West Oakland Stories Positive Feeling Movement Inc – Page 6

ED HOWARD – LIFE STORIES (PART 5: The Real World

Friends, I hope you enjoyed the first four posts in our series detailing the life of Oakland original pioneer, film maker, engineer, TV host, night club owner–just to name a few titles–Mr. Ed Howard.

Be sure to check out the West Oakland Stories short historical film, as well as the brief documentary “Between Black & White” detailing the historical alliances between Greek & Black communities. Both videos are not to be missed! Among one another, let’s put the No Negative Speak movement into practice.

In our fifth segment, Mr. Howard in his own words shares positive memories from his young adulthood in venturing beyond West Oakland in search of work opportunities.

Photo 1: Lockheed, 1950s.
Photo 2: Ed Howard at Lockheed office, 1950s.
Photo 3: Ed Howard home from work.
Photo 4: Ed Howard present day.

Check out parts 1-4: www.westoaklandstories.org

Apollo Papafrangou

Ed Howard Life Story (Part 5)

INTRODUCTION TO THE REAL WORLD

1959 – I have completed college, married, one child and no job. I looked for a job in engineering – interviewing in every engineering firm I could find in my field from Oakland to Sacramento; and from Oakland to San Jose. I was not hired because at that time it was very very rare to find any engineering company that would employ a Black man in its work force.

I reverted back to the State of California Unemployment Office to see if they could place me in a job. I was lucky and was placed in a small company on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland – Matt Lawrence Orthopedic design, repair and manufacturer. I obtained experience in layout design of pneumatic and hydraulic valves; procedures and standards; and hands on machinist operator of lathes, drill press, routers, etc. Sadly a few months later I was told by the owner that he liked me and my work very much but his employees, who were all white men, told him that they were not comfortable with me working there, so in spite of my good work, he laid me off two weeks from Christmas 1959.

Now I am out of work again so I go back to Lockheed Aero Space in Sunnyvale California. I had an interview there before but this time I presented my resume and they noticed I had machinist experience – they offered me a job as a Radial Router Operator. Once I got in, I started to read all the signs, posters and company information that I could. I discovered that after a three-month probation period in the company you could apply for any of the in-house jobs posted in the plant. A post for an Engineering Electro/Mechanical Layout Designer was posted – I applied and got the job.

At Lockheed I was exposed to the highest level of Engineering Technology because they had the contract to design the Polaris Missile for the U S Government. I was introduced to the new engineering technology of that time – the printer circuitry board using electronic design schematics with electronic components such as diodes, resistors, transistors, etc.; and the appropriate mechanical design to house all the electronic.

Next: Part 6 – My Journey to Kaiser Engineers. Some people say I had a lot to do with Oakland not burning in the 1960’s because of the things I was involved in at Kaiser Engineering, and being on the Kaiser Industries Advisory Board of Directors, Oakland California from 1963-1970. Stay tuned.

Follow Ed Howard’s Story! Click link for episodes 1,2,3&4 (www.westoaklandstories.org)

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

ED HOWARD LIFE STORY (Part 4)

ED HOWARD – WEST OAKLAND STORIES (PART 4: Young Adult Years, 18-22)

Friends, I hope you enjoyed the first three posts our series detailing the life of Oakland original pioneer, film maker, engineer, TV host, night club owner–just to name a few titles–Mr. Ed Howard.

Be sure check out the West Oakland Stories short historical film, as well as the brief documentary “Between Black & White” detailing the historical alliances between Greek & Black communities. Both videos are not to be missed! Among one another, let’s put the No Negative Speak movement into practice.

In our fourth segment, Mr. Howard in his own words shares fond, positive memories from his young adulthood in the vibrant community of West Oakland.

Photo 1: McClymond’s High School, 1955
Photo 2: Laney College
Photo 3: Ed Howard (seated, 2nd from right)
Photo 4: Oakland Merritt College, 1955
Photo 5: Ed Howard, present time.
Follow Ed Howard’s story! Click the link for episodes 1&2&3:www.westoaklandstories.org

— Apollo Papafrangou

ED HOWARD LIFE STORIES PART 4
18-22 Years Old 1955-1959

I HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT WHAT I WANT TO DO IN LIFE
I have graduated from high school now but I have no idea about what I want to do in life.

McClymonds High school 1955

So, I register at Oakland Merritt City College. (I am the only one in my crowd that goes to college).
My mother tells me that I have to get my own place and I don’t have a job. The next week the manager of the service station “Thrifty Mac” on 12th and Cypress Street offered me a part time job; and one of my classmates tells me his mother has told him also that he had to move out on his own. We found a small apartment and I never looked back. These series of events turned out to be nothing but the best for me although I did not like my mother for kicking me out the house but now, I realize that she knew what was best for me.

Merritt College 1955

Thrifty Mac service station turned out to be a very good hustle for me. I worked the swing shift (4:00 pm -12:00 am) pumping gas. I, at that time, was one of the first Black Low Riders in Oakland. I put the word out in the neighborhood to come by and get oil change, tire repair, tire rotation, work on your car using the car lift at the station, and polish and wax your car all for a slight charge to me.

