#NNPA BlackPress

Making a Difference: The Bicycle Kitchen has Education on the Menu

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — The Bicycle Kitchen is a nonprofit bicycle repair educational organization staffed by a group of volunteers or “cooks” who run a space in Los Angeles filled with all the necessities for working on bicycles. The mission of the organization is to promote the bicycle as a fun, safe, and accessible form of transportation, to foster healthy urban communities, to enable self-reliance through knowledge of bicycle maintenance and to provide a welcoming space to learn about building, maintaining, and riding bicycles.

Published

7 years ago

October 21, 2019

Oakland Post

Image by: bicyclekitchen.com

By Darlene Donloe

Every kid dreams of his ir her first bicycle. From learning to ride a bike with training wheels, to advancing to a two-wheeler, it’s a milestone that has become a childhood rite of passage.

It’s an enormous sense of freedom to get around on your own power as you ride down the street with the wind in your hair.

Then, suddenly, disaster strikes. You have a flat tire, the gears strip or the chain comes off. Someone taught you how to ride the bike, but no one mentioned how to repair it. What to do?

Take it to the Bicycle Kitchen and let one of the “cooks” show you all the recipes of bicycle repair.

The Bicycle Kitchen is a nonprofit bicycle repair educational organization staffed by a group of volunteers or “cooks” who run a space in Los Angeles filled with all the necessities for working on bicycles.

The mission of the organization is to promote the bicycle as a fun, safe, and accessible form of transportation, to foster healthy urban communities, to enable self-reliance through knowledge of bicycle maintenance and to provide a welcoming space to learn about building, maintaining, and riding bicycles.

The Bicycle Kitchen is not a bike store, but rather a place where the community can come and learn about bikes, fix their bikes and even build a bike from scratch at a nominal cost.

Whatever is wrong with a bike can be fixed in the kitchen. The most common repairs are flat tires and brake or gear repairs. Whatever you need to know about a bike can be learned in the kitchen.

Siobhan Dolan has been a volunteer “cook” for eight years.

Ironically, she didn’t learn to ride a bike until she was 30.

“I just wasn’t encouraged,” Dolan said. “My family focused on school and getting ahead. They said, ‘don’t worry about being physical,’ so I didn’t.”

When she finally learned to ride a bike, Dolan said she loved it but was desperate to find resources to learn about biking and specifically information on her bike. She also wanted to find other people to connect with.

“I took a class at the Bicycle Kitchen,” said Dolan, who works at a law firm. “I fell in love with the vibe and the purpose. I’ve been here ever since. We call ourselves cooks. Everyone needs a cook in the kitchen.”

Bicycle Kitchen survives on grant money, plus the money received from doing community events and selling T-shirts. Some money comes from the visitors, who are charged a suggested donation of $8 per hour to work on their bikes in the facility. Although it costs $8 per hour, according to Dolan, no one is turned away for lack of funds.

“It’s very simple here,” said Dolan, who has three bikes, as does her husband. “If you don’t have the $8, pay what you can. If you don’t have money, volunteer to help out or clean up or help someone else. Share your knowledge.”

There are also $35 workshops available that teach basic maintenance.

“We have those on occasion,” Dolan said. “We try to run basic maintenance workshops to give an overall view on the basics like tires, brakes, and gears. We encourage people to bring their own bikes to learn what works on their bikes.”

Dolan said working on a bike with other like-minded enthusiasts is a great way to connect with people.

“There is a huge sub-culture,” she said. “There are a great many bike enthusiasts out there who just love to ride. If you love biking and want to get involved — drop by.”

The Bicycle Kitchen was literally started in a kitchen in 2002. It was in an area of Los Angles called Eco-Village.

“It was a converted kitchen in a housing co-op in lower East Hollywood,” Dolan said. “It started off as a place where bike messengers would come together to work on their bikes and to just be together. From there it grew. It became a place of education and a space for women and people of color who didn’t have connections.”

