Welcome to guest Anglerfish editor LisaRuth Elliott, co-director of the participatory community history project Shaping San Francisco. Shaping SF hosts lectures, leads unique bike & walking tours, and runs the digital archive FoundSF.org which is full of (almost) forgotten Bay Area history. We’re big fans and excited about this fantastic list! Here’s more from LisaRuth:
“Our Shaping San Francisco weekly calendar of events highlights history being told and created every day. While the City’s local groups shut down most of their programming over the holiday week, and most Americans are thinking nationally, there are still a few ways to get out and about and explore the layers of ecology and history, dissent, and urban space creation in the San Francisco Bay Area this week. If you’ve ever wondered how it all got to be this way, here are some places to find answers. In addition to our own bicycle tour on labor history, there are opportunities to walk living history—and that of the dead, to enjoy open spaces, peek into some hidden places, get a crash course in labor and work, and to be part of a long San Francisco tradition at Dolores Park on the big day.”
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COMING UP THIS WEEK:
Labor on the Edge: Dystopia or a Future for Workers? – San Francisco LaborFest 2019
From profiles of individuals to workplace organizing, from films and book readings to walking tours, the first week of the 26th annual LaborFest—a month-long, city-wide celebration of labor history—is loaded. This year’s festival marks the 85th anniversary of the 1934 General Strike along with a focus on contemporary issues like the rise of the gig economy and increased automation of labor. Be sure to check out the offerings during the rest of the month of July, too!
ALL JULY: different times and places around San Francisco. Most events are Free: Site has details
60th Anniversary of San Francisco Mime Troupe – 4th of July in Dolores Park
The tradition of performing satirical plays in public parks with political and social commentary continues with the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s 4th of July opener of Treasure Island at Dolores Park. This year’s production is a parody of erstwhile San Francisco resident Robert Louis Stevenson’s work—the result of an adventure he took to the South Seas after learning of the distant islands from conversations with fellow author Charles Stoddard atop Rincon Hill. Toggle between the fantasy world of pirate-occupied (not-so-distant) isles where great wealth awaits them and an artificial, toxic, and freezing cold site in the middle of the bay. Arrive early and bring a picnic! After it opens the SFMT will perform Treasure Island in parks all over the Bay Area (Palo Alto to Mill Valley) and beyond this summer. All free.
THU JUL 4, Music at 1:30 pm, Show at 2 pm; northern end of Dolores Park, SF; Free
Bicycle Tour of the Bay Trail: WWII Opportunities for Women
One of our National Parks is dedicated to the role of working women during WWII and offers a combination bicycle tour on our national holiday. Explore the Bay Trail and beautiful bay shoreline by bicycle while learning about Rosie the Riveter era sites and history associated with the mass mobilization of women into all occupations when the war effort claimed many of the working men. This slow-paced ride for all levels looks to be good for the whole family.
THU JUL 4, 2 pm; Rosie the Riveter WWII/Home Front National Historical Park, Richmond; Free
An entirely different look at Labor History – Shaping San Francisco
There are so many fascinating aspects of our City’s history to explore, but to really understand the place and its emergence, it’s imperative to look at the history of work. Shaping San Francisco’s Labor History Bicycle Tour led by Chris Carlsson includes exploring everything from slavery and unions built on racism to claiming the 8-hour day through placing a notice in the paper to a shut down of the City and west coast ports in the 1934 General Strike. Notable figures are introduced and the ebb and flow of class war is traced. This is also part of LaborFest (see above).
SAT JUL 6, 12 pm – 4 pm; meet at 518 Valencia Street, in the Mission SF; $20–$50 sliding scale donation
Lasting Black Culture and Memory in Oakland
Spend an afternoon in the archives. Take a tour of the African American Museum & Library at Oakland (AAMLO) and learn about the specialized focus of this incredible resource, see selected highlights from the archives, and examine the black presence in Oakland as presented in current exhibitions.
SAT JUL 6, 4 pm; Oakland Public Library, Downtown Oakland; Free
Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour
Experience this rousing contribution to the Bay Area’s historical lexicon. Community historians bring South Asian American history to life on an engaging 2-mile walking tour (wheelchair/stroller accessible). You’ll visit original sites and come away inspired by secret histories of immigrant freedom fighters, feminists, and beyond.
SUN JUL 7, 2 pm; Berkeley meeting place given when you RSVP; $7.50–$17.50
Guided Tour of an Historic Oakland Cemetery –
The Oakland Heritage Alliance highlights both the state of California’s early movers and shakers and the monuments that preserve their memory in a hilly walking tour through Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery. This iconic space also hosts many of the people who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad, which this year celebrates the 150th anniversary of its arrival to Alameda and Oakland.
SUN JUL 7, 10 am – 12:30 pm; meet at Chapel of the Chimes, North Oakland; $15
Mega Farm to Table: The Workplace of the Agricultural Fields – California Historical Society
Photojournalist David Bacon speaks about his book En los campos del norte/In the Fields of the North documenting the agricultural workers through agricultural seasons from the California border with Mexico through to Washington State. The California Historical Society hosts this peek behind the curtain of our well-stocked supermarket and bodega shelves.
TUE JUL 9, 6 pm; 678 Mission Street, SOMA SF, $5
Take a walk on the Transbay Terminal Rooftop Park – Do It Yourself!
After months of closure, the Transbay Terminal promenade is finally open to the public again. Given that the portion above Fremont Street sits atop the historic muddy shore and shallow waters of Yerba Buena Cove (this is the section where the steel beams cracked…) perhaps it’s best to stick to the area near First Street and to the west. Still, the dizzying views and features of the elevated green space that has had months of growing minus the crowds have got to be beautiful.
Every Day: 6 am–9 pm; 425 Mission Street, SOMA SF; Free