Daily Archives: October 11, 2011
The Berkeley Wire: 10.11.11
Booting hybrids from car pool lanes backfires [Chronicle]
Plans for GGF to lure Berkeley Lab include hotel, 70% open space [Patch]
Review: Kronos Quartet [Mercury News]
Vertiginous crane footage of Memorial Stadium build [UC Berkeley]
Childhood disease stalking UC Berkeley campus [KTVU]
Cal QB Zach Maynard needs his feet on the ground [Chronicle]
Photo: Pumpkins at Berkeley Bowl West, by Sandy Friedland.
Looking for familiar landmarks, seeing what little was left
By Risa Nye
October 23, 1991: At the foot of Broadway Terrace, I squeezed into a police car with another couple. We rode in silence, afraid and anxious to get close enough to see what remained of our homes and our streets. We weren’t allowed to drive ourselves in yet; hazardous sparks and hot spots still glowed in some places. Fallen power lines might still be live. Some reports said that everything that could have burned, did. Still, I didn’t know quite what to expect.
It was so odd. Things at the bottom of the hill looked normal. Houses, cars, the golf course, blocks of undisturbed homes left untouched by the fire. But then, a block or so further up the hill, it all came into view.
The first thing I noticed were the chimneys, tall brick columns still attached to their hearths punctuating wide expanses of black, all the way up to the top of the hills. And it was quiet. No birds, no other cars, no people.
The hills of our destroyed neighborhood resembled a moonscape: a post-apocalyptic expanse of scorched earth, blackened trees and chimneys standing like sentinels left to watch over the ruins. Gray foundations marked the footprints of houses no longer there. We were shocked at the vastness of the damage. Stone cherubs stood in what had been a backyard; a fountain surrounded by ashes; skeletons of patio furniture. … Continue reading »
One of Berkeley’s most beloved landmarks turns 100
By Linda Hemmila
What began as a conversation between neighbors about Christmas decorations has grown into a full-blown birthday celebration, to be held on October 16th, and the guest of honor is the 100-year-old Fountain at The Circle, one of Berkeley’s most endearing landmarks.
Built in 1911 at the Marin Circle, the fountain was designed to be an ornate entry to what many hoped would be the state’s capital. In the end, Sacramento got the nod, but the fountain with its distinctive bears has remained one of Berkeley’s most beloved icons.
The Circle and Fountain Walk were designed by architect John Galen Howard who devised the master plan for the UC Berkeley campus. It is a central design element that links The Circle to the surrounding streets in the Northbrae neighborhood. The Circle itself was originally designed for rail use, but, today, an astounding 30,000 cars make their way around it every day. … Continue reading »
Shop Talk: The ins and outs of Berkeley businesses
CLASSY INDIAN The landmark former Citibank building at 2323 Shattuck — sitting empty for the last five years — is the new home of Namaste Madras Cuisine, a restaurant featuring food from south India. Prasad Lakireddy and his partners installed cherry wood detailing throughout the building to complement the ornate beamed ceiling designed in 1926 by architect Walter Ratcliff. The chef and owner is Venkat Yaramala, who has 20 years experience running restaurants in Roseville, Chico, and the Bay Area. Meals will be served family-style and the restaurant will be open from 11am to 10pm seven days a week.
TIBETAN POP-UP For the next few months, the space at 2213 Shattuck Avenue will be the home of Tenzing Collections, a Bay Area family-owned firm that sells clothes, jewelry, home décor, prayer rugs, and other items from Nepal, India, Tibet, and Bhutan. Tenzing Jigme, whose family owns similar stores in Tiburon and San Anselmo, but who lives in Berkeley, said he has a month-to-month lease on the space. He is calling it a “holiday season” store that might stay if business is good.
Big Screen Berkeley: Toast and Docfest
If the words ‘Fray Bentos’ strike fear in your heart, I have just the film for you. (On the other hand, if they send a shiver of anticipation down your spine, I recommend you seek professional help immediately.) Should those two little words simply mean nothing to you, however, you may still derive considerable pleasure from Toast, director S. J. Clarkson’s recreation of the early life of British super foodie Nigel Slater, opening this weekend at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas.
Not being a gourmand, the name ‘Nigel Slater’ meant nothing to me prior to seeing Toast. This being the Bay Area, however, I suspect many Berkeleyside readers will be familiar with Slater, who parlayed his obsession with lemon meringue pie into an impressive cookery career stretching from an apprenticeship at London’s Savoy Hotel to primetime programs on the BBC.
A food enthusiast from an early age, Slater (portrayed in the film by both 11-year old Oscar Kennedy and teen Freddie Highmore) grew up in a Midlands household where meals generally came out of a tin. Young Nige’s mum (tenderly played here by Victoria Hamilton) wasn’t up to the task of preparing anything more complicated than toast, while dad (the magnificent Ken Stott, soon to be seen in Peter Jackson’s forthcoming Hobbit films) simply wanted something warm on his plate when he got home from the factory. … Continue reading »
Can Berkeley live with not being nuclear-free?
It was the height of the Cold War and Ronald Reagan was president. The United States and the Soviet Union were racing to see which country could produce the best – and most — nuclear weapons. Missiles were pointed at each others’ capitals.
But that was then, and this is now. Wozniak, currently a city council member, is proposing to scuttle parts of the 25-year old Nuclear Free Berkeley Act, particularly the parts that prohibit the city from investing in the federal government.
In the next month, he plans to submit a proposal to the city council severely limiting the scope of the law.
“The Cold War is over,” said Wozniak. “There is no longer a Soviet Union. Our nuclear arsenal is down to about 2,000 warheads. The trend is in the right direction. We should declare victory and abolish the nuclear free zone. It has accomplished its purpose.” … Continue reading »
