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Neighborhood Stories- 3 Houses
At some point every day, I go for a walk in my neighborhood in Berkeley. It is a modest neighborhood of mostly one-story bungalows , an occasional apartment building, and a scrappy commercial district . But every few blocks, there is a larger house or building that isn’t part of…
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100 Years of Houses- Walking Panoramic Hill
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…
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The Green Seam- My Pandemic Therapist
If one were to draw a cross section through the cities east of San Francisco Bay it might look like this. First of course, there would be the Bay itself. Then to the east, the gradual rise of the “flats”, peppered with modest bungalows and apartments, then the sharp climb…
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The East Cut
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…
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Cruising The Avenue
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…
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Walking Across Berkeley- 12 Stops During A Pandemic
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…
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Dogpatch and Doctors
Tucked all around San Francisco Bay are curious little villages that surround old industrial centers. You can find these surviving villages in places like Point Richmond, ,Alviso, and Crockett. And in San Francisco, there is the old Dogpatch neighborhood centered along Third Street near 20th. I had always been intrigued…
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Field Notes- Downtown Oakland- A City In 9 Movements
Each day for the last 6 years , I have taken the train to downtown Oakland , and headed up to the 13th floor of the office building where I work. I sit in a corner, with a panoramic view of downtown, and the Bay Area beyond. It’s a nice…
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Moving Day- Packing Up The Family Home
Awhile back, I figured out I have had 16 different addresses since leaving for college. A long time ago to be sure, but I was still surprised that there were so many. Sure it counts a different dump each of my college years, and episodes like house sitting for 3…