Somewhere in an indeterminate zone between the two ends and two worlds of Telegraph - white and black, rich and poor - Archy Stallings and Nat Jaffe preside over Brokeland Records, a low-rent repository of vinyl records. Part of the area was once Black Panther territory. Before it reaches downtown, it passes through neighborhoods that are poorer, blacker, grittier and funkier than those in its northern reaches. Someone tried to sell me acid.Īfter four blocks, Telegraph takes a southwestern turn most of it runs through Oakland. The last time I was there, in the winter of 1974, I stood for awhile outside Cody’s Books, a Telegraph landmark, waiting for my roommate to return so we could catch the shuttle back to Santa Cruz. For people of a certain age who know it, Telegraph Avenue probably brings to mind the turmoil that enveloped it during the free-speech and anti-war struggles of the 1960s and ’70s. Michael Chabon’s new novel takes its name from the iconic thoroughfare immediately south of the UC-Berkeley campus.
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