The origin of this blog, chronicling walks. I have in particular always been drawn to walks that start in one world and take you somewhere competely different.
On the north end of Palm Springs, before one exits the vast Coachella Valley and heads east towards Los Angeles, one passes beneath mighty Mount San Jacinto. At 10,834 feet , it towers over Palm Springs, and along with Mount San Gorgonio, forms a formidable pass , one that spawns the winds that power the … More Life On The Rocks
I moved to the Bay Area in 1988, securing a job with an Architectural firm in San Francisco. The firm of 50 was probably 90% Asian, and for the first time in my life, I was the minority. Every Friday, a large group of co-workers would head to lunch in nearby Chinatown, and seemed to … More We Are All From Somewhere Else- A Walk Through West Berkeley
Downtown San Francisco, we are told, is in a “doom loop”. You probably have heard. Everyday, the San Francisco Chronicle, publishes the latest report on employers leaving downtown, retailers closing their doors, wasted public money on poorly managed programs (2 million dollar toilets!), the latest staggering statistics on homelessness, and so on. And if you … More “The Doom Loop “- Walking Through Downtown San Francisco
One of the conundrums of life during the pandemic has been getting meaningful exercise, something more than a neighborhood walk. Fortunately, in Berkeley, there are some very steep hills, and these walks have provided the necessary heart rate elevation. In fact, one in particular, at Claremont Canyon, is so steep that on several occasions I … More 100 Years of Houses- Walking Panoramic Hill
Awhile back, I was having a conversation with someone who lived in the East Bay, near the border of Berkeley , Oakland and Emeryville. In trying to pinpoint where she lived, she said, “you know its right in the heart of NOBE” . I had not heard that moniker before , and was told it … More The East Cut
10 years ago, after many years residing in San Francisco, we moved to Berkeley, across the Bay. After years of regarding Berkeley and the East Bay as being closer to Europe than just across the bridge, we quickly changed our tune as we discovered the joys of the place. Berkeley might be regarded as a … More Cruising The Avenue
For some time, I wanted to write a post about walking all the way across Berkeley. Essentially, the walk would be a cross section, starting at the Bay , winding through our flatland neighborhoods, and then on up to the campus and the hills. And I finally got around to it….now…in this surreal time in … More Walking Across Berkeley- 12 Stops During A Pandemic
When I first moved to San Francisco many years ago, there was much to grab my attention. Places and people new, different, even exotic. And I was kind of prepared for that. But there was one thing that I didn’t know about, and the was this- the fog. I was instantly mesmerized by the fog. … More Summer in San Francisco’s Richmond- The Art Of The Inside Day
A few years ago, I walked the length of San Pablo Ave in the East Bay. It was a fairly ridiculous endeavor, a walk done over 2 days that covered 23 miles . The starting point for the walk was downtown Oakland, and , as Oakland has a loosely radial plan, this represented one “spoke … More The Everyday Urbanism of East 14th
During the past year, I have described travels down a single street, and the changes one encounters along the way. We traveled from the bottom of Market Street to the top, and journeyed up Polk Street from one end to the other. I took that up again last week, getting out for a trek along … More The Taylor and Jones Shimmee
urban ambles 