Business

Oakland Co-op Buys Historic Esther’s Orbit Room Space

Published

5 years ago

October 21, 2021

Noni Session, of The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Collective, stands outside the legendary Esther's Orbit Room on 7th Street in West Oakland, whose doors had been closed for about a decade. Photo by Zack Haber on October 12.

“It’s like life just stopped here,” said Noni Session, as we stood inside a large dusty room on Seventh street in the Lower Bottoms neighborhood of West Oakland on Indigenous People’s Day. The black, sparkly ceiling emitted a celestial vibe. Rows of liquor bottles sat partially full behind a 20-foot wooden bar while vinyl ’70s style stools rested in front. Gentle yellow light was omnipresent. A calendar opened to May 2010 hung in front of a mirror.

Words on a colorful but faded sign out front showed this place was once “Esther’s Orbit Room,” a vibrant cultural hub for Black Oaklanders that stayed open for about 50 years before it shuttered its doors shortly after its owner, Esther Mabry, died at age 90 in 2010. On September 30, the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) closed on purchasing this space. They plan to revitalize it as an extension of their overall mission to help Black, Indigenous and people of color remain and thrive in the East Bay.

The revitalization of Esther’s, and EB PREC’s mission, has a deep personal connection for Session, EB PREC’s executive director and a Black, third generation West Oaklander who has struggled to keep her childhood home. In the ’80s she and her father stopped at Esther’s regularly before they would go fishing at a nearby pier. At that time, it wasn’t just a bar and restaurant but also a shop where her father could buy bait and she could get a treat.

Memories of Esther’s Orbit Room are still alive in the neighborhood. As Session and I talked, we were fortuitously interrupted two separate times by Black, long-term residents who just happened to be passing by and noticed the open door. They both briefly shared fond recollections of the place, and excitedly asked about the reopening. One of these people was 60 year old Pamela Brown.

“[Esther’s] was a happy place,” Brown said. “There were not that many places Blacks could go and be comfortable, but that was one of those places.”

Brown remembers Esther’s always being packed in the ’70s and ’80s and that “the vibe was just awesome and friendly.” She loved the southern comfort food they served: greens, pork chops, black eyed peas and hamburgers. Brown’s uncle, Nathaniel Harrison, remembers it being a great place to socialize around that time and that people were always dancing to the jukebox. Although Brown and Harrison were too young to experience it, legendary musicians like BB King, T-Bone Walker and Ike & Tina Turner performed at Esther’s in the 60s.

As I asked Session about what EB PREC’s revitalization project could look like, she told me about dreams she’s been having lately that place her inside Esther’s and wake her in the night to visions of “old school, Black church mixed with afro-futuristic aesthetics.” While several specific design ideas interest her, like installing colorful stained glass window art and putting a mural up of Maasai people walking across planets, she is excited that there is still a lot of uncertainty about the space. That uncertainty exists because its re-creation will be a massive collaboration involving many people who aren’t even in the EB PREC collective yet.

How EB PREC Works

Session is just one cog in a wheel that keeps EB PREC spinning. Well over 400 people currently form the collective in a complex process of communal ownership. While Esther’s will be EB PREC’s first commercial business, it’s not their first project. In 2019, and 2020, they purchased two East Bay homes that currently house 13 resident collective members, almost all of whom are BIPOC.

These residents all pay less than $900 per month toward costs required to secure and maintain the homes. At the end of the year, residents can get paid back any surplus if their payments exceed these costs. It’s all part of EB PREC’s process of replacing landlords with communal ownership and permanently taking housing and land off the speculative market in order to keep it affordable.

“There’s no supply and demand issue when it comes to housing; the demand comes from the demand for investment assets,” said Ojan Mobedshahi, EB PREC’s Finance Director. “Our move is to de-commodify land and we never consider putting it back on the market to profit from it.”

One way EB PREC has raised the capital to make these affordable homes accessible and the Esther project possible is by also including community owners in the collective who live in the area and each pay $10 a week, a year, or a month, depending on what they can afford. The community owners offer feedback and guidance on EB PREC’s projects and also have a direct role in electing some of EB PREC’s board members.

