Sometimes we pass a place in our neighborhood everyday, but never know what happens behind the building's facade. When KALW's Anna Sterling decided to look a little deeper into the Armenian Community Center, she discovered a committed father-daughter team of bingo champs.
MARTIN GILBERT: Years and years ago they used to have normal bingo, to where it's just a straight line. Now you have to make these certain kind of pictures on certain games, such as a crazy kite. You have to make a biscuit and a lion going through, makes it like a kite. Sometimes you have to get a nine pack, which is nine in a row. It's a lot more entertaining than normal bingo. My daughter plays here and she's won six times in one night. She's right there.
CRYSTAL GILBERT: I go with my grandma and my dad, so its always a good time. I spend a lot of money here. I'm definitely addicted. I won six times in one night and it came to like $2,300. My dad and I split it and we walked away as happy as can be. I went shopping the next day. I paid all my bills and it was a great day.
What’s a place in your neighborhood that means something to you – and why? Our Hear Here community storytelling project wants to know the answer. If you’ve got a story of a significant place, visit the Participate page at hearhere.kalw.org and tell it to us!
You can also find the project on Facebook and follow it on Twitter at @hearhereradio.
Hear Here is part of a national initiative of AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, Inc designed to bring new journalistic and technical ingenuity to extending public media service to more Americans. From Chinese restaurants in Boston, to shuttered factories in Dayton, to the oil fields of North Dakota, to Bay Area startups, the ten Localore production teams are working with their public station incubators to uncover ground-up stories of America in transition. Follow their development, and learn more at Localore.net.