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Berserkeley. I hate that word, the easy epithet with which benighted out-of-towners reduce our rich and varied local life—above all, our intense, grass-roots activism—to the antics of our most outlandish residents. If only there was somebody whose job it was to defend us against such slurs.  

Actually, there is: Barbara Hillman, the president of the Berkeley Visitors and Convention Bureau. 

As our city’s semi-official meeter and greeter, Hillman often finds herself politely nudging out-of-towners’ misconceptions closer to reality, albeit a reality envisioned by a seasoned hospitality professional.  

You might think that those in most need of a reality check would be travellers from abroad. But according to Hillman, it’s other Americans who are most likely to imagine that Berkeley is a place “where all of us walk around in tie-dye and smoke pot.” 

There was the man from Oregon who wanted to know “when the naked people came out.” And the travel writer from the Kansas City Star who went up to campus, saw people standing together and began relishing the thought that he had stumbled onto a demonstration—only to disappointedly discover that the crowd was waiting in line for theater tickets. 

Hillman also remembers the Arizona talk show host who did a live interview with her in the early 90s, when then-Berkeley City Manager Michael Brown had just been short-listed for the same position in Tucson. “He had me on hold,” Hillman says, “so while people were calling in, I could hear. People were saying, ‘Oh my God—somebody from Berkeley’s coming here.’ ‘So tell us,’ he said, ‘what are we going to expect if Michael Brown is hired.’ I said, ‘I really think you’re going to be disappointed. Because he wears a suit and tie to work.’” Replied her non-plussed caller: “He does?”  

Not that Hillman presents Berkeley as Anywhere, U.S.A. Her job, after all, is to let outsiders know that Berkeley is a special place—but not necessarily in the way they think. 

“We tell people that the Free Speech Movement is a very important part of Berkeley’s history. Telegraph Avenue and People’s Park are things that we will always have and be proud of. But Berkeley has evolved into a different place than it was thirty years ago.”  

How it’s evolved is something Hillman herself had to learn, even though she grew up a mere twenty minutes away in San Leandro. Indeed, when she was invited to be the founding president of Berkeley’s Convention and Visitors Bureau in 1992, Hillman initially turned down the offer.  

“I said, ‘What’s in Berkeley besides a University?’ Her attitude changed after she was persuaded to set aside her doubts long enough to come into town from Pleasanton, where she then worked and still lives, and meet with representatives of the City, the Chamber of Commerce and the local hotel industry. “I came in and chatted with them, and then I drove around, and I went: ‘Oh my gosh—this is like a gold mine sitting here that so many people don’t know about.’ And I took the job.” 

Eleven years later, she’s still a believer. “When you stop and think about the amount and quality of things that there are to do here in Berkeley, it’s phenomenal, especially for the size of the community. 

“There’s Tilden Park, the little quaint neighborhood shopping areas, the international market place around lower University and San Pablo. You can go to a shopping mall in Walnut Creek or Pleasanton, but Berkeley is just different. 

“We have all these independent bookstores; we have antique stores; we have artisan studios. Berkeley also has some of the best restaurants and cultural activities around”—attractions that, Hillman says, jibe with the current trend in cultural tourism.  

The Convention and Visitors Bureau’s mission is to promote Berkeley as a desirable destination for meeting attendees, known in the trade as “conventioners,” and leisure travelers. Its staff of three and $250,000 budget are supported by 1% of the 12% hotel tax paid by visitors staying at our lodging facilities. The other 11 percent goes into the City’s General Fund.  

Some readers may wonder why Berkeley needs to be promoted as a tourist destination at all. One reason is that bringing paying guests to town bolsters the local economy and culture. This year the hotel tax contributed over $2 million to the General Fund. 

And, Hillman says, “If we didn’t have the these people coming in and spending money, we wouldn’t have the Rep and the Symphony, because they can’t rely on just the locals’ business.”  

Each month about 500 people come into the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Center Street office; about 100 call on the phone. Ninety percent of the walk-ins are first-time visitors to Berkeley. “It’s amazing what people ask you,” says Hillman.  

“They walk in with their luggage and say, ‘We just arrived, and we need a hotel.’ We say: ‘But it’s graduation week! There’s nothing!’ We help them find something—it could be out in Walnut Creek.” Other requests are easier to fill.  

“I just had a call from a woman today who was coming on Amtrak from Sacramento. She wanted to know what’s within walking distance of the station. I said: ‘It’s perfect. You’ve got Fourth Street. You can spend the afternoon shopping there and eating.’”  

The Bureau also helps individuals from out of town who need to organize major events from a distance. “A woman calls from New York and says, ‘My son’s graduating, and I have to have this party set before I come out in May.’ We got her into Café de la Paz. ‘My son is getting married; he and his fiancé go to UC Berkeley; but I’m in Virginia.’ We send them information about hotels; we mail them maps for all the guests and directions to the reception at the Brazil Room. When you stop and think, who else would help them with those kinds of things?”  

