Summer Travel: Getting Immersed in the Bay Area

The Bay Area is a hub that constantly pushes out culture in more ways than one. This is a place that gives the world some of their favorite music artists such as E-40, Too Short, G – Eazy and Iamsu. This is the birthplace of the Black Panther Party, and Bay Area residents are well-known for their laid-back attitude, liberal politics and booming high-tech industry (Silicon Valley). 

I got the chance to get immersed for a week in the vibrant culture that the area provides. 

I have plenty of friends who are either from, lived in or currently live in the Bay Area. I would always ask them about what it was actually like, but I never felt like they could paint a clear enough picture for me. I would always get told about how each city is stacked upon one another, but that never really made sense to me.

It wasn’t until I flew into San Francisco and I was riding as a passenger that I realized how it had its own uniqueness. This is something that I noticed in Richmond, Oakland and even in an area like Pacifica. While each area has its own flare and flavor there is a common energy that the entire Bay Area possesses, it is pretty hard to put into words what that energy is but it is something that you can’t escape.

While I was out there, I got the chance to visit YR Media’s headquarters in Oakland for the first time, after writing for nearly a year. Before I made my visit, I had the chance to explore the Bay quite a bit. So when I did take a tour of the facilities it only made sense to me that a place like YR would be born in a cultural hub such as the Bay. For an establishment like this one to be in existence since the 90s, and to still be having an impact on future generations it only makes sense that this exists in the Bay area.

Markel Collins is a freelance writer/journalist Based in Las Vegas. He attended Nevada State University follow him on Twitter @_markelcollins.

Edited by NaTyshca Pickett