Eye from the Edge; A Memoir of West Oakland, California (Hardcover)
Description
Eye from the Edge brings you to an American melting pot with sizzle and swing. In the wartime 1940s the Oakland Port said farewell to soldiers and sailors, and hello to laborers for the rail yards and shipyards located at the edge of the North American continent. Streetcars, motorcycles, city slickers, and shoppers mix with music and aromas while a group of boys cycle along the edge of the San Francisco Bay. The author invites the reader into his life, his family history, his multiculture-rich neighborhood. Dance the salsa and swing; meet Pedro Infante, or Guadalupe Carlos, in La Ideal Music Shop. See the big hearts of boxers like Carl "Bobo" Olson and the early church leaders like Father Philipps at St. Mary's. Do the tears of immigrants moisten the cheeks of the next generation as the spices of one culture mix and melt into those of another?
About the Author
Ruben Llama was born in pre-World War II Oakland, California to hard-working, enterprising parents from Mexico. From family life above his dad's music and barbershop, plus his own years of retail work, Ruben developed respect for hard work and a drive toward management. As a high school graduate and young married man starting a family, Ruben joined a company where he advanced from shopping cart boy to vice president. Finally after many company moves, which his wife Anita helps to describe, Ruben and his wife settled in Carmichael, California with their three sons and families nearby. Now retired, Ruben, a first-generation American, shares his interesting family history and his won life with you, the reader.
