KPFA - East Bay Yesterday

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – September 30, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

In a small, bunker-like laboratory in the East Bay hills, Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin created some of the world’s most powerful psychedelic drugs. Astonishingly, he didn’t try to hide his activities. On the contrary, Sasha published instruction manuals on how to make his mind-expanding compounds, and his farm in Lafayette became a mecca for scientists, therapists, artists, and others who were drawn...

In the early 1900s, Oakland’s business leaders believed their city was destined to become “the great metropolis of the West Coast”—a soaring ambition symbolized by a hot-air balloon called the City of Oakland. We explore the balloon’s fate and what it revealed about Oakland’s economic trajectory. Then, author Steve Lawton shares the explosive history of Hercules, the small Contra Costa County town...

The Oakland Underground miniseries continues with two stories from the East Bay’s early-2000s DIY scene. First, John Benson recalls transforming an old AC Transit bus into a venue on wheels, picking up passengers and bringing bands, comedians, free food and renegade performances to unexpected locations. Then, former residents Sabrina Sierra and Ben Valis share stories from Lobot, one of West Oakla...

Liam O’Donoghue shares excerpts from his miniseries about Canyon, California—a tiny community tucked among the redwoods behind the Oakland Hills. Once a booming logging town with more residents than Oakland, Canyon has a history where fact and urban legend often intertwine.   This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and...

In 1946, a few hundred department store employees, mostly women, walked off the job and started a picket line in downtown Oakland. Within a few weeks, more than 100,000 workers joined them, filling the streets with protesters who danced under holiday wreaths hanging from lampposts. “This seemingly small action turned into the biggest challenge to corporate domination of American workers in the pos...

This episode features interviews with co-author Rachel Brahinsky, an associate professor at the University of San Francisco, and Diana Negrín da Silva, who contributed many of the book’s East Bay entries and also teaches in the geography department of UC Berkeley. Listen now to hear us discuss Oakland’s long history of dancing during protests, the origins of Contra Costa County’s “fossil fuel corr...

In Oakland on any given weekend in the early 2000s there might’ve been be a punk show in an old Victorian happening down the block from a warehouse rave while, at the same time, a bunch of burners were doing pyrotechnics in an old factory and a few blocks away, experimental noise musicians were making bizarre sounds in an abandoned train station within spitting distance of hardcore kids moshing un...

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – August 5, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – July 29, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

You, and only you, keep independent radio alive! Donate today and keep KPFA dangerously independent. Call 1-800-439-5732 or visit kpfa.org. The post East Bay Yesterday Fund Drive Special: Alexis Madrigal appeared first on KPFA.

Host Liam O’Donoghue speaks with author Joan Gelfand about her memoir Outside Voices and her experiences in the Bay Area’s women’s and gay liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Together they reflect on the victories, setbacks, and enduring lessons of that era, while examining what today’s political climate can learn from past struggles for equality. This series explores stories of culture,...

This episode explores two influential Berkeley organizations born in the 1960s: SLATE, the student group that helped pave the way for the Free Speech Movement, and the Berkeley Free Clinic, which reflects on 50 years of community care, activism, and resilience. This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa co...

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – July 1, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

Can we ever break out of the political pendulum — that endless left-right swing that seems to prevent lasting change? Walter Riley has been wrestling with that question since growing up in the Jim Crow South. A civil rights attorney, lifelong organizer, and father of rapper-filmmaker Boots Riley, Walter has spent decades trying to bring people together across divides. He’s joined by Jesse Strauss,...

On today’s encore presentation of East Bay Yesterday: Liam pays tribute to Oakland legend Ruth Beckford Early East Bay Baseball teams. Oaks, Larks, Colonels and more. This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – Tribute to Oakland Legend Ruth Beckford / OG East Bay Bas...

On today’s show: Liam explores the history of Grizzly Bears in the East Bay Old Growth Redwoods Audio from Liam’s event with American multidisciplinary artist, writer, and educator based in Oakland, California, Jenny Odell | This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday –...

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – June 3, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – May 27, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – May 20, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – May 13, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – May 6, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – April 29, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – April 22, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The post East Bay Yesterday – April 15, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.