City People

What if public transit wasn't just about getting from Point A to Point B? BART's Chief Communications Officer Alicia Trost is experimenting with a radically different idea: comedy trains, speed dating, anime festivals, movie nights, birdwatching excursions, fashion shows, and other unexpected experiences designed to reconnect people with transit. In this episode, we explore how one trans...

Downtowns don’t just “die.” They unravel. Office workers disappear. Foot traffic drops. Small businesses close. And suddenly, the economic engine of a city stalls. So what does it actually take to bring it back? In this episode of City People , we sit down with Shola Olatoye , CEO of the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation , to unpack what it means to rebuild a city in real-time. From p...

Why do some public spaces feel vibrant and full of life while others feel empty, over-designed, or impossible to love? In this episode of City People , hosts Sam Roxas and Warren Logan explore what actually makes public space work. From Salesforce Park , an oasis in the sky above downtown San Francisco, to Second Street , where a city street becomes a stage for music, gathering, and civic life, we...

In this episode, we head to Barrio Logan in San Diego, CA to spend time with the people and places that give a neighborhood its soul. We visit Libélula Books & Co., an independent bookstore that serves as a true third place: hosting readings, workshops, and creative gatherings that bring the community together, and meet artist, content creator and sign painter Koy Sun, whose hand-painted, maxi...

We’ve all done it: you really need to pee, so you buy a muffin you don’t even want… just to get the bathroom code. In this episode, Sam and Warren uncover why public restrooms are in such short supply in cities, starting at Awaken Cafe in downtown Oakland, where one small business has quietly become the de facto public restroom for a whole slice of the city (including City Hall’s backyard, which i...

Why are so many families hanging out in breweries? Sam and Warren headed to Almanac Brewery in Oakland to dig into what looks like a funny trend, but quickly turned into a conversation about urban design, public space, and the realities of parenting in modern cities. We invited a handful of local parents to talk about identity, community, and raising kids in cities… then revealed that they’re actu...

We recorded our very first episode inside Prescott Market in Oakland, California to introduce our ourselves and share our vision for City People.  Take a listen as we open up about why we started this series, what makes us certified City Girlies, all the emotional baggage we carry, and who we hope will join us.  Plus some fun tidbits about our own cities (Oakland and Los Angeles) who have seen som...