An alternative history and geography of the Bay Area that highlights sites of oppression, resistance, and transformation.
A People’s Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area looks beyond the mythologized image of San Francisco to the places where collective struggle has built the region. Countering romanticized commercial narratives about the Bay Area, geographers Rachel Brahinsky and Alexander Tarr highlight the cultural and economic landscape of indigenous resistance to colonial rule, radical interracial and cross-class organizing against housing discrimination and police violence, young people demanding economically and ecologically sustainable futures, and the often-unrecognized labor of farmworkers and everyday people.
The book asks who had—and who has—the power to shape the geography of one of the most watched regions in the world. As Silicon Valley's wealth dramatically transforms the look and feel of every corner of the region, like bankers' wealth did in the past, what do we need to remember about the people and places that have made the Bay Area, with its rich political legacies?
With over 100 sites that you can visit and learn from, this book demonstrates critical ways of reading the landscape itself for clues to these histories. A useful companion for travelers, educators, or longtime residents, this guide links multicultural streets and lush hills to suburban cul-de-sacs and wetlands, stretching from the North Bay to the South Bay, from the East Bay to San Francisco. Original maps help guide readers, and thematic tours offer starting points for creating your own routes through the region.
By:
Rachel Brahinsky,
Alexander Tarr
By (photographer):
Bruce Rinehart
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 3
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 544g
ISBN: 9780520288379
ISBN 10: 0520288378
Series: A People's Guide Series
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 06 October 2020
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Maps INTRODUCTION 1 THE EAST BAY 1.1 1500 Block of Adeline Street | 1.2 924 Gilman | 1.3 Albany Bulb | 1.4 Berkeley High School | 1.5 Black Cultural Zone | 1.6 “Black Panther Park” (Dover Park) | 1.7 Black.Seed Demonstration, one expression of #BlackLivesMatter | 1.8 Emeryville Shellmound Memorial | 1.9 “Fossil Fuel” Corridor | 1.10 Frances Albrier Community Center | 1.11 Intertribal Friendship House | 1.12 Jingletown | 1.13 Kaiser Convention Center | 1.14 Lake Merritt | 1.15 Latham Square | 1.16 Mandela Grocery Cooperative | 1.17 Marcus Books | 1.18 Middle Harbor Shoreline Park | 1.19 Ogawa / Grant Plaza | 1.20 Pacific Center, Front Steps | 1.21 Parchester Village | 1.22 Peralta Hacienda Historical Park | 1.23 Piedmont-Oakland Border | 1.24 Rosie the Riveter Monument and National Park | 1.25 South Berkeley Social Justice Corridor | 1.26 Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley 2 THE SOUTH BAY AND PENINSULA 2.1 Boyer Home | 2.2 Chùa Đu’ c Viên | 2.3 Daly City Teen Center | 2.4 Drew Center Pharmacy | 2.5 Eastridge Shopping Center | 2.6 Facebook HQ | 2.7 Fairchild Semiconductor | 2.8 Gold Street Bridge | 2.9 Heinlenville (San-Doy-Say Tong Yun Fow) | 2.10 Hellyer Park | 2.11 Keyhole | 2.12 Lawrence Tract | 2.13 May Day 2006 March | 2.14 McDonnell Hall | 2.15 Mission San Jose | 2.16 Nairobi School System | 2.17 New Almaden Mine Area | 2.18 NUMMI Auto Plant | 2.19 San Jose Labor Council | 2.20 San Mateo Fairgrounds | 2.21 Silicon Valley De-Bug | 2.22 Saint James Park | 2.23 “Victory Salute” Statue 3 SAN FRANCISCO 3.1 829 Fell Street | 3.2 Alex Nieto Park | 3.3 “An Injury to One . . .” Sculpture | 3.4 Bank of America Building | 3.5 Buchanan Mall | 3.6 Buddhist-Oriented Hospice Projects | 3.7 Castro Commons Parklet | 3.8 Cesar Chavez Student Center, San Francisco State University | 3.9 Civic Center and United Nations Plazas | 3.10 Critical Mass | 3.11 Ghadar Memorial | 3.12 Hotel Whitcomb | 3.13 Hunter’s Point Shipyard | 3.14 International Hotel | 3.15 Japan Center, Nihonmachi | 3.16 KPOO Radio, 89.5 FM | 3.17 Lexington Club | 3.18 Media Moguls Corner | 3.19 Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts | 3.20 Mission Dolores Cemetery | 3.21 Monkey Block | 3.22 Other Avenues Food Store Cooperative | 3.23 Panhandle of Golden Gate Park | 3.24 “Peoples Temple” Post Office | 3.25 Redstone Labor Temple | 3.26 Room 641A | 3.27 SOMA Pilipinas Streets | 3.28 South Park | 3.29 The Farm | 3.30 Trans March | 3.31 “Twitter Tax Break” Zone | 3.32 Westbrook Court and Hunter’s Point Hill Street Names | 3.33 Women’s Building 4 THE NORTH BAY AND ISLANDS 4.1 Alcatraz Island | 4.2 Angel Island Immigration Station | 4.3 China Camp | 4.4 Cuttings Wharf Housing | 4.5 Farallon Islands | 4.6 Golden Gate Village | 4.7 Greystone Cellars | 4.8 Jewish Community Center | 4.9 Lucas Valley Eichler Development | 4.10 Mission San Rafael Archangel | 4.11 Pierce Point Ranch | 4.12 Port Chicago Sailors’ Strike | 4.13 Prince Hall Masons Firma Lodge No. 27 | 4.14 San Quentin Prison | 4.15 Sausalito BART Stop | 4.16 Sonoma Plaza | 4.17 Tomales Bay Trailhead | 4.18 US Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model 5 THEMATIC TOURS The Intertribal Bay | Capital and Its Discontents | Ecological Imagination | Youth in Revolt | Militarized States Acknowledgments Appendix A. Timeline: A Brief and Incomplete Outline of Bay Area History Appendix B. Resources Credits Index
Rachel Brahinsky is Associate Professor at the University of San Francisco, affiliated with Urban and Public Affairs, Politics, and Urban Studies. Her research is focused on race, property, and urban change. Alexander Tarr is Assistant Professor of Geography at Worcester State University. His research, writing, and cartography examine the development of cities, food politics, and digital culture.
Reviews for A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area
If you've been staring into the soul-sucking abyss of cable news or doomscrolling through the implosion of American democracy, delving into the stories of anti-eviction battles, Ohlone resistance, strikes, and resilient celebration featured in A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area will provide a welcome glimmer of hope. Not naive optimism, but the kind of tempered determination that comes when you remember how bad things have been before-and how people successfully fought to keep them from getting worse. * East Bay Yesterday * Lavishly produced, with beautiful images and crystal clear prose, A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area is for readers and activists who have taken part in protests and demonstrations for decades, and from Berkeley and Oakland to San Francisco, Sonoma and beyond. It's probably worth saying that while Brahinsky and Tarr deserve major credit for this book, they had tremendous help from fellow authors, photographers, designers, colleagues in academia and from librarians and researchers. It takes a collective to bake bread, scones and pizza at Arizmendi. It also takes a collective to write and publish a book of this magnitude, beauty and truth. * CounterPunch *