Then there are the “conventioners.” Berkeley hosts as many as 120 conferences in a year. Part of Hillman’s job is convincing meeting planners that the town would be a good place for their groups to convene. She briefs them about local facilities, lodgings, restaurants and diversions. 

When the prospective visitors are from somewhere east of the Mississippi, a basic geography lesson is often in order. “You get back past the Midwest,” Hillman says, “and people don’t realize how big California is. You say you’re in the East Bay, and they say, ‘The East Bay of what?’  

Once she was setting up the Berkeley booth at a travel industry trade show in Washington, D.C., when a woman came up, offered her business card and said: “I’m really interested in bringing my group and meeting. I need to be an hour from L.A.” 

Hillman replied, “By air, right?” 

“Oh no, no, no—within driving range,” said the woman. 

Pointing to a six-feet-by-four-feet photo of the Campanile silhouetted against the Bay, Hillman said: “See this? That’s San Francisco. We’re right across the Bay from that.” 

“No shit!” said the would-be visitor.  

Because her staff is tiny—Berkeley has one of the smallest Convention and Visitors Bureaus in Northern California—Hillman works closely with Conference Services at UC.  

“The University holds national and international conferences. Those people bring their spouses. Those spouses are wondering, what is there for me to do? I don’t want those people getting on BART and going to San Francisco on the first day. I want them to see that there’s enough to do here, whether it’s the shopping, Tilden, the restaurants, or taking in a show—and then going into San Francisco on BART.”  

The Bureau also collaborates with the Cal Athletic Department. “When a football game’s coming in,” says Hillman, “we usually send a letter and a packet of information to people out of the area—to the alumni association and the football team--welcoming them to Berkeley: ‘We understand you’re going to be playing the Bears here. If you need help with transportation or accommodations, let us know.’”  

The Colorado State University Alumni Relations Office was looking for a place where 400 Colorado Boosters could have a tailgate party before the Cal football game on Sept. 6. With her assistance, the Colorado fans are going to party at the Pyramid Brewery and then bus up to Memorial Stadium.  

“We are just damned lucky to have the University,” says Hillman. “Right after Sept. 11, San Francisco—the number one tourist destination in the country—was dead. The next week was the Cal football game against Oregon. Our hotels were full, because people could drive down, or if they did fly, it was only an hour or an hour and a half max. The weekend after that was the Washington State game. We were full again. Other cities weren’t.”  

But even the University’s draw can’t compensate for the blows the travel industry has recently sustained. Hillman ticked them off to me: Sept. 11, SARS, the ailing U.S. economy. Plus an (almost) only-in Berkeley crisis: the City Council’s opposition to the war in Afghanistan. As that gesture indicates, the town has retained its outspoken liberal character, a fact that can create challenges for its ambassadors at the Convention and Visitors Bureau.  

“I lost an employee over that [vote],” says Hillman. The Bureau was deluged with angry, often venomous messages. “’Why don’t you guys move to Afghanistan?’ ‘Go live with those pigs!’ It was so personal,” says Hillman.  

“’We come down from Sacramento; we take the train; we go to the Big Game; we eat here and there. We’re not coming anymore.’ Or, ‘There’s a group of us women who come once a month. We shop in Berkeley, and we have lunch. We’re not coming anymore.’ And I said: ‘You know, I’m really sorry that you feel this way. I hope you change your minds. You’re welcome to give your opinion, and I’ll pass it on.’”  

In fiscal year 2003, the hotel tax was down about a million dollars from the previous year. “That means less people are staying here and patronizing our businesses,” Hillman says. 

As befits her job description, Hillman looks on the bright side. She told me about the expanded visitors guide that will be out in January 2004, and the 90 travel writers from around the country who came to Berkeley last year at the invitation of the new East Bay Travel Consortium. 

At my request, she also offered some suggestions for making Berkeley more visitor-friendly: better public transportation, better visitor signage throughout the city—”When you’re going up University, you need signs that say “Telegraph” and “Gourmet Ghetto”—and more public restrooms. “You don’t see ‘For Patrons Only’ signs in any other cities.” The new public restroom in the Center Street Garage helps, but not enough.  

I leave Hillman’s office clutching the Bureau’s stylish packet of tourist information. The new brochure about the International Marketplace particularly whets my appetite; I plan to play tourist myself in the near future. In the meantime, I’m glad that we have Barbara Hillman and her staff to welcome people to town and guide them to its wonders. 

Berkeley’s Convention and Visitors Bureau has offices at 2015 Center Street (telephone 510-549-7040) and a web site at www.visitberkeley.com.