Berkeleyside » Tilden Regional Park

Tilden’s Merry Go Round at heart of seasonal spectacular

Tracey Taylor — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:00:57 +0000

An array of holiday lights creates a festive glow in the dark, rolling hills of Tilden Park. All photos: Nancy Rubin

If you don’t have young kids, the Tilden Park Merry Go Round Christmas Fantasy in the Woods will probably make you want to go out and find some just so you have an excuse to visit.

Running every evening through December 23, the event sees the much-loved antique carrousel transformed into a whimsical holiday spectacular.

When Berkeleyside contributing photographer Nancy Rubin visited recently, not only did she meet Santa, but also a live camel and a Shetland pony. She said the whole effect was “magical indeed”.

The vintage carrousel, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, is decorated for the holiday season

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Read the rest of Tilden’s Merry Go Round at heart of seasonal spectacular (184 words)

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Tilden Carrousel, Tilden Merry Go Round, Tilden Park Merry Go Round Christmas Fantasy in the Woods, Tilden Regional Park

Summer camps: the great outdoors a stone’s throw away

Tracey Taylor — Fri, 27 May 2011 13:00:52 +0000

The East Bay Regional Park District still has scholarships (“camperships”) available for its summer day camps — and it is keen to ensure they all get claimed by under-resourced families.

The camps include Little Farm and Junior Lifeguards camps at Tilden Regional Park, as well as swim lessons at Roberts Park in Oakland.

The photographs here demonstrate just how much fun kids can have spending time in Berkeley’s great outdoors.

Financial aid is available for qualifying families. Applications are due at least three weeks before the week your child would like to attend camp. For more information visit the East Bay Regional Parks website or call 1 (888) 327-2757 (option 2, then 3).

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Berkeley summer camps, East Bay Regional Park District, Tilden Little Farm, Tilden Regional Park

A mother’s day, the Berkeley way

Guest contributor — Tue, 11 May 2010 03:00:25 +0000

Jane Stillwater with her daughter Ruby in 1979. Photo: Jane Scherr.

Jane Stillwater is the quintessential Berkeley mom. After reading our recent coverage of the “Your Mom is So Berkeley” website, she wrote this delightful account of her quintessential Berkeley Mothers’ Day. Stillwater, a grandmother as well as a mom, has four children and lives in Berkeley.

Did you know that there’s a website out now that is completely devoted to jokes about Berkeley moms? Blond jokes and Polish jokes are out now. Berkeley Mom jokes are in. “My mom is so Berkeley that….”

Hey, I’m a Berkeley mom. So when my daughter Ashley and son Joe asked me what I wanted to do for Mothers’ Day this year, I got to thinking about Berkeley. “Hey, I’ve got an idea. Let’s drive around Berkeley to all the places we used to hang out at when you guys were kids.” Tot lots? Soccer fields? Elementary schools? No way! My kids had different kinds of memories about their pasts.

First we went to the Caffe Mediterraneum up on Telegraph Avenue, where I used to sit and gossip in the 1970s and drink caffe lattes while my kids played under the table. Other kids may have gone to Blue Fairyland for daycare but not mine!

“My mom was so Berkeley that she raised me at the Med.”

Then we drove by People’s Park. “I was there when we first started to plant its gardens back in 1969,” I told the kids. “I was there for the riots and the tear gas. And I got my picture on the front page of the Berkeley Barb during our victory parade.”

That’s just great. “My mom is so Berkeley that she was a cover girl for the Berkeley Barb….”

Then we drove by the University of California. I always measure my life by this benchmark: “Am I having as much fun now as I did while going to Cal back in the 1960s?” And the answer is still always no.

“My mom is so Berkeley that she used to take us to hunger strikes up on Sproul Plaza.” And I still do.

Next we drove down past the old Mandrake’s nightclub, where I first met one of the backup guitarists for a band called Joy of Cooking. Two months later I was pregnant. “That’s not my child and goodbye,” said the lead singer for a band named Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen.

“My mom is so Berkeley that she spends our entire Mothers Day making us listen to stories about when she was a Flower Child.” Damn straight. And before that I was a Beatnik. And don’t you forget it.(...)

Read the rest of A mother’s day, the Berkeley way (850 words)

By guest. | Permalink | 6 comments |
Post tags: Caffe Mediterraneum, Cheese Board, Jane Stillwater, Lake Anza, Madrake's Nightclub, Mother's Day, Mothers Motors, People's Park, Tilden Regional Park, UC Berkeley, Woolsey Street House, Your Mom is So Berkeley

$1,000 reward offered in missing Tilden goat case

Tracey Taylor — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:43:57 +0000

Exclusive to Berkeleyside: East Bay Regional Parks is offering a $1,000 reward for the safe return of Honey the goat, as well as the arrest and conviction of the person, or persons, who took her.

Honey went missing from Tilden Little Farm on the evening of January 7 and her disappearance has caused a wave of media interest, as well as a huge number of calls from the public who are variously outraged and concerned, says David Zuckermann, the park’s supervising naturalist. “It’s the one silver lining in all this.”

East Bay Regional Parks is offering the reward after a concerned Oakland resident offered to put up a $500 reward. The park district decided to match the sum and is hoping it proves fruitful.

So far there have been many sightings — from across the East Bay, including Richmond and El Sobrante — but none have turned up Honey, who has an ID tag with an identification number in one ear.

Anyone with information about Honey’s possible whereabouts should contact the Regional Parks police on 510-881 1833.

By Tracey Taylor. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Honey the goat, Tilden Little Farm, Tilden Regional Park