OAKLAND >> They went out for music and warm companionship in the cool East Oakland night.
The students, artists and musicians who gathered at the Oakland warehouse dubbed the Ghost Ship made up a loose tribe of young people who reflect the diversity of the East Bay. Some sported tattoos of antlers, deer and balloons. Some had hair dyed blue or green. Mostly in their 20s and 30s, they were students, performers and artists.
By Sunday night, eight were identified as being among the 33 victims at the Ghost Ship Warehouse in what is the deadliest fire in the city’s history. Authorities began to release names as dozens of families continued a heart-breaking and anxious wait for news.
Among the victims whose identities authorities released were Cash Askew, 22, Oakland, David Cline, 24, Oakland, Nick Gomez-Hall, 25, Coronado, Sara Hoda, 30, Walnut Creek, Travis Hough, 35, Oakland, Donna Kellogg, 32, Oakland, and Brandon Chase Wittenauer, 32, Hayward.
The fire’s grim death toll also hit close to home for authorities – the son of a deputy for the Alameda County sheriff’s office was among the fatalities, according to the sheriff’s office. No details were released about him.
Donna Kellogg, 32, was described by Josh Howes, an old boyfriend who went to the fire scene early Sunday, as “super awesome, fiery, intelligent, red head who wanted to be a healer.” Howes, who dated Kellogg for four to five years, said she was studying nutrition. He had last spoken to her a week ago, and said an acquaintance called him about the fire. “When you’re confronted with stuff like that, you go flat,” Howes said. “You go into vigilance mode.”
A relative of Kellogg’s posted Sunday on Facebook that she had died in the blaze, adding, “My prayers for Donna and all the victims and their families.”
Some who went to the Ghostship, like Draven McGill, were quite young — just 17 — and drawn to the electronic dance music scene. His friends viewed McGill as resourceful, someone with street smarts who might have made it out. But they feared their hopes might be dashed. A close friend of McGill’s, Kai Thomas, 16, said he was told that McGill died from smoke inhalation. Authorities said a 17-year-old who they did not identify was among the victims, but it was not clear if McGill was that person.
Among the missing:
Griffin Madden, Jenny Morris and Vanessa Plotkin are all students at UC Berkeley. According to the Daily Cal, David T. Cline, a UC Berkeley alumnus, also has been reported missing.
Plotkin of Lakewood, is an undergraduate student studying sociology at UC Berkeley.
Friends and family members posted on social media Saturday pleading for help locating Plotkin, whom they haven’t heard from since 11 p.m. on Friday, when she sent a text saying she planned to go to a party in Oakland.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported speaking to her father, Gary Plotkin, Saturday night.
“We’re beside ourselves,” he told the Chronicle. “This is just like a nightmare. I can’t believe this.”
An electronic music artist who was scheduled to perform at the warehouse party was Chelsea Faith Dolan, a passionate musician with close ties to the Bay Area dance music community. The San Francisco resident, who goes by the stage name Cherushii, has been a producer, DJ and re-mixer for more than a decade, according to her SoundCloud account.
“Her passion for dance music history is evident in her work, which takes cues from Detroit techno, Chicago house, and classic rave sounds,” her SoundCloud profile states.
Ara Christina Jo is an all-around creative, according to her friends. She is the co-organizer at East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest, co-director at Sgraffito, and a retail worker at The Ink Stone, a Berkeley retail store architectural and supports. She was working in drawing.
“She’s an incredibly energetic person, who can cheer up a room just by existing, a lot of energy packed in that small body,” said Jeremy Erickson, a print specialist at The Ink Stone. “I was teaching her PhotoShop. I don’t know the extent of everything she does. It seemed like every week that she had something she was working on.”
Barrett Clark, a sound engineer at Freelance, lives in Oakland and grew up in Santa Rosa, according to his Facebook page. He remains missing though friends on Facebook had set up a memorial page for him.
Clark is “a true pillar of the Bay Area DIY music scene for many, many years,” says a friend who asked not to be named. “A professional sound engineer who worked at venues across the Bay Area and often far beyond, including Bottom of the Hill, Mezzanine, The Independent, 1015 Folsom and many others — but also and perhaps more importantly at too many underground events to name, from across the Bay Area to deep in the forests of the Sierra. Barrett is the kind of person who would hurt himself lugging the best mobile sound system you ever heard (his) to your show just to make it sound incredible.”
Alex Frantz Ghassan, a freelance KQED producer who described himself on his Facebook page as “Director. Producer. Father. Haitian.”
On his hands, he has tattoos of his children, Alex and Lucy, according to information provided by friends at the warehouse. He appears to have been at the warehouse with Hanna Henrikka Ruax, who is from Finland. In a Facebook post from Nov. 22 from Helsinki, she wrote, “bye byeeee witches see you next year! Adventure calling!”
Alana Kane, who posted online that she had signed a petition for UC Berkeley to protect undocumented students.
Ben Runnels, also known as Charlie Prowler, is a singer who founded the band Introflirt. According to the band’s website, its “croonwave” style of music was the result of Runnels “spending countless weekends in an Oakland piano bar, honing his chops with mid century jazz standards, realize a vintage flair and rich vocal technique rarely heard in electronic music.”
Alex Vega, 22, is from San Bruno and is believed to have been at the Ghost Ship with his girlfriend, Michela Gregory, 20, of South San Francisco. She is a sales associate at Urban Outfitters and studies special ed at San Francisco State University, according to her Facebook page. Dan Vega, Alex’s brother, drove from Oakley Saturday to look for his brother.
Alex’s mother took over his Facebook page Saturday to share the following message: “hi everyone this is alex’s mom i want everyone to know that alex and michela are missing, they went to the rave last night in oakland and have not come home please if you know something.”
Johnny Igaz, 34, is a record buyer at Green Apple Books and Music, and the resident DJ at Outpost who goes by the name of “Nackt.” Friends went on Facebook Sunday to play some of his mixes.
Amanda Allen, 34, lives in San Francisco. On her Facebook page, she recently posted a photo of herself drinking white wine in Mendocino.
Jennifer Tanouye, 31, had set up a nail salon on the second floor of the Ghost Ship warehouse.
Her best friend, Oakland resident Ronnie Casey, described her as a vibrant, fashionable and beautiful woman. She worked for Shazam, a digital music service.
“She was a light,” he said. “To know her was to love her.”
Nicholas Walrath, a promising young lawyer was among those who have not been heard from since attending Friday’s party. Walrath spent the past two months working as an associate for Durie Tangri, a small civil litigation firm in San Francisco. Shown in his online profiles with brown hair falling down to his shoulders, he is from Pittsburgh and now lives in Oakland, according to his Facebook profile.
Founder Ragesh Tangri, in a statement emailed to this newspaper on Sunday, wrote, “In the short time he had been at our firm, Nick already had shown himself to be a fine lawyer as well as a good and caring person.” He added that the firm’s thoughts were with Walrath’s family.
Staff writer Courtney Tompkins contributed to this report.