I continued through two years at Merritt College with no direction, no studying, or no plan. I just enjoyed going to school and being around people.
After two years I am feeling I don’t want to be at Merritt because I didn’t want to go to a four-year college because I knew I was not going to stop running the streets. The streets had been my life since I was thirteen years old. I love the streets.

A bright light came on in my head and I remembered that my high school mechanical drawing teacher had placed one of my Mechanical drawings I had constructed in class on display in the main school hallway. The teacher never did inform me he had done that, it was the students who let me know I had a drawing displayed in the display window. That display was the only feeling of accomplishment I had in high school except for graduating.

I knew that Laney College offered Industrial Design Configuration Engineering class and I applied and was accepted and the rest is history. What I loved about Laney College is that I did not need to bring any books home to study because you were in the same class room six hours a day five days a week for two years. You studied in class no need to study outside of the daily class information for me.

Laney College Engineering Class dinner 1958

Laney College 1958

Follow Ed Howard’s story! Click the link for episodes 1, 2 & 3: www.westoaklandstories.org

Ed Howard

Ed Howard Life Story (PART 3)

ED HOWARD – WEST OAKLAND STORIES (PART 3: Teen Years, 12-18)

Friends, I hope you enjoyed the first two posts our series detailing the life of Oakland original pioneer, film maker, engineer, TV host, night club owner–just to name a few titles–Mr. Ed Howard.

Photo 1: Debutante Ball escorts. Ed Howard (6th from left), 16-17 years old.

Photo 2: Ed Howard (forefront) with running buddies Al Guice and Bob White with hats. all 18 years old. Straight-up West Oakland at a Berkeley, Ca dance.

In our third segment, Mr. Howard in his own words shares fond, positive memories from his adolescence in the vibrant community of West Oakland.

12 – 15 YEARS OLD:
My years in jr. high & high school were uneventful, but outside of school and in the West Oakland community I was experiencing many life-developing skills.

Hanging out on Seventh Street – Seventh Street was the place that you could go and be around people after midnight. I believe it was the only part of Oakland at that time that had the kind of feeling like it was still early. I have always felt very comfortable being out late at night.

On Seventh Street, I went to the Lincoln movie theater, worked at the bowling alley setting pins, watched Raincoat and his well-known gamblers place, hanging out around Slim Jenkins, Esther’s, and RumBoogie (now known as the Continental club) night clubs, and dance halls and would eat at Mr. Singers café, off junction of Seventh and Peralta Streets. We went to New Centre Park and Recreation Center for dances, basketball, swings, and just kids with energy playing around all day.

We would walk a few blocks to Jacobs Bakery, Sutter’s Barbecue, the Willis cleaners; visit our friends over the Adeline Street bridge to Harbor Homes.

15 – 18 YEARS OLD:
Entering high school was a letdown for me because I had been in the top half of my classes since elementary school. Now remember almost all my schoolmates and I had been around each other since elementary school. In 9th grade I had all “A’s” in math but I flunked math in the first half of my 10th grade. This took me out of college prep classes so I no longer had classes with the top students in school any more. The strange thing here is math was my best subject. To this day I don’t know how I flunked math. I did not know how to talk to counselors or anyone at fifteen who could give me directions. Although I loved school I never studied or took books home because I never went home except to sleep. I literally lived in the streets.

By the time I am fifteen years old I am partying, gambling, liking the girls, hanging with my cool buddies. I am also going by DeFremery Park Recreation Center and I get involved in its programs under Mrs. Dorothy Seals Pitts. Not only did I play ping pong I won a tournament at the Diamond District Recreation Center and got my name in the Oakland Tribune Newspaper; shoot pool; play cards and dominos six days a week. I also joined the social clubs, become the representative to Asilomar in Monterey CA (my first time interacting with white people). Somehow coming from West Oakland had me feeling I was the best and had much confidence in myself. I also became the Inter-Center President of all the Social Clubs presidents at DeFremery. This taught me how to conduct meetings, speak before teen conferences, and preside over all the other club presidents at the center. Went on my first radio show produced by Tarea (Ty) Hall Pittman, I believe she was the head of the Oakland NAACP at that time. I participated in the Debutante Ball, danced in the Swim show. All of these experiences I think set the foundation for me to become a businessman. I love organizing, strategizing, and implementing towards a goal.

I now think it was a blessing for me when I flunked math because it took me out of being chosen by the Slave System. Now I had a shot to develop being myself out in the world.
When I started going to DeFremery Park Recreation Center at thirteen years old, I came under all Black directors influencing me – Mrs. Dorothy Seals Pitts, George Scotland, Mrs. Attimay Whitaker, Ruth Beckford, Bill Patterson and Hap Smith. All of these people are in the film I produced for the West Oakland Stories.

