “You go to Mission Records, and there’d be a band rehearsing there at two in the morning while people are trying to sleep.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It was all benzos,” said Broustis. “You go to Mission Records, and there’d be a band rehearsing there at two in the morning while people are trying to sleep.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Band members got drugs from local corner stores, and used that to fuel their productivity.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We did so much crystal meth in the fucking ’90s, and then it was heroin, and we were also eating lots of pills and drinking a lot — all the things that go with doing tons of crystal meth,” said Dekker. “That’s why we did so much in three years. Because we didn’t fucking sleep.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We did so much crystal meth in the fucking ’90s, and then it was heroin, and we were also eating lots of pills and drinking a lot — all the things that go with doing tons of crystal meth,” said Dekker. “That’s why we did so much in three years. Because we didn’t fucking sleep.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC.jpg 1319w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-768x1165.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-1013x1536.jpg 1013w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991189\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC.jpg 1319w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-768x1165.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-1013x1536.jpg 1013w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matty Luv, and a broken bathtub, at the Hickey Hotel, circa mid-1990s. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991189\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matty Luv, and a broken bathtub, at the Hickey Hotel, circa mid-1990s. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A sudden shock \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As the drugs took their toll, elements of the scene wound down. Miami broke up, White left Mission Records, and increasingly, cops harassed local punks. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As the drugs took their toll, elements of the scene wound down. Miami broke up, White left Mission Records, and increasingly, cops harassed local punks. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Oct. 5, 2002, Matty Luv, 34, was found dead of a heroin overdose at the Hickey Hotel. He had spent the day helping out at Mission Records, while McClelland and other friends went to a protest against the Iraq war. The group of friends had crossed paths on the way to the protest, and Luv waved hi. It would be the last time many of them would see him. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Oct. 5, 2002, Matty Luv, 34, was found dead of a heroin overdose at the Hickey Hotel. He had spent the day helping out at Mission Records, while McClelland and other friends went to a protest against the Iraq war. The group of friends had crossed paths on the way to the protest, and Luv waved hi. It would be the last time many of them would see him. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The next day, a show at Mission Records was turned into a wake. Later, a number of his friends gathered at Dolores Park for his funeral, where \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20180107014931/https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/make-sure-there-arent-any-squares-at-my-funeral/Content?oid=2146143\">zines and Hickey records were handed out\u003c/a>, and where Luv was remembered by his friends as funny, prolific and intense.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The next day, a show at Mission Records was turned into a wake. Later, a number of his friends gathered at Dolores Park for his funeral, where \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20180107014931/https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/make-sure-there-arent-any-squares-at-my-funeral/Content?oid=2146143\">zines and Hickey records were handed out\u003c/a>, and where Luv was remembered by his friends as funny, prolific and intense.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Learning how to take better care of each other. I think that’s the lesson. And the wisdom of losing him was about really changing. It changed my relationship to what it meant to show up for people in need or in crisis,” said McClelland.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Learning how to take better care of each other. I think that’s the lesson. And the wisdom of losing him was about really changing. It changed my relationship to what it meant to show up for people in need or in crisis,” said McClelland.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“He was the funniest person I’ve ever met, and I think I was the funniest person he ever met. And when we met, that was our bond, is that we felt the same way ideologically about everything, and we were both funny,” said Dekker.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“He was the funniest person I’ve ever met, and I think I was the funniest person he ever met. And when we met, that was our bond, is that we felt the same way ideologically about everything, and we were both funny,” said Dekker.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shortly after Luv’s death, Mission Records closed. White attempted to pass the business on to Buzz Lee, but the finances weren’t there. Dekker had recently found sobriety and become a father. McClelland continued to play in bands, and remains active in activism and harm reduction to this day.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shortly after Luv’s death, Mission Records closed. White attempted to pass the business on to Buzz Lee, but the finances weren’t there. Dekker had recently found sobriety and become a father. McClelland continued to play in bands, and remains active in activism and harm reduction to this day.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1536x1018.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991191\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(L–R) Erica Dawn Lyle and Aesop Dekker of the punk band Miami play a generator show at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991191\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(L–R) Erica Dawn Lyle and Aesop Dekker of the punk band Miami play a generator show at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Today, a new generation is picking up the torch. San Francisco bands False Flag and Surprise Privilege have played generator shows on the sidewalks in front of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/228217405293069/posts/1372002734247858/\">the Warfield \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13984468/best-concerts-2025-bay-area-live-music\">and the Castro Theatre\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923420/punk-show-on-bart\">on a moving BART train\u003c/a>. (Their store \u003ca href=\"https://ihaterecords.com/pages/about-us\">I Hate Records\u003c/a>, in the Lower Haight, carries echoes of Mission Records.) A group known as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/outhouse_sf/?hl=en\">Outhouse Collective\u003c/a> puts on their own generator shows, and have been taken under the wing by McClelland.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Today, a new generation is picking up the torch. San Francisco bands False Flag and Surprise Privilege have played generator shows on the sidewalks in front of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/228217405293069/posts/1372002734247858/\">the Warfield \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13984468/best-concerts-2025-bay-area-live-music\">and the Castro Theatre\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923420/punk-show-on-bart\">on a moving BART train\u003c/a>. (Their store \u003ca href=\"https://ihaterecords.com/pages/about-us\">I Hate Records\u003c/a>, in the Lower Haight, carries echoes of Mission Records.) A group known as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/outhouse_sf/?hl=en\">Outhouse Collective\u003c/a> puts on their own generator shows, and have been taken under the wing by McClelland.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Last year saw the return of the \u003ca href=\"https://clarionalleymuralproject.org/clarion-alley-block-party/\">Clarion Alley Block Party\u003c/a>, which has largely been organized by McClelland since 1998. In its most recent installment, McClelland brought on members of Outhouse Collective to help organize the day’s live music. The combining of these two forces hints at an intergenerational cross-pollination which McClelland sees as essential for the continuation of the punk community into the future.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Last year saw the return of the \u003ca href=\"https://clarionalleymuralproject.org/clarion-alley-block-party/\">Clarion Alley Block Party\u003c/a>, which has largely been organized by McClelland since 1998. In its most recent installment, McClelland brought on members of Outhouse Collective to help organize the day’s live music. The combining of these two forces hints at an intergenerational cross-pollination which McClelland sees as essential for the continuation of the punk community into the future.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We have shared visions, we have shared values. We have shared connection through these rad creative and rad political movements,” said McClelland. “When we are able to embrace people across community lines, build solidarity across race, gender, ability, mental health — finding those connections is really, really sacred.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We have shared visions, we have shared values. We have shared connection through these rad creative and rad political movements,” said McClelland. “When we are able to embrace people across community lines, build solidarity across race, gender, ability, mental health — finding those connections is really, really sacred.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "From 1994–2002, a group of scrappy punks forged a template for today's guerrilla shows in San Francisco.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The scene: 16th and Mission BART in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, 1998. Trains careen underground, while above, another kind of noise is happening.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ivy Jeanne’s raspy, blues-inflected voice screams out of PAs borrowed from friends, powered by a generator borrowed from other friends. Erica Lyle’s guitar wails into the ether, making its way to Capp Street. Young punks dance, free of harassment. The show is over before anyone really knows it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Miami and Shotwell have just played an illegal show at BART.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“You’d roll up. Sometimes I was with whoever had the PA. You would just see punks on the periphery. Nobody was assembled in the plaza exactly. You could just see people around, and as soon as the gear started coming out, everyone would just descend,” said Karoline Collins, a local photographer and roadie for the band \u003ca href=\"https://mattyluv.com/\">Hickey\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1326\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991192\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-9-Ivy-Pointing_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1326px) 100vw, 1326px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivy McClelland sings with the Mission District punk band Miami at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This would be one of many illegal generator-powered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/punk\">punk\u003c/a> shows happening on Mission Street, a tradition that would carry into San Francisco’s present day. While San Francisco’s punk shows of the ’70s and ’80s had taken place in unlikely settings — a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13980619/mabuhay-gardens-reopening-sf-punk-club-north-beach\">Filipino restaurant\u003c/a>, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13938024/old-san-francisco-punk-venues-deaf-club-farm-sound-music-tool-die\">social club for the deaf\u003c/a>, literal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13902953/alternative-voices-1980s-san-francisco-punk-jeanne-hansen-photography-jonah-raskin\">beer vats\u003c/a> — the tradition of guerilla generator shows that flourished in Mission District’s ragged and dedicated punk scene of the ’90s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923420/punk-show-on-bart\">continues today with bands like False Flag, Surprise Privilege and WIFE\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mission-district\">Mission District\u003c/a>’s punk history runs deep, boasting bands like MDC and Jawbreaker, and venues like Tool & Die, Kommotion and Epicenter. But in the late ’90s, something shifted. A new wave of punks dedicated to cheap living, harm reduction and the DIY ethos took over the streets. From 1994 through 2002, bands like Hickey, Shotwell, 50 Million and the aforementioned Miami would creatively resist San Francisco’s then-Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/willie-brown\">Willie Brown\u003c/a> and the powers that be with both music and action.