East Bay Home and Gardens

There aren’t many houses in Berkeley over a century old that have never been sold on the open market. When one comes up for sale, it’s worth taking note, especially if it’s an original Julia Morgan design, relatively unaltered, and the family home of a renowned UC scientist. -more-

Samuel Heywood (1833-1903) was Zimri Brewer Heywood’s fourth son, the first Heywood to have settled in Berkeley, and the one most closely associated with the family’s West Berkeley lumber yard. -more-

It’s a sad fact that women are significantly more likely to be overcharged at the auto-repair shop than their male counterparts. I remember reading these studies by consumer advocacy agencies in the 1970s. In the age of Hillary Clinton, this doesn’t seem right or fair but that’s the way it is. Men have been the initiates to the secret information of spark plugs and tire rotation for much of the last century while women have struggled to gain a place at the bull-session in which the arcane knowledge was shared. It is clear that this has extended to the building trades as anyone with eyes can tell you. Even in my profession of building inspection, a look around the room rarely reveals more than about 5 percent women. -more-