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Tag Archives: Downtown Berkeley Association
NextSpace to open new co-working offices in Berkeley
A new shared workspace is set to open in downtown Berkeley later this year at 2081 Center St.
NextSpace, which already has offices in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and San Jose, among other locations, describes itself as the state’s “coolest new coworking community!”
The 9,000-square-foot space in Berkeley will be able to host more than 200 members. The company offers a variety of membership types, which include 24/7 access and conference room space, and “accommodate a variety of workstyles, from open and collaborative to heads-down and deadline driven,” according to the company website. … Continue reading »
Reminder: First free Summer Cinema movie is tonight
This year’s Summer Cinema on Center Street, a free outdoor movie series, kicks off tonight, Saturday August 4, at 7:30pm.
The films, which are being projected onto the wall of the future Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, are all in the classic B-movie “mad scientist” genre.
Tonight’s screening is The Atomic Brain, in which an aging spinster finances the brain transplant experiments of a deranged scientist in the hope that her brain can be transplanted into the body of a younger woman.
The Summer Movie series takes place over three weekends in August and is organized jointly by Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive and the Downtown Berkeley Association. The event was launched last year and proved immensely popular, drawing up to 400 people to the Bank of America parking lot for each screening. … Continue reading »
Brainy B-movies at free Summer Cinema series
Demented surgeons who know no bounds, crazed doctors keeping brains alive, abductions and decapitations – you can tell Steve Seid had an enormous amount of fun putting together the program for this year’s Summer Cinema on Center Street, a free outdoor movie series which kicks off on Saturday August 4.
“I wanted something different from common currency films. I wanted to pull out some of our more disgraceful examples,” he says, laughing.
Seid, Video Curator at Pacific Film Archive, delved into the museum’s 18,000-strong collection of films to come up with his selection of 16-mm prints for the series, which takes place over three weekends in August and is organized jointly by Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive and the Downtown Berkeley Association. The event was launched last year and proved immensely popular, drawing up to 400 people to the Bank of America parking lot for each screening.
The films, which will be shown on the wall of the future Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, are all in the classic B-movie “mad scientist” genre. … Continue reading »
Berkeley’s downtown BART is all roses as part of clean-up
A new art piece featuring garden-inspired photography has been installed in the windows of the Downtown Berkeley BART station entrance. The project, called the Rose Pavilion, was unveiled on Monday afternoon and is part of the continuing efforts to revitalize Berkeley’s downtown area.
The piece features vertical panels of faux stained glass with images of roses and excerpts of poetry. Artist Deborah O’Grady explains that she was inspired by the architecture of the BART station. “I was asked if I could find a way to bring the garden into the center of the city. At first, I wasn’t sure, but as I walked around the downtown I was struck by the BART entrance pavilion. I decided to turn it into a rose arbor.”
The project is a collaboration between BART, UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, and the Downtown Berkeley Association. It is part of a larger exhibition at the Botanical Garden called “Natural Discourse,” which features work by 17 artists, poets, and scientists. “We came together to convey poetry and the beauty of the garden in a variety of mediums,” O’Grady says. For her, inspiration came in the form of roses: “Roses are a source of beauty and spirituality, a food, and a transmitter of light.” … Continue reading »
Downtown Berkeley ambassadors help, monitor homeless
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Carmen Francois was on a mission.
“We’re supposed to say hi to 60 people in 60 minutes,” she said.
Francois, one of Berkeley’s downtown “ambassadors,” didn’t have any trouble meeting the quota. She ducked into businesses and greeted employees by name, asking if they had any safety issues. She waved to police officers and directed tourists. She hugged homeless panhandlers, asking if they had gotten in touch with the Berkeley Mental Health Center counselor she had recommended the previous week. She pointed others toward the nearest public shower.
For the last three years, Francois has been walking up and down Shattuck Avenue interacting with those who spend their days sitting on blankets or leaning against walls, part of a larger effort to make downtown a more amenable area. But her stomping grounds have now become the center of a new debate: whether or not Berkeley should adopt a measure that makes it illegal to sit on the sidewalk in a commercial district between 7 am and 10 pm. … Continue reading »
Can car-free “Sunday Streets” come to Berkeley?
Thirty-six years ago, the mayor of Bogatá, Colombia had a novel idea. He wanted to close some of the city streets on Sundays to give bicycle riders, roller skaters and pedestrians a chance to enjoy the city in a different way.
The street closure was a huge hit, and over the years the concept has expanded to include 70 miles of closed streets every Sunday. About 1.5 million people take advantage of the car-free environment each week, about 20% of the population. They not only walk and bike, they dance, do yoga, and have aerobics classes
The idea, termed “Sunday Streets” or “Open Streets,” has been so popular that it has spread around the world, to cities like Kiev, Tokyo, and San Francisco. Now a group of Berkeley officials and activists want to bring the concept to Berkeley. They hope to close off a 10-to-16-block stretch of Shattuck Avenue to cars on a Sunday in October. … Continue reading »
Newly cleaned up downtown hopes to attract more retail
On Tuesday, downtown Berkeley was born anew. Billed as a fresh start, the heart of the city was relaunched to a capacity crowd in the ballroom of the Hotel Shattuck Plaza on Allston Way.
For the past three months, the Downtown Berkeley Association has been overseeing an ambitious clean-up operation in the center of the city and yesterday’s event was convened to present the results.
