Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Richmond’s 23rd Street was transformed into a massive half-mile-long block party on Sunday during the city’s annual Cinco de Mayo Festival.
Community members experienced a full day of live music, cultural performances, authentic Mexican cuisine, artisan vendors and children’s activities as they came together to honor the rich traditions and spirit of the Mexican community. Dozens of local artisans and community groups set up booths for people to explore and buy souvenirs from the event.
Banda Pirata, a regional Mexican band known for their 1990s-2000s banda music, was one of the many performers on the festival’s two stages.
(Photos and text by @tyskagram /Bay Area News Group)
#cincodemayo #richmond #festival
May Day protests took place across the Bay Area on Friday. At Oakland’s airport, a mass of protesters chanted “People power!” and “We’re May Day strong,” while marching through the drop-off areas for Delta Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Volaris. Organizers had said before the protest that they planned to target Delta specifically for its role in transporting a 5-year-old child from Minnesota to an ICE detention facility in Texas.
The protest typified the myriad demands on display Friday, including the end to aggressive immigration arrests and deportation operations across the nation, along with the war in Iran. At the airport, many people held signs opposing arms shipments to Israel through the Port of Oakland, while others read “Stop U.S. wars” and “Tax the rich.”
(Photos by @rayinaction /Bay Area News Group)
#mayday #protests #oakland
The East Bay arts community is mourning the death of Dan Fontes, the Oakland-born muralist known for decorating his hometown since the 1980s with iconic images of giraffes strolling under I-580, sea turtles swimming on the side of an industrial building and colorful outdoor portraits of famous local places and people.
Fontes’ death from cancer was announced Tuesday by the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, for which Fontes served on the board for many years.
(Photos by @odiepix & @tyskagram /Bay Area News Group ~ Text by Martha Ross)
#danfontes #muralist #oakland
Officers on Monday shot and killed a man in East Oakland after he reportedly pointed a gun at them, police said.
The deadly encounter unfolded around 3:50 p.m., when officers were called to the 1800 block of 89th Avenue for multiple reports of a man who was pointing a firearm at passers-by, Oakland police Chief James Beere told reporters near the scene.
“Officers responded the scene very quickly,” Beere said. “They were able to initially make contact with the subject, but he ended up pointing the firearm at the police officers as well, at which point they discharged their firearms and struck the subject.”
The man was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before 5 p.m.
(Photos by @tyskagram /Bay Area News Group ~ Text by Jason Green)
#oakland #police #shooting
Bruce Springsteen has something to say.
And he’s taking more time to say it on his current Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour than I’ve seen him do on any other road show during my five decades of Springsteen watching.
During the tour’s sold-out stop on Monday at Chase Center in San Francisco, the man we call “The Boss” delivered approximately 15 minutes worth of prepared speeches over the course of a show that lasted roughly three hours.
Percentage wise, that’s not a lot. But these were not little light asides, but rather hugely hard-hitting speeches in which Springsteen asked the 17,500 fans in attendance to consider and examine the place that America finds itself in 2026 under Trump’s presidency.
(Photos by @tyskagram /Bay Area News Group ~ Text by Jim Harrington)
#brucespringsteen #sanfrancisco #concert
A rainbow appears above the hills north of Willow Pass Road in Concord on Sunday. Weather will be cool and partly cloudy this week, but no more rain is in store.
(Photo by Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
#rainbow #concord #weather
Some residents of a tiny home shelter for homeless people in West Oakland are refusing to leave, a day after city officials closed the site.
Among them is Sandra Martin, who said Wednesday morning she had no plans to move. She and others raised concerns about leaving their community and moving to a different tiny home village where they have been offered space.
“We’re out here trying to figure out what the f— we’re going to do,” said Martin, 37. “I feel like we were cheated out of our opportunities that were supposed to be given to us. We’re really and truly living on a prayer.”
The shelter is one of two that city officials closed Tuesday as part of a plan to deal with cuts to the city’s community housing services division, a 41% reduction in funding for this fiscal year.
(Photos by @tyskagram /Bay Area News Group ~ Text by Grant Stringer)
#homeless #tinyhomes #westoakland
A major fire broke out in a four-story apartment building Tuesday evening in Oakland, forcing the evacuation of all 66 units and the rescue of several tenants from balconies yelling for help.
Everyone escaped safely from the building at 200 Fairmount Ave., except for a cat who perished in the apartment where the fire started, said Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Anthony Sanders.
“We had flames coming from an apartment on the third floor, extending up to units on the fourth floor,” Sanders said. “We had many residents that we evacuated from balconies and through hallways.”
Fire ladders helped retrieve at least one group of adults from a balcony, he said. Four of the units were destroyed, he said. People living in 10 or 12 of the units affected by fire or smoke were displaced and working with the Red Cross for accommodations, he said. Those apartments will likely need extensive renovation.
#oakland #apartment #fire
(Photos by @tyskagram /Bay Area News Group ~ Text by Julia Prodis Sulek)
Happy Easter to all of our readers who celebrate!
Dozens of children participate in the 81st annual Egg Hunt & Bonnet Parade, hosted by the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District at Kennedy Park in Hayward on Saturday.
#easter #egghunt #hayward
(Photos by @rayinaction /Bay Area News Group
In a historic land conservation deal, a San Francisco environmental group has signed an agreement to purchase Golden Gate Fields, the site of a famous horse racing track from 1941 to 2024 along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay, and preserve it as open space and a panoramic new waterfront park.
The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization, secured an option to pay $175 million to buy the 161-acre property west of Interstate 80 in Albany and Berkeley from the Stronach Group, a Canadian company that has owned it since 1999. The deal is scheduled to close early next year, after which the trust said it will transfer the property to the East Bay Regional Park District.
(Photos by @tyskagram /Bay Area News Group ~ Text by Paul Rogers)
#goldengatefields #horsetrack #dronephotography
The search is continuing for a 52-year-old coffee shop owner who went missing last week after taking a walk from her home, authorities said Monday.
Amy Hillyard, a mother of two, is considered at risk because of an unspecified medical condition.
On Sunday, at the request of Oakland police, the California Highway Patrol put out an At Risk/Missing Person advisory for Alameda, San Francisco and San Mateo counties. At midday Tuesday, Oakland police and search and rescue personnel with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office were searching Dimond Park in Oakland, but had not reported finding anything.
(Photos by @rayinaction /Bay Area News Group ~ Text by Harry Harris)
#amyhillyard #oakland #missing
Our picture of the day by staff photojournalist @tyskagram . Not sure why the turkeys crossed the road near the Berkeley marina! Any astute guesses?
#wild #turkeys #berkeley @ebtimes