— Apollo Papafrangou

The link below to see prior post in our series of the life of Ed Howard
https://www.facebook.com/apollo.papafrangou

West Oakland Stories Positive Feeling Movement Inc – No Negative Speak with Each Other (Website link) https://westoaklandstories.org/

Ed Howard Life Story (PART 2)

ED HOWARD – WEST OAKLAND STORIES (PART 2: Early Years, 5-12)

Friends,

I hope you enjoyed the first post our series detailing the life of Oakland original pioneer, film maker, engineer, TV producer, night club owner–just to name a few titles–Mr. Ed Howard.

Be sure to check out the West Oakland Stories short historical film, as well as the brief documentary “Between Black & White” detailing historical alliances between Greek & Black communities. Both videos are not to be missed (links below)!

Now more than ever, we need to put the No Negative Speak movement into practice to uplift the community.

In this segment, Mr. Howard in his own words shares fond, positive memories from his childhood:

“LOVE OAKLAND CALIFORNIA!

I know the things I experienced as a kid in Oakland would not have been possible in Waterproof, Louisiana. These years I believe shaped me and this is why I love Oakland California.

The things I did as a preteen kid were:

Boys club, Cub and Boy Scout, /Tribune paper boy, /School traffic sign holder and Sergeant, /Elementary school play actor, /Recreation center, play cards, shoot pool, ping-pong, / YMCA swimming, /School field trips,

Break down my bicycle, brakes, gears, chain, master link, adjust spokes, seat, handle bar, tires, inner-tube, tube patches, hot patch, gooseneck adjustments and hustle up on the tools you needed to fix your bike.

Also, I had to baby-sit my sister every Saturday starting at eight years old. (To this day I believe I would have played more sports like most of my friends if not for babysitting).

Shoot marbles, Holezy game, /Knock-it-leave-it-lay,/ Dodge ball,/ Follow the leader, /Made own flying kite out of newspaper, sticks, tree stems and glue made out of your mother’s flour and water, kite tail made out of rags tied in knots and hustle up on a few spools of string, /Made scooters out of milk wood boxes, two by fours, foot skates taken apart and nails, / Airplane construction kits.

One Sunday, somehow all the kids in the neighborhood knew that a box of toys was open behind a fence a few blocks away from our projects and I ran down and jumped the fence like all the other kids and got me an airplane construction kit.

This was on a Sunday and everything was closed. Back in that time hardly anyone worked on Sunday. You could say this was my first introduction to engineering.”

– Apollo Papafrangou

-Photo 1: Ed Howard & friends. Bayview Village Projects, 2151 Willow St., West Oakland. Circa 1947, ’48.

-Photo 2: Ed Howard; Ms. Ruth Beckford “The Dance Lady;” and Willie Rock.

#oakland #westoakland #westoaklandstories #bayarea #nonegativespeakmovement #EdHoward

ED HOWARD STORY PART 1

ED HOWARD – WEST OAKLAND STORIES

On the afternoon of February 29, I had the pleasure of meeting West Oakland Stories founder Mr. Ed Howard, a man of warmth and dignity. As we are both native Oaklanders, we enjoyed exploring the commonalities among our generations and cultures, as the city has long been home to deep-rooted Black and Greek communities.

Born in Waterproof, Louisiana in 1937, Ed Howard moved with his family to Oakland in 1942 where they resided in the Bayview, Harbor Homes, and Campbell Village Projects. Growing up in West Oakland, Howard enjoyed the neighborhood’s sense of camaraderie as blacks from all over the country settled in the area that would eventually be known as the “Harlem of the West.” A charismatic character from the time of his youth, Howard utilized his smarts and charm to eventually become a head engineer, instructor, and job developer for Kaiser Engineers of Oakland, and an advisory board member of Kaiser Industry’s. In addition, he holds many other titles, chief among them: owner and vice president of Social Dynamics consultant firm; nightclub owner of Ed Howard’s Place; owner of EH Engineering – Department of Defense contracting firm specializing in Reverse Engineering/Research Development; and Producer and creator of the Channel 7 (KGO-TV, San Francisco) TV show “Black Dignity.”

He is also a film and stage play producer. Currently, Mr. Howard is the Chief Executive Director and national spokesman for West Oakland Stories Positive Feeling Movement (and creator of the “No Negative Speak [“NNS]” motto) a non-profit preserving the stories of elderly black West Oakland as a way to archive experiences for the next generations. Forefathers of the classic Oakland mystique, the elders of WOSPFM spread positivity throughout the community via a commitment to uplifting speech and actions that encompass black Oakland pride.

Click on link below to see West Oakland Stories film of the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s spreading positivity throughout the community. https://westoaklandstories.org/ then click on “Stories and Spotlight” (at top of page)

As a believer in the ethos of the WOSPFM, I’m honored to begin a series of posts sharing Mr. Howard’s story.-

Apollo Papafrangou

Photo 1 – Ed Howard with his mother and older brother in Louisiana.

POSITIVE HISTORY OF GREEK-AMERICAN AND BLACK COMMUNITIES

Thanks to Apollo Papafranguo for his support and informing WOSPFM about the POSITIVE history of Greek-American and Black communities. “NO NEGATIVE SPEAK” with each other.