Daily Archives: July 18, 2012
The Berkeley Wire: 07.18.12
Driver arrested after trying to beat the boot, injuring Berkeley parking officer [BANG]
On San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley beats Emeryville [The Emeryville Tattler]
Transport commission looks at bike, pedestrian changes for Hearst [Streetsblog]
Brave New Voices poetry slam hits Oakland, Berkeley [Tribune]
Photo: BHS Old Gym demolition, by artsnooze conceptualista/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
Two Berkeley brown shingles for sale. Price: $1 each
Two brown-shingle homes located in the heart of downtown Berkeley have been put up for sale. The asking price? Just $1.00 apiece.
The houses are on the site of the proposed Acheson Commons development that would impact the building that houses Ace Hardware on University Avenue. As part of the review process, developer Equity Residential is required to try to sell the properties before demolishing them.
The Moore/Acheson House and the Baldwin/Acheson House at 1922 and 1924 Walnut Street date from 1905. Neither house is landmarked or a designated historic resource, and they have been vacant for many years so are in a state of disrepair. A buyer would be required to pay for the removal of the two homes, one of which was originally a single family home, subsequently converted into a duplex. The larger of the two was designed multi-residential property when it was built. A buyer would also need to move the homes to a suitable site within Berkeley on a deadline of May 2013. … Continue reading »
Berkeley Council unites in opposing Safeway project
A ten-year-old girl who lives on Lewiston Avenue was among more than 20 people who stood up to voice their opposition to Safeway’s plans to expand its Claremont-College Avenue store at Tuesday night’s Berkeley City Council meeting. “It will ruin my neighborhood and community and cause traffic chaos,” she said. “It’s already wiped out cute stores like Chimes Pharmacy.”
She and the other member of the public who object to the scale of the proposed store and its potential impact on local traffic and air pollution needn’t have worried. Berkeley’s leaders are unanimous in their disapproval of the grocery giant’s plans for a store which is sited in Oakland, a hair’s breadth from the Berkeley border. They have little power to stop it, however. … Continue reading »
Big Screen Berkeley: Dark Horse
Todd Solondz has quite a lot to answer for. His 1996 art-house hit Welcome to the Dollhouse laid the foundation for the late 20th century ‘American Indie’ style, and we’ve since had to contend with countless screen tales of awkward social outcasts or beautiful losers trying to adapt to the unreasonable expectations of mainstream American society.
The vast majority of these films were gratingly arch or painfully camp, but Solondz possessed tools the copycats lacked: a sharp pen and an uncompromising commitment to truthfulness. Avoiding the too clever by half, nudge-nudge wink-wink style of such indie scribes as Diablo Cody, the Duplass brothers, and Andrew Bujalski (among many others), Solondz’ scripts tackled uncomfortable topics with refreshing honesty — and his newest film, Dark Horse (opening at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas on Friday, July 20th) , is no exception.
Abe Wertheimer (Jordan Gelber) is the stereotypical All-American man-child. Balding, overweight, and in his 30s, Abe works at the realestate firm owned by father Jackie (Christopher Walken, here looking even more ghoulish than usual), and still lives at home, where his bedroom walls remain lined with mint-in-box action figures and Gremlins posters. … Continue reading »
Where in Berkeley?
Know where this is? Take a guess and let us know in the Comments.
Update: 9:46am: This great photo was taken at the US Post Office Berkeley Detached Delivery Unit at 1150 8th Street. Neil Mishalov, who took the pic, says the view is from the Codornices Creek Trail “which is contiguous with the US Post Office Detached Delivery Unit site.” Congratulations on NAParish on being this week’s winner!
Photo: Neil Mishalov.