No longer located in a converted kitchen but rather in a facility in Hollywood, the Bicycle Kitchen, which can sometimes average about 15 visitors on a busy weeknight has various open hours so that anyone can stop by and either tackle an issue on their own (“do it yourself”) or “do it together” with a “cook.”

“We’re about teaching people to help themselves,” said Dolan, who has a tattoo of a bike chain on her arm in the shape of a heart. “If you learn more about your bike you’re more inclined to keep biking. You feel empowered to tackle things on your own. This is an education space more than a bike repair space.”

If someone doesn’t have a bike, but would like to build one from scratch, Bicycle Kitchen has something called a Project Bike, which gives an individual 30 days for completion.

“If someone doesn’t have a bike at all, they can put one together,” said Dolan, who is a married mother of one. “They can use some or all of our used parts. They can even sort through and find a bike that has been donated. It could be in various states of repair. Find what you’re looking for. It will live at BK until you work on it and it’s complete.”

Dolan said a price is decided at the beginning based on the parts a person is working with. At the end, they can pay the agreed-upon price or they can volunteer.

“We work with what people bring us and with what they can pay,” she said.

In the bicycle world, Dolan said working on a bike is called “wrenching.” Old, junky bikes are referred to as “Beater Bikes.” When a bike is built by grabbing various parts in the kitchen, it’s referred to as a “Franken Bike” – as in Frankenstein bike.

“This is a huge sub-culture,” Dolan said. “It’s all about education, fun and the freedom to ride.”

According to Dolan, no one actually owns the Bicycle Kitchen.

“We don’t have any owners or managers here,” she said. “We’re only volunteer-run. There are no paid positions. We only move forward when everyone is together. This is a unique company structure. It feels very empowering.”

INFORMATION BOX

Organization Name: The Bicycle Kitchen

Leader: Volunteers

Website: bicyclekitchen.com

Support for the Bicycle Kitchen is provided by the Metabolic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation led by artist and Foundation Director Lauren Bon.

“Making a Difference” is a weekly feature profiling organizations that are serving their communities. To propose a “Making A Difference” profile, send an email to newsroom@wavepublication.com

The article first appeared in The Los Angeles Sentinel

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Update or change your spending to make sure you’re making the right decisions for you.

Don't Miss

Lakeland, FL Has 5th Worst Health Care System Outcomes in the Nation

Oakland Post

Click to comment

#NNPA BlackPress

2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring Review — Is This $136K EV Sedan Worth It?

AUTONETWORK ON BLACKPRESSUSA — Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, but it still feels elegant instead of trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring is the kind of luxury EV that makes people stop and ask a simple question: Is this really better than a Tesla Model S, Mercedes EQS, or BMW i7? At $136,150, it has to do more than look futuristic. It has to feel special every time you get in it.

Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, yet it still feels elegant rather than trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Inside is where the Air Grand Touring really makes its case. The 34-inch Glass Cockpit Display and retractable Pilot Panel screen give the cabin a clean, modern look that still feels different from other EVs. The Tahoe Extended Leather and Lucid Black Alcantara headliner lifts the sense of occasion, and the front seats are a highlight. They are 20-way power-adjustable, heated, ventilated, and include massage. That matters because luxury buyers at this price expect comfort first.

Rear passengers are not ignored either. You get 5-zone heated rear seating, a rear center console display, and power rear and rear side window sunshades. Add in the Surreal Sound Pro system with 21 speakers, and the Air feels like a true long-distance luxury sedan.

Lucid also gives this car serious EV hardware. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive system, 900V+ charging architecture, and Wunderbox onboard charger are big talking points. Buyers in this segment care about range, charging speed, and everyday ease, not just raw performance. That is where the Lucid continues to stand out.

