COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

produce artwork and write music and books. The neighborhood’s distinctive character
makes the community alluring to the artistic population. Commentaries in the
Sacramento News and Review (Harvey 2006) described Club Jazz, a newly opened jazz
club, as “the new hot spot for jazz in Oak Park.” The club owner, Hewitt Robinson, was
quoted as previously experiencing the Bohemian movement to San Francisco and was
“hoping to bring that flavor to Sacramento” (Harvey 2006). Jazz clubs, art shows, and
the renovation of the 40 Acres Gallery and the Guild Theater began to draw small crowds
from different parts of the city. Excitement over the “revitalization” of Oak Park meant
that the neighborhood was on its way to becoming more hip and urban in nature with
sidewalk sales, crowded restaurants, coffee shops, and the development of the trendy 4 th
Avenue Lofts (See figure 4).
Revitalization of the Neighborhood
Figure 4. 4 th
Avenue Lofts in Oak Park
http:// www.fourthavenuelofts.com
Entering Starbuck’s to get coffee, the coffee shop was lively and bright and the
couches were filled with a couple of faces I recognized. A Latino male, in his
early fifties wearing sunglasses, and an African-American man in his sixties, with
38