Help the World Learn How Cool Oakland Is With This Book

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Grid View

Expand

Melissa Davis knows a good thing when she sees it. She was the first West Coast editor for Lucky magazine, and she was also a fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar and Mademoiselle magazines. And when she moved to Oakland 10 years ago, she knew she'd found a unique and awesome place to call home and the perfect place to run her business.

She moved her boutique PR firm, Ruby Press, to Oakland earlier this year, and doing business in the heart of downtown is what inspired her to want to share her city's awesomeness with the world. Davis is working on a book called This Is Oakland, which promises to be a beautiful tribute to a city that has changed so much (for the better!) over the decades. But she needs your help: along with photographer Kristen Loken, Davis has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise enough cash to make the book. Their goal is $21,000, and in the final four days of the campaign they're at $17,760. Will they make it? You can help decide: Donate before 2:30pm this Friday, December 27, and they just might get funded. If they don't reach their goal, they get nada, which would be a bummer for Oakland!

The book will be divided in to seven chapters, each featuring a different neighborhood: Temescal, Piedmont Avenue, Downtown & Old Oakland, Uptown Oakland, Rockridge, Jack London Square and Grand Lake.

And of course you'll be gifted some Oakland-centric merch if you donate: from a pound of Sightglass coffee to a signed copy of the book and lots more. Let the countdown begin!
· This Is Oakland [Kickstarter]
· Ruby Press [Official Site]