Individual investors also play a crucial role in EB PREC by buying shares of the collective for $1,000 each. None of them will strike it rich. EB PREC offers these people a targeted 1.5% yearly return on shares, about what one would expect to secure from a savings account and much lower than what one would expect from a typical real estate investment.

The collective’s website stresses that a key boon in becoming a shareholder is the ability to “feel good about your money being invested in community.” But unlike community owners, investors don’t share an active role in decision making. EB PREC also gets loans from foundations that are aligned with their vision and offer low to no interest loans.

The work and/or money of EB PREC’s five-member staff, 13 owner residents, and hundreds of community owners and investors has made it possible to secure two Bay Area homes and start revitalizing Esther’s, a project they see costing around $5 million. To finish the Esther’s project though, EB PREC needs a new classification of people to join them called commercial co-owners. They see the large indoor spaces hosting a bar and café that they hope will have music performances as well as a healing arts center while the backyard will host a farmers’ market. They’re seeking BIPOC people with expertise in those areas to run and take communal ownership of those spaces with EB PREC.

“Even in my dreams many of the walls are just prepped for art instead of having art on them,” Session said, pointing around to the spaces in Esther’s. “It’s not like how can we cover all the walls with our ideas but how can we prepare a palette that holds our mission and also holds space for other people’s creativity and control?”

Session sees the symbol of the palette in her dreams as the space that commercial co-owners and the community can help to fill. She has many questions like: What kind of cafe will be in the place? What kind of plants can the backspace have? What kind of music will be played in the space? What kind of healing arts practitioners will come? What kind of food will be served?

“We know we can’t be totally clear on what this space will be until it has its humans,” Session said. “Right now, we’re sort of its steward humans.”

As EB PREC searches for BIPOC commercial co-owners, they’re again seeking more resident collective members as the Esther’s property also has residential units that can house at least six people. They hope to build a community of BIPOC business owners and residents to bring vibrant life to Esther’s once again.

Building from Seventh street’s vibrant Black past

To look back at how the original Esther’s Orbit Room was founded in the early ’60s could likely read as a fairy tale to the modern reader as the economic conditions, particularly for Black people, were radically different at that time. Esther Mabry, a Black woman who came to West Oakland from Palestine, Texas at age 22, in 1942, worked as a waitress at Slim Jenkins Supper Club, a legendary Seventh Street jazz and blues club, and was able to save enough from tips to start her own restaurant in 1950.

She named it Esther’s Breakfast Room. By the early ’60s, just around the time Slim Jenkins Supper Club and other similar establishments were closing, Esther and her husband William, a worker at the now closed Alameda Naval Air Station, had enough capital to buy a new space and open Esther’s Orbit Room.

Esther’s and William’s ability to open their business was likely aided by World War II and its subsequent postwar economic boom of the ’40s and ’50s that brought decent paying jobs, disposable income and homeownership to much of West Oakland’s Black population. Seventh Street was lively at that time and full of Black-owned businesses, including dozens of Black-owned jazz and blues clubs.

“It was the place to be,” Mabry said in an interview from 2002. “They used to have music playing and the hot tamale man. They would have shows and dances and theaters. You could just go from one club right to another. But no one’s there anymore.”

Writer Jennifer Soliman briefly and poignantly shows much of the complex reasons for the demise of these economic and social conditions in her historical essay “The Rise and Fall of Seventh Street.” They included federal urban renewal projects and the creation of BART, both of which lead to the destruction of Black-owned homes and the displacement of much of the Black population. In the same 2002 interview, Mabry lamented that there were no longer Black business owners in that location and said, “I’m the only one that’s left.”

These days, starting a successful business on Seventh Street based solely on the capital two people earn who don’t have deep generational wealth may seem like a pipe dream. But in one instance, a cooperative model has worked. The BlPOC worker owned Mandala Grocery Cooperative, which sits across from West Oakland’s BART station, employs seven people and has been open over a decade.

Session hopes EB PREC’s new collective project will help bring some of the vibrant Black life Seventh street once had back to the area by creating an economic and artistic anchor point around Esther’s. For that to happen, Session said she realized more than just housing was needed for BIPOC people, but an economy that they co-create. She hopes the Esther’s project can contribute to that and serve as a model for others.

In the meantime, Pamela Brown eagerly awaits what’s to come from the rebirth of a place that brought her so much joy decades ago.

