Elmwood Hardware, a fixture-selling fixture of the Berkeley scene for 84 years, will close next month for extensive remodeling, said owner Tad Laird. -more-
Angel Bertha Elzy has been waiting for a house since 1983. -more-
A new kind of battle is brewing on Telegraph Avenue. Those who are leading the fight say it is not against religion, or against freedom of speech, but they contend that some religious speech on the street is just too loud. -more-
San Pablo Park—the West Berkeley recreation center that served as a social and sports mecca for East Bay African Americans in the heavily segregated years before World War II and became the symbol of Berkeley’s legendary ethic of ethnic diversity—turns 100 this month, and local officials and residents are honoring it this Saturday with a centennial celebration. -more-
Berkeley’s oldest tree-sitter, two Panoramic Hill residents, and two Berkeley landmark commissioners—one current, one former—have joined forces to file a legal challenge to expansion plans at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). -more-
Solemn-faced members of the Oakland Unified School District board gave fellow board member Chris Dobbins the severest possible reprimand on Wednesday night, voting 5-2 to censure him “in the strongest possible terms,” stripping him of committee assignments, and requesting his resignation for what the board called “unethical, unprofessional, and inappropriate conduct” regarding Dobbins’ contact with a 17-year-old district high school student. -more-
On Thursday, the Berkeley Fire Department (BFD) threw the 16 residents of UC Berkeley’s fraternity Kappa Sigma out of their house for violating several fire safety codes, including not replacing a dysfunctional sprinkler system. -more-
After outlining diversity and energy initiatives at his back-to-school press briefing Thursday, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau fended off top UC Regent Richard Blum’s criticism that the UC ten-campus system suffered from a “dysfunctional set of organizational structures, processes and policies.” -more-
The Berkeley Board of Education welcomed Javetta Robinson as the school district’s new deputy superintendent-chief financial officer at their first meeting after summer break Wednesday. -more-
The key document in the battle over the role of historic buildings in shaping the public face of tomorrow’s downtown will take definitive form Monday night. -more-
San Francisco shimmers in the distance, across from mountainous Marin. Tiny cars crawl across the Bay Bridge, Berkeley’s biggest buildings are toy-sized at the foot of the hills, and on a clear, fogless day there’s sometimes a glimpse of the Farallon Islands through the Golden Gate. -more-
It’s a well-known fact that the city of Berkeley has a worldwide reputation that far outweighs its size. First to settle here were squatters along the bay’s shoreline, attracted by accessible water and farmland. Later, the University of California acted like a magnet, drawing students and staff. -more-
A few things I wish someone had told me when I moved here, and a few things I’ve learned since: -more-
It used to be called the Albany Landfill, now it’s the Albany Waterfront Park. It’s at the end of Buchanan Street just north of Golden Gate Fields. It starts with a level scrub-covered plateau across from the parking lot. From there you walk up to a narrow strip of land jutting out into the water called the Neck. This is the beginning of the Albany Waterfront Trail. -more-
Blink and you will miss it. It’s fast and furious, but not necessarily when you want it to be. And if you aren’t fast enough, it’s sure to leave you standing behind in the dust. -more-
With the consolidation of AC Transit Telegraph Avenue and International Boulevard bus lines into the 1 and the 1R earlier this summer, North Oakland and Berkeley riders are discovering a secret that has been known to East Oakland riders for years. The Van Hool 60-footers are one of the most thrilling rides in California, the $1.75 entrance price a considerable bargain against what you might pay at Great America or Magic Mountain or on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, with the added bonus that while the amusement park rides are all pre-programmed and therefore can become boring after several repeats, you never know what to expect on the bus. -more-
The East Bay lends itself well to modes of transportation other than driving. Here is a guide to the whys and hows of biking in the East Bay, and Berkeley in particular. -more-
Oy, cheeses of frustration, cheeses of timing, -more-
If you’ve driven around California, you’ll no doubt have seen the ubiquitous signs that grace the entrance to various cities, directing you to the historic district or what’s left of it. Berkeley has no such sign—probably because it’s preserved more of its historic heritage than most cities, and because our landmarks aren’t confined to one area but can be found all over town. -more-
Welcome to the East Bay. You’re just in time for some of the area’s best weather – warm days, long shadows and gentle breezes. They make up the perfect combination to get outdoors, explore and develop a relationship with nature. -more-
