Berkeley, California Berkeley, California City of Berkeley Downtown Berkeley viewed from the Berkeley Hills, with San Francisco in the background Downtown Berkeley viewed from the Berkeley Hills, with San Francisco in the background Official seal of Berkeley, California Left: Alameda County (highlighted) inside California.Right: the City of Berkeley (highlighted) inside Alameda County.
Right: the City of Berkeley (highlighted) inside Alameda County.
Berkeley (/ b rkli / burk-lee) is a town/city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California.
Its easterly border with Contra Costa County generally follows the ridge of the Berkeley Hills.
Berkeley is home to the earliest ground in the University of California system, the University of California, Berkeley, and to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is managed and directed by the University.
The site of today's City of Berkeley was the territory of the Chochenyo/Huchiun band of the Ohlone citizens when the first Europeans arrived. Evidence of their existence in the region include pits in modern formations, which they used to grind acorns, and a shellmound, now mostly leveled and veiled up, along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay at the mouth of Strawberry Creek.
The first citizens of European descent (most of whom were born in America, and many of whom were of different ancestry) appeared with the De Anza Expedition in 1776. Today, this is noted by signage on Interstate 80, which runs along the San Francisco Bay shoreline of Berkeley.
The De Anza Expedition led to establishment of the Spanish Presidio of San Francisco at the entrance to San Francisco Bay (the Golden Gate), which is due west of Berkeley.
For his services to the King of Spain, he was granted a vast stretch of territory on the east shore of San Francisco Bay (the contra costa, "opposite shore") for a ranch, including that portion that now comprises the City of Berkeley.
No artifact survives of the Domingo or Vicente ranches, but their names survive in Berkeley street names (Vicente, Domingo, and Peralta).
However, legal title to all territory in the City of Berkeley remains based on the initial Peralta territory grant.
Politically, the region that became Berkeley was initially part of a vast Contra Costa County.
The region of Berkeley was at this reconstructionmostly a mix of open land, farms and ranches, with a small though busy wharf by the bay.
As seen from Indian Rock Park in the North Berkeley hills.
Berkeley is in the foreground, with the Berkeley Marina and Cesar Chavez Park just beyond.
It settled on a locale north of Oakland along the foot of the Contra Costa Range (later called the Berkeley Hills) astride Strawberry Creek, at an altitude about 500 feet (150 m) above the bay, commanding a view of the Bay Area and the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate.
One of them, Frederick Billings, thought of the lines of the Anglo-Irish Anglican Bishop George Berkeley, 'westward the course of empire takes its way,' and suggested that the town and college site be titled for the eighteenth-century Anglo-Irish philosopher." Although the philosopher's name is pronounced "bark-lee", the pronunciation of the city's name has evolved to suit American English as "burk-lee". To this end, they laid out a plat and street grid that became the basis of Berkeley's undivided street plan.
In 1876, a branch line of the Central Pacific Railroad, the Berkeley Branch Railroad, was laid from a junction with the mainline called Shellmound (now a part of Emeryville) into what is now downtown Berkeley.
In 1876, the state enacted the "mile limit law", which forbade sale or enhance consumption of alcohol inside one mile (1.6 km) of the new University of California. Then, in 1899 Berkeley inhabitants voted to make their town/city an alcohol-free zone.
In 1878, the citizens of Ocean View and the region around the college campus, together with small-town farmers, incorporated as the Town of Berkeley.
The undivided age came quickly to Berkeley, no doubt due to the influence of the university.
A silent film of one of these early streetcars in Berkeley can be seen at the Library of Congress website: "A Trip To Berkeley, California" Berkeley's slow expansion ended abruptly with the Great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
In 1904, the first hospitals in Berkeley were created: the Alta Bates Sanatorium for women and children, established by nurse Alta Bates on Walnut Street, and the Roosevelt (later, Herrick) Hospital, by Dr.
In 1908, a statewide popular vote that proposed moving the California state capital to Berkeley was defeated by a margin of about 33,000 votes. The town/city named streets around the proposed capitol grounds for California counties.
In 1909, the people of Berkeley adopted a new charter, and the Town of Berkeley became the City of Berkeley.
The Great Depression hit Berkeley hard, but not as difficult as many other places in the U.S., thanks in part to the university.
The element berkelium was synthesized utilizing the 60-inch cyclotron at UC Berkeley, and titled in 1949, recognizing the university, thus also placing the city's name in the list of elements.
During the 1940s, many African Americans migrated to Berkeley. In 1950, the Enumeration Bureau reported Berkeley's populace as 11.7% black and 84.6% white. In that period, Berkeley especially Telegraph Avenue became a focal point for the hippie movement, which spilled over the Bay from San Francisco.
An iconic event in the Berkeley Sixties scene was a conflict over a parcel of college property south of the adjoining ground site that came to be called "People's Park." The battle over the disposition of People's Park resulted in a month-long occupation of Berkeley by the National Guard on orders of then-Governor Ronald Reagan.
A spin-off, "People's Park Annex", was established at the same time by activist people of Berkeley on a strip of territory above the Bay Area Rapid Transit subway assembly along Hearst Avenue northwest of the U.C.
The era of large enhance protest in Berkeley waned considerably with the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
While the 1960s were the heyday of liberal activism in Berkeley, it remains one of the most overwhelmingly Democratic metros/cities in the United States.
Shattuck Avenue at Center Street in downtown Berkeley as seen in 1973 The Berkeley populace declined in the 1970s, partly due to an exodus to the suburbs.
Some moved because of the rising cost of living throughout the Bay Area, and the rest because of the diminish and disappearance of many industries in West Berkeley.
Nancy Skinner became the first UC Berkeley student propel to City Council.
