Fruitvale's New Multimedia Memory House June 13, 2009

Oakland's new and only Mulitmedia Memory House is open to the public. Through audio, food samples, touchable objects, art works and more, the Peralta House resounds with the stories of the community today, as well as the big ideas and many cultures that created the East Bay.

On Saturday, June 13, 2-4 pm, visitors can step into this beautifully restored 1870 Victorian farmhouse and experience Oakland's Peralta and Native past through the five senses: see, hear, smell, touch and taste the exhibit, from the garlic and peppers, mustard and mint that fills the Peralta House kitchen, to the smooth curve of a longhorn's horns, including the comfort food of the Peraltas: chocolate and beef jerky.

Oakland arose on the ashes of the Peralta land grant. A whole room is devoted to the shenanigans of squatters and lawyers to wrest the East Bay from the Peraltas.

Audioscapes fill each room, from Luis Peralta's interrogation of mission workers dramatized from his military reports, to Nae Sieuw Saelee's laughing with other Mien elders, Numurray Wallace telling about the Job Rush around World War II, and Ruben Vallejo recounting his family's journey through the Central Valley as braceros. Lalo Cervantes' artwork illuminates themes of identity and racial mixing that permeate Calfornia's past and present.

Guests are invited to do an interview and encouraged to find ways to leave their own unique traces on history.

The exhibits are funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, CA State Parks, Ignacio De la Fuente, and the National Park Service. Holly Alonso and Gordon Chun Design created the exhibits with historians Alex Saragoza of UC Berkeley and Mary Jo Wainwright and many community members.

Call 532-9142, or email [email protected]. The historic house is located in Peralta Hacienda Historical Park at 2465 34th Ave. Take Fruitvale exit off 880 or 580. Take Fruitvale to Foothill and turn south, then east on 34th Ave.

$1.00.

Official Website: http://www.peraltahacienda.org