Grace Temple Missionary Baptist Church

I’ve never been inside the joint (clearly). If I were to atone for my sins, I might start here. For starters, it’s close to me. I can see the steeple close. And it’s a great steeple as steeples go.
I can see the steeple from the freeway exit for that matter.
I like this church for three reasons.
1. I can hear drums on Sundays. You shouldn’t be able to open a church without a kit as far as I’m concerned. It just balances out the boring kneeling and repenting stuff.
2. The steeple is pretty cool. Gothic Carpenter I guess you could call it. Four stories at least. Probably five.
3. It takes up half of the block. Any church that grabs that much real estate in Oakland is a welcome neighbor to me. One of my ‘neighbors’ lives in a green van. Thank you church for not being a park. This is Oakland. It’s much nicer looking at the church than some woe begotten ‘Oakland Park’.