It was Christmas Eve morning in 2008, and Alex Cox was at home watching football with his best friend from Bishop O’Dowd, Alan Smith, who had just gotten a 1963 Chevy Corvair.
“It was a beautiful morning in Oakland,” Cox recalls. “Our wives and kids were out shopping, and we decided to take the car on a joyride. I was high on life at that moment.”
That holiday high made Cox want to do more than take the car out for a spin. Cox went into his children’s rooms to gather their gently used toys and books, knowing they were about to receive more. Cox and Smith packed the convertible and made a pit stop at the Dollar Tree store to get a few more knick-knacks, then drove down to Cox’s childhood home in Fruitvale.
“I knocked on the door at 1725 38th Avenue, a woman cracked open the door, peered, and closed it hella fast,” Cox recalls. “She saw two white boys looking crazy.” Cox was dressed as “Knucklehead Santa,” wearing a Raiders cape and a big chain around his neck. “I was clowning on myself a little bit,” he said. Smith wore an elf hat, playing a character he would later coin as “Chaz the Elf.”
The woman was skeptical of the pair until Cox told her a brief anecdote about the house that only he would know, having lived there till he was 19. Trust was established, and seeing that Cox had good intentions, the woman eventually decided to introduce them to others on the block.
What was supposed to be a brief, one-time visit to distribute a few toys grew to become an annual holiday block party, attracting more and more participants from the neighborhood each year.
“It was almost a cult-like following because we were doing stuff that no one else was doing,” Cox said. “We were rolling with motorcycle clubs, lowriders, and trucks full of laptops and bicycles. The Oakland Police Department even rolled undercover, asking if they could ride with us.”
The block party got so big that a few years later, members of “38 Locos,” the gang that controlled the primarily Black and Latino neighborhood, began questioning why a white man was coming to the neighborhood with gifts. When Cox told them he’d grown up on the block and still wanted to be part of the community, even though he’d moved away, they decided they wanted to help.
“I said, ‘I would love any help that you think is appropriate,’” Cox recalled telling them. “Because you know what? Respectfully, we can use all the help.”
Putting together the block parties over the years, Cox also built relationships with others, who introduced him to more neighbors in Fruitvale. One of those people was Ana Rosa, who introduced the pair to Maria Sanchez, a program manager with The Unity Council, a nonprofit small business association.
Six years after their first toy drive, Cox and his “elves” had outgrown the block party. So Sanchez suggested they host the holiday event along Avenida de la Fuente Plaza between International Boulevard and East 12th Street.
“Maria [Sanchez] was instrumental in moving the block party,” Cox added.
Cox took her up on the offer, and wealthy friends helped fund the event in the early years. Then, in 2014, Cox and Smith formed a nonprofit organization, Oakluv Foundation, to help facilitate their fundraising. In the years since, Oakluv has garnered donations to buy toys and Christmas trees, laptops for local schools, and everything needed to assemble the yearly event, which Cox says costs around $30,000 to put on each year.
Cox’s personality and charisma are what initially attracted many of the event’s supporters.
“Knucklehead Santa is a good breakdancer,” joked Cox, who’s been known to promote the event by performing dance routines at Lake Merritt. “There was just a little flair to it,” he said of the performances. “That flare caught people’s attention.”
Cox launched an even bigger event in 2019 called Fruitvale Posada along East 12th Street between 33rd and 35th Avenues. The event still includes toy and Christmas tree giveaways, plus a snow machine, free food and other entertainment for kids, and photos with Knucklehead Santa and Santa Claus himself. Since hosting the posada outside the Fruitvale Public Market, Cox has enlisted the help of Luis Abundis, owner of Nieves Cinco de Mayo—located at the Public Market—who grows his beard every year to become Santa Claus.
“I found a way to live with a purpose and intention for the rest of my life,” Cox said.
Cox sees how hosting the posada in Fruitvale not only brings joy to kids and families who attend. It also helps boost the neighborhood’s economy.
“Let’s say there are 5,000 to 7,000 people, and everybody spends 20 bucks [patronizing local businesses],” he said. “What’s the financial impact that that could represent?”
Cox has plans to expand on Oakluv’s holiday work and find ways and funding to support the community year-round. But in the immediate future, he’ll bring holiday cheer to his Fruitvale community again this weekend.
In addition to the usual festivities, this year, Oakluv will award a $3,000 Matriarch grant to celebrate and support East Oakland women who “are dedicated to empowering and creating positive change within their families and communities.”
Meanwhile, Knuckhead Santa’s elves are busy building one of the largest piñatas you’ll ever see with help from members of The Crucible, an industrial arts school in West Oakland.
“We are thankful that people believe in what we’re doing,” Cox said.
Saturday, Dec. 16, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., free to attend, Avenida De La Fuente and East 12th Street.
