Page 90 - 2015 Travel Guide to California

BERKELEY
Bastion of liberal thought, superb dining
and performing arts
»
DINE,
SHOP, GOLF,
SEE A PLAY
Berkeley Tourism
Information
visitberkeley.com
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA at Berkeley’s
campus seen from Inspiration Point, above;
Rasputin Music on Telegraph Avenue, below.
WORLD-FAMOUS as a historic center of
free speech and 1960s counterculture,
Berkeley, on the eastern shore of San Fran-
cisco Bay, has morphed into a foodie
destination and unique arts and shopping
mecca. But it’s still Berkeley, proudly off-
beat, quirky and fun to visit.
The Downtown Arts District on Addison
Street showcases the Berkeley Repertory
Theatre, the Aurora Theatre Company and
the venerable folk music haven Freight &
Salvage Coffeehouse, which is both a per-
formance venue and community-minded
folk music learning center. The Pacific
Film Archive Theater will remain open
through summer, but its sister institution,
the Berkeley Art Museum, is closed while
it moves into a new building in downtown
Berkeley in early 2016. North Berkeley
along and near Shattuck Avenue is the
city’s Gourmet Ghetto, with its jewel in the
crown, Chez Panisse, founded by the
doyenne of fresh, local, seasonal California
cuisine, Alice Waters. The 1966 original
Peet’s Coffee and Tea shop is right nearby,
as are excellent food markets, the Cheese
Board cheese shop/bakery and fine restau-
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rants such as the French-flavored Liaison.
One-of-a-kind shopping abounds on
Fourth Street, north of University Avenue
in West Berkeley; standouts include Miki’s
Paper, which features hand-made Japanese
stationery and wrapping paper.
Gorgeous brown-shingle wooden homes
and public buildings by celebrated architects
Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan—who
adapted Arts and Crafts design to form the
Bay Region style in the early 20th century—
enrich the city. Maybeck’s serene 1910 First
Church of Christ, Scientist, just east of Tele-
graph Avenue and south of the UC Berkeley
campus, is an architectural hymn to silence.
On campus, Cal Performances brings
international headliners to Zellerbach Hall.
You can toast the artists and debate the true
meaning of art in a plenitude of craft micro-
breweries that dot the area near campus and
beyond; the new Berkeley Brew Trail high-
lights places to sip hand-crafted suds;
specifics are available from the city’s Visitor
Information Center, 2030 Addison St. Got
golf? Certainly. You can tee it up at the 18-
hole Tilden Park Golf Course, in the woodsy
Berkeley Hills above the bay.
PATTIE STEIB/SHUTTERSTOCK; VISIT BERKELEY