Memorial honors Ghost Ship fire victims
the international shows he worked that allowed him to share his visual projection art with the world. He remembered with a chuckle when he used to call his son’s messy room an “archaeological site.”
The site where Jonathan Bernbaum and 35 others died was a bright memorial Saturday, filled with flowers, candles and a sculpted metal tree. Names of those lost in the fire were written on heart-shaped ornaments. People cried and hugged. Some spoke about honoring the lives lost.
Gonzalo Hidalgo, an member of the collective Colectivo de Artistas de Fruitvale, stood at the front of the display. He said he didn’t want to talk about the friends he lost to the fire.
“Nobody’s really gone. Everybody lives in us,” he said. “Everybody that had died a year ago really cherished life. I think that we should keep that going.”
Ed Bernbaum plans to do that through Vital Arts, an organization he formed shortly after the fire. The goal of the organization is to provide funding for safe live/work spaces for artists.
Preston Turner, an Oakland resident who served as master of ceremonies for the memorial, said it’s hard to say whether enough has been done to prevent another disaster.
“Time will tell,” he said. “We have a new fire chief. We know that there were a lot of properties that had code violations . ... A lot of that fell on the city.”
Bernbaum said the needed changes would take more than just a year.
“The city is in a difficult position because you’ve got all these artists who are living here,” he said. “If you crack down with severe inspections, you displace them.”