Daily Archives: January 12, 2011
The Berkeley Wire: 01.12.11
Botanist helps beautify Tilden Park [Bay Nature]
Berkeley’s public housing to go private [Indy Media]
UC Berkeley launches free campus iPhone app [iTunes]
Four UC professors named fellows to AAAS [UCB News]
Mike Daisy, opening two solo shows at Berkeley Rep, talks about process [SFGate]
Which is better? Pie from Bette’s or cupcake from Summer Kitchen [Taylor takes a taste]
Photo: Pier at sunset by Epanastasi/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
Phone lines down along The Alameda
Our call for citizen reporters brought in this photo from Ira Serkes and this email at 11.21am today:
“Power/phone lines down on The Alameda between Los Angeles and Marin. They are likely back up by now. I was driving home from the gym and heard sirens behind me — got to that part of The Alameda just as the police car pulled up.”
Thanks Ira.
The 1923 Fire, and a pretty young tennis champion
“The fire started at midday in the scrubland of Wildcat Canyon. Two hours later, it rolled down the dry North Berkeley hills and quietly slipped into some of the city’s finest residences. Housekeepers washing up after lunch turned around in their kitchens to find flames reaching for the drapes like brazen cat burglars….”
So starts a wonderful piece published in The Oregonian on Monday this week about the Berkeley fire that swept through our city’s hills on September 17, 1923 and eventually destroyed more than 500 homes and damaged at least another 1,000.
The story, written by Douglas Perry, is actually about Helen Willis Wills, a stern, “comely” tennis player who was taking the country by storm with her strong performance on the courts.
Wills had returned to her parents’ house in Berkeley from New York to register for classes at Cal, just a few blocks north of the Berkeley Tennis Club where she had learned to play the game.
The Berkeley High student who brought a gun to school on Monday ran away from officials and is still at large.
The 15-year old freshman brought a small caliber gun to school in his backpack and he apparently darted outside while authorities were looking inside the bag.
The Berkeley police department came to the high school and took possession of the gun, but not the student.
“The student was no longer there,” said Officer Jamie Perkins on Wednesday “We were not able to take him into custody at the time we arrived.”
Where in Berkeley?
Know where this is? Take a guess and let me us know in the comments.
Update, 15.55: Reader Ryan guessed that this is the mural on the side of Inkworks Press at 2827 7th Street, between Heinz and Grayson. Congratulations, Ryan, on being this week’s winner. Reader Amber adds that “Juana Alicia and her students at Berkeley City College deserve a shout-out for this fine new contribution to Berkeley.
Photo: Sandy Friedland.
Away at college, pining for Thai Temple’s Sunday brunch
By Anna Mindess
After her first three and a half months away at college in Canada, our daughter Lila was thrilled to be home on break. Besides seeing us and hanging out with her friends, Lila had a definite agenda: work her way through a bucket list of Berkeley eateries.
During our weekly fall Skype chats, between updates on her exciting new life, Lila would sigh, “But I miss the food at home.” (I didn’t take it personally that she wasn’t referring to my cooking.)
Once back in the East Bay, off she sprinted to her old hang-outs: Barney’s, Cactus Taqueria,Yogurtland, Picante, Khana Peena, Fred’s for a chicken sandwich and Cheeseboard for their inimitable pizza. This series of sacred journeys is probably replicated by countless Berkeley High graduates home on winter break to refuel themselves with the flavors they have been craving.
Lila was scheduled to fly back to Vancouver on a Monday, which worked out perfectly, because the last place on her list is only “open” on Sunday. It’s not a restaurant, but as Lila puts it, “a bundle of bustling Berkeleyites and hung-over hipsters waiting in friendly lines to get their food fix.”