Anyone who has been downtown recently won’t fail to have noticed that the place is sparkling. Streets have been power-washed, often in the middle of the night, unsticking countless pieces of gum in the process, 8,500 lbs of trash have been removed, light poles, postal boxes and fire hydrants have been given a new lick of paint and fresh landscaping has appeared. Tree wells now overflow with blooms and 179 flower baskets hang from aloft. … Continue reading »
“Shark Tank” it ain’t: Women center stage at pitch event
On Wednesday night at the Freight & Salvage, the Pitch Mixer Entrepreneur Forum will hold its first Berkeley event. In honor of Women’s History Month, the event will feature five women pitching their business ideas to an all-women panel of judges.
“I started Pitch Mixer because the East Bay — Oakland and Berkeley — lacks a strong foundation of community for entrepreneurship,” said Ayori Selassie, co-founder and director of Pitch Mixer.
“I’m from the East Bay. I know there are so many talented people here. But I had to travel to Mountain View or Palo Alto to go to these kinds of events.”
Wednesday night’s Pitch Mixer is the second Selassie has organized. The first was last month in Oakland City Hall. Nearly 100 people attended to listen to business pitches and then hear the judges dig into the details before rendering judgement. … Continue reading »
The “big clean-up” of downtown Berkeley begins
A clean-up has begun in downtown Berkeley, part of a larger campaign to improve the area’s environment and boost economic development. It is being funded to the tune of $1.2 million by the Property Based Business Improvement District (PBID) that was passed by 71% of local property owners last June.
Last Friday, following three days of training, ten members of the new Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) Cleaning Team in their neon yellow shirts hit the streets en masse. The first day was spent painting furniture and fixtures, and general litter removal and weeding. On Sunday, the team started pressure washing sidewalks on Shattuck north of University.
The intention is to deep-clean and beautify the entire 30-block area of Downtown Berkeley, and the work will include the removal of all graffiti and gum stains, painting all furniture and fixtures, and new landscaping, including new hanging flower baskets. Around $850,000 is being allocated to beautification services and improvements.
The DBA hired Louisville KY-based firm Block By Block to oversee the clean-up and ambassador services. The company has worked on similar projects in downtown Oakland, Santa Monica, and Pasadena, among others. Block By Block is also committed to hiring employees locally, as well as second-chance programs for hiring from social service agency partners. … Continue reading »
Shop Talk: The ins and outs of Berkeley businesses
YOGA TAKEOVER San Francisco company Yoga Tree took over Berkeley’s Yoga Mandala on Telegraph on October 1. It’s the first East Bay outpost for Yoga Tree which offers a range of classes including vinyasa, hatha, pre- and post-natal and restorative yoga. A spokesperson said the studio would be maintaining the Yoga Mandala schedule until the end of October, after which it will introduce more classes, as well as new instructors. Yoga Tree is honoring all existing Yoga Mandala passes. The studio is at 2807 Telegraph Avenue, Tel: 510 486-1989.
FINAL FORAGE Forage, the jewelry and clothing boutique in Trumpetvine Court (2115 Allston Way between Shattuck and Oxford) is to close at the end of this month, according to the Downtown Berkeley Association. Forage offers home furnishing pieces, women’s clothing and shoes, men’s silk ties, and other gift items. Make an appointment, or visit the store on its final weekend, October 29-30, from 1-4pm. Owner Ana Vertel can be reached at 510.912.1985 or at anavertel@hotmail.com. … Continue reading »
How to improve downtown Berkeley? Have your say
The Downtown Berkeley Association is working on implementing a a Strategic Marketing Plan for the the city’s downtown after it was voted a property-based improvement district (PBID) in June.
As part of its analysis work to determine how to enhance the area’s environment and boost economic development, the DBA is soliciting the opinions of Berkeleyans. Do you visit downtown? If not, why not? What is your perception of downtown Berkeley? How could it be improved? What are the priorities you would like … Continue reading »
Downtown Summer Cinema series closes with bang
The finale of Center Street Summer Cinema, a free outdoor movie series launched this year by the Downtown Berkeley Association and sponsored by Berkeleyside, was deemed a success.
An estimated 500 people turned out to see The Big Lebowski, a quintessential Berkeley movie if ever there was one, which was shown on the side of the future Berkeley Art Museum in the Bank of America parking lot.
Before the feature, participants enjoyed free entertainment from Oakland’s Fire Collective … Continue reading »
Tagged Alborz Persian Restaurant, Bank of America, Banks White, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeleyside, Center Street Summer Cinema, Downtown Berkeley, Downtown Berkeley Association, Firehouse Art Collective, Five restaurant, Foxtails Brigade, Laura Weinbach, Oasis restaurant, Shattuck Avenue, Sportivo, The Big Lebowski, tree-sitting
Reminder: Free screening of “The Big Lebowski” tonight
Tonight sees the grand finale of Center Street Summer Cinema, an outdoor movie series in downtown Berkeley sponsored by Berkeleyside.
The Big Lebowski will screen on the wall of the future Berkeley Art Museum in the Bank of America parking lot at around 8:30pm.
Before the main feature starts, from 6:00pm onwards, moviegoers are encouraged to eat al fresco, enjoy musical entertainment — from Laura Weinbach of Foxtails Brigade on violin and the Fire Arts Collective – enjoy pre-movie … Continue reading »
