Penn Hughes

Back to Oakland Penn Hughes

OAKTOWN, Oakland. The contemporary buzz of Oakland, national and beyond, is tricky, and it is not entirely negative. This work of fiction, set by Lake Merritt, describes formative experiences of many characters who then interact and develop their lives from events along the shores of the mid-city lake. The richness of places along the lake stands in for the richness which Oakland adds to the greater San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco contributes well-heeled style-magazine glitz; Silicon Valley has shaped the very tools of communication worldwide; Oakland contributes its own dimesion, a mix of people learning about each other as they go along and at the same time, learning about themselves. Right across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco, Oakland is an increasingly attractive place to live. How do all those people there get on with each other?