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Their headquarters would become Mission Records, and later 16th and Mission BART Plaza, for amplifying their frustrations with gentrification, war and the police.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The City That Never Sleeps\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ivy Jeanne McClelland moved to San Francisco in 1997 after years of moving back and forth, sometimes by hopping trains, between her hometown of Miami and the East Bay as a teenage runaway. Though she’d crossed paths with Bay Area bands like Rancid, Green Day and Blatz, she decided to make San Francisco home thanks to Hickey. That year, McClelland hopped in the band’s van on their final tour, and moved into the band’s squalid apartment, the Hickey Hotel, on 24th Street.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1326\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991186\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Aesop-Kitchen-Patches_1996_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aesop Dekker screenprints Hickey patches in the kitchen at the Hickey Hotel, circa mid-1990s. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>McClelland had played in bands like the Tri-Rails and Los Canadians, but when she made it to San Francisco, she teamed up with best friend and fellow Floridian Erica Dawn Lyle to start a new band called Miami, bolstered by Dekker and Luv from Hickey.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With more and more local venues like Klub Kommotion, Starcleaners Warehouse and Epicenter Records winding down operations, Miami and their longtime friends in the band Shotwell colluded to create a new commotion down Mission Street. Lyle and Broutis decided to host an illegal pop-up show, powered by generators, in front of the defunct Leed’s Shoes building at 22nd and Mission. Borrowing the idea from a band of buskers known as Rube Waddell, the two fueled their iteration with political angst.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The generator shows were a product of when gentrification really ramped up in the Mission,” said McClelland. “There was already this feeling of frustration and upset about all of these DIY show spaces that were targeted and shut down, and in our grumblings, we decided to have generator shows in response to them.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1326\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991194\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Miami-7-Matty_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1326px) 100vw, 1326px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matty Luv plays with Mission District punk band Miami at 16th and Mission BART Plaza, circa 2000. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Miami didn’t last long, breaking up around 2001. Luv’s addiction to heroin had gotten more serious. He’d moved back to Florida for a time before being convinced to come back to San Francisco. Luv helped operate Mission Records in its near-final days, and played music with friends, but the scene was on its last legs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Miami and its generator shows, to be clear, came from a lineage of Mission punks before them. Half of Miami, after all, had roots in a band that had started four years prior. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Naked Cult of Hickey\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.mattyluv.com/\">Matty Luv\u003c/a>, a charismatic, manic frontman dedicated to a DIY anticapitalist interpretation of punk rock, Hickey was the band often called The Naked Cult of Hickey. With best friend Aesop Dekker behind the drum kit, the two produced a controlled chaos that would come to define the band. Originally accompanied by friend Chubby on bass, Hickey became known for confrontational antics and a prolific catalog of music, fueled by members’ use of both methamphetamine and heroin. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hickey burned bright and fast, touring constantly. Their song titles included “Hickey Is About Long Hair and Getting High” and “Everything I Know About Sex I Learned From KISS.” Live shows would often devolve into standoffs with the crowd, where the band might play one or two songs and then rant at the audience.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We would show up with the intention of being a band and playing our fucking songs as good as we could for an adoring crowd,” said Dekker. “A lot of times that would go fucky because the promoter was a dick, or, before we even played, would express how they weren’t going to pay us. Or the bands we were playing with were dicks.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The band’s live sets amplified their view on how punk rock should operate, with the members dedicated to an ethic that rebelled against the intrusion of money and power into their scene.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"766\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991199\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-160x77.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-768x368.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/HickeyLPs-1536x735.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(L–R) Hickey’s full-length self-titled LP, and ‘Various States of Disrepair,’ a compilation of songs released posthumously. (Probe Records / Poverty Records)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We hated the fucking corporatization of punk, and we hated people making money off of this. And we were at war with people that didn’t care about this shit,” said Dekker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The chaos that famously propelled the band eventually led to their downfall. During a 1997 U.S. tour, the band decided to break up. The three members had a fight in Tuscon, Arizona, and realized that none of them wanted to continue with the project. After that decision, they felt a shift amongst themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“A weird curse had been lifted, because we went back to our friend’s house and sat under the fire, drank and talked,” said Dekker. “We were friends again, like, this fucking weight had been lifted.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1326\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991187\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 1326w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x241.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x1158.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Ivy-in-Crowd-cool-hands_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1018x1536.jpg 1018w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1326px) 100vw, 1326px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivy McClelland (center) during a show at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mission Records \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After opening its doors in 1997, Mission Records, run by Adam White and Chris Myers, quickly became a place of refuge. Located at 2548 Mission Street, the shop soon had to move to its more permanent location across the street, on the corner of Mission and 19th, and gradually shifted to exist less as a record store and more as a living space and venue for shows.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It started off as a straight-up business proposition,” said White. “I got a bunch of credit cards. We both borrowed as much money as we could from whoever, and fucking went for it. And then, right away, we started getting decimated as a record store. It was the worst time. CDs were at their peak, and the internet was just starting to take the whole thing and destroy it. And we also didn’t know what the fuck we were doing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As time went on, members of several bands lived at Mission Records, helping volunteer and put on shows. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991188\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-768x589.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/liveatleedsflier-1536x1179.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">‘The cops can shut down Mission punk clubs, but not Mission Street’: A flyer for a ‘short, illegal show’ on 22nd and Mission. (Erica Dawn Lyle)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Across the Bay, another wave of bands was gaining traction. Green Day had already signed to a major label and released their massive record \u003cem>Dookie\u003c/em>, and Rancid was taking off. The East Bay and San Francisco punk scenes weren’t completely isolated, and Mission District bands still made their way across the bridge. But in San Francisco, there was a different energy emanating. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Maybe they played faster, maybe they were more confrontational. And maybe it was the drugs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was all benzos,” said Broustis. “You go to Mission Records, and there’d be a band rehearsing there at two in the morning while people are trying to sleep.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Band members got drugs from local corner stores, and used that to fuel their productivity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We did so much crystal meth in the fucking ’90s, and then it was heroin, and we were also eating lots of pills and drinking a lot — all the things that go with doing tons of crystal meth,” said Dekker. “That’s why we did so much in three years. Because we didn’t fucking sleep.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1319\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991189\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC.jpg 1319w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-768x1165.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/LOW-RES-Matty_Broken-Tub_Hickey-Hotel_KHC-1013x1536.jpg 1013w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1319px) 100vw, 1319px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matty Luv, and a broken bathtub, at the Hickey Hotel, circa mid-1990s. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A sudden shock \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the drugs took their toll, elements of the scene wound down. Miami broke up, White left Mission Records, and increasingly, cops harassed local punks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Oct. 5, 2002, Matty Luv, 34, was found dead of a heroin overdose at the Hickey Hotel. He had spent the day helping out at Mission Records, while McClelland and other friends went to a protest against the Iraq war. The group of friends had crossed paths on the way to the protest, and Luv waved hi. It would be the last time many of them would see him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The next day, a show at Mission Records was turned into a wake. Later, a number of his friends gathered at Dolores Park for his funeral, where \u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20180107014931/https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/make-sure-there-arent-any-squares-at-my-funeral/Content?oid=2146143\">zines and Hickey records were handed out\u003c/a>, and where Luv was remembered by his friends as funny, prolific and intense.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Learning how to take better care of each other. I think that’s the lesson. And the wisdom of losing him was about really changing. It changed my relationship to what it meant to show up for people in need or in crisis,” said McClelland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“He was the funniest person I’ve ever met, and I think I was the funniest person he ever met. And when we met, that was our bond, is that we felt the same way ideologically about everything, and we were both funny,” said Dekker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shortly after Luv’s death, Mission Records closed. White attempted to pass the business on to Buzz Lee, but the finances weren’t there. Dekker had recently found sobriety and become a father. McClelland continued to play in bands, and remains active in activism and harm reduction to this day.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1326\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991191\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/Erica-Aesop_BART-Show_Karoline-Hanson-Collins-1536x1018.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(L–R) Erica Dawn Lyle and Aesop Dekker of the punk band Miami play a generator show at 16th and Mission BART plaza, circa 2000. (Karoline Collins)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today, a new generation is picking up the torch. San Francisco bands False Flag and Surprise Privilege have played generator shows on the sidewalks in front of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/228217405293069/posts/1372002734247858/\">the Warfield \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13984468/best-concerts-2025-bay-area-live-music\">and the Castro Theatre\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923420/punk-show-on-bart\">on a moving BART train\u003c/a>. (Their store \u003ca href=\"https://ihaterecords.com/pages/about-us\">I Hate Records\u003c/a>, in the Lower Haight, carries echoes of Mission Records.) A group known as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/outhouse_sf/?hl=en\">Outhouse Collective\u003c/a> puts on their own generator shows, and have been taken under the wing by McClelland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last year saw the return of the \u003ca href=\"https://clarionalleymuralproject.org/clarion-alley-block-party/\">Clarion Alley Block Party\u003c/a>, which has largely been organized by McClelland since 1998. In its most recent installment, McClelland brought on members of Outhouse Collective to help organize the day’s live music. The combining of these two forces hints at an intergenerational cross-pollination which McClelland sees as essential for the continuation of the punk community into the future.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have shared visions, we have shared values. We have shared connection through these rad creative and rad political movements,” said McClelland. “When we are able to embrace people across community lines, build solidarity across race, gender, ability, mental health — finding those connections is really, really sacred.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "youth-radio-reopens-downtown-oakland-media-training",
