A small live-aboard community in a picturesque setting in Richmond is facing rent hikes, while the harbor’s owners are looking at millions of dollars in required upgrades.

A galvanizing force, Joe Hawkins leads Oakland’s new LGBTQ Community Center.

The East Bay’s only kosher bakery shutters.

Start the new year right with this tour de beer, a coming-of-age story of new and happening beer halls, hip beer gardens, on-the-horizon brewski purveyors, as well as a few favorite standbys. The beer is enticing, of course, but this emerging iteration of suds sellers puts a hefty premium on outstanding food, ambience, and attitude, with a few spots attracting go-getter restaurateurs—James Syhabout and Chris Pastena—to help in their endeavors.

For 29 years, fourth- and fifth-graders at Oakland’s Prescott Elementary have learned to juggle, walk on stilts, and balance on a giant Earth ball after school. These kids—who put on more than 50 shows a year—hone their skills as part of the nonprofit Prescott Circus Theatre, a dynamic circus arts and youth development program that teaches circus, theater, and life skills to underserved kids.