“This is such a good idea,” Brown said. “It’s a great place to be revitalized.”

The Oakland Post’s coverage of local news in Alameda County is supported by the Ethnic Media Sustainability Initiative, a program created by California Black Media and Ethnic Media Services to support community newspapers across California.

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Black History

IN MEMORIAM: Marcia Ann Gillespie, Editor of Essence and Ms. Magazines, Dies at 82

Marcia Ann Gillespie, the trailblazing journalist who served as the first editor-in-chief of Essence magazine, has died at age 82. After joining the publication at its inception in 1970, Gillespie spent a decade elevating the beauty and voices of Black women during a pivotal era of self-love and cultural revolution. She later broke barriers as the first Black woman to lead Ms. magazine, further solidifying her status as a titan of the publishing industry. Her expansive career also included authorship and teaching, leaving a profound impact on American media. Read more.

Published

1 week ago

November 6, 2026

Post News Group

By Post Staff

Marcia Anna Gillespie, the first editor in chief of Essence magazine, has died. She was 82.

Born in Rockville Centre, New York, in 1944. The daughter of a church sexton/small business owner and domestic worker/caterer, Gillespie parlayed her degree in American studies from Illinois’s Lake Forest College into a research job at Time-Life Books, Inc. in New York.

There she advocated for fairness and inclusion of Black life in its publications. When the owners of the standard bearer of Black life, Ebony magazine, ventured into creating a special publication for young, Black women, Gillespie was hired as managing editor in 1970, and became editor-in-chief a year later at the young age of 26.

At the time, the venture by the Johnson family – the owners of Ebony magazine and Jet – into creating a publication for young Black women met the growing revolution of self-love in the Black community.

In other words, the battle cry of the late 1960s, “Black is Beautiful,” had a place to be seen and not just heard.

Thousands of young women who had already abandoned straightening combs and European aesthetics learned more ways to wear their natural hair from Afros to cornrows. Young Black designers got a place in the spotlight not just in clothing but jewelry that expressed neo-African ideals. But one of the most important impacts was the magazine’s unapologetic elevation of the beauty of the dark-skinned Black female to the status she deserved.

Under Gillepie’s tenure, Essence championed storytelling that celebrated Black women’s identities, experiences, and contributions at a time when their voices were often overlooked in mainstream media,” Essence wrote in a statement posted to Instagram

For 10 years she steered the fledgling publication before joining Ms. Magazine as a contributor in 1980 later becoming the first Black woman to edit a mainstream American magazine when she took charge in 1992.

In 1998, she helped secure the publication’s future through a women-led ownership group. She stayed at Ms. In various capacities until 2001, during which time the magazine had the most diverse readership in its history.

She also mentored future Essence editor Susan L. Taylor and taught young journalists at SUNY Old Westbury.

Emmy-winning actor Sheryl Lee Ralph took to social media to honor Gillespie’s life.

“Rest in peace, dear Marcia Gillespie,” she wrote on Threads. “Your voice, your brilliance, and your commitment to lifting up Black women leaves a legacy that will continue to inspire me and so many others.”

A professor at SUNY Old Westbury and Bennett College, she also co-authored the authorized biography “Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration” in 2008.

According to Wikipedia, she also served on various boards as a director or advisor, including: “…the Arthur Ashe Institute of Urban Health, the Black & Jewish Women of New York, the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., Aspen Institute, …and the Studio Museum of Harlem. Gillespie is a member of the National Council of Negro Women and the American Association of Magazine Editors.”

She was the recipient of several awards, including: the Lake Forest College Outstanding Alumni Award (1973), the New York Women in Communications Matrix Award (1978); a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Association of Black Journalists for print journalism (1982); a ‘Top Ten Outstanding Women in Magazine Publishing’ recognition by the March of Dimes.

In later years she was inducted into the American Society of Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame (2002); the NAACP President’s Award (2006) and the Barbara Graves Legacy Award at the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit in 2017.

The conclusion for her online obituary reads: “She leaves behind a legacy written not just in the pages she edited, but in every editor, journalist, and reader who found themselves — finally — in the stories she chose to tell.”

Online sources for this report include “The History Makers,” The Washington Informer, Wikipedia, Essence magazine, Ms. Magazine and her obituary.