"title": "Youth Radio Reopens in Oakland, Providing Programs to New Cohort",
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"headTitle": "Youth Radio Reopens in Oakland, Providing Programs to New Cohort | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youthradio.org/\">Youth Radio\u003c/a> is back.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> nonprofit, which had supported youth involvement in media for more than 30 years before shutting down in 2024, announced Tuesday that it will resume operations effective this week.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Youth Radio will continue to be headquartered inside its longstanding location at 17th and Broadway in downtown Oakland, which it owns. Its programs restart on Wednesday, June 24, with an orientation for its first cohort of 16 participants.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The reopening is due to the volunteer efforts of a small group of former staff, students, plus “dedicated board members and community members,” according to Maeven McGovern, a longtime employee of the organization who has taken on the role of executive director.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Funding for the reopening has come from a variety of sources, including a group of small donors, along with grants from Elevate Youth California and the Wellness Foundation. Youth Radio also received a loan from Community Vision to assist with existing debt.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991018\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Youth Radio’s headquarters in downtown Oakland. The community nonprofit owns the building at 17th and Broadway. (Courtesy Youth Radio)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A crowdfunding campaign, which launched in 2024 and raised roughly $18,000, “helped keep the lights on and keep things moving while we were figuring out how to reopen,” said McGovern.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone involved with the reopening effort has a long history with Youth Radio, said McGovern, “but weren’t very involved with the leadership that was in place when it closed.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So far, the staffing is modest, with one full-time program manager and three part-time instructors, along with McGovern. The organization, which expects to grow with time, is currently using consultants for administration.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, the reopening is a welcome return for a community organization that had become \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/11/12/yr-media-oakland-shuts-down/\">plagued by financial issues\u003c/a>. By the time it shut down in November 2024, staff had not been paid for more than a month, and employee health insurance insurance premiums had lapsed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It marked a confounding end to a beloved program. Youth Radio had provided equipment, training and mentorship for all aspects of media, including film, radio, podcasting, music and photography. It counted among its alumni TV newscaster \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lanayalewistv/?hl=en\">Lanaya Lewis\u003c/a>, music producer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13816944/the-10-best-bay-area-albums-of-2017-1-o-a-k-riding-in-cars-with-girls\">1 O.A.K.\u003c/a>, rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/iamsu\">IamSu\u003c/a> and \u003cem>Euphoria\u003c/em> actor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13932485/tributes-angus-cloud-euphoria-oakland-osa-kehlani-zendaya-kev-choice-jwalt\">Angus Cloud\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.1993opening.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991020\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.1993opening.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.1993opening-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.1993opening-768x545.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A group of young people at Youth Radio in 1993, the year the organization was launched. (Courtesy Youth Radio)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>McGovern herself worked in various roles at Youth Radio for 13 years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The skills and industry experience that young people gain from their experience at Youth Radio is probably what we’re really known for,” said McGovern. “But the sense of community that exists at the organization is what most people in it really remember. And honestly, when I heard about what happened, I just wanted to help in any way that I could.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The sessions starting this week are introductory training programs, with room to grow as more cohorts join. McGovern noted the rise of “content creators,” and said that while Youth Radio’s programs prioritized journalism, they would likely also see more vertical video editing, along with podcasting and music production. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One more change: after a branding change to “YR Media,” the name of the organization will once again be Youth Radio.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’ve gone back to the original brand, as part of going back to our original self, I would say,” McGovern said, “and really reconnecting with what made Youth Radio great.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ6NeXKGrSH/\">open house and information session\u003c/a> about Youth Radio takes place Friday, June 26, where potential applicants can meet instructors and learn about the programs on offer. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ6NeXKGrSH/\">Details on the orientation here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> nonprofit, which had supported youth involvement in media for more than 30 years before shutting down in 2024, announced Tuesday that it will resume operations effective this week.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Youth Radio will continue to be headquartered inside its longstanding location at 17th and Broadway in downtown Oakland, which it owns. Its programs restart on Wednesday, June 24, with an orientation for its first cohort of 16 participants.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Youth Radio will continue to be headquartered inside its longstanding location at 17th and Broadway in downtown Oakland, which it owns. Its programs restart on Wednesday, June 24, with an orientation for its first cohort of 16 participants.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The reopening is due to the volunteer efforts of a small group of former staff, students, plus “dedicated board members and community members,” according to Maeven McGovern, a longtime employee of the organization who has taken on the role of executive director.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Funding for the reopening has come from a variety of sources, including a group of small donors, along with grants from Elevate Youth California and the Wellness Foundation. Youth Radio also received a loan from Community Vision to assist with existing debt.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Funding for the reopening has come from a variety of sources, including a group of small donors, along with grants from Elevate Youth California and the Wellness Foundation. Youth Radio also received a loan from Community Vision to assist with existing debt.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building-768x512.jpg 768w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991018\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Youth Radio’s headquarters in downtown Oakland. The community nonprofit owns the building at 17th and Broadway. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991018\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Youth Radio’s headquarters in downtown Oakland. The community nonprofit owns the building at 17th and Broadway. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ6NeXKGrSH/\">open house and information session\u003c/a> about Youth Radio takes place Friday, June 26, where potential applicants can meet instructors and learn about the programs on offer. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ6NeXKGrSH/\">Details on the orientation here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youthradio.org/\">Youth Radio\u003c/a> is back.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> nonprofit, which had supported youth involvement in media for more than 30 years before shutting down in 2024, announced Tuesday that it will resume operations effective this week.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Youth Radio will continue to be headquartered inside its longstanding location at 17th and Broadway in downtown Oakland, which it owns. Its programs restart on Wednesday, June 24, with an orientation for its first cohort of 16 participants.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The reopening is due to the volunteer efforts of a small group of former staff, students, plus “dedicated board members and community members,” according to Maeven McGovern, a longtime employee of the organization who has taken on the role of executive director.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Funding for the reopening has come from a variety of sources, including a group of small donors, along with grants from Elevate Youth California and the Wellness Foundation. Youth Radio also received a loan from Community Vision to assist with existing debt.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991018\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.building-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Youth Radio’s headquarters in downtown Oakland. The community nonprofit owns the building at 17th and Broadway. (Courtesy Youth Radio)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A crowdfunding campaign, which launched in 2024 and raised roughly $18,000, “helped keep the lights on and keep things moving while we were figuring out how to reopen,” said McGovern.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone involved with the reopening effort has a long history with Youth Radio, said McGovern, “but weren’t very involved with the leadership that was in place when it closed.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So far, the staffing is modest, with one full-time program manager and three part-time instructors, along with McGovern. The organization, which expects to grow with time, is currently using consultants for administration.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, the reopening is a welcome return for a community organization that had become \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/11/12/yr-media-oakland-shuts-down/\">plagued by financial issues\u003c/a>. By the time it shut down in November 2024, staff had not been paid for more than a month, and employee health insurance insurance premiums had lapsed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It marked a confounding end to a beloved program. Youth Radio had provided equipment, training and mentorship for all aspects of media, including film, radio, podcasting, music and photography. It counted among its alumni TV newscaster \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lanayalewistv/?hl=en\">Lanaya Lewis\u003c/a>, music producer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13816944/the-10-best-bay-area-albums-of-2017-1-o-a-k-riding-in-cars-with-girls\">1 O.A.K.\u003c/a>, rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/iamsu\">IamSu\u003c/a> and \u003cem>Euphoria\u003c/em> actor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13932485/tributes-angus-cloud-euphoria-oakland-osa-kehlani-zendaya-kev-choice-jwalt\">Angus Cloud\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.1993opening.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13991020\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.1993opening.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.1993opening-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/YouthRadio.1993opening-768x545.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A group of young people at Youth Radio in 1993, the year the organization was launched. (Courtesy Youth Radio)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>McGovern herself worked in various roles at Youth Radio for 13 years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The skills and industry experience that young people gain from their experience at Youth Radio is probably what we’re really known for,” said McGovern. “But the sense of community that exists at the organization is what most people in it really remember. And honestly, when I heard about what happened, I just wanted to help in any way that I could.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The sessions starting this week are introductory training programs, with room to grow as more cohorts join. McGovern noted the rise of “content creators,” and said that while Youth Radio’s programs prioritized journalism, they would likely also see more vertical video editing, along with podcasting and music production. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One more change: after a branding change to “YR Media,” the name of the organization will once again be Youth Radio.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’ve gone back to the original brand, as part of going back to our original self, I would say,” McGovern said, “and really reconnecting with what made Youth Radio great.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ6NeXKGrSH/\">open house and information session\u003c/a> about Youth Radio takes place Friday, June 26, where potential applicants can meet instructors and learn about the programs on offer. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ6NeXKGrSH/\">Details on the orientation here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Deluxe Brings Jazz Back to San Francisco’s Haight Street",
