Roaming the Avenue

Strippers, Jazz, and Hotsy Totsy Swing: Oldtimers recall San Pablo Avenue's risque World War II era and key role in U.S. interstate highway history.

PLUS: Rosie the Riveter's Wild Side, the World's Oldest Living Bartender and other Avenue profiles.

Strippers, Jazz, and Hotsy Totsy Swing:
Navy Vet Reveals Avenue’s Risque Past

By Michael Kai Louie

ALBANY -- George Clark was just getting into one of his favorite subjects when someone raised a hand to ask if it was all right to interrupt him to ask questions.

‘Kicks’ on Route 40:
Writer Celebrates San Pablo’s Role
In American Highway History

By Joe Rogers

ALBANY - Wes Hammond and his friends enjoy driving down a road well-traveled, even if the road is not as famous as it used to be. In some places it’s not even a road anymore.

Bennie Bee's History Lessons:
`Rosie the Riveter' Vet Recalls Heyday
of Richmond's Women War Workers

By Roya Aziz

SAN PABLO — Bennie Bee Smith had her first birthday party two years ago at the age of 80. It was a grand affair for the octogenarian who attended school in bare feet during the Great Depression.

92 Years-Young and Counting:
Beloved Barkeep Still Filling Shots,
Spinning Yarns in El Cerrito Tavern

By Nick Wilson

EL CERRITO -- Todd Ogden has just about seen and done it all and he's not stopping. The 92 year-old Benicia resident is arguably the oldest and most colorful bartender in El Cerrito. He is a longtime local cowboy who twice failed in marriage, lost a small fortune, but retains a heart of gold, longtime friends and loyal customers say.

Oakland Artist Blends Passion and Political Ideals
To Depict Black Life in San Pablo Avenue Murals

By Lisa White

OAKLAND -- In a modest storefront gallery in North Oakland, Arnold White depicts the beauty and pain of African-American life in technicolored acrylic paints. One painting expresses the joyous liberation of music. Another conveys the grief of urban displacement. By making strong statements about social and political issues, White's art is meant to challenge and inspire or, as he says, "to wake people up."

A Rags to Riches Tale on the Avenue:
Barbecue Whiz Sees Her Dream Come True

By Nick Wilson

BERKELEY -- It all started in 1973 with a dream of a better future. That was the year a poor black woman named Dorothy Everett (now Ellington-Turner), a divorced mother with nine young children to support, decided to try to earn more than the $2 per hour she was making as a cook.

Bernie Rooney:
Brewing up Business on the Ave

By Lauren Gard

BERKELEY -- For Bernie Rooney, life and labor are inextricably intertwined.

"He's a real worker," says Sandy, his wife of 34 years and co-owner of Berkeley's Oak Barrel Winecraft, a San Pablo Avenue shop that has been selling supplies to home beer, wine and vinegar makers for 45 years. "It comes from his background -- he's worked since he was nine."