SF Throwbacks
He spoke out against housing policies that harmed Black people — a continuing issue today
This article is part of SF Throwbacks, a feature series that tells historic stories of San Francisco to teach us all more about our city’s past.
During Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life of activism, he made many trips to the Bay Area to speak at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, and other venues. But King’s descent on the region back in May 1964 had two specific purposes: organizing support for the Civil Rights Act at the state level and countering attempts to repeal California’s Rumford Fair Housing Act.
This housing policy, passed in 1963 by the California legislature, set out to help end racial discrimination via property owners and landlords who could previously have refused to rent or sell their property to people of color. The hope: to end racial discrimination and segregation in the state’s housing system. Yet it still remains a large problem in the Bay Area and elsewhere in California to this day. …
Weekend Wind-Down
Don’t let the pandemic stop you from paying the holiday respect
Weekend Wind-Down is a series from the Bold Italic highlighting ways to explore the Bay Area, support local businesses, and wind down from your stressful week. If you have an idea or tip, email us, or DM us on Twitter/Instagram.
Any other year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we’d see throngs of people around the Bay Area attending crowded marches, outdoor concerts, and stoop-held celebrations to honor the holiday and the person it celebrates. But Covid-19 continues to force local communities to shapeshift, including how they intend to host their usual roster of MLK happenings.
Martin Luther King Jr. — the son of a Georgia-born minister who became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace prize at 35 and one of the most prominent civil rights activists of all time — was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. MLK Day, which takes place on the third Monday of January each year, was approved as a federal holiday in 1983 and was recognized as a state holiday by all 50 states only as recently as last year. …
We Asked San Franciscans
‘To 2021… Please don’t suck as much as 2020.’
This article is part of the Bold Italic’s We Asked San Franciscans series, where we pose interesting questions to interesting readers. If you have a suggestion for a burning question we should ask, email it to us at info@thebolditalic.com.
2021 has already gotten off to a rather rocky start — to put it mildly. But with still 352 days left in the calendar year, we’re still optimistic about what 2021 has in store. (The ushering in of a Biden-Harris administration; Covid-19 immunization plans rolling out across the nation and world; a break from all things Zoom.)
The sentiment is shared by the Bay Area small-business owners who have been hit hard by the pandemic. Even amid the current, indefinite shelter-in-place orders, these proprietors, partners, and keepers are trying to remain “hopeful” of what’s to come in this new year (while also fighting for what they deserve). …
11 separate counties make up our region — which makes understanding these figures even more confusing
Last week’s Capitol building insurrection marked a turning point for Trumpism in America; it was also the single deadliest day of the pandemic at that time. On that fateful day, Bay Area Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacities sat at 7.4% — a then all-time low.
Now less than a week later, that same percentage has dwindled down to a minuscule, alarming 0.7%. …
The Bay Snapshot
SF police outnumbered ralliers in the crowd by a good margin
The Bay Snapshot is a series from The Bold Italic that showcases the current mood of the Bay Area in a picture or series of pictures. If you have a tip for a future post in the series, email us or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.
When Trump’s personal Twitter account was “permanently suspended” Friday, you could almost hear collective cheers of joy erupt across the Bay Area. However, it was also a moment that prompted many conservatives on social media to put their arms up in disgust — posting their usual formation of oddly capitalized reactions. …
The Weekend Wind-Down
Treat yourself through all of these notable Bay Area restaurants currently offering pick up and delivery
“The Weekend Wind-Down” is a new TBI series highlighting ways to explore the Bay Area, support local businesses, and wind down from your stressful week. If you have an idea or tip, email us or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.
2020 was a year that forced Bay Area restaurants to shapeshift and adapt in ways they never had before — or could’ve ever prophesied just a year ago. The pandemic pushed our region’s beloved eateries to adopt parklets, which now sit unused amid the Bay Area’s indefinite stay-at-home order, and fully embrace takeout-only models. …
Did the attempted coup mark the end of fear-based leadership? Or the start of even deeper divisiveness in America?
In some variation, every Slack channel, Twitter feed, and friend text thread erupted with a bevy of WTFs on Wednesday afternoon. An all too familiar scene presented itself by midday: a Trump rally in Washington, D.C., where the sitting president continued to spew malice, lies, and fabrications about a (consistently disproven) rigged election to his loyal fanbase.
Trump, of course, churned out his usual pot-stirring, violence-starting antics to satiate his own inflated ego and hollow logic.
“And after [this rally], we’re going to walk down there, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down … to the Capitol building, and we are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” Trump delivered at the conclusion of his hourlong-plus speech. At that point, thousands of people began walking from the entrance of the Ellipse, where the rally was originally held, to the Capitol a mile-and-a-half away. …
The Bay Snapshot
‘No data, no science, no work, no help, no MORE!’
The Bay Snapshot is a series from The Bold Italic that showcases the current mood of the Bay Area in a picture or series of pictures. If you have a tip for a future post in the series, email us or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.
Though 2020 is finally a year we can all leave behind us, the pandemic it spurred has still very much followed us into 2021. As California continues reaching record-low ICU capacities across the state, regional stay-at-orders home orders continue to stay in place — including the Bay Area’s edict. …
The Weekend Wind-Down
It’s time to Netflix and hibernate
“The Weekend Wind-Down” is a TBI series highlighting ways to explore the Bay Area, support your local community, and wind down from your stressful week. If you have an idea or tip, email us, or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.
The past nine months have blurred the lines between our weekday lives and our Saturday and Sunday avatars. And now firmly seated in yet another shutdown, that gray area is even more opaque — which means it’s perfectly acceptable to binge stream-able content any night of the week.
However, the weekends still sit as the opportune time to venture down any single digital rabbit hole. (Read: You won’t be suddenly yanked from your watching experience by a sudden email or impromptu Slack or Discord alert.) In the spirit of all things streaming and chilling, we’ve assembled our ultimate guide of binge-worthy, Bay Area-based content that you can lose yourself in over this weekend… and the ones to come. …
The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards
This pair of 17-year-olds was responsible for one of Oakland’s largest, youth-led BLM protests back in June
This article is part of The Bold Italic’s 2020 Awards, which celebrate the Bay Area’s small businesses and local residents who have hustled and shown creativity throughout 2020. See all the award winners here.
It goes without saying that this year’s been a dumpster fire — one that, in fact, ballooned into historically catastrophic wildfires. Most of us have been down; we’ve all had those days. However, denizens of the Bay Area have also risen to the marker, attending (masked) protests and marches, organized to curve the arch of society toward a more equitable reality. …
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