7th Street Oakland Walk of Fame

By Shirley Everett-Dicko

Update: 2/27/2020

Facebook photo The Music They Played on 7th Street Oakland Walk of Fame

Ronnie Stewart, of the West Coast Blues Society, center, acknowledges an audience member as Oakland City Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney, left, and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, right, attend the unveiling of 88 plaques for “The Music They Played on 7th Street Oakland” Walk of Fame in West Oakland on March 6, 2015.  Photo by JIM HARRINGTON | jharrington@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group   

We are proud and honored to announce that Everett & Jones Barbeque will have a plaque on Oakland’s Walk of Fame.  "The Music They Played on 7th Street, Oakland Walk of Fame" pays tribute to the great musicians, club owners, record companies, related independent businesses and others that put 7th Street on the map as a top entertainment destination.  A total of 88 brass plaques — the number of keys on a piano — will be embedded into both sides of the sidewalk along 7th Street, between Center and Wood Streets.  The plaques will honor those that helped earn 7th Street the nickname “Harlem of the West.”
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Ronnie Stewart, the executive director for the nonprofit West Coast Blues Society, has been working on the Walk of Fame since 1990.  The first phase of “The Music They Played on 7th Street, Oakland Walk of Fame was completed in 2015.
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Ronnie Stewart Executive Director of the West Coast Blues Society

The second phase has begun and needs your support for completion and the maintenance of the plaques.  According to Ronnie Stewart the second phase of plaques will be between Peralta and Woods Streets, in the true heart of the entertainment district, and is expected to be completed in 5 to 6 weeks.
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Jim Harrington of the East Bay Times reported "The Music They Played on 7th Street, Oakland Walk of Fame" is part of a $5.1 million project to renovate 7th Street and the surrounding neighborhood, which has received funding from the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and BART, among other sources.  

The Oakland City Council Resolution on April 3, 2012, states that "The Music They Played on 7th Street, Oakland Walk of Fame" is hereby and forever more recognized as an historical treasure in the City of Oakland and celebrated accordingly in the City of Oakland, and throughout the State of California.  Please support and donate to the Go Fund Me/Oakland Walk Of Fame thank you in advance.   

Some of the historical businesses that were on 7th Street before urban renewal wiped out the commercial district.  Map by ​https://projects.journalism.berkeley.edu/7thstreet-archive//

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Please support and donate to :  Go Fund Me/Oakland Walk Of Fame

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