The 7th Street Oakland Walk of Fame pays tribute to the city's musical history, but now members of the West Coast Blues Society are faced with the cost of replacing 40 bronze plaques that were stolen from the historic neighborhood. "You're looking at what was four plaques of different artists who performed on 7th Street. You're looking at the history that we tried to perpetuate by putting the plaques in," Ronnie K.
Stewart, the executive director of West Coast Blues Society, told CBS News Bay Area. "You're just walking and you see Etta James, or B.B.
King, or Aretha Franklin. You see their names and say, 'Wait a minute!'" Stewart founded the West Coast Blues Society , a group of musicians and artists across the Bay Area that keeps the spirit of blues, jazz and gospel alive. "Bobby "Blue" Bland, Al Green, Etta James, they all performed there in their early part of their careers," he said.
Stewart is referring to Esther's Orbit Room, an iconic jazz club, where legendary musicians played in Oakland. "I remember when this street was very vibrant. I was about 10 years old and I'd come down and buy cigarettes for my mother," Stewart remembered.
While all the businesses are boarded up now, there was a time the block of 7th Street was referred to as the "Harlem of the West Coast." "History got lost because of the downfall of 7th Street," Stewart said. That is why he spearheaded the installation of nearly 180 plaques to commemorate the lost bit of cultural history in Oakland.
Stewart .
