Oakland public conservatory of music

The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music is a project of Music Is eXtraordinary, Inc, (MIX), a California 501c3 which provides music education for people in urban areas. Music Is eXtraordinary(MIX) was founded in 2001 by Musician/Educator, Angela M. Wellman.

magnolia street wine lounge & kitchen

Chef Leilani is the Executive Chef and Owner of Roux and Vine and her newest offering Magnolia Street Wine Lounge & Kitchen, named after the street she grew up on. A native of Oakland, California, Leilani found her calling to the culinary world in her youth. Raised by her two grandmothers, she learned at an early age that food and hospitality were the way to people's hearts.

Bay Area Mural Program

BAMP is a nonprofit organization of local artists dedicated to facilitating and creating public art. Our vision is to turn bare, blighted walls into artistic gateways into the community's surrounding environment.

ListEn. Inspire. Eat.

VISION

California Hotel Live! Cultural Hub is a visual and performing arts cultural hub in West Oakland, that pays homage to its historic past. With its unique and mission driven local businesses, including a public music conservatory, recording label, show-stopping local eatery, community mural program, California Hotel Live! provides local community members and visitors a fun and welcoming place to Listen, Inspire, Vibe and Eat.

AbouT

THEN

1930s-1970s

The California Hotel opened its doors on May 18, 1930. A 5-story structure with mezzanine and penthouse, it was the tallest building in the area at the time. It cost $265,000 to build the 150-room hotel with commercial space on the ground floor.

From its opening through World War II, the California Hotel was a commercial hotel for whites only. After the war, it began accepting Black entertainers as hotel guests and was the first and best East Bay hotel to do so.

In 1949, the California Hotel became one of the few hotels where African Americans could perform. Big Mama Thornton, Charles Brown, Little Willie John, BB King, Lou Rawls, James Brown, Sam Cook, Gaylord Birch, Cal Tjader, Ray Charles and Richard Pryor all performed at the Historic California Hotel.

On January 16, 1953, as new ownership took control, the hotel ended its discrimination policies. A grand "reopening" was held with invited guests that included Oakland-born comedian Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, boxing champion Joe Louis and acclaimed singer Lena Horne. The hotel attracted many high profile black visitors to Oakland. At that time, it was the only full-service hotel that welcomed black people in the East Bay. 

The Historic California Hotel became the principle and highest quality social center for East Bay Blacks in the 1950s and 1960s.  Black entertainers met each other there, found a favorite barber right in the Hotel (Alfred Keyes 1959-1972), used its Ray & Ray's Flowers, and after shows would unwind in its Club Zanzibar and its all-night restaurant which were located in commercial spaces fronting on San Pablo. The original banquet room, later called the Gold Room and beginning in 1963 the Side Door, was the balconied space behind the main lobby. The California Hotel was also known for its Big Mambo and Afro Cuban scene. Pete Escovedo got his start playing at the California Hotel. Patrons came for Pete Escovido's Sunday mamba dances, and for a host of Black musicians, especially blues and gospel performers. Both jazz and Latin music lovers flocked to see performers like Carlos Federico, Benny Velarde, and Cal Tjader. A bevy of sports and political figures came to listen, inspire, vibe, eat and be seen, for the California Hotel was the Black social center.

NOW

In 2012, an initiative was made to restore the historic hotel; and finally in 2014, after a renovation costing $43 million, the hotel was converted to affordable housing by East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation.

The California Hotel is now home to nearly one hundred residential tenants, and five commercial business owners including Blackball Universe Music, soon to be a local eatery with the Zanzibar Stage, Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, and SPARC-It Place. Managed by East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, each commercial tenant offers the unique local flavor of their own Oakland roots with mission-driven programming, home-style cuisine, and award-winning musical talent.

Soft launched in October 2018, the California Hotel Live! transforms the historic hotel plaza, welcoming residents and visitors to exciting programming and fun community events. Looking forward to early 2019, with the opening of a local eatery and the Zanzibar stage, the California Hotel Live! Cultural Hub will continue to pay homage to its strong artistic history and preserve the significance of Oakland’s vibrant culture.

Emphasizing our historic and continuing commitment to Asian and Pacific Islander communities, EBALDC works with and for all the diverse populations of the East Bay to build healthy, vibrant and safe neighborhoods through community development.

LISTEN

INSPIRE

EAT