A Maker of Castro Valley

Change is rapidly progressing in Castro Valley as some original homeowners from this town pass on. This week would have been my Nana Angie's 92nd birthday. She was the type of cheerful person of a bygone era who would talk to anyone sharing a bench, from waiting rooms at doctors' offices, nail salons, or auto-repair shops, and begin on a light comment or compliment only to expand into long conversation about family and history. Maybe she'd share about her days working for the Oakland School District or how her father worked in the Oakland Scavenger Company or when she bought her home in "the boonies" of Castro Valley, back when apricot orchards hemmed the property lines so the fenceless yard wouldn't spill into the wilderness. She would recount stories of how the Castro Valley Marketplace used to be a Daughtrey's department store, and how the rest of the boulevard was nothing but a quaint, nostalgic strip of commerce before the beautification project a few years back. Couples and families who moved to Castro Valley in the 1950s and 60s felt like some of the biggest culture drivers of this place when they initiated lasting clubs and community events, like my Nana's neighborly sewing club that thrived for half a century. Many of those makers are still around us as we still make Castro Valley into yet a better town today.

–Momo Yoo Gomes, Castro Valley