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"content": "\u003cp>As Jay Bordeleau tells the story, the resurrection of Club Deluxe was more than kismet. It was an act of will by the jazz scene itself that paved the way to the venue’s official reopening Thursday, June 18, rechristened as \u003ca href=\"https://thedeluxesf.com/\">The Deluxe\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For more than three decades, the Haight-Ashbury club thrived as one of the city’s most welcoming jazz spots. It provided regular gigs for a disparate roster of hot-club and jump-blues bands, hard-bop outfits, swing combos and sultry singers. A messy public dispute between the landlord and Deluxe proprietor Sarah Wilde eventually led to its closure in April 2023, a loss that many musicians refused to accept.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Within months, persistent efforts by Deluxe regulars connected Bordeleau, who owns the Hayes Valley jazz supper club Mr. Tipple’s, with Christian Beaulieu, a musician and Deluxe bartender who was one of the venue’s presiding spirits during its last incarnation. After several musicians implored him to meet with Beaulieu, Bordeleau relented.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“OK, jeez, I guess I’ve got to have coffee with this guy,” he said. “These were all musicians I trusted to take care of me, so it wasn’t so much a business referral as it felt like, this might be your soulmate.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350458.jpeg\" alt=\"man with shaved sides of head bartends beside coworker in cozy bar\" class=\"wp-image-13990831\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350458.jpeg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350458-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350458-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christian Beaulieu bartends at The Deluxe on June 13, 2026. (Dennis Hearne)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The first date went well, followed by further discussions and more lobbying by musicians. As so often happens in San Francisco, the path to reviving Deluxe was strewn with obstacles. The reopening date was pushed back several times as they refurbished the Art Deco interior, maintaining its intimate speakeasy vibe. Beaulieu ended up managing Mr. Tipple’s for about two years, a working courtship that confirmed they were ready to take the plunge together.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the musicians who perform at Mr. Tipple’s will be in the Deluxe mix, but Beaulieu wants to make sure that the former Haight cast is also well represented. He hasn’t shed his identity as a musician known for his work in raucous bands like Triclops! (“I’m writing a book about my experiences, a self-help book for artists who have lost their way,” he said), but he found that Deluxe seemed to follow him wherever he went.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I was bartending at a few different places and I couldn’t stop hearing about Deluxe,” Beaulieu said. “Half the time people who had no idea I’d worked there brought it up randomly. Every shift I worked someone would mention that place. We all felt a profound loss when it closed but I had no way to gauge how special it was until I was working around the city.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350446.jpeg\" alt=\"four people face each other over bar, chatting, happy\" class=\"wp-image-13990834\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350446.jpeg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350446-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350446-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christian Beaulieu chats with The Deluxe patrons Steve Heilig, Oran Scott and Aimee Duddridge-Picard. (Dennis Hearne)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For at least two generations of jazz musicians, coming of age in the Bay Area meant landing a gig at Deluxe. Multi-reed player Steven Lugerner, whose band JACKNIFE plays the club June 20, was the first musician to connect Bordeleau with Beaulieu. Growing up on the Peninsula, he’d made numerous forays into the Haight and ended up loitering near to door, listening to music pouring out of the club.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He started frequenting Deluxe on trips home while studying jazz in New York City, and when he moved back to the Bay Area it was one of the first places he looked for work.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I sent an email to Sarah and she offered me the first Wednesday of every month,” he recalled. “I immediately pitched her on the JACKNIFE band,” which focuses on music by alto sax great Jackie McLean. It was a perch that helped Lugerner become a widely influential force who launched a popular weekly jam session at \u003ca href=\"https://www.stookeysblueroom.com/musicandevents\">Stookey’s Blue Room\u003c/a> and helps run the Stanford Jazz Workshop as director of educational and festival programming.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Vocalist Emily Day can’t remember exactly when she made the transition from ardent patron to Deluxe headliner, but she treasured both sides of the finely calibrated equation. “As a patron, there was something transformative when you’d enter the space,” she says. “You didn’t have to look up who was playing there. No matter the type of music, the crowd was all for it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/DELUXE-VENUE-2.jpeg\" alt=\"jazz band in small venue with seated audience under Art Deco murals\" class=\"wp-image-13990835\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/DELUXE-VENUE-2.jpeg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/DELUXE-VENUE-2-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/DELUXE-VENUE-2-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Barrio Manouche performs for an audience at The Deluxe on June 13, 2026. (Dennis Hearne)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bordeleau and Beaulieu have maintained the essential geography that sparks the room’s center-of-the-action feel, which contains a side for engaged, interactive listening and a convivial bar-top environment for socializing. Emily Day and the Cosmo Alleycats started playing at Deluxe around 2018, filling in at first for Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“When we finally did land a regular gig, third Fridays, it quickly became our favorite,” Day said. “Not to say we made a lot of money, but we’d turn away private performances for those gigs. As a performer, one of the greatest things was the blur between the band and audience. It felt like the most amazing house party and you’re all on the same team. You want everything about this night to be a success.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Coming amid news that some of San Francisco’s beloved venues and dive bars are closing or up for sale, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/sf-dive-bars-sale-22299738.php\">Make Out Room and the Latin American Club\u003c/a>, the Deluxe revival is a welcome sign that that the city hasn’t lost all its swing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would not be doing it if I was not confident in the scene,” Bordeleau said. “Intimate live music with a community audience is really special and valued, and people didn’t want to let it go.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Deluxe’s (1511 Haight St., San Francisco) soft opening takes place June 18 with a performance by string player and vocalist Mitch Polzak. On Friday, June 19, saxophonist James Mahone performs at 6 p.m., followed by drummer Miles Turk at 8 p.m\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As Jay Bordeleau tells the story, the resurrection of Club Deluxe was more than kismet. It was an act of will by the jazz scene itself that paved the way to the venue’s official reopening Thursday, June 18, rechristened as \u003ca href=\"https://thedeluxesf.com/\">The Deluxe\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For more than three decades, the Haight-Ashbury club thrived as one of the city’s most welcoming jazz spots. It provided regular gigs for a disparate roster of hot-club and jump-blues bands, hard-bop outfits, swing combos and sultry singers. A messy public dispute between the landlord and Deluxe proprietor Sarah Wilde eventually led to its closure in April 2023, a loss that many musicians refused to accept.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Within months, persistent efforts by Deluxe regulars connected Bordeleau, who owns the Hayes Valley jazz supper club Mr. Tipple’s, with Christian Beaulieu, a musician and Deluxe bartender who was one of the venue’s presiding spirits during its last incarnation. After several musicians implored him to meet with Beaulieu, Bordeleau relented.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“OK, jeez, I guess I’ve got to have coffee with this guy,” he said. “These were all musicians I trusted to take care of me, so it wasn’t so much a business referral as it felt like, this might be your soulmate.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“OK, jeez, I guess I’ve got to have coffee with this guy,” he said. “These were all musicians I trusted to take care of me, so it wasn’t so much a business referral as it felt like, this might be your soulmate.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The first date went well, followed by further discussions and more lobbying by musicians. As so often happens in San Francisco, the path to reviving Deluxe was strewn with obstacles. The reopening date was pushed back several times as they refurbished the Art Deco interior, maintaining its intimate speakeasy vibe. Beaulieu ended up managing Mr. Tipple’s for about two years, a working courtship that confirmed they were ready to take the plunge together.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Many of the musicians who perform at Mr. Tipple’s will be in the Deluxe mix, but Beaulieu wants to make sure that the former Haight cast is also well represented. He hasn’t shed his identity as a musician known for his work in raucous bands like Triclops! (“I’m writing a book about my experiences, a self-help book for artists who have lost their way,” he said), but he found that Deluxe seemed to follow him wherever he went.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I was bartending at a few different places and I couldn’t stop hearing about Deluxe,” Beaulieu said. “Half the time people who had no idea I’d worked there brought it up randomly. Every shift I worked someone would mention that place. We all felt a profound loss when it closed but I had no way to gauge how special it was until I was working around the city.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For at least two generations of jazz musicians, coming of age in the Bay Area meant landing a gig at Deluxe. Multi-reed player Steven Lugerner, whose band JACKNIFE plays the club June 20, was the first musician to connect Bordeleau with Beaulieu. Growing up on the Peninsula, he’d made numerous forays into the Haight and ended up loitering near to door, listening to music pouring out of the club.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I sent an email to Sarah and she offered me the first Wednesday of every month,” he recalled. “I immediately pitched her on the JACKNIFE band,” which focuses on music by alto sax great Jackie McLean. It was a perch that helped Lugerner become a widely influential force who launched a popular weekly jam session at \u003ca href=\"https://www.stookeysblueroom.com/musicandevents\">Stookey’s Blue Room\u003c/a> and helps run the Stanford Jazz Workshop as director of educational and festival programming.