Entertainment

Locol, Home of Revolutionary Fast Food

Published

10 years ago

July 26, 2016

Oaklanders have welcomed a new restaurant, Locol – Revolutionary Fast Food, located at 2214 Broadway near Grand Avenue.

Now In its second month, the restaurant offers healthy fast and affordable entrees for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant was listed last month at one of Food and Wine’s 2016 Restaurants of the Year.

Step into Locol, and guests are greeted by hip hop music, an energetic staff and a wall covered with a larger-than-life, black and white photo featuring an African American bicyclist.

Locol’s menu features green smoothies, BBQ turkey burgers, collard greens, ice cream sundaes, corn bread and more. The brain child of Roi Choy and Daniel Patterson, Locol was just an idea a year ago, and now the duo boasts two sites within six months, one in Watts in Los Angeles and the other in Oakland.

Choi recruited his friend Dan “Bam” Deocampo to run the two locations as the community liaison and regional manager.

“Offering the community whole, delicious and affordable foods has been our goal and also employing locals – to date about 30 employees,” said Deocampo.

“At our first Bay Area location in Oakland, we have hired locals of east and west Oakland with a focus in three areas; students and youth, low wage fast food workers who have been union busted out of work and the previously incarcerated, re-entry folks,” said Deocampo.

Locol has plans to open a location in West Oakland at 35th and Market this year, which will feature a café-style setting serving coffee and pastries. Another spot in East Oakland on East 14th Street is on the horizon.

Deocampo says the company’s ultimate goal is to tackle areas in East and West Oakland that are considered, “food deserts,” where communities are without grocery stores or fresh affordable foods.

“In our communities, we typically feed ourselves pre-packaged food, fast and affordable, and we don’t want to change that model, we just want to change what’s inside that model,” he said.

Growing up Watts in a working class family where his mother juggled three jobs Deocampo says he can relate to the modern lifestyle of fast foods. “My mother never had time to cook and understandably so, but instead of changing the culture of how we eat, we take the culture in which we eat and change the ingredients to green based, organic and farm raised meats.”

Deocampo, an Oakland resident for six years, considers himself an artist and community organizer who promotes change in the midst of gentrification, homelessness and joblessness. “Society tells us that you can’t raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, that prices can’t be affordable and food can’t be accessible,” he said. “Well, we are proving this theory is not true. We pay way above the current minimum wage, and our price points are very low.”

Deocampo says menu items in Oakland are all under $7 and $6 in Watts. “Our model empowers the community, and we plan to expand very quickly to Detroit, Atlanta, Ferguson, MO and Newark, New Jersey.”

For information visit www.WeLocol.com

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Oakland Post: Week of February 18 – 24, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 18 – 24, 2026

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2 weeks ago

February 20, 2026

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Oakland Post: Week of February 11 – 17, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 11 – 17, 2026

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February 16, 2026

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Arts and Culture

Book Review: Books on Black History and Black Life for Kids

For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for young Black boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift.

Published

3 weeks ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo of Black History Month book covers by Terri Schlichenmeyer.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Authors: Various, Copyright: c. 2025, 2026, Publishers: Various, SRPs: $17.99-$18.99, Page Counts: Various,

Everybody in your family has stories to share.

Your parents have told you some, no doubt. Your grandparents have offered a few, too, and aunties and uncles have spun some good tales. But there’s so much more to know, so grab one of these great books and learn about Black History and Black life.

For the youngest reader, “As You Are: A Hope for Black Sons” by Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Magination Press, $18.99) is a book for young Black boys and for their mothers. It’s a hope inside a prayer that the world treats a child gently, and it could make a great baby shower gift.

If someone said you couldn’t do something that you were clearly able to do, would you fight to do it anyhow? In the new book, “Remember Her Name! Debbie Allen’s Rise to Fame” by Tami Charles, illustrated by Meredith Lucius (Charlesbridge, $17.99), a young girl in the Jim Crow South is told that she can’t dance because of the color of her skin.

She didn’t listen, though, and neither did her mother, who took her daughter to Mexico, where the girl soared! This is an inspiration for any 5-to-7-year-old; be sure to check out the back-of-the-book information, if you’re an adult fan.

Do you often hear your elders say things that sound like lessons? They might be, so “Where There is Love: A Story of African Proverbs” by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Leticia Moreno (Penguin Workshop, $18.99) is a book you’ll like. It’s a quick-to-read collection of short proverbs that you can say every day. Kids ages 4-to-6 will easily remember what they find in this book; again, look in the back for more information.

Surely, you love your neighborhood, which is why the tale inside “Main Street: A Community Story about Redlining” by Britt Hawthorne and Tiffany Jewell, illustrated by David Wilkerson (Penguin Kokila, $18.99) is a book for you.

Olivia’s neighborhood is having a block party, but she’s sad when no one shows up. That’s when she learns that “the government” is discriminating against the people and businesses near where she lives. So, what can she and her neighbors do? The answer might inspire 6-to-8-year-old kids to stand up to wrongs they see, and to help make their neighborhoods stronger and safer.

And finally, if a kid wants a book, where can they go to find it? In “I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy” by Mychal Threets, illustrated by Lorraine Nam (Random House, $18.99) is a good introduction to the best of what a library has to offer. The freedom to walk into a library and borrow a book is the theme here, as is the sheer happiness of being welcomed, no matter who you are. This is an easy book for kids as young as two and as old as five to enjoy.

On that note, if you want more, head to that library, or a nearby bookstore. They’ll be glad to see you. They’ve got stories to share.