Date visited: September 2, 2010
Location: Richmond, CA
1110 36th St.
Richmond, 94804
Tag-team Taraweeh: No
Size of congregation: 30-40
Capacity of center: 200-250
Parking: Small parking lot, mostly street
Mihrab: No
Minbar: Yes
Shoe shelves: Plenty
Building: Relatively new mosque; it was built when I was young. It's in a pretty sketchy neighborhood; it's surrounded by an iron fence with thick padlocks at every gate.
Friendliness towards women: There were plenty of women there, and they were treated equally when it came to iftar time.
Friendliness of congregation: Very. Lots of food was passed around.
I don't know much about this place. I do remember coming here more than a few times as a child, but it had been more than ten years since I visited this place today. That would explain why everything seemed smaller than I remember it.
Don't get me wrong, it's a very nicely-sized center. And yes, it actually is a center, they have a kitchen and a few open spaces which double as classrooms. They walls are covered in decorations and the prayer space has a beautiful new carpet. It's clear that the congregation takes a lot of pride in its center.
I struck up a conversation with the dude next to me because he saw my Berkeley sweatshirt (no confusion about how someone knew I went to Berkeley tonight). I appreciate these conversations because it opens my eyes to how hard the folks up here really have it. It makes me thankful for all the things I do have, mostly my youth. I can get by on a low salary because I don't have any roots or anyone to support. I'm meeting guys who are struggling to make ends meet because they've been relegated to part-time jobs while supporting entire families. There's plenty of cases like that in the South Bay too, but I guess it took me relocating to a new neighborhood to become familiar with them.
This mosque is a Tablighi mosque. That said, I've realized, especially in Ramadan, the background of a mosque shouldn't impact my decision to stop by for prayer. All I do these days at these mosque is eat and pray...and love the fact that I still have the opp to check out a different mosque every night.
