Tabitha Soren was driving down Sacramento Street near Stanford Avenue when she spotted a change in a huge tree jutting up in the air.
For months Soren, a Berkeley photographer and former news correspondent for MTV and NBC, had been eyeing the tree. At 60 feet high, with a bifurcated trunk completely covered with leaves and vines, the tree was an arresting sight in the gritty Oakland neighborhood. Soren had long been intrigued by its sculptural qualities, but the tree had always been inaccessible behind a chain link fence. … Continue reading »
Friday just after midnight, three people walking south of the UC Berkeley campus were accosted by three young men with guns who robbed them of their wallets, phones and sunglasses. The men fled, but police say officers caught up with them early Sunday during a traffic stop. All three were arrested on suspicion of robbery.
If it seems like this story, or at least the first part of it, has become all too common this year, that’s because robberies are up a whopping 25% when compared to the same period last year, police said Wednesday. … Continue reading »
SISTA SANDWICH New in town: start-up Sista Sandwich, which provides grab-and-go gourmet gluten free sandwiches in Berkeley. Laura Tucker, who founded the company with her sister Sharon Pearlstein, says Sista is one of the few companies to be filling this niche and, so far, business is good. ”Our 100% gluten free sandwiches are made in Oakland and sold in Berkeley,” she says. The idea for Sista Sandwich came in the fall of 2011 while the pair were sitting in a cafe discussing how they would love to start a food related business of their own. While at the cafe Laura, who had been on a gluten free diet for two years already, realized that there was nothing for her to eat, other than yogurt, chips and packs of nuts. The Sista Sandwiches can be found at Berkeley Bowl, in two cafés on the UC Berkeley campus, at the new Café La Renaissance (see below) as well as a couple of small Berkeley markets. … Continue reading »
I was too young to be aware of the political ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Blissfully ignorant, I’d walk to school each morning in my English schoolboy’s uniform (cap, tie and shorts, regardless of the weather), and return home each afternoon to watch Blue Peter, Crackerjack (“It’s Friday! It’s 5 to 5! It’s CRACKERJACK!”), or Doctor Who. Why worry about Daniel Cohn-Bendit when Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee were being threatened by Cybermen and Daleks?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the English Channel, French students were on the verge of toppling their country’s government. The fallout of this fraught moment in history is the subject of Olivier Assayas’ new film Something in the Air (more appropriately titled Après mai in France, in reference to the fateful month when De Gaulle’s government almost fell), opening at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas on Friday, May 17. … Continue reading »
A traffic stop by Berkeley Police officers early Sunday morning led to the arrest of three young men police say are responsible for an armed robbery south of campus late last week.
Friday at 12:37 a.m., police received a call about a robbery at Carleton and Dana streets, said officer Jennifer Coats, Berkeley Police spokeswoman, on Wednesday. … Continue reading »
Photo: louiekablooie1
Seattle man killed helping Berkeley-based charity (ABC7)
Breslauer, Wilton on mixed use development (UCB)
Settlement expands Cal library services to disabled (Library Journal)
UC Berkeley grad student found guilty of killing girlfriend, son (BANG)
CAFE LA RENAISSANCE Christina Sun, who owns 3045 Shattuck Ave., a building that has been a neighborhood flashpoint for years, has opened up a cozy cafe on the ground floor. Called Café La Renaissance (pictured top), the eatery two blocks south of Ashby Avenue opened its doors May 6 selling coffee and other beverages. Now it has introduced sandwiches, salads, pastries from The Bread Workshop, as well as gluten-free sandwiches from Sista Sandwich in Oakland. The interior is inviting, with couches, posters, a Renaissance-style oil painting, and a fireplace mantle. “Renaissance means rebirth,” said manager Dani Stewart. Sun “wanted to set up an environment where people could come and leave all their worries behind. It’s a play on words.” The building, once known as “the flying cottage,” was declared a public nuisance by the City Council in 2003. It was heavily damaged in a 2006 arson fire and then rebuilt. The hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. … Continue reading »
For his new book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, Michael Pollan, who has ventured far and wide exploring the inner workings of the food chain, opted to spend more time in the kitchen — including his own in north Berkeley — to focus on what he calls ‘the middle link,’ namely cooking.
Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism as well as a highly regarded author, learned how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer.
In the course of his journey he discovered that the cook occupies a special place in the world, standing squarely between nature and culture. His education led Pollan to conclude that taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable.
Berkeleyside caught up with Pollan to quiz him a little more about his cooking instruction, and next steps. … Continue reading »
Earlier this year, the Berkeley Police Department relaunched its monthly newsletter to let community members know about notable arrests and incidents, as well as crime prevention tips and safety resources. Along with beat maps and police contacts for each neighborhood, the newsletter highlights arrests and open cases in Berkeley from the prior month. The fifth edition of the newsletter came out in May. Scroll down for highlights. … Continue reading »
Thirty-six years after Boris Eifman began honing his “dissident choreographer” chops as artistic director of Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg, a three-show Bay Area premiere of Rodin at CAL Performances revealed that nothing has changed.
And yet, everything is different.
Eifman is no longer shocking his homeland’s ballet traditionalists; his dancers are complex, first-rate artistic tools; there’s even a government-supported “Dance Palace,” slated for completion in 2016 and portending the company’s bold, permanent future.
“My method, my philosophy of theater — I don’t change,” he said, in an interview prior to Saturday’s May 11 performance.
But that doesn’t mean he’s not tinkering with the steps. … Continue reading »
Police have released a description of the man believed to be responsible for a shooting early Sunday morning that left a Fremont student dead outside a car on Grizzly Peak Boulevard.
This week, the University of California Police Department identified 21-year-old Alverto Santana-Silva of Fremont as the victim. Police believe Santana-Silva was shot after he tried to break up an argument or disturbance between two groups of strangers. … Continue reading »
Know where this is? Take a guess and let us know in the Comments.
Photo: Nick Mastick.
Hotel Nash, University Avenue. Photo: William Newton
Video: Naked run at UC Berkeley (SFist)
Marijuana advocates protest Eric Holder’s speech at Cal (Red Alert)
Cal law student pleads not guilty in bird beheading case (CBS)
Higher non-resident enrollment may decrease diversity (Daily Cal)
