Our Hear Here community storytelling project has been asking Oakland and San Francisco residents to tell them a story about a meaningful place in their neighborhood. Meanwhile, the KALW news team has set out on a similar mission, and visited iconic places all over the Bay Area to talk to the people who visit them. KALW’s Lisa Ratner brought back this story from Treasure Island.
LISA RATNER: It is interesting how people I’ve talked to about it, how few have actually been. Since going, I’ve been popping by it almost every time I drive from Oakland to San Francisco. I’m just so curious to see how the skyline changes and what I am going to see next.
TIFFANY BLEHELL: I’m Tiffany Blehell, originally from Florida, I now live in Oakland. Every single day I hear some version of, “I’ve lived in the Bay Area my whole life – or for 20 years – but this is my first time on the island.” It is so isolated, people don’t come here that much. The view is a million-dollar view. We have a view of the entire city, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge. There are some of the old buildings left over from the World’s Fair. I believe when you first drive in, that half circular building was also used in an Indian Jones movie. Metallica came in – they were filming a movie across the street so we had Metallica workers coming in everyday for breakfast and dinner for three months. When the movie was shooting on here, sometimes we will do the catering for the movies. It is very unique – you kind of have to experience it.
What’s a place in your neighborhood that means something to you – and why? Our Hear Here community storytelling project wants to know the answer. If you’ve got a story of a significant place, visit the Participate page at www.hearkere.kalw.org and tell it to us! You can also find the project on Facebook and follow it on Twitter at @hearhereradio.
Hear Here is part of a national initiative of AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, Inc designed to bring new journalistic and technical ingenuity to extending public media service to more Americans. From Chinese restaurants in Boston, to shuttered factories in Dayton, to the oil fields of North Dakota, to Bay Area startups, the ten Localore production teams are working with their public station incubators to uncover ground-up stories of America in transition. Follow their development, and learn more at Localore.net.