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Vocalist Emily Day can’t remember exactly when she made the transition from ardent patron to Deluxe headliner, but she treasured both sides of the finely calibrated equation. “As a patron, there was something transformative when you’d enter the space,” she says. “You didn’t have to look up who was playing there. No matter the type of music, the crowd was all for it.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "The Deluxe Brings Jazz Back to San Francisco’s Haight Street",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As Jay Bordeleau tells the story, the resurrection of Club Deluxe was more than kismet. It was an act of will by the jazz scene itself that paved the way to the venue’s official reopening Thursday, June 18, rechristened as \u003ca href=\"https://thedeluxesf.com/\">The Deluxe\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For more than three decades, the Haight-Ashbury club thrived as one of the city’s most welcoming jazz spots. It provided regular gigs for a disparate roster of hot-club and jump-blues bands, hard-bop outfits, swing combos and sultry singers. A messy public dispute between the landlord and Deluxe proprietor Sarah Wilde eventually led to its closure in April 2023, a loss that many musicians refused to accept.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Within months, persistent efforts by Deluxe regulars connected Bordeleau, who owns the Hayes Valley jazz supper club Mr. Tipple’s, with Christian Beaulieu, a musician and Deluxe bartender who was one of the venue’s presiding spirits during its last incarnation. After several musicians implored him to meet with Beaulieu, Bordeleau relented.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“OK, jeez, I guess I’ve got to have coffee with this guy,” he said. “These were all musicians I trusted to take care of me, so it wasn’t so much a business referral as it felt like, this might be your soulmate.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350458.jpeg\" alt=\"man with shaved sides of head bartends beside coworker in cozy bar\" class=\"wp-image-13990831\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350458.jpeg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350458-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350458-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christian Beaulieu bartends at The Deluxe on June 13, 2026. (Dennis Hearne)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The first date went well, followed by further discussions and more lobbying by musicians. As so often happens in San Francisco, the path to reviving Deluxe was strewn with obstacles. The reopening date was pushed back several times as they refurbished the Art Deco interior, maintaining its intimate speakeasy vibe. Beaulieu ended up managing Mr. Tipple’s for about two years, a working courtship that confirmed they were ready to take the plunge together.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the musicians who perform at Mr. Tipple’s will be in the Deluxe mix, but Beaulieu wants to make sure that the former Haight cast is also well represented. He hasn’t shed his identity as a musician known for his work in raucous bands like Triclops! (“I’m writing a book about my experiences, a self-help book for artists who have lost their way,” he said), but he found that Deluxe seemed to follow him wherever he went.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I was bartending at a few different places and I couldn’t stop hearing about Deluxe,” Beaulieu said. “Half the time people who had no idea I’d worked there brought it up randomly. Every shift I worked someone would mention that place. We all felt a profound loss when it closed but I had no way to gauge how special it was until I was working around the city.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350446.jpeg\" alt=\"four people face each other over bar, chatting, happy\" class=\"wp-image-13990834\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350446.jpeg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350446-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/L1350446-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christian Beaulieu chats with The Deluxe patrons Steve Heilig, Oran Scott and Aimee Duddridge-Picard. (Dennis Hearne)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For at least two generations of jazz musicians, coming of age in the Bay Area meant landing a gig at Deluxe. Multi-reed player Steven Lugerner, whose band JACKNIFE plays the club June 20, was the first musician to connect Bordeleau with Beaulieu. Growing up on the Peninsula, he’d made numerous forays into the Haight and ended up loitering near to door, listening to music pouring out of the club.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He started frequenting Deluxe on trips home while studying jazz in New York City, and when he moved back to the Bay Area it was one of the first places he looked for work.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I sent an email to Sarah and she offered me the first Wednesday of every month,” he recalled. “I immediately pitched her on the JACKNIFE band,” which focuses on music by alto sax great Jackie McLean. It was a perch that helped Lugerner become a widely influential force who launched a popular weekly jam session at \u003ca href=\"https://www.stookeysblueroom.com/musicandevents\">Stookey’s Blue Room\u003c/a> and helps run the Stanford Jazz Workshop as director of educational and festival programming.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Vocalist Emily Day can’t remember exactly when she made the transition from ardent patron to Deluxe headliner, but she treasured both sides of the finely calibrated equation. “As a patron, there was something transformative when you’d enter the space,” she says. “You didn’t have to look up who was playing there. No matter the type of music, the crowd was all for it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/DELUXE-VENUE-2.jpeg\" alt=\"jazz band in small venue with seated audience under Art Deco murals\" class=\"wp-image-13990835\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/DELUXE-VENUE-2.jpeg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/DELUXE-VENUE-2-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/DELUXE-VENUE-2-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Barrio Manouche performs for an audience at The Deluxe on June 13, 2026. (Dennis Hearne)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bordeleau and Beaulieu have maintained the essential geography that sparks the room’s center-of-the-action feel, which contains a side for engaged, interactive listening and a convivial bar-top environment for socializing. Emily Day and the Cosmo Alleycats started playing at Deluxe around 2018, filling in at first for Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“When we finally did land a regular gig, third Fridays, it quickly became our favorite,” Day said. “Not to say we made a lot of money, but we’d turn away private performances for those gigs. As a performer, one of the greatest things was the blur between the band and audience. It felt like the most amazing house party and you’re all on the same team. You want everything about this night to be a success.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Coming amid news that some of San Francisco’s beloved venues and dive bars are closing or up for sale, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/sf-dive-bars-sale-22299738.php\">Make Out Room and the Latin American Club\u003c/a>, the Deluxe revival is a welcome sign that that the city hasn’t lost all its swing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would not be doing it if I was not confident in the scene,” Bordeleau said. “Intimate live music with a community audience is really special and valued, and people didn’t want to let it go.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Deluxe’s (1511 Haight St., San Francisco) soft opening takes place June 18 with a performance by string player and vocalist Mitch Polzak. On Friday, June 19, saxophonist James Mahone performs at 6 p.m., followed by drummer Miles Turk at 8 p.m\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "elis-oakland-blues-monday-nat-bolden-fillmore-slim",
"title": "At Eli’s in Oakland, 98-Year-Olds and Young Blues Fans Keep the Mojo Workin’",
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"headTitle": "At Eli’s in Oakland, 98-Year-Olds and Young Blues Fans Keep the Mojo Workin’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>By now, the audience at Eli’s Mile High Club in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> knows what to expect from Nat Bolden.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bolden will sing from on stage, his face alight with glee, whatever jeweled belt buckle or sequined fedora he may be sporting sparkling under the lights, his tenor croon still smooth at age 98. Meanwhile, his duet partner, Sharon Davis, will sing from a chair on the floor below, no longer up to climbing the stairs to the stage but still plenty able to get the audience, many of whom are some 60 years her junior, swaying with her smoky wail.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eli’s has a long and august tradition of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/blues-music\">blues\u003c/a>; Bolden has been singing there for more than 30 years. A poster for one of his 1995 shows still hangs on the wall, beside bills advertising the likes of genre luminaries Etta James, James Brown and B.B. King. Although these days the bar is mostly a punk and metal joint, when owner Matthew Patane took over in 2014, he was determined to honor its blues history.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nat Bolden, 98, performs during the 10 Year Celebration of Blue Monday at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland on June 1, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the prompting of artist and longtime regular Margie Turner, Patane started “Blue Mondays,” spotlighting local talent. The now-beloved weekly institution, which turns ten this month, draws an intensely intergenerational and diverse crowd — sporting cowboy hats, canes, lip rings or locs — that goes wild without fail when Bolden and Davis perform. Yoshi’s may offer a little more polish, but no club provides the city’s oldest performers an enthusiastic audience, or teaches a new generation the magic of the blues, quite like Eli’s.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re keeping the blues alive,” Bolden says, “and the blues is keeping me alive.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>The stains are in the same place’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The blues came to Oakland from the Deep South during World War II, along with the wave of Black workers who came to work in the city’s shipyards — including Bolden. After a few years as a welder, he bought a blues club called the Til Two, rebelling against the ad hoc segregation of 1950s California that he had hoped to leave behind in Arkansas. “I didn’t care what color you was, you came in,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His fellow Eli’s regular, 91-year-old Clarence Sims, also came to the area seeking an escape from Jim Crow. “The white fountain, the black fountain, we couldn’t go into the restaurants,” Sims remembers. Growing up in Louisiana, Sims had listened to records on his grandmother’s gramophone, idolizing a performer named Guitar Slim.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“His suit was green, his hat was green, the women was screaming, and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” he says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990593\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarence Sims, better known as Filmore Slim, poses in a backstage room at Eli’s Mile High Club during the 10th anniversary celebration of Blue Monday in Oakland on June 1, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Sims, better known as Fillmore Slim, moved to San Francisco and became one of the city’s most visible pimps, participating in what he calls the “fast life.” After five years in prison, he ended up in a halfway house near Eli’s and sat in on his first jam session.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Local blues enthusiast Eli Thornton had bought the former-dairy-turned-watering-hole not long before and turned it into a music venue. Soon, Sims was performing there regularly; he eventually recorded his first album in the upstairs green room, with musicians tucked into the tiny kitchen and sitting on the toilet.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Everyone there was dressed sharp, partying, and it was always packed,” remembers West Coast Blues Society executive director Ronnie Stewart, who started his own career at Eli’s. Even now, “it ain’t changed much. The stains are in the same place.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990591\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People gather outside Eli’s Mile High Club during the 10th anniversary celebration of Blue Monday in Oakland on June 1, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Thornton’s girlfriend shot him inside his own bar in 1979, and eventually musician and regular Troyce Key took over. With the destruction of Seventh Street and blues clubs closing across the city, Key dubbed his bar the “Home of the West Coast Blues.” A 1985 article in the \u003cem>East Bay Express\u003c/em> describes a typical night that could be any current Blues Monday, where “yuppies from Berkeley stomp and sway alongside the older black regulars from West and East Oakland.