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Business

Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce Hosts Statewide Convention, Generating $3 Million in Economic Impact

The Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce recently hosted the 47th Annual California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce Statewide Convention, drawing more than 1,000 attendees to the city. The event generated an estimated $3 million economic impact, benefiting local retailers, hotels, and small businesses throughout the region. Organized in partnership with Visit Oakland, the convention featured a marketplace for local entrepreneurs and focused on advancing economic prosperity for Latino-owned businesses. Several innovative features were introduced during the summit to provide lasting resources for the state’s business community, read more.

Published

1 week ago

November 6, 2026

Post News Group

Cutting the ribbon at the California Chamber of Commerce (CHCC) last month were CHCC Northern Region Director Mayra Perez, Aliza Gallo, Oakland Latino Chamber President CHCC Foundation Chairman David Betancourt, CHCC Madam Chair Veronica Corona, CHCC President & CEO Julian Canete and CHCC Northern Region Chair Leo Callejas. Courtesy photo.

By Special to The Post

The Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce (OLCC) recently served as the Host Chamber for the 47th Annual California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (CHCC) Statewide Convention, held in Oakland in August 2026.

The Convention welcomed more than 1,000 attendees from throughout California and generated an estimated $3 million economic impact for the City of Oakland, providing significant support to local hotels, restaurants, transportation providers, retailers, and small businesses.

In conjunction with Visit Oakland, OLCC brought in various local sponsors and worked closely with the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, to make the Oakland Convention a success.

The success of the 47th Annual CHCC Statewide Convention demonstrates what is possible when business leaders, entrepreneurs, community organizations, and public partners work together with a shared vision, said Aliza Gallo, president of the OLCC.

“By welcoming more than 1,000 attendees and generating an estimated $3 million economic impact, we not only showcased Oakland as a premier destination for business and innovation but also created lasting opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs,” said Gallo, who also served as co-host of the event.

She adds that the “convention elevated Oakland’s visibility, strengthened statewide and local partnerships, and reinforced the Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce’s commitment to advancing economic prosperity for our members and our community.”

As part of its leadership role, OLCC introduced two innovative features designed to extend the convention’s impact beyond the event itself. Conference workshops were recorded and made available for continued learning and professional development.

These recordings will be shared with OLCC members and made available for broader public access, expanding educational opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs throughout California. The workshop content will also be distributed to the 85 Latino Chambers and Affiliate Members within the CHCC network, which collectively is 135 member organizations statewide.

In addition, OLCC created and managed the Oakland Mercadito, a vibrant marketplace showcasing local Latino and Latina entrepreneurs. The Mercadito provided small business owners with an opportunity to market their products and services, connect with new customers, and gain exposure to business and community leaders from across the state.

The initiative highlighted Oakland’s entrepreneurial talent and demonstrated OLCC’s commitment to supporting small business growth and economic opportunity.

“Oakland is one of the most diverse cities in the United States” commented Peter Gamez, president & CEO of Visit Oakland. “Our city’s celebration of culture makes everyone feel they belong here and allows for truly authentic experiences.

“Our diversity is a powerful draw for groups and individual visitors. We are extremely proud of this and continue to cultivate and grow this message as we welcome conferences and conventions to The Town,” Gamez said.

For more information, see the Visit Oakland video about the CHCC Convention In Oakland: https://lnkd.in/p/eRpe2sYD

The Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce is the source of this story.

About The Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce

Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce (OLCC) www.oaklandlatinochamber.com is dedicated to advancing economic opportunity, strengthening business capacity, and elevating the visibility of Latino-owned businesses throughout Oakland and the East Bay. Through advocacy, partnerships, technical assistance, and community engagement, OLCC works to ensure that Latino entrepreneurs have the resources and support necessary to thrive.

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Black History

Five Hospitals Said No! Who Will Help Annette Henry Recover?

Annette Henry, a 67-year-old Oakland woman, is struggling to access essential medical care after a devastating stroke left her with a rare neuropathic pain syndrome. Despite medical documentation confirming her need for inpatient rehabilitation, five different Bay Area hospitals have denied her admission, often citing her inability to meet rigid therapy thresholds. Her family’s efforts to seek intervention from state and federal lawmakers have yielded no results, leaving Henry at home without a clear path to recovery. To see how these systemic failures are impacting her health, read more.

