News and notes on our city
A magnitude 3.3 earthquake, with its epicenter near Richmond, was felt in Berkeley this morning at 9:35 a.m. As a matter of routine, BART trains were halted to check for structural damage.
Cori Kesler, a resident of northwest Berkeley, said she felt two rumbles. “You know how bigger earthquakes feel like a truck hit your house?” she asked. “This one felt like a Mini hit the house.”
If you felt the quake, you can add your data to the USGS Did You Feel It site.
The shooting of the Gourmet Ghetto mountain lion has provoked enormous debate here on Berkeleyside. It has also generated a wave of calls to the Berkeley Police Department.
According to Sergeant Mary Kusmiss, the BPD public information officer, many calls have expressed “gratitude and sadness”, but there has also been “outrage” and “many whys”.
There has also been “screaming abuse and name calling”, as well as “a whole myriad of other creative ideas and commentary”.
The problem for the police is that many of the calls have come in on their emergency number.
“The City of Berkeley Police Department is not unaccustomed to being scrutinized,” said Kusmiss. “We all serve and protect and must strive to gain the public’s trust. We would strongly request, however, that community members and others do not call 911 to share their feedback. This practice has created an impact on the BPD Communications Center and fellow community members who may be calling to report crime.”
The BPD’s non-emergency number is 510-981-5900.
School is officially in session at UC Berkeley, which means the 2010 Cal football season is upon us.
It officially begins on Saturday with the 1:00pm game against UC Davis at Memorial Stadium. Next year, games will be taking place at AT&T Park due to construction, so I’m guessing this season opener will be particularly enthusiastic.
Trying to spell out the last name of Kevin Riley, Cal's starting quarterback, at the Women's Huddle. Photo: L.A. Ackley.
What’s that you say? You’re not into football? You just don’t get it and think it’s all just a waste of time?
Oh, my friend, I was once like you. Having grown up with a background in music and theatre (and not sports), the world of sports was foreign to me for much of my life.
Over the last few years, however (due in large part to my boyfriend having been the drum major of the Cal Marching Band), I have grown to love game day.
While it’s true that I have learned a few of the ins and outs of the game itself, I am much more enamored of the festivity, the action, the whole environment that is Game Day at Cal. Yes, the city gets more crowded, but the city comes alive with the buzz of excitement as over 70,000 fans gather to cheer on their favorite team.
Even if you are not a sports fan, the games can be a lot of fun. There is always great people watching, and the band is The Pride of California, after all.
Defensive Back Darian Hagan teaches me about running backwards. Photo: L.A. Ackley.
If the weather is nice, it’s great to enjoy a nice Bay Area day, and the view from the stadium is lovely. Local restaurants and bars often have game-day specials, and hang banners in their windows to show their support. There is always food and drink aplenty (we usually tailgate at Faculty Glade), and local favorite Cupkates usually makes blue and gold cupcakes in celebration.
And, although the event itself took place a month ago, I can’t end this post without mentioning my favorite event of the year: the Cal Women’s Huddle. Ladies, this is the greatest day in Cal Football. Trust me. The $35 entry fee gets you all you can eat (and drink), a cool t-shirt, and several hours on the field learning about football from the Cal football team.
It is serious fun, and really gets me psyched up for the season. Plus, every year I learn a little something about football that makes watching the games all that much more exciting.
So… in conclusion… Go Bears!
Morning Benders band still look fresh from UC Berkeley campus (above) [SF Weekly]
Berkeley High are favorites in ACCAL league despite losses [Oakland Tribune]
Bancroft Library opens “Celebrating Mexico” exhibit [Canada Views]
Berkeley scientists’ green energy alternative: stomach bug to biofuel [SF Public Press]
Thursday September 2 decreed a Spare the Air Day [Spare the Air]
Berkeley named America’s “new” foodie destination [Qantas Magazine]
The sun room, with newly commissioned mural, at Zut! on Fourth Street.
Almost exactly one year after chef Christopher Lee shut up shop for the final time at Eccolo, his Italian-inspired restaurant on Berkeley’s Fourth Street, a new restaurant has opened in its place
Zut! — as in zut alors, the French for “shoot” or “shucks” – is serving regional Mediterranean dishes prepared by executive chef Jim Wimborough, 35, a graduate of Home, Kokkari, Grand Café, Boulevard and Rubicon, all in San Francisco, as well as Evvia Estiatorio in Palo Alto.
The new restaurant represents a departure for its owners, Danny Denny Abrams and Rick Millikan, who, with their company Abrams Millikan, developed the Fourth Street shopping district and have designed several restaurants — including O’ Chame, Bette’s Oceaview Diner and Tacubaya — but have not been proprietors before now. “We decided we had to go into the restaurant business ourselves as we couldn’t find anyone who had the level of quality we wanted for the street,” Abrams told Berkeleyside.
Expect to find all or some of the following on the menu at Zut!: local squid stuffed with savory chorizo, braised white beans with roasted peppers and goat cheese, wood burning rotisserie Watson Ranch lamb, lemon-infused pizza, and slow cooked tajines. Desserts might include seasonal fresh fruit granita or spiced apple fritters with Pernod.
Wimborough says he is focusing on “super fresh” food using whatever produce local ranchers, farmers and purveyors bring to him. “It’s not fusion. It’s Mediterranean food the way Mediterraneans would cook if they were here,” he says. The plan is to make all the restaurant’s breads in-house, Wimborough says, as well as jams and vegetable pickles
The bar at newly opened Zut! on Fourth Street.
Abrams Millikan brought in many East Bay crafts-people to help them design the restaurant. A mural by Emily Farish adorns one wall. The zinc topped bar and tables were made by Paco Prieto, of Prieto Studios; and the custom cast-glass liquor shelving was designed by John Lewis.
