Berkeley

Places to go to

Places I’ve been to that I’d recommend.

• Cheese Board Pizza (also see /pizza) (1512 Shattuck Ave)
• Takara Sake
• Berkeley Rose Garden (map)
• Berkeley’s secret/hidden waterfall

  Located on private property near Cordornices Park (map). The property owners graciously allow the public to visit it (but they certainly don’t advertise it).

• Jupiter
• Fieldworks (see /beer) (map)
• Gilman Brewing Company (map)
• Top Dog
• Indian Rock (map)
• Fire trails
• Acme Bread (map)
• Albatross (sadly closed)

  Used to love playing darts here and getting bowls of popcorn.

• Caffe Mediterranean (sadly closed)

  Claimed to be the birthplace of the latte. I just went here a lot to study, as it used to be open fairly late.

  I also remember a lot of people meeting here talking about communism. And I mean these were old people, that had probably been talking about communism since the 60s or something.

• The Aquatic Park (map) has disc golf
• Wat Mongolratanarm (often just called “Thai Temple”) (map)

  They have a pretty good brunch on Sundays. You have to buy tokens which you exchange for food and drinks like Thai iced tea.

• Urban Ore (900 Murray Street) has cool second-hand furniture and other stuff. It’s where I got my desk.
• Spiral Gardens (2850 Sacramento Street) is a pretty good place to get plants
• Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles (map)
• Fourth Street (map) has a lot of nice shops
• Hopkins Street/Monterey Avenue (map) has Monterey Market, Monterey Fish Market, and Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (haven’t been)
• Berkeley Bowl
• The Sawtooth Building (map) near Eighth and Dwight has a lot of artists
• East Bay Nursery (2332 San Pablo) is another good place to get plants and trees
• The Ecology Center at (2530 San Pablo Ave, Suite H) has a seed library, zero waste stuff (cool mason jar tops), other things.

  Their phone number is (510) 548-3402.

• Poet’s Corner or whatever that park is called (map) seems to be a pretty popular hangout
• The Starry Plough (map) has open mic nights on Tuesdays
• Moe’s books (2476 Telegraph) has pretty cool books. I haven’t checked out the rare books on the fourth floor yet.

Places I haven’t been to

Or rather, places I need to check out.

• 924 Gilman (map)
• Aftel Archive of Curious Scents

  Passed by this place on 2023-04-15. Apparently the tour takes an hour, and it’s like $25.

• Berkeley Ironworks (map) rock climbing gym
• The Mill bakery - A friend’s brother works there.
• Vik’s Chaat or Vik’s Market?
• Oaktown Nursery
• Katz antiques?
• MacBeath Hardwood
• Ashby Lumber

Links and Info

• Official website for the city is berkeleyca.gov.
  • Community recreation: https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation
• Berkeley Tool Lending Library
• Berkeley Municipal Code is available (I guess unofficially) at https://berkeley.municipal.codes/
• Trash/Recycling

  • https://berkeleyca.gov/city-services/trash-recycling/transfer-station
  • https://berkeleyrecycling.org/

Misc

• Gramps used to live in Berkeley and apparently would roll tires down Marin Avenue (a super steep slope).
• In Berkeley, businesses have to accept cash if offered (BMC 9.50), though they can refuse counterfeits or over $20 denominations. Oakland doesn’t have this protection.