Published

2 weeks ago

November 3, 2026

Post News Group

By Tanya Dennis

A tangle of red tape and contradictions between health providers and Medicare rules have impeded an Oakland woman’s ability to recover from a stroke she had last year.

Her family – who are her caretakers – have reached out to various professionals and state and federal lawmakers for help to no avail.

At 67, Annette Henry needs inpatient stroke rehabilitation after a devastating stroke in May 2025. Since then, multiple Bay Area hospitals have denied it. She was accepted into a rehabilitation facility in June 2025 but discharged prematurely in July, in essentially the same condition.

Three hospitals where she was a patient pushed skilled nursing over inpatient rehabilitation. Two more declined referrals.

Now at home, Henry is caught in a system that measures her need for treatment against the limitations treatment should address.

Medical professionals have documented her need for a higher level of care.

In August 2025, a Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) overturned Henry’s discharge from an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF).

The QIO’s independent physician reviewer found she had not received the “intensive therapy program outlined on admission,” according to the Aug. 30, 2025, determination letter. Yet the decision did not secure her readmission or guarantee continued rehabilitation.

Henry has central post-stroke pain, a rare neuropathic pain syndrome that can make movement and touch intensely painful. Her pain specialist recommended inpatient rehabilitation alongside pain management.

Nevertheless, facilities have cited her inability to tolerate three hours of daily therapy as a reason to deny inpatient rehabilitation.

That practice raises questions about Medicare coverage policy. In Hooper v. Sullivan, No. H-80-99 (D. Conn. 1989), the court recorded the parties’ agreement that denials based on numerical utilization screens, diagnostic screens, treatment norms, the “three-hour rule,” or other “rules of thumb” were not appropriate.

CMS subsequently cited Hooper in its Aug. 7, 2009, final rule (74 Fed. Reg. 39762, 39794). The policy is also addressed in the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 1, Section 110, and CMS’s June 1 Review Choice Demonstration for IRF Services: Operational Guide.

These authorities underscore the need for individualized assessments rather than rigid numerical thresholds.

The central contradiction is stark: the pain and disability that make rehabilitation necessary have been cited as reasons to deny it. UCSF Stanyan’s April 7 discharge summary for Henry states that acute rehabilitation unit (ARU) placement was declined for “inability to tolerate three hours of therapy daily.” Without appropriate treatment, Henry risks further decline.

Her records document complications associated with prolonged immobility.

Orthopedics documented flexion contractures of the small and ring fingers on March 19.

Chest imaging on April 1 showed bibasilar dependent atelectasis, a condition involving reduced inflation of the lower portions of both lungs. These concerns can be examined through her medical records and photographs.

“What does a ‘not reasonable’ discharge look like?” her family asks. For them, it looks like an appeal decision recognizing a problem without ensuring a remedy: repeated referrals, denials and a patient still without the rehabilitation her treating professionals have recommended.

The family has sought help from the California Department of Public Health and the federal Office for Civil Rights to no avail. They contacted U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon in June 2025, while Henry was in rehabilitation; Senator Alex Padilla in May 2026; and Senator Adam Schiff in September 2026.

DeCuir says the family received no meaningful assistance and was redirected to the QIO or advised working with a social worker after Henry had already been discharged.

The consequences extend beyond rehabilitation. The family reports that Henry has struggled to attend in-person specialist or any appointments and needs in-person evaluation and treatment for complications, recommended evaluations, health screenings and preventive care.

Her mobility limitations have become barriers to broader medical care. Every office tells her their office is not set up to accommodate her. This has happened with specialty care, out-patient services, screenings and physical therapy.

Henry is a Black woman on Medicare, and her family believes her experience raises concerns about unequal access to intensive rehabilitation. Research has documented disparities in discharge to inpatient rehabilitation rather than skilled nursing, underscoring the importance of individualized review.

CMS, state regulators and healthcare providers should examine Henry’s records, assess her needs on their clinical merits and explain how the applicable coverage standards were applied, and whether they are being enforced.

Rehabilitation is not a reward for patients who can already tolerate treatment. It is care intended to help people recover function. Henry’s case asks whether a system designed to support recovery can leave a patient without a path to it.