We’re never too far from nature here in the East Bay. Sometimes nature builds a nest in the vine outside your window, gets in through the cat door, eats your prize roses, or settles into the crawlspace under your house. Venture a little farther away from home and you can expect less problematic encounters—lots of options for viewing spring wildflowers, watching migrant and resident birds, appreciating butterflies, or meeting newts, horned lizards, and gopher snakes. -more-
Sometimes you feel like a walk in the woods, sometimes you feel like a stroll near the coast. Whatever your pleasure, Tilden Regional Park and the Berkeley Marina form the eastern and western boundaries of the city of Berkeley. Each offers a broad range of outdoor attractions to fill an hour, an afternoon or an entire day. -more-
After the ritual stop at the Lawrence Hall of Science parking lot for the view of the bay, you might want to show your parents around your new home. -more-
Diversity is not just a lofty abstraction: it tastes great, and you can dance to it. With the exception of the wet months, the East Bay calendar is full of street fairs, music festivals, parades, and other events where you can hear everything from mariachi to taiko and sample endless variations on grilled-stuff-on-a-stick. -more-
Sooner or later, well-used cooking knives and sewing scissors get dull. I use a steel to keep my knives sharp, but eventually they need a professional to do the job. At that point, I call California Cutlery’s Mobile Sharpening Service. Based in Richmond, they come to your house or business, take your implements at the door, sharpen them in their van and bring them right back to you. -more-
I owe Herb Caen, the dearly loved and sorely missed San Francisco columnist, a debt of gratitude for having totally changed my life. To put it more precisely, it was his book published back in 1949, Baghdad-By-The-Bay that turned my life around, and all for the better. -more-
You should never lack good food in Berkeley. Although good food is often expensive (commensurate with the price of high-quality ingredients), it doesn’t have to be. Here is a list of cheap Berkeley restaurants that serve great food. -more-
One of my favorite places in the East Bay is Mountain View Cemetery at the end of Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. There you find a great expanse of open space with wide, curving streets and mature trees, beautiful landscapes, a variety of wildlife, and historical artifacts. -more-
In Calcutta I heard a 6-year-old ragamuffin call out, “Baksheesh. Baksheesh. No Mommie. No Daddee, Baksheesh. Baksheesh.” Here the Berkeley street person mumbles, “ Any spare change? Spare change?” whether on North Berkeley Shattuck Avenue or South Berkeley Shattuck, or not surprisingly, on Telegraph Avenue. -more-
Neighborhood residents bought the land for Cragmont Rock Park from the Cragmont Land Company and donated it to the City of Berkeley at purchase price. It was dedicated for park purposes in 1920. Dick Leonard, the “father of technical climbing,” formed the Cragmont Climbing Club, which was absorbed a few months later into the Sierra Club’s Rock Climbing Section. -more-
A few years ago, Michael Pollan moved here and wrote about his new garden for the New York Times Magazine. Clearly conscious of who his purported audience was (and wasn’t), he said those boilerplate things about missing fall color and spring budbreak, and that California’s seasons are “all messed up.” He also had the wit to say this: -more-
Although I’ve been a home-owner for many years, it’s not hard to remember my renting days. I lived communally, like many of us in Berkeley, and shared cooking, food shopping and the lack of attention to property care that says “I’m a renter. Painting the house is someone else’s problem!” -more-
A few of years ago the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC) decided to change its name to the California College of Art (CCA). While it may not have been a direct slur against craft, I took it pretty hard (I’m very sensitive). What’s wrong with craft, I thought. We craftspersons need not hang our head in shame. Ceramics are neither lowly or common. Wood working is as valid and rich as painting and weaving, well, just ask any weaver; I’ll say no more. -more-
Berkeley residents who get tired of being called NIMBYs and worse by the powers-that-be think they have problems. The artists and other denizens of West Berkeley who object to the new taxation scheme which the big property owners are trying to foist on the neighborhood they call home are currently getting the full treatment from those who think they know what’s best for the area: how to clean it up and make it all nicey-nice for the newly lucrative biotech labs and the high-end condos speculators are hoping to build near them. Their turf is also the target of city re-zoning efforts both spot (Berkeley Bowl) and far-reaching (auto dealership specials). They complain, with some justification, that their now-affordable housing and workspaces are being threatened by gentrification, that there’s obvious inequality in the way different contenders for West Berkeley space are being treated. -more-