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Eli’s was, the article declares, “the most successfully integrated blues club in America’s most integrated city.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A cross-generational blues seminar\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp> When Patane started Blue Mondays, it was important to Turner that the night include an open jam. “There are a lot of good players out there, and they don’t get the opportunity to let you know what they can do — so here they can,” Bolden says. Rotating bands play feature sets, but there’s always a sign-up portion open to all.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Over time, the jam has accrued devoted regulars. First came the older generation: Bolden, Turner, and Sims; long-time Eli’s patron, Ella Pennewell, who often dedicates a song to her late husband, Julien Vaught of the Flamingos; Earnestine Barze, or Lady E, who learned to sing blues at Eli’s after the murder of her son.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sharon Davis sings from a chair at the edge of the stage during the 10 Year Celebration of Blue Monday at Eli’s Mile High Club on June 1, 2026, in Oakland. Unable to perform on stage, Davis now sings from the audience level while Nat Bolden and other musicians perform behind her. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then, gradually, younger musicians joined in. Kameron Jones, 32, learned to play blues at Eli’s on a saxophone gifted to him by a musician he met there. He calls Eli’s a “blues nursery,” a rare opportunity to get on stage and learn by doing. Bolden, for example, gave Jones his first wireless mic so they could more easily perform together.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Vocalist Muwazu Chisum-Misquitta, 23, has also found a supportive musical home among musicians several decades her senior. Sims in particular has taken to inviting Chisum-Misquitta up to sing backup vocals for him. “I walk in, and it feels like home,” she says. “There’s so much to learn from everybody; everyone is so willing to share.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the older generation has found a receptive, enthusiastic audience and reassurance that the blues just might live on. Most Mondays by 9 p.m., Eli’s is full — not just of old timers but also throngs of UC Berkeley students, attracted initially to the free night of music and then drawn in by the palpable warmth on stage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Them young kids love the blues, man,” Sims says. “I was really flabbergasted by them young kids playing the guitar and dancing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990592\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A marquee listing upcoming Monday night blues performers hangs inside Eli’s Mile High Club during the venue’s Blue Monday 10th anniversary celebration in Oakland on June 1, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In that way, Eli’s blues night has become a source of communal care, providing encouragement and support for young musicians and dignity and camaraderie for older ones. In between those two groups is T Patrick Farmer, a “seventies baby” who serves as the unofficial hype man of Blue Mondays and a bridge between generations. He sees it as his job to facilitate intergenerational understanding through the language of music, encouraging the young crowd to dance harder and keep their energy up when an old-timer performs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’m telling the crowd, ‘Jump, jump,’ and there’s a connection there,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">And the train keeps a-rollin’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s another Monday at Eli’s, and Bolden is making the rounds after his and Davis’ performance, shaking hands with men and leaning in flirtatiously to chat with women. Sims, who inspired Bolden’s flair for fashion, will close out the evening clad in a bright blue blazer, matching yellow-lined pork pie hat, and a bejeweled cane that he uses to ease his still-lanky frame onto a stool.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I think it’s time to do the national anthem,” he tells the audience, and one of the guitarist plays a few bars of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “Nahhh, not that national anthem,” he says. “So, do y’all know what the real national anthem is?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The band answers with the opening chords of “Get Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine,” by James Brown. Sims chants the lyrics in his Louisiana drawl; Farmer jumps to the beat behind him and tells the crowd to do the same. “If you want to save Eli’s, scream!” he yells.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"680\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13972746\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Owner and operator Matthew Patane, center, holds a community meeting at Eli’s Mile High Club on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eli’s took a hit during Covid lockdown and continues to struggle. Tangles with a neighbor and Oakland bureaucratic red tape made things worse, culminating in the city shutting down the bar’s back patio last year. (Efforts to find a solution with the neighbor and city are ongoing.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s been a challenging time: a lot of small venues are in our situation — fighting to stay alive,” Patane says. Meanwhile, every Monday is still reserved for the blues, music that is endlessly expressive and cathartic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It tells a story, and people live that story every day,” Bolden says of what makes the blues tradition worth fighting for. “They work hard, they have trouble at home, they love a person and don’t have that love returned — all that is blues.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s a cause worth the weekly drive to and from Stockton, he adds.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My legs can be hurting. But then they start up a beat up there, and they quit hurting, and I get up and dance.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>By now, the audience at Eli’s Mile High Club in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> knows what to expect from Nat Bolden.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>By now, the audience at Eli’s Mile High Club in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> knows what to expect from Nat Bolden.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bolden will sing from on stage, his face alight with glee, whatever jeweled belt buckle or sequined fedora he may be sporting sparkling under the lights, his tenor croon still smooth at age 98. Meanwhile, his duet partner, Sharon Davis, will sing from a chair on the floor below, no longer up to climbing the stairs to the stage but still plenty able to get the audience, many of whom are some 60 years her junior, swaying with her smoky wail.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bolden will sing from on stage, his face alight with glee, whatever jeweled belt buckle or sequined fedora he may be sporting sparkling under the lights, his tenor croon still smooth at age 98. Meanwhile, his duet partner, Sharon Davis, will sing from a chair on the floor below, no longer up to climbing the stairs to the stage but still plenty able to get the audience, many of whom are some 60 years her junior, swaying with her smoky wail.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Eli’s has a long and august tradition of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/blues-music\">blues\u003c/a>; Bolden has been singing there for more than 30 years. A poster for one of his 1995 shows still hangs on the wall, beside bills advertising the likes of genre luminaries Etta James, James Brown and B.B. King. Although these days the bar is mostly a punk and metal joint, when owner Matthew Patane took over in 2014, he was determined to honor its blues history.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Eli’s has a long and august tradition of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/blues-music\">blues\u003c/a>; Bolden has been singing there for more than 30 years. A poster for one of his 1995 shows still hangs on the wall, beside bills advertising the likes of genre luminaries Etta James, James Brown and B.B. King. Although these days the bar is mostly a punk and metal joint, when owner Matthew Patane took over in 2014, he was determined to honor its blues history.\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nat Bolden, 98, performs during the 10 Year Celebration of Blue Monday at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland on June 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990595\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nat Bolden, 98, performs during the 10 Year Celebration of Blue Monday at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland on June 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At the prompting of artist and longtime regular Margie Turner, Patane started “Blue Mondays,” spotlighting local talent. The now-beloved weekly institution, which turns ten this month, draws an intensely intergenerational and diverse crowd — sporting cowboy hats, canes, lip rings or locs — that goes wild without fail when Bolden and Davis perform. Yoshi’s may offer a little more polish, but no club provides the city’s oldest performers an enthusiastic audience, or teaches a new generation the magic of the blues, quite like Eli’s.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At the prompting of artist and longtime regular Margie Turner, Patane started “Blue Mondays,” spotlighting local talent. The now-beloved weekly institution, which turns ten this month, draws an intensely intergenerational and diverse crowd — sporting cowboy hats, canes, lip rings or locs — that goes wild without fail when Bolden and Davis perform. Yoshi’s may offer a little more polish, but no club provides the city’s oldest performers an enthusiastic audience, or teaches a new generation the magic of the blues, quite like Eli’s.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re keeping the blues alive,” Bolden says, “and the blues is keeping me alive.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We’re keeping the blues alive,” Bolden says, “and the blues is keeping me alive.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"attrs": {
"text": "‘The stains are in the same place’",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>The stains are in the same place’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>The stains are in the same place’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The blues came to Oakland from the Deep South during World War II, along with the wave of Black workers who came to work in the city’s shipyards — including Bolden. After a few years as a welder, he bought a blues club called the Til Two, rebelling against the ad hoc segregation of 1950s California that he had hoped to leave behind in Arkansas. “I didn’t care what color you was, you came in,” he says.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The blues came to Oakland from the Deep South during World War II, along with the wave of Black workers who came to work in the city’s shipyards — including Bolden. After a few years as a welder, he bought a blues club called the Til Two, rebelling against the ad hoc segregation of 1950s California that he had hoped to leave behind in Arkansas. “I didn’t care what color you was, you came in,” he says.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>His fellow Eli’s regular, 91-year-old Clarence Sims, also came to the area seeking an escape from Jim Crow. “The white fountain, the black fountain, we couldn’t go into the restaurants,” Sims remembers. Growing up in Louisiana, Sims had listened to records on his grandmother’s gramophone, idolizing a performer named Guitar Slim.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>His fellow Eli’s regular, 91-year-old Clarence Sims, also came to the area seeking an escape from Jim Crow. “The white fountain, the black fountain, we couldn’t go into the restaurants,” Sims remembers. Growing up in Louisiana, Sims had listened to records on his grandmother’s gramophone, idolizing a performer named Guitar Slim.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“His suit was green, his hat was green, the women was screaming, and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” he says. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“His suit was green, his hat was green, the women was screaming, and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” he says. \u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990593\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarence Sims, better known as Filmore Slim, poses in a backstage room at Eli’s Mile High Club during the 10th anniversary celebration of Blue Monday in Oakland on June 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990593\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarence Sims, better known as Filmore Slim, poses in a backstage room at Eli’s Mile High Club during the 10th anniversary celebration of Blue Monday in Oakland on June 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Sims, better known as Fillmore Slim, moved to San Francisco and became one of the city’s most visible pimps, participating in what he calls the “fast life.” After five years in prison, he ended up in a halfway house near Eli’s and sat in on his first jam session.