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Oaksterdam by Melrose Sanchez |
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Written by Melrose Sanchez
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Saturday, 23 September 2006 |
From greenkind magazine, Vol.1, No.3, greenkind.net
Nestled among the streets of downtown Oakland is an area known as Oaksterdam.
With a skyline of architecturally unique buildings, many dating from the post 1906 Earthquake and the Depression Era, gives the Oakland buildings a flamboyant classical design. It is this unique skyline and the most interesting of the buildings that inspired the Oaksterdam News masthead.
In Oaksterdam, people are walking the streets with cell phones against their ears. They seem friendly and welcoming as they nod or high-five Richard Lee, the publisher of Oaksterdam News. We are strolling with Richard from one of his business locations to another. There are four locations now, since the Oaksterdam News recently established new digs a block or so away from the Bulldog Coffee Shop and The Oaksterdam Gift Shop. As it happened, the locations of the early medical marijuana movement of the 1990s are clustered on and around Broadway and 17th Street. Richard Lee has settled in the neighborhood and is quickly becoming known, via the media and by his neighbors, as the unofficial mayor of Oaksterdam.
The notion of creating Oaksterdam didn’t have any real structure until Richard Lee showed up on the Oakland scene in the mid-nineties. There he found his niche to apply his entrepreneurial skills and forward vision by opening the Bull Dog Coffee Shop, a dispensary and coffee shop, and finally creating the Oaksterdam News that is currently celebrating one year of publishing.
What began as a handout to inform the cannabis tourist has grown to be the leading political and legal news outlet for the cannabis community, including the medical cannabis community throughout the state of California and beyond.
Richard Lee’s vision of mimicking Amsterdam on the West coast became even stronger when he joined with cannabis expert, and author, Chris Conrad and trusted friend Jaime Galindo. Together, the team is creating the Oaksterdam reality. The bimonthly newspaper publishes updates on the federal, state and local legal processes currently underway affecting the legal status of medical cannabis patients in California as well as the prohibition of cannabis including hemp.
Congratulations and Best Wishes for continuing growth and success Oaksterdam News, Richard Lee, Chris Conrad and Jaime Galindo.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 25 September 2006 )
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