Happy New Year! That’s right. In Berkeley, the end of August is the beginning of a new year for many of us—for students, for teachers and researchers, and for many of the thousands of service workers who make life easier for them. The University of California is our largest employer, with the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley City College, the Berkeley Unified School District and several independent schools bringing many more students and employees to town every fall. -more-
On Aug. 22, Berkeley Housing Authority board members were scheduled to vote on a resolution to terminate it’s existing housing assistance waiting list. There was little to no advance warning that this was about to occur, and it caught the housing community by surprise. -more-
Last Friday the Oak-to-Ninth Referendum Committee held a rally in front of Oakland City Hall to mark the one-year anniversary of the turn-in of the 25,000 petition signatures requiring that the Oak-to-Ninth Development Agreement be put to a vote of the public. -more-
Becky O’Malley’s Aug. 10 editorial, “Planners Come and Go, But the Department Never Changes,” blamed departing city planner Mark Rhoades’ malodorous planning style on three factors: the loss of municipal revenues created by Proposition 13, policies set by Rhoades’ bosses, and the natural tendency of regulatory agencies to be hijacked by those they regulate. -more-
Is there such a thing as optimistic fatalism? I’m talking about artists in Berkeley, of course. Here are some observations that occur to me: Of course, nobody who is upstanding should be brutalized by a civil process into quitting their residence or business place—we all ought to demand civility and generosity towards artists in those proceedings and transactions which increasingly force them to relocate out of town. It is a sad period of time in the history of Berkeley. -more-
A closely-spaced motorcade of double-size Van Hool buses now trundles up and down Telegraph Avenue at all hours. I regularly observe the middle and Berkeley end of Bus Line No. 1 doing business on Telegraph and occasionally getting paint at Kelley-Moore at Telegraph and 42nd. Morning, noon, and night, I see an average range of six to 16 passengers occupying these cavernous vehicles. Telegraph Avenue in Oakland is in poor condition already. The greatest damage to city streets is done by buses, according to the paving engineer hired by City of Berkeley that I spoke to when North Shattuck Avenue was last repaved. And we all see how little budget there seems to be for street maintenance and repair in Berkeley and Oakland. Considering how much fuel is being consumed to deploy so many heavy buses to move so few passengers, BRT deserves a good deal more before-the-fact public disclosure and scrutiny than it has received. -more-
There is no “normal” left in Berkeley. Lethargy, a surfeit of political correctness, and confusion of common sense have led to its demise. I spend less time than I used to in community activism. It is not that the issues that plague South Berkeley have diminished in any way. My resignation comes from recognition that there are more individuals committed to defeating “normal” than I can battle. Conditions have changed little in the 11 years I’ve lived in Berkeley. The players change on both sides of the law, but the challenges remain. The dangers posed by the out-of-control illegal drug trade are still here. Shootouts are still commonplace in Beat 12. The focus of criminal activity in and around 1610 Oregon St. bleeds out—often literally—onto satellite sites, including other houses on the 1600 block Oregon Street; McGee Street (especially the four corners and the intersection of Oregon/McGee); the 1500 block of Oregon Street, with daily drug sales at the corner of Oregon/Sacramento and the apartments on the other side of Oregon; gunfire exchanges with residents of the Rosewood Apartments, on Russell and Oregon Street habitués; and now excursions onto Stuart Street as well. -more-
Long-time peace activist Brian Willson became an international symbol of nonviolent resistance when he was run over by a train carrying weapons to Central America at the Concord Naval Weapons Station, near Concord, California, on Sept. 1, 1987. Brian miraculously survived, but lost both his legs and received a severe head injury. A subsequent investigation revealed that the government train was speeding, that the military drivers could see him for over 650 feet, and that they never applied the brakes as the train ran over him. He had been sitting on the tracks in a widely publicized protest against U.S. military intervention in Central America.” (Excerpt from The Road to Transformation: A Conversation with Brian Willson, by John Dear). -more-
Veteran California Congressman George Miller (Democrat, 7th district) told members of the National Press Club a couple of weeks ago that he will introduce a swatch of changes to Public Law 107-110, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, when it comes up for reauthorization this fall. -more-
