Walk the Talk

In the empty lot of the Pussy Cat Porn Theater, a local activist and lawyer retells the story of how the neighborhood organized to close the theater in the late 1980's. The lot has been sold to local developers and there are plans pending to build townhouses.

Walk the Talk

With a boombox and mic pulled along in an American Flyer red wagon, Jeff spoke above the roar of Highway 24 which was build in the 1960's and which left the neighborhood isolated and traumatized by the dividing line. Jeff gave a brief history of the community's organizing efforts to halt and redesign the highway project to save the neighborhood and business district on upper Telegraph and Shattuck Avenues.

Walk the Talk

Jeff began the walk on the original site of Temescal Creek at Hardy Park. The creek was diverted and culverted in the 1970's. Temescal, which means sweatlodge, was named by an early Spanish landowner, as sweatlodges were once located along the creek and were emblematic of the vital and central role the creek played in the life of early settlers.

Temescal Amity Works presents:
Walk the Talk: A Guided Tour Exploring Temescal Sites and How the
Community Helped to Shape Them with Temescal artist and founder of
Shared Ground Jeff Norman on November 12th from 1-3.

Join Temescal historians, artists, activists and neighbors on a walking
tour along the path of Temescal Creek The tour features guest speakers
who participated in the community initiative and collective actions
that helped create these sites as we experience them today.

This guided walk will highlight the routing of the Grove Shafter
Freeway (Hwy24), the culverting of Temescal Creek, the building of the
Rockridge-Temescal Greenbelt, the closing of the Pussycat Theater,
development of the Temescal Plaza (Walgreens) and the creation of the
PostMark gathering site.

The tour will begin at the bulletin board in Hardy Park(a.k.a Frog
Park) located at Hardy Street and Claremont Avenue at 1:00 PM. Bring
water, a hat or umbrella as needed. The tour will end with a reception
at Temescal Amity Works project space, just off Telegraph and 49th St.

For more information, call 428-1210 or 653-7190.
We hope to see you there!