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Sims, better known as Fillmore Slim, moved to San Francisco and became one of the city’s most visible pimps, participating in what he calls the “fast life.” After five years in prison, he ended up in a halfway house near Eli’s and sat in on his first jam session.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Local blues enthusiast Eli Thornton had bought the former-dairy-turned-watering-hole not long before and turned it into a music venue. Soon, Sims was performing there regularly; he eventually recorded his first album in the upstairs green room, with musicians tucked into the tiny kitchen and sitting on the toilet.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Local blues enthusiast Eli Thornton had bought the former-dairy-turned-watering-hole not long before and turned it into a music venue. Soon, Sims was performing there regularly; he eventually recorded his first album in the upstairs green room, with musicians tucked into the tiny kitchen and sitting on the toilet.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Everyone there was dressed sharp, partying, and it was always packed,” remembers West Coast Blues Society executive director Ronnie Stewart, who started his own career at Eli’s. Even now, “it ain’t changed much. The stains are in the same place.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Everyone there was dressed sharp, partying, and it was always packed,” remembers West Coast Blues Society executive director Ronnie Stewart, who started his own career at Eli’s. Even now, “it ain’t changed much. The stains are in the same place.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990591\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People gather outside Eli’s Mile High Club during the 10th anniversary celebration of Blue Monday in Oakland on June 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990591\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People gather outside Eli’s Mile High Club during the 10th anniversary celebration of Blue Monday in Oakland on June 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thornton’s girlfriend shot him inside his own bar in 1979, and eventually musician and regular Troyce Key took over. With the destruction of Seventh Street and blues clubs closing across the city, Key dubbed his bar the “Home of the West Coast Blues.” A 1985 article in the \u003cem>East Bay Express\u003c/em> describes a typical night that could be any current Blues Monday, where “yuppies from Berkeley stomp and sway alongside the older black regulars from West and East Oakland.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Eli’s was, the article declares, “the most successfully integrated blues club in America’s most integrated city.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Thornton’s girlfriend shot him inside his own bar in 1979, and eventually musician and regular Troyce Key took over. With the destruction of Seventh Street and blues clubs closing across the city, Key dubbed his bar the “Home of the West Coast Blues.” A 1985 article in the \u003cem>East Bay Express\u003c/em> describes a typical night that could be any current Blues Monday, where “yuppies from Berkeley stomp and sway alongside the older black regulars from West and East Oakland.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Eli’s was, the article declares, “the most successfully integrated blues club in America’s most integrated city.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "A cross-generational blues seminar",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A cross-generational blues seminar\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A cross-generational blues seminar\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp> When Patane started Blue Mondays, it was important to Turner that the night include an open jam. “There are a lot of good players out there, and they don’t get the opportunity to let you know what they can do — so here they can,” Bolden says. Rotating bands play feature sets, but there’s always a sign-up portion open to all.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp> When Patane started Blue Mondays, it was important to Turner that the night include an open jam. “There are a lot of good players out there, and they don’t get the opportunity to let you know what they can do — so here they can,” Bolden says. Rotating bands play feature sets, but there’s always a sign-up portion open to all.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Over time, the jam has accrued devoted regulars. First came the older generation: Bolden, Turner, and Sims; long-time Eli’s patron, Ella Pennewell, who often dedicates a song to her late husband, Julien Vaught of the Flamingos; Earnestine Barze, or Lady E, who learned to sing blues at Eli’s after the murder of her son.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Over time, the jam has accrued devoted regulars. First came the older generation: Bolden, Turner, and Sims; long-time Eli’s patron, Ella Pennewell, who often dedicates a song to her late husband, Julien Vaught of the Flamingos; Earnestine Barze, or Lady E, who learned to sing blues at Eli’s after the murder of her son.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sharon Davis sings from a chair at the edge of the stage during the 10 Year Celebration of Blue Monday at Eli’s Mile High Club on June 1, 2026, in Oakland. Unable to perform on stage, Davis now sings from the audience level while Nat Bolden and other musicians perform behind her.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Then, gradually, younger musicians joined in. Kameron Jones, 32, learned to play blues at Eli’s on a saxophone gifted to him by a musician he met there. He calls Eli’s a “blues nursery,” a rare opportunity to get on stage and learn by doing. Bolden, for example, gave Jones his first wireless mic so they could more easily perform together.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Then, gradually, younger musicians joined in. Kameron Jones, 32, learned to play blues at Eli’s on a saxophone gifted to him by a musician he met there. He calls Eli’s a “blues nursery,” a rare opportunity to get on stage and learn by doing. Bolden, for example, gave Jones his first wireless mic so they could more easily perform together.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Vocalist Muwazu Chisum-Misquitta, 23, has also found a supportive musical home among musicians several decades her senior. Sims in particular has taken to inviting Chisum-Misquitta up to sing backup vocals for him. “I walk in, and it feels like home,” she says. “There’s so much to learn from everybody; everyone is so willing to share.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Vocalist Muwazu Chisum-Misquitta, 23, has also found a supportive musical home among musicians several decades her senior. Sims in particular has taken to inviting Chisum-Misquitta up to sing backup vocals for him. “I walk in, and it feels like home,” she says. “There’s so much to learn from everybody; everyone is so willing to share.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the older generation has found a receptive, enthusiastic audience and reassurance that the blues just might live on. Most Mondays by 9 p.m., Eli’s is full — not just of old timers but also throngs of UC Berkeley students, attracted initially to the free night of music and then drawn in by the palpable warmth on stage.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the older generation has found a receptive, enthusiastic audience and reassurance that the blues just might live on. Most Mondays by 9 p.m., Eli’s is full — not just of old timers but also throngs of UC Berkeley students, attracted initially to the free night of music and then drawn in by the palpable warmth on stage.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Them young kids love the blues, man,” Sims says. “I was really flabbergasted by them young kids playing the guitar and dancing.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Them young kids love the blues, man,” Sims says. “I was really flabbergasted by them young kids playing the guitar and dancing.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990592\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A marquee listing upcoming Monday night blues performers hangs inside Eli’s Mile High Club during the venue’s Blue Monday 10th anniversary celebration in Oakland on June 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990592\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A marquee listing upcoming Monday night blues performers hangs inside Eli’s Mile High Club during the venue’s Blue Monday 10th anniversary celebration in Oakland on June 1, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In that way, Eli’s blues night has become a source of communal care, providing encouragement and support for young musicians and dignity and camaraderie for older ones. In between those two groups is T Patrick Farmer, a “seventies baby” who serves as the unofficial hype man of Blue Mondays and a bridge between generations. He sees it as his job to facilitate intergenerational understanding through the language of music, encouraging the young crowd to dance harder and keep their energy up when an old-timer performs.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In that way, Eli’s blues night has become a source of communal care, providing encouragement and support for young musicians and dignity and camaraderie for older ones. In between those two groups is T Patrick Farmer, a “seventies baby” who serves as the unofficial hype man of Blue Mondays and a bridge between generations. He sees it as his job to facilitate intergenerational understanding through the language of music, encouraging the young crowd to dance harder and keep their energy up when an old-timer performs.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I’m telling the crowd, ‘Jump, jump,’ and there’s a connection there,” he says.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">And the train keeps a-rollin’\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s another Monday at Eli’s, and Bolden is making the rounds after his and Davis’ performance, shaking hands with men and leaning in flirtatiously to chat with women. Sims, who inspired Bolden’s flair for fashion, will close out the evening clad in a bright blue blazer, matching yellow-lined pork pie hat, and a bejeweled cane that he uses to ease his still-lanky frame onto a stool.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It’s another Monday at Eli’s, and Bolden is making the rounds after his and Davis’ performance, shaking hands with men and leaning in flirtatiously to chat with women. Sims, who inspired Bolden’s flair for fashion, will close out the evening clad in a bright blue blazer, matching yellow-lined pork pie hat, and a bejeweled cane that he uses to ease his still-lanky frame onto a stool.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I think it’s time to do the national anthem,” he tells the audience, and one of the guitarist plays a few bars of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “Nahhh, not that national anthem,” he says. “So, do y’all know what the real national anthem is?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I think it’s time to do the national anthem,” he tells the audience, and one of the guitarist plays a few bars of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “Nahhh, not that national anthem,” he says. “So, do y’all know what the real national anthem is?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The band answers with the opening chords of “Get Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine,” by James Brown. Sims chants the lyrics in his Louisiana drawl; Farmer jumps to the beat behind him and tells the crowd to do the same. “If you want to save Eli’s, scream!” he yells.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The band answers with the opening chords of “Get Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine,” by James Brown. Sims chants the lyrics in his Louisiana drawl; Farmer jumps to the beat behind him and tells the crowd to do the same. “If you want to save Eli’s, scream!” he yells.\u003c/p>\n"
