Walking the walk for National Black Business Month

Sunday, July 29, 2012 - 03:30

We traditionally begin National Black Business Month with a walking tour to sites associated with 1840s millionaire entrepreneur William Alexander Leidesdorff and the first African-American bank, created in 1857 at California and Montgomery in San Francisco. Alameda appraiser Al Watts gathered more than 25 hikers from All Seasons Ski Club who joined us Saturday for the three-hour tour, followed by a delicious brunch at Farmer Brown, the Food and Wine Top 10 restaurant devoted to the heritage of black agriculture founded by 50 Top Names in Black Food selectee Jay Foster.

On Wednesday, Aug. 1, shop to create jobs by the 31 Ways 31 Days strategy by visiting restaurants and other food service businesses like Farmer Brown.

On Thursday, Aug. 2, invest in emerging African-American publicly-traded companies like Amarantus BioSciences developing cutting edge treatments for Parkinson's and diabetes.

Civil rights landmark

The first stop was the Palace Hotel at Market and New Montgomery, a site of the largest sit-ins outside the South in 1963 to open employment opportunities led by 18-year-old Tracy Sims and Oba T'Shaka.