On the technology side, the Air Grand Touring includes DreamDrive Premium, with 3D Surround View Monitoring, Blind Spot Warning, Automatic Park In and Out, Automatic Emergency Braking, and a Driver Monitoring System with distracted and drowsy driver alerts. This one also has DreamDrive Pro, which adds future-capable ADAS hardware.

There are still some real-world annoyances. Based on your notes, the windshield wiper control is hard to find and use, and that matters more than people think in a high-tech car. When controls become less intuitive, even a beautiful interior can feel frustrating.

Still, the 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring succeeds where it matters most. It feels luxurious, advanced, comfortable, and thoughtfully engineered. For buyers who want an EV sedan that feels truly premium and less common than the usual choices, this Lucid makes a very strong case.

AutoNetwork helps serious car shoppers inspect any new vehicle online before walking into a dealership. I’m Roosevelt — I’ve been reviewing cars and shaping digital car buying and credit union auto leasing since before YouTube car reviews existed.
You’ll find detailed walkaround reviews, POV test drives, and buyer-focused breakdowns covering comfort, space, features, and real-world value.
How to use the channel:

Watch the walkaround of the car you’re considering
Visit AutoNetwork.com for the full review
Check CouponsOffersAndDeals.com for current dealer specials
Walk in already knowing what you want — and what it should cost

Live talk show “AutoNetwork Reports” — Thursdays 3:00 PM ET.
AutoNetwork.com
CouponsOffersAndDeals.com
Affiliate disclosure: some links earn a small commission at no cost to you and help support the channel. Insta360 is one of those partners.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

Snoop Dogg Celebrates 10 Til’ Midnight at the Compound

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

admin

Snoop Dogg celebrated the premiere of 10 Til’ Midnight at his Inglewood recording studio & multipurpose facility, The Compound, but the night felt like much more than an album release. It felt like Los Angeles. It felt like legacy. And it felt like another major move from one of the city’s greatest cultural architects as he continues to prove that he is not just dropping music — he is building moments, shaping narratives, and pushing the culture forward in real time.

What made the event so powerful was the clarity behind the vision. During a panel conversation with DJ Hed, Snoop opened up about the heart behind 10 Til’ Midnight, explaining that the project was created to help bridge older and younger generations while also speaking to the long-standing divisions between Bloods and Crips in a unique way through film. That alone gave the project a different kind of weight. This was not just about songs. This was about using creativity as a tool for connection. This was about taking a story rooted in Los Angeles and telling it in a way that could bring people together.

Snoop Congratulated By Rapper & Fellow 10 Til Midnight Cast Member G Perico (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles. The film was shot in the city, including at WePlay Studios in Inglewood, which gave the entire project an even deeper hometown feel. It was not just a West Coast story in content — it was a Los Angeles-made production from the ground up.

That matters because, in a city like this, authenticity still carries weight. Snoop understands how to make sure that what he creates does not just represent Los Angeles on the surface, but actually comes from it.

What also makes 10 Til’ Midnight significant is that it represents another major step in Snoop’s evolution as both an artist and executive. Public reporting around the project identifies it as his 22nd studio album, but the bigger story is what it represents in this season of his life. This is one of several consecutive moves he has made in his 50s that show he is still building, still expanding, and still finding new ways to reinvent what the next chapter looks like.

Snoop Dogg at the Premiere of 10 Til Midnight (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

Now, as the head of Death Row Records and the newly aligned leader of Death Row Pictures, he is taking the brand into a new dimension. That is what made this moment feel bigger than music. Snoop is not just protecting the legacy of Death Row — he is stretching it. He is expanding it beyond records and into film, visual storytelling, and larger creative worlds that can continue carrying the label’s impact forward. Public reporting has noted that this project arrives as part of that broader cinematic push.

That is a major Los Angeles move because the city has always been built on the intersection of music, film, neighborhood identity, and cultural storytelling. With 10 Til’ Midnight, Snoop is leaning all the way into that intersection.

