Category Archives: Events
Berkeley’s new Magnes building to be unveiled on Sunday
On Sunday, the doors will open to a new cultural institution in Berkeley. The many thousands of books, paintings, prints, textiles, and photographs that make up The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life – which was formerly located in an early 20th-century family home on Russell Street in the Elmwood neighborhood — will now be readily accessible to the public in a beautifully renovated, centrally located 25,000 sq ft space at 2121 Allston Way.
The building, which was designed in the 1920s as a printing plant for UC Berkeley, was most recently used by UC’s Bancroft Library, with whom the Magnes now partners. Before that, the Berkeley Public Library occupied the space. Marks left by book stacks on the stained, maple-colored concrete floors bear the stamp of the building’s history.
The building has been transformed by San Francisco architects Pfau Long in collaboration with local design and fabrication company Picassa Studios. The goal, said the museum’s Director Alla Efimova, was to create a warm, inviting place with an emphasis on transparency.
“We wanted an open space with a good flow where the community could spend time discovering the collection,” she said. … Continue reading »
Awards tap Berkeley taste makers for national contest
Berkeley’s food mavens will likely be out in force tonight at the Good Food Awards at San Francisco’s Ferry Building and many of the judges for this annual event — sponsored by Seedling Projects and now in its second year — hail from this city’s gourmand ranks. But only one Berkeley name may find a place on the winners’ podium.
The concept behind this socially and ethically responsible food contest is to highlight “best in show” from five regions of the country in various edible categories. This year, prizes will go to makers of beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles, preserves, and — a new area — spirits.
At last year’s soirée — with a keynote address by restaurateur and sustainable food champion Alice Waters — three Berkeley winners emerged in the beer, charcuterie, and pickles categories. … Continue reading »
Hundreds enjoy holiday meal at Berkeley High
Berkeley High hosted its annual holiday meal on Saturday and hundreds of people came to enjoy the ham, turkey, salad, fruit, rolls, and pumpkin pie.
Each year, hundreds of high school students and their families collect canned goods, coats, toiletries and other items for the homeless or low income families and distribute them at the meal. Community members donate cooked hams and turkeys, and student bake pies, make the salad and cranberry sauce, and decorate the lunchroom at the high school. Musicians donate their time and even Santa plays a visit.
Mark Coplan of the Berkeley Unified School District took the photos shown here. … Continue reading »
Author: You may not like what’s lurking in your olive oil
That bottle of extra virgin olive oil you take off the grocery store shelf may not be what you think it is.
Instead of being a greenish-gold, fruity, fresh oil made from olives, rich in antioxidants and delicious to drizzle over a beautiful caprese salad, more likely than not it is a blend of oils, some made from olives, and some not.
In fact, a recent study by UC Davis that tested a number of the best-selling olive oils in California, including Bertolli, Star, and Colavita, found that 69% of the extra virgin olive oil imported into the U.S. did not meet the standards for extra virgin.
“It’s a big hoax,” said Tom Mueller, who will be talking about the issue, and his new book, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, on Saturday from 2 to 6 pm at Amphora Nueva Berkeley Olive Oil Works on Domingo Avenue. “What’s written on the bottle does not guarantee what is inside.” … Continue reading »
For when that disaster comes, Berkeleyans, be prepared
By Dave Peattie
When there is a major disaster in the Bay Area, help may take a long time to arrive, as the recent hurricane in New Orleans and earthquakes in Japan, Haiti, and Turkey have shown.
The Berkeley Disaster Preparedness Neighborhood Network (BDPNN), a nongovernmental organization, wants to help residents survive a disaster by being organized and prepared.
The BDPNN will hold a hands-on medical practice session Thursday November 17 with Barbara Morita, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the Alameda Health Consortium, and a member of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT). It will take place at 6:30 pm, at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall (corner of Cedar and Bonita).
Field trip highlights programs in food-forward Berkeley
Tomorrow, Bay Area Green Tours co-hosts a food field trip spotlighting some of the best of Berkeley’s alternative food systems. It’s part of the 15th Annual Community Food Security Coalition Conference, which runs today through Tuesday in Oakland. The Community Food Security Coalition is a national nonprofit dedicated to creating a food movement that is healthy, sustainable, and just.
The national conference draws sustainable food advocates, anti-hunger experts, and food policy wonks from around the country. The Food Sovereignty tour, which is open to the public (though now sold out), introduces participants to community food gardens, farmers’ markets, school food, and alternative food businesses in this town, which, of course, is well known for its food-forward agenda. … Continue reading »
Berkeley Thai Temple to hold flood relief fundraiser
Four months of flooding have left Thailand devastated, with large portions of the country still under water, making fresh food and water hard to come by for many.
To help the people of Thailand, Wat Mongkolratanaram, more commonly known as the Berkeley Thai Temple, will hold a fundraiser Sunday during its popular brunch. Since anywhere from 200 to 600 people come each week to dine on beef curry, mango rice, and other Thai delicacies, organizers hope to raise hundreds of dollars.
Thai musicians and dancers will perform under a tent during the brunch, which runs from 10 am to 1 pm at the temple at 1911 Russell Street near MLK. … Continue reading »
Photo essay: Dìa de los Muertos in the Gourmet Ghetto
Berkeley’s Dìa de los Muertos celebration in the Gourmet Ghetto Wednesday night offered music, dance, an altar to remember absent friends, weird and wonderful costumes, and food — lots of food, in fact, as the event was planned to coincide with street food fest Off The Grid. The photos here provide just a glimpse of how the evening unfolded by candlelight.
Berkeley ramps up Dìa de los Muertos celebrations
This year, if there’s one thing Dìa de Los Muertos in the Gourmet Ghetto promises not to be, it’s low-key. “We are going all out,” said organizer Lisa Bullwinkel. The fact that the event will coincide with November 2nd’s Off The Grid, Berkeley’s popular weekly street-food fest — and takes place right next to the food trucks — should ensure a lively and engaged crowd.
Dìa de Los Muertos celebrates those who have passed on, and it has been marked in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto for the past two years. The additions to the festivities this year include interactive craft stalls, a beer and wine stand, and the Con Permiso Mariachi band. A community altar, or ofrenda, is being created for and by community members who may bring photos or stories of their loved ones, candles, breads, or flowers to add to the altar.
Masked participants at last year's Dia de los Muertos celebration in Berkeley
Berkeley author explores the tragedy of Jonestown
Julia Scheeres was only eleven in 1978 when 918 people in Jonestown committed mass suicide. She learned of the episode when she spotted her family’s copies of Time and Newsweek, both of which featured cover photos of bloated bodies rotting in the jungle. Scheeres’ parents quickly realized the images were not appropriate for young children and spirited away the magazines.
It was not until 30 years later, when Scheeres was working on a novel about a charismatic preacher in Indiana, that she thought again of Jim Jones, the Pentecostal leader of the People’s Temple and the man who created Jonestown in Guyana and induced so many of his followers to kill themselves. Jones was from Indiana and Scheeres googled him to see if there was some aspect of his life that might inform her fiction.
She found herself at the Jonestown Institute website and started to poke around. Soon Scheeres was reading FBI documents about Jonestown, as well as letters and diaries from those who lived and died there. Scheeres, who had herself spent time in a strict, religious reform school (which her bestselling memoir, Jesus Land chronicles) was fascinated by the stories. They resonated with her. … Continue reading »