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13972746\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Owner and operator Matthew Patane, center, holds a community meeting at Eli’s Mile High Club on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Eli’s took a hit during Covid lockdown and continues to struggle. Tangles with a neighbor and Oakland bureaucratic red tape made things worse, culminating in the city shutting down the bar’s back patio last year. (Efforts to find a solution with the neighbor and city are ongoing.)\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Eli’s took a hit during Covid lockdown and continues to struggle. Tangles with a neighbor and Oakland bureaucratic red tape made things worse, culminating in the city shutting down the bar’s back patio last year. (Efforts to find a solution with the neighbor and city are ongoing.)\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s been a challenging time: a lot of small venues are in our situation — fighting to stay alive,” Patane says. Meanwhile, every Monday is still reserved for the blues, music that is endlessly expressive and cathartic.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It’s been a challenging time: a lot of small venues are in our situation — fighting to stay alive,” Patane says. Meanwhile, every Monday is still reserved for the blues, music that is endlessly expressive and cathartic.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It tells a story, and people live that story every day,” Bolden says of what makes the blues tradition worth fighting for. “They work hard, they have trouble at home, they love a person and don’t have that love returned — all that is blues.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It tells a story, and people live that story every day,” Bolden says of what makes the blues tradition worth fighting for. “They work hard, they have trouble at home, they love a person and don’t have that love returned — all that is blues.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s a cause worth the weekly drive to and from Stockton, he adds.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“My legs can be hurting. But then they start up a beat up there, and they quit hurting, and I get up and dance.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "For 10 years, the Oakland club’s weekly blues night has drawn a wide-ranging, hard-grooving crowd.",
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"title": "At Eli’s in Oakland, 98-Year-Olds and Young Blues Fans Keep the Mojo Workin’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>By now, the audience at Eli’s Mile High Club in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> knows what to expect from Nat Bolden.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bolden will sing from on stage, his face alight with glee, whatever jeweled belt buckle or sequined fedora he may be sporting sparkling under the lights, his tenor croon still smooth at age 98. Meanwhile, his duet partner, Sharon Davis, will sing from a chair on the floor below, no longer up to climbing the stairs to the stage but still plenty able to get the audience, many of whom are some 60 years her junior, swaying with her smoky wail.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eli’s has a long and august tradition of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/blues-music\">blues\u003c/a>; Bolden has been singing there for more than 30 years. A poster for one of his 1995 shows still hangs on the wall, beside bills advertising the likes of genre luminaries Etta James, James Brown and B.B. King. Although these days the bar is mostly a punk and metal joint, when owner Matthew Patane took over in 2014, he was determined to honor its blues history.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_019-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nat Bolden, 98, performs during the 10 Year Celebration of Blue Monday at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland on June 1, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the prompting of artist and longtime regular Margie Turner, Patane started “Blue Mondays,” spotlighting local talent. The now-beloved weekly institution, which turns ten this month, draws an intensely intergenerational and diverse crowd — sporting cowboy hats, canes, lip rings or locs — that goes wild without fail when Bolden and Davis perform. Yoshi’s may offer a little more polish, but no club provides the city’s oldest performers an enthusiastic audience, or teaches a new generation the magic of the blues, quite like Eli’s.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re keeping the blues alive,” Bolden says, “and the blues is keeping me alive.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>The stains are in the same place’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The blues came to Oakland from the Deep South during World War II, along with the wave of Black workers who came to work in the city’s shipyards — including Bolden. After a few years as a welder, he bought a blues club called the Til Two, rebelling against the ad hoc segregation of 1950s California that he had hoped to leave behind in Arkansas. “I didn’t care what color you was, you came in,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His fellow Eli’s regular, 91-year-old Clarence Sims, also came to the area seeking an escape from Jim Crow. “The white fountain, the black fountain, we couldn’t go into the restaurants,” Sims remembers. Growing up in Louisiana, Sims had listened to records on his grandmother’s gramophone, idolizing a performer named Guitar Slim.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“His suit was green, his hat was green, the women was screaming, and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do,’” he says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990593\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_006-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarence Sims, better known as Filmore Slim, poses in a backstage room at Eli’s Mile High Club during the 10th anniversary celebration of Blue Monday in Oakland on June 1, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Sims, better known as Fillmore Slim, moved to San Francisco and became one of the city’s most visible pimps, participating in what he calls the “fast life.” After five years in prison, he ended up in a halfway house near Eli’s and sat in on his first jam session.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Local blues enthusiast Eli Thornton had bought the former-dairy-turned-watering-hole not long before and turned it into a music venue. Soon, Sims was performing there regularly; he eventually recorded his first album in the upstairs green room, with musicians tucked into the tiny kitchen and sitting on the toilet.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Everyone there was dressed sharp, partying, and it was always packed,” remembers West Coast Blues Society executive director Ronnie Stewart, who started his own career at Eli’s. Even now, “it ain’t changed much. The stains are in the same place.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990591\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People gather outside Eli’s Mile High Club during the 10th anniversary celebration of Blue Monday in Oakland on June 1, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Thornton’s girlfriend shot him inside his own bar in 1979, and eventually musician and regular Troyce Key took over. With the destruction of Seventh Street and blues clubs closing across the city, Key dubbed his bar the “Home of the West Coast Blues.” A 1985 article in the \u003cem>East Bay Express\u003c/em> describes a typical night that could be any current Blues Monday, where “yuppies from Berkeley stomp and sway alongside the older black regulars from West and East Oakland.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Eli’s was, the article declares, “the most successfully integrated blues club in America’s most integrated city.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A cross-generational blues seminar\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp> When Patane started Blue Mondays, it was important to Turner that the night include an open jam. “There are a lot of good players out there, and they don’t get the opportunity to let you know what they can do — so here they can,” Bolden says. Rotating bands play feature sets, but there’s always a sign-up portion open to all.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Over time, the jam has accrued devoted regulars. First came the older generation: Bolden, Turner, and Sims; long-time Eli’s patron, Ella Pennewell, who often dedicates a song to her late husband, Julien Vaught of the Flamingos; Earnestine Barze, or Lady E, who learned to sing blues at Eli’s after the murder of her son.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126Elis-Monday-Blues-Night_GH_029_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sharon Davis sings from a chair at the edge of the stage during the 10 Year Celebration of Blue Monday at Eli’s Mile High Club on June 1, 2026, in Oakland. Unable to perform on stage, Davis now sings from the audience level while Nat Bolden and other musicians perform behind her. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then, gradually, younger musicians joined in. Kameron Jones, 32, learned to play blues at Eli’s on a saxophone gifted to him by a musician he met there. He calls Eli’s a “blues nursery,” a rare opportunity to get on stage and learn by doing. Bolden, for example, gave Jones his first wireless mic so they could more easily perform together.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Vocalist Muwazu Chisum-Misquitta, 23, has also found a supportive musical home among musicians several decades her senior. Sims in particular has taken to inviting Chisum-Misquitta up to sing backup vocals for him. “I walk in, and it feels like home,” she says. “There’s so much to learn from everybody; everyone is so willing to share.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the older generation has found a receptive, enthusiastic audience and reassurance that the blues just might live on. Most Mondays by 9 p.m., Eli’s is full — not just of old timers but also throngs of UC Berkeley students, attracted initially to the free night of music and then drawn in by the palpable warmth on stage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Them young kids love the blues, man,” Sims says. “I was really flabbergasted by them young kids playing the guitar and dancing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13990592\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/060126ELIS-MONDAY-BLUES-NIGHT_GH_002-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A marquee listing upcoming Monday night blues performers hangs inside Eli’s Mile High Club during the venue’s Blue Monday 10th anniversary celebration in Oakland on June 1, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In that way, Eli’s blues night has become a source of communal care, providing encouragement and support for young musicians and dignity and camaraderie for older ones. In between those two groups is T Patrick Farmer, a “seventies baby” who serves as the unofficial hype man of Blue Mondays and a bridge between generations. He sees it as his job to facilitate intergenerational understanding through the language of music, encouraging the young crowd to dance harder and keep their energy up when an old-timer performs.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’m telling the crowd, ‘Jump, jump,’ and there’s a connection there,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">And the train keeps a-rollin’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s another Monday at Eli’s, and Bolden is making the rounds after his and Davis’ performance, shaking hands with men and leaning in flirtatiously to chat with women. Sims, who inspired Bolden’s flair for fashion, will close out the evening clad in a bright blue blazer, matching yellow-lined pork pie hat, and a bejeweled cane that he uses to ease his still-lanky frame onto a stool.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I think it’s time to do the national anthem,” he tells the audience, and one of the guitarist plays a few bars of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “Nahhh, not that national anthem,” he says. “So, do y’all know what the real national anthem is?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The band answers with the opening chords of “Get Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine,” by James Brown. Sims chants the lyrics in his Louisiana drawl; Farmer jumps to the beat behind him and tells the crowd to do the same. “If you want to save Eli’s, scream!” he yells.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"680\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1020x680.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13972746\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/20250305_ELIS-CLUB_DMB_00634-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Owner and operator Matthew Patane, center, holds a community meeting at Eli’s Mile High Club on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eli’s took a hit during Covid lockdown and continues to struggle. Tangles with a neighbor and Oakland bureaucratic red tape made things worse, culminating in the city shutting down the bar’s back patio last year. (Efforts to find a solution with the neighbor and city are ongoing.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s been a challenging time: a lot of small venues are in our situation — fighting to stay alive,” Patane says. Meanwhile, every Monday is still reserved for the blues, music that is endlessly expressive and cathartic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It tells a story, and people live that story every day,” Bolden says of what makes the blues tradition worth fighting for. “They work hard, they have trouble at home, they love a person and don’t have that love returned — all that is blues.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s a cause worth the weekly drive to and from Stockton, he adds.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"order": 11
},
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"on-the-media": {
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"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"planet-money": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
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