The room at The Compound reflected that. It felt like a private premiere, but it also felt like a statement — a reminder that Snoop Dogg’s staying power has never been based only on nostalgia. It comes from his ability to remain connected, remain visionary, and remain in tune with how to move the culture without losing the essence of who he is.

That is why this premiere mattered. It was not just about celebrating another album. It was about witnessing a Los Angeles legend continue to evolve, continue to unify, and continue to use art to tell stories that hit deeper than entertainment alone.

In that sense, 10 Til’ Midnight became more than a project launch. It became another example of how Snoop Dogg is still taking Los Angeles to the next level — using music, film, and legacy together to build something bigger than a moment.

admin

Posts by admin

#NNPA BlackPress

OP-ED: Small Businesses Need Minnesota to Act on Pass-Through Tax Policy

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN RECORDER — A Twin Cities immigrant entrepreneur who built several businesses including grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods is calling on Minnesota lawmakers to extend the Pass-Through Entity tax option before it expires, warning that its loss would hit small businesses already recovering from Operation Metro Surge with higher federal tax bills.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

admin

A Twin Cities Small Business Owner Is Urging Minnesota to Extend a Tax Policy That Could Save Thousands of Businesses

By Daniel Hernandez | Minnesota Spokesman Recorder

I came to the United States as a teenager with a clear goal: to build something meaningful through hard work. I put in long days in construction, restaurants, and landscaping; doing whatever it took to learn, save, and eventually start my own business.

Over time, I built and ran several successful ventures, including an event photography company, a magazine, a tax and accounting firm, and now grocery stores serving neighborhoods across the Twin Cities where other retailers chose not to invest. I’ve created jobs, supported families, and committed to communities that deserve stability and opportunity.

That’s why I’m speaking out now.

Small business owners in Minneapolis and the communities we serve are recovering from serious disruptions, including the impacts of Operation Metro Surge. That event hit immigrant communities especially hard. In my own case, I lost nearly half of my 60 employees and saw revenue drop by about 85%. While I worked to provide competitive wages, health benefits, and paid time off, the real hardship fell on the people who lost their jobs and income.

Even as we rebuild, small businesses are facing another challenge. The Minnesota Legislature is considering letting an important tax policy expire: the Pass-Through Entity tax option.

Here’s what that means in plain terms.

Many small businesses, including mine, are pass-through businesses. That means the business itself doesn’t pay income tax. Instead, the owners report the income on their personal tax returns. But under current federal rules, there’s a limit on how much state tax we can deduct. That often leads to higher federal tax bills.

The Pass-Through Entity option fixes that. It allows the business to pay the state tax directly, which means the business can fully deduct those taxes on its federal return and lower the total amount of income taxed federally. The result is straightforward: small business owners pay less in federal taxes, without reducing what the state collects.

This policy is not new or controversial. Thirty-six states already offer it. It doesn’t cost Minnesota anything, it’s revenue neutral. And it benefits more than 66,000 businesses across the state.

In a state where the cost of doing business is already high, it’s hard to understand why we wouldn’t offer the same basic tax treatment as states like California and Illinois.

Small businesses have carried a heavy load in recent years, through a pandemic, rising costs and public safety disruptions. We’ve adapted, reinvested and stayed committed to our communities. What we need now are practical policies that support that work, not make it harder.

If the Minnesota House does not act soon, many businesses will face significantly higher federal tax bills. That’s money that could otherwise be used to hire workers, raise wages or reinvest in local neighborhoods.

I urge Gov. Tim Walz and members of the House Tax Committee to pass House File 3127 and extend the Pass-Through Entity election.

Small businesses are the backbone of our communities. We’ve proven our resilience. Now we need our state leaders to show the same commitment to us.

Daniel Hernandez is the owner of Colonial Market located at 2100 E. Lake St.

Excerpt:

Photo Captions:

Website Tags and SEO Keywords:

Twitter (X) Tags and Handles: