A Prius hanging out of a dumpster. Stripped-down cars. Burning trash cans. These are some of the East Oakland sights set to a new catchphrase that’s blowing up on social media: “Oakland, California, … donde la vida no vale nada.”
Even cops, government officials, firefighters and kids are repeating the catchphrase on social media and on the streets of the Town.
It’s all because of Gregorio Ramon, who coined the saying in videos on his Instagram @oakland_california_2023 and TikTok @gregorio1976 accounts documenting crime and mayhem in the East Bay city. Since mid-2022, Ramon has been capturing footage of everything from police chases to cars on fire and the boarded-up Denny’s that closed last month due to public safety concerns.
In every video, he says, “Oakland, California, … donde la vida no vale nada, donde la cuidad nos tiene abandonados.” The phrase translates to English as, “Oakland, California, … where life is worthless, where the city has abandoned us.”
In a sea of sensational social media accounts that showcase Bay Area crime, Ramon has taken the interwebs by storm with his matter-of-fact yet endearing commentary on life in Oakland today. In the past year, Ramon’s Instagram account has grown in popularity, with over 55,000 followers as of mid-February—an increase of more than 30,000 followers in the last month alone, according to The Standard’s review.
The Standard recently tracked down Ramon to get the story behind the catchphrase and talk about what he hopes to accomplish with his newfound social media fame.
“I said it because it is the reality of what we are living,” the 47-year-old East Oakland resident said. “Oakland, California, where life is worthless. Where someone can drive 100 mph, kill a 60-year-old man walking in the street and try to flee. Like nothing. It’s like just another day.”
Sitting outside on the back patio of La Casa de Maria on 98th Avenue on a recent Saturday afternoon, Ramon said the success of his videos had taken him off guard as he chowed down on a plate of chicken fajitas.
“I thought to myself when I started that this could be big,” he said. “I just never thought it would have happened this fast.”
His voice, which rivals that of Argentinian soccer announcer Andrés Cantor, has spurned copycats who repeat the phrase “Oakland, California, … donde la vida no vale nada,” while filming bizarre incidents on Oakland streets, such as a car driving in reverse toward a freeway entrance.
In a recent video, a bystander who heard Ramon saying the catchphrase shouted it back as Ramon filmed the smoldering ashes of a trash can on the platform of an East Oakland bus stop.
In a Valentine’s Day post, as Ramon shot video of first responders putting out a fire, a firefighter finished his slogan as he walked through the frame.
Ramon said first responders have reached out to him with their phone numbers in case he ever needs to contact them directly. Cops are also fans, he said, telling Ramon they regularly watch his videos and consider his page helpful in locating stolen cars.
“I know the CHP follows me, and officers have told me, ‘Thank you. I have found stolen cars from your videos,’” he said. “A CHP captain told me, ‘Anything you need, call. You do your part.’ Sometimes I’ll be filming, and they’ll joke around and tell me to take a video because they want to be in it.”
The California Highway Patrol told The Standard it could not divulge the department’s investigative techniques and did not answer questions regarding a relationship with Ramon and the utility of his videos.
‘I don’t put Oakland down. This is what it is’
Ramon’s postings precede a recent order by Gov. Gavin Newsom sending 120 CHP officers to Oakland to battle rising crime in early February.
The temporary “surge,” as state officials described it, lasted from Feb. 5 to 9 with 71 suspects arrested, 145 stolen vehicles recovered and four "crime-linked" firearms seized, according to the Governor’s Office.
Not everyone is a fan of Ramon’s work. Some city leaders, he said, have criticized his videos and accounts, saying they give the city a bad rap. He stopped short of naming the officials.
“They tell me I’m putting Oakland down. I don’t put Oakland down. This is what it is,” he said, adding that he thinks the city has downplayed the real situation in East Oakland. “I can’t stay here sitting around when the situation is what it is. I’d like to think my videos have helped somehow to change some things. It’s happening. It’s right there on your screen.”
Having lived in the community for the better part of two decades, Ramon said he understands those who defend Mayor Sheng Thao by saying that crime has always affected the area but that he doesn’t think that should hinder the city from doing more to address it.
“I came here and found this city had crime—no one is saying that’s not true, and I respect that position. But there needs to be positive movement to fix things, and we haven’t seen it happen,” he said. “They don’t care about us. They’ll give a parking ticket but don’t clean the sidewalk or illegal dumping. You just want to make easy money—like a drug dealer—but you don’t want to take care of your business.”
Thao’s office, the Oakland Police Department and Oakland Fire Department did not respond to The Standard’s requests for comment.
Police crime data shows the majority of crimes, including violent and property crime, are up in Oakland. Violent crime is up 17% compared with the five-year average as of the end of 2023. Compared with 2022, violent crime was up 21% last year. Car theft is up 45% compared with 2022 and 49% over five years.
Outside of Oakland, preliminary 2023 data from across the state indicates the opposite trend: crime—including homicides, violent crime and property crime—is down in many jurisdictions. For example, violent crime and homicides are significantly down in Los Angeles, according to the Governor’s Office.
Ramon said he hopes to bring awareness about what is happening specifically in East Oakland and make up for the lack of reporting by mainstream media outlets on crime and incidents hurting the community—whether that be reckless driving on International Boulevard or abandoned cars on 98th Avenue. He also wants his videos to be a warning to those who might engage in criminal or dangerous behavior.
“I want people to be aware of the consequences,” Ramon said. “Everyone has their choice. If you want to rob, that’s your life and your problem, but if I help someone realize that they might die or go to jail through one of my videos, that’s what my hope is.”
‘The positive side of Oakland’
Beyond documenting sideshows, shootings and random retail thefts, Ramon recently partnered with three East Oakland Mexican restaurants—La Parilla Loca, La Casa de Maria and Tacos Mi Reynita—to highlight the businesses on his social media accounts.
He credits Jaime Norberto, owner of La Casa de Maria, for giving him the idea to lend his growing social media presence to showcase the trio of restaurants.
“The idea wasn’t just to publicize the negative things but also the positive side of Oakland,” Norberto said. “When members of the community come together like this, … then we can start making a change here. It’s part of his way to support the community.”
Ramon admits he leans on his street smarts and time in the construction industry as a way to gauge whether people want to take advantage of him and his new platform, as he’s been receiving a lot of requests.
“We’ve only known each other for about a month,” Ramon said of Norberto—who encouraged him to trademark the now-viral phrase. “I got with him, and I see that he’s the same as me. Straightforward. I don’t care about money, but I don’t want people to think I’m stupid.”
Putting his catchphrase on his videos advertising for the businesses, he said, works as a double meaning. Ramon sometimes takes payment in food from the restaurants and says he isn’t looking for money, as he makes $100 an hour at his day construction job. He plans to sell T-shirts and hoodies with the catchphrase and the restaurants’ branding.
“The city might have abandoned us, but we are still here,” Ramon said.
‘Ponte trucha’
Ramon said he doesn’t listen to a police scanner or stalk social media to find the crimes to film and he doesn’t identify as a journalist. He doesn’t say what happened at the scenes he films and typically writes just two words in each caption: Oakland California.
“[Viewers] ask me, ‘Why don’t you explain?’ but I can’t because if I give out incorrect information, it won’t sit well with me,” he said. “I’m just showing you what happened, and if you want to dig deeper, there are records out there. I’m giving you a warning—ponte trucha.”
“Ponte trucha” is Mexican slang that translates to “look alive,” or “stay alert.”
Ramon said he’s been known for his comical voice from his childhood years in Panama to living in Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez, before moving to the Bay Area in 2002 with $20 in his pocket after an ugly divorce.
“I did this kind of stuff when I was little. I’ve always been like that. I’m a ‘callejero,’” he said, referencing Spanish slang for someone who is always out in the streets. “My idols were Che Guevara and Diego Armando Maradona—men of the people.”
Ramon, who drives around the city for his job in construction, said he was motivated to start documenting what he saw after witnessing a sideshow that ended with shots being fired into the air by a spectator.
Then after a few of his videos went viral in 2023, he told himself to keep going.
“That’s when I got more motivated,” he said. “So I started. When one video got hundreds of thousands of views, I just kept going.”
He’s now recorded over 350 videos.
‘You may come one time. But I live here 365 days a year.’
As the viral success has grown, Ramon said young people around East Oakland have started copying his videos. A father of three boys ranging from middle school to college age, he said the youth have paid homage to his posts, using them as a template for their own.
When youngsters realize who he is, they ask for pictures or videos with him.
In one recent post, while promoting Seminary Avenue’s Pizza Factory restaurant, a group of teens immediately recognized Ramon’s voice, turning around to ask, “Is that you?!”
“I had to run away recently when I was at Skyline High School because it was just too much,” he said. “It’s become very popular with the youth—almost too popular.”
Tomas Hidalgo, who lives in East Oakland, said he stumbled across Ramon’s videos at the start of 2024.
“The first video I saw was a video which showed the Prius on top of the dumpster before he said that funny-ass quote,” Hidalgo said. “It has definitely become a meme of audio you can use to show how ‘hood East Oakland can be.”
The humor Hidalgo finds in Ramon’s videos, he said, can be compared to traditional tragicomedy novels or comedians who find jokes in dark material.
“It just really describes what the East feels like,” he said. “It just really feels like sometimes life doesn’t mean anything down here. That people’s well-being is not being thought about.”
Although Hidalgo feels like locals for the most part support Ramon’s effort to shed light on the East Oakland community, he understands how some out-of-town viewers may take the posts to reflect the city as a whole—which he doesn’t agree with.
“I feel like it may not deter people who have to live in East Oakland but the tourist who may be visiting San Francisco and staying in Jack London is looking at those videos and getting scared,” he said. “Not all of Oakland is like this. There are so many little ecosystems in Oakland that thrive in different ways. It’s complex.”
When asked how he feels about young people finding humor in his videos, Ramon said he feels it proves his point about a lax attitude toward rampant crime.
“This is what I’m saying: The young people act like it is nothing,” he said. “The younger people have this careless spirit. They aren’t thinking of tomorrow. They are thinking of just today.”
Ramon has found his popularity also transcends racial lines. East Oakland rapper Project Poppa, whom he knows from growing up in the neighborhood, recently asked him to record his voice for a new song.
“He jokes with me that I got it more than him now,” Ramon said, laughing, referring to his popularity on social media.
Other than upset city officials, Ramon said strangers send him mean—and sometimes threatening—DMs.
“It’s happened a couple of times. They’ll message me, ‘Why are you doing this?’ or ‘We’re going to find you,’ but it doesn’t scare me, although I do take precautions,” he said. “I grew up in the streets. I don’t respond to it and will block them. I don’t take it personally because I believe it is better to die for something than live for nothing.”
When asked if he thinks his videos deter people from coming to Oakland, he said he doesn’t consider people outside of the city as his main audience and that his goal is to improve the situation for residents—like himself.
“You have to show the real,” he said. “The thing is, I don’t care about those from outside Oakland. I care about the people living here. You may come one time. But I live here 365 days a year.”