Zut! is open to the sidewalk with some tables outside and has a sun room with a giant skylight. “People love Fourth Street,” says Abrams. “We wanted to bring the street into the restaurant and the restaurant out onto the street.”
Zut! is at 1820 Fourth Street. After an initial period of dinner-only service, lunch service will begin on September 8. Wimborough says they would like to offer brunch soon too.
The restaurant’s name, Wimborough says, came about in a roundabout way. “We had a huge list we were hashing over, but then our general manager, Steven Decker, suggested Zut. It turned out Denny [Abrams] used to have a dog called Zut many years ago when this building was going up. It was a good coincidence, and we liked the fact that “zut” is an expression of surprise.”
Fourth Street was hit hard by the recession and several businesses were forced into closure. But there are encouraging signs of recovery now — CB2 took the space of the much-missed Cody’s, Books Inc moved in and high-end skin-care store Super opened up in July. And this particular space has good foodie pedigree: before the much-admired Eccolo, it was the base for Mark Miller’s Fourth Street Grill before he moved to fame with his Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe (since sold).
Abrams says that despite the tough economic times, the street is bearing up. “We’re making it through,” he says. “We’re in pretty good shape.”
Bob Patterson yesterday came across a second unit film crew from Parenthood doing some shooting on Telegraph Avenue. Many locals have criticized the NBC series both for filming in Southern California and for representing a decidedly faux Berkeley.
I wouldn’t count on a major change, but it’s nice that they’ll be interleaving some more footage of the real Berkeley in the coming second series.
Photo by Bob Patterson/Berkeleyside Flickr pool
Our story yesterday, about the Gourmet Ghetto mountain lion which was shot and killed at 3.26am on Walnut Street, elicited unprecedented interest from Berkeleyside readers. Many of the commenters on the story wondered, in particular, why the police officers shot the lion, rather than tranquillize it.
According to Fish and Game warden Patrick Foy, there are very few instances where tranquillizers are an option with mountain lions. “When the animals are bounding over fences, as happened in Berkeley, there aren’t many options,” he said. “When you put a dart in the animal, I’ve seen them go a half mile, even a mile or more. They become an even greater threat.”
Foy said that the ideal situation is being able to divert the mountain lion back into the wild. That would apply, for example, if a mountain lion was found near a wilderness area with a clear route back. This would have been impossible in the built-up area of north Berkeley.
Berkeley police don’t carry tranquillizer darts, and they aren’t standard issue for wardens either, Foy said. “We don’t carry tranquillizers drugs in our patrol trucks,” he said. “There are some instances where you have time and you can get the tranquillizers, but that’s not at three in the morning.”
As he told Berkeleyside yesterday, Foy repeated that the Berkeley police officers had little choice but to kill the animal.
Foy raised a further problem even when tranquillizers can be used. When you then take the animal into a wilderness area, the likelihood is that you’re putting her into another lion’s territory. “One of those animals will probably be killed,” he said.
Mountain lion habitats in California.
Foy also confirmed a speculation made by a number of commenters on Berkeleyside. “The best way to find a mountain lion is to find its favorite source of food, which is deer,” he said. The Berkeley hills have a very healthy deer population.
The Department of Fish and Game maintains a website, Keep Me Wild, which has information about mountain lions and other wild fauna in California. The population of mountain lions in Northern California is healthy, according to Foy.
If you encounter a mountain lion, Keep Me Wild advises: “Do not run; instead, face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms; throw rocks or other objects. Pick up small children.”
Kindergarteners gather around their new teacher
By 8:15, the asphalt playing field of Emerson Elementary School in south Berkeley was filled with nervous kindergarteners, anxious (and happy) parents, and delighted kids, all gathered for an all-school rally before the first day of classes.
The kids lined up in rows according to their grades. The teachers stood in front of them, and camera-toting parents stood in the back.
Right after the new kindergarten students filed into their classrooms, the teachers led the students in a loud cheer, “E-M-E-R-S-O-N. What does that spell? Emerson!”
There are a lot of new faces at the helm of Berkeley schools this year. Here’s a handy guide to new principals and administrators.
The scene of shots fired on Sacramento Street in Berkeley. Photo: Thomas Lord.
Berkeley police have released further details about this afternoon’s shooting on Sacramento Street. Here are the details from Sergeant Mary Kusmiss:
On 08-31-10 at approximately 1:46 p.m., the City of Berkeley Police department began receiving many 911 calls regarding gunshots in the area of Sacramento and Oregon Streets. A White Cadillac with three occupants were double parked in the southbound lane in the block when someone fired multiple rounds in the direction of the car. The woman driver of the Cadillac drove a short distance away to her home and was met by BPD officers there. A round went through the back windshield causing it to “spider web” and the round travelled through the car and hit the headliner above the woman’s head. She and the others were not injured in the incident. There was no blood inside the car. Officers found over a dozen shell casings in the area. Officers also discovered an unoccupied parked van that had a bullet hole to the back license plate.
This is an active and ongoing investigation. No victims have come forward or showed up at any local hospitals. The motive of the shooting is unknown.
BPD will update if and when more information becomes available.
BPD urges anyone who may have witnessed the incident to call on the 24 hour Non Emergency Line at (510)981-5900 or the BPD Homicide detail at (510) 981-5741.
What connects LA and Berkeley, other than glamor? [SF Chronicle]
Yoko Ono to give Michael Pollan peace award [Eater]
Student, 14, enters Cal to study integrative biology [Daily Cal]
Shotgun Players stage “damned good” Trojan War [SF Chronicle]
Photo by Keoki Seu/Berkeleyside Flickr pool
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