A Black Cultural Corridor Takes Shape on Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue

On a recent Sunday, in the parking lot behind the California Hotel on Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue, the Harvest Festival is bustling. Parents line up for plates of barbecue; kids decorate pumpkins in the pumpkin patch; and neighbors of all ages hang out while a DJ spins funk, soul and old school R&B.

The scene is just one example of how longtime, mostly African-American West Oakland residents are revitalizing a formerly blighted stretch of San Pablo Avenue with the help of East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), one of Oakland’s largest affordable housing developers. Soon, the California Hotel will be at the center of a new cultural hub that will include a music venue, recording studio, restaurant, black culinary collective and a youth-focused music education program.