Features

The second week in December was filled with festive holiday events and seasonal color in Berkeley.  

The venerable Hillside Club, founded in 1898, had a packed house for the annual holiday dinner on Monday, December 6. A pageant included the ceremonial lighting of a Yule log brought by volunteer fire sprites, a procession bearing a boar’s head and baked peacock (both representational, not real) to the feast, and humorous commentary by actors portraying the spirits of early Club members Madge Robinson, Charles Keeler and Bernard Maybeck. 

Wednesday, December 8, hundreds of UC students and alumni gathered in Hertz Hall for the annual Choral Ensembles holiday concert. The musical themes ranged from gospel to Jewish folk songs to Christmas carols, and the performers included small groups such as the Golden Overtones and a massed onstage ensemble for “Silent Night”. 

Berkeley streets were carpeted not with snow but with vivid fall colors from the regal reds of liquid ambers to neon pink Chinese pistache. Berkeley’s gingko trees, including a huge and ancient specimen on the UC campus, put on an especially good show this year, showering down thousands of golden leaves. 

On the weekend people flocked to the 27th annual Telegraph Avenue holiday street fair. Handmade ceramics, clothing, jewelry, and other craft items predominated at the numerous stalls along the four blocks north of Dwight. 

The discerning shopper could find everything from handmade silver rings to ceramic “catfish” from Dragonware studio along the Avenue. Food stalls and musical entertainment completed the fair, along with Telegraph’s numerous year round stores, shops, and restaurants. 

The Telegraph fair takes place again this coming weekend—December 18 and 19—and Thursday and Friday, December 23 and 24. The fair runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.