Of all the news that came out of the recent Yearly Kos convention, the story that lingers in my mind tells how Hillary Clinton was put on the spot by San Francisco blogger Paul Hogarth. Hogarth, a lawyer who is the managing editor of the online newspaper BeyondChron (and a former member of the Berkeley Rent Board), pitched his humdinger in a break-out session with the senator. Writing online (of course), he recounted the exchange: -more-
Berkeley residents have made two superb documentaries about the long-term impact of the war in Iraq: No End in Sight and Soldiers of Conscience. -more-
There was always something that seemed extraordinarily fortuitous about the supposed quick solving of the Chauncey Bailey murder case. -more-
We all need a sanity break from Berkeley every now and then, but not everyone can fly off to the Seychelles or to Switzerland when the urge to flee is upon us. -more-
Glenn Keator talked to the Merritt College Aesthetic Pruning Club’s annual symposium last week about planting in containers, and here are some of the things he said and evoked: -more-
Entering the Ashby Stage for George Charbak’s TheaterInSearch production of the (very) ancient Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh, the spectators see a seated, veiled figure, sculptural, atop a model ziggurat, surrounded by gaping masks of bearded Assyrians on the back walls, as strains of the oud (evocatively played by Larry Klein) resound through the hall. -more-
“We’ve been exporting democracy to other countries around the world—and maybe we ran out! ... a soupcon of democracy, as they like to say at Chez Panisse ... I’m a monologist—and democracy is a dialogue. At least!” -more-
A recent driving tour through the wilds of Northern California and Southern Oregon only reaffirmed what I already knew: that Bay Area cinephiles are lucky, especially in these dull summer months of big-budget drivel, to live in a place where film artistry is not only appreciated, but relatively plentiful. -more-
Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami has always toyed with a minimalist aesthetic, an approach he derived from the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. It is a technique that calls for patience, both from the filmmaker and his audience, with long, meditative shots that allow characters and themes to gradually reveal themselves before the camera. -more-
We all need a sanity break from Berkeley every now and then, but not everyone can fly off to the Seychelles or to Switzerland when the urge to flee is upon us. -more-
Glenn Keator talked to the Merritt College Aesthetic Pruning Club’s annual symposium last week about planting in containers, and here are some of the things he said and evoked: -more-
Remember when classical musicians were called “long hairs”? Maybe not. Ever since Jim Morrison replaced Tony Bennett in the popular music world the epithet has lost its meaning. Needless to say the Bay Area is long in classical music venues and musicians, long haired or not. Here’s the short list. -more-
For jazz fans new to the Bay Area, Berkeley is a unique jazz scene. In Manhattan, in any given week, two or three major jazz musicians will be appearing in various clubs all over the island. When I was last there in December 2005, we managed to catch avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor uptown at the Iridium and hardbop trombonist Curtis Fuller at a downtown hotel in the same week. In the Bay Area, internationally famous jazz musicians are rarer, but the local jazz scene is vigorous. -more-
Jupiter, the popular Shattuck Avenue beerhouse, presents the ambitious third annual Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival beginning this Wednesday and running through Sunday, Aug. 25. -more-
Access to culture shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, or even an ear. Many Bay Area museums follow the enlightened practice of waiving admission for one day every month—sometimes more often. And a handful are always free. -more-
Yes, we still miss Cody’s on Telegraph. The whole bookstore scene remains precarious. Black Oak has retrenched, and the future of its Berkeley store appears uncertain. Even the big chains aren’t immune, as witness the fate of the Shattuck Avenue Barnes & Noble. -more-
The shoreline cities of La Contra Costa, the old East Bay, share a surprising concentration of theatrical activity, both major companies and small troupes, in a Bay Area theater scene which comprises a stunning number: over 400 companies, according to San Francisco’s Theater Bay Area (whose eponymous monthly magazine is the best overall window on that sprawling stage landscape). -more-
The Bay Area seems to be teeming with singers. That may be a reflection of the presence of the San Francisco Opera, one of the largest houses in North America, and its cultivation of both singers and opera lovers, or it may be just a quirky feature of a population that loves stories, accepts artifice and applauds the wildly dramatic. Whatever the reason, in the Bay Area, Opera Rules. -more-