In 1986, in reaction to the 1984 election, a ballot measure switched Berkeley from at-large to district-based elections for town/city council. In 1983, Berkeley's Domestic Partner Task Force was established, which in 1984 made policy recommendation to the school board, which passed domestic partner legislation.
South and West Berkeley underwent gentrification, with some historically Black neighborhoods such as the Adeline Corridor seeing a 50% diminish in Black / African American populace from 1990 to 2010. In the 1990s, Public Television's Frontline documentary series featured race relations at Berkeley's only enhance high school, Berkeley High School. With an economy dominated by the University of California and a high-demand housing market, Berkeley was mostly unaffected by the Great Recession.
The developer, Panoramic Interests, followed up with a total of 368 apartements in 7 buildings between 1998 and 2004. Soon afterwards, other developers also began building in Berkeley.
One of the buildings from this era was the site of the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse disaster.
In 2006, the Berkeley Oak Grove Protest began protesting assembly of a new sports center annex to Memorial Stadium at the cost of a grove of oak trees on the UC campus.
In 2007 2008, Berkeley received media consideration due to demonstrations against a Marine Corps recruiting office in downtown Berkeley and a series of controversial motions by Berkeley's town/city council regarding opposition to Marine recruiting.
During the fall of 2010, the Berkeley Student Food Collective opened after many protests on the UC Berkeley ground due to the proposed opening of the fast food chain Panda Express.
Students and improve members worked together to open a collectively run grocery store right off of the UC Berkeley campus, where the improve can buy local, cyclic, humane, and organic foods.
On September 18, 2012, Berkeley became what may be the first town/city in the U.S.
The Measure D soda tax was allowed by Berkeley voters on November 4, 2014, the first such tax in the United States. In the Fall of 2011, the nationwide Occupy Wall Street boss came to two Berkeley locations: on the ground of the University of California and as an encampment in Civic Center Park.
During a Black Lives Matter protest on December 6, 2014, police use of tear gas and batons to clear protestors from Telegraph Avenue led to a brawl and five consecutive days and evenings of protests, marches, and freeway occupations in Berkeley and Oakland. Afterwards, shifts were implemented by the Police Department to avoid escalation of violence and to protect antagonisms amid protests. According to the United States Enumeration Bureau the city's 17.7 square miles (46 km2) region includes 10.5 square miles (27 km2) of territory and 7.2 square miles (19 km2) (40.83%) water, most of it part of San Francisco Bay.
Berkeley borders the metros/cities of Albany, Oakland, and Emeryville and Contra Costa County, including unincorporated Kensington, as well as San Francisco Bay.
Berkeley lies inside telephone region code 510 (until September 2, 1991, Berkeley was part of the 415 telephone code that now covers only San Francisco and Marin counties), and the postal ZIP codes are 94701 through 94710, 94712, and 94720 for the University of California campus.
Most of Berkeley lies on a rolling sedimentary plain that rises gently from sea level to the base of the Berkeley Hills.
The highest peak along the ridge line above Berkeley is Grizzly Peak, altitude 1,754 feet (535 m).
A number of small creeks run from the hills to the Bay through Berkeley: Cerrito, Codornices, Schoolhouse and Strawberry Creeks are the principal streams.
The Berkeley Hills are part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, and run in a northwest southeast alignment.
Of similar age to the Moraga Volcanics (extinct), inside the Northbrae neighborhood of Berkeley, are outcroppings of erosion resistant rhyolite.
Indian Rock Park in the northeastern part of Berkeley near the Arlington/Marin Circle features a large example.
Berkeley is traversed by the Hayward Fault Zone, a primary branch of the San Andreas Fault to the west.
The current assessment is that a Bay Area earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater inside the next 30 years is likely, with the Hayward Fault having the highest likelihood among faults in the Bay Area of being the epicenter. Moreover, like much of the Bay Area, Berkeley has many areas of some threat to soil liquefaction, with the flat areas closer to the shore at low to high susceptibility. It produced a furrow in the ground along the fault line in Berkeley, athwart the grounds of the new State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind then under construction, which was noted by one early University of California professor.
Although no momentous damage was reported to most of the several Berkeley buildings of the time, the 1868 quake did destroy the vulnerable adobe home of Domingo Peralta in north Berkeley. Berkeley's locale directly opposite the Golden Gate ensures that typical eastward fog flow blankets the town/city more often than its neighbors. The summers are cooler than a typical Mediterranean climate thanks to upwelling ocean currents along the California coast.
On October 20, 1991, gusty, hot winds fanned a conflagration along the Berkeley Oakland border, killing 25 citizens and injuring 150, as well as destroying 2,449 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units.
Climate data for Berkeley, California (1981 2010) The 2010 United States Enumeration reported that Berkeley had a populace of 112,580.
Berkeley is served by Amtrak (Capitol Corridor), AC Transit, BART (Ashby, Downtown Berkeley Station and North Berkeley) and bus shuttles directed by primary employers including UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Berkeley is the safest town/city of its size in California for pedestrians and cyclists, considering the number of injuries per pedestrian and cyclist, clean water per capita. Berkeley has modified its initial grid roadway structure through use of diverters and barriers, moving most traffic out of neighborhoods and onto arterial streets (visitors often find this confusing, because the diverters are not shown on all maps).
Berkeley maintains a separate grid of arterial streets for bicycles, called Bicycle Boulevards, with bike lanes and lower amounts of car traffic than the primary streets they often alongside.
Several "pods" (points of departure where cars are kept) exist throughout the city, in a several downtown locations, at the Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations, and at various other locations in Berkeley (and other metros/cities in the region).
Berkeley has had recurring enigma with parking meter vandalism.
In 1999, over 2,400 Berkeley meters were jammed, smashed, or sawed apart. Starting in 2005 and closing into 2006, Berkeley began to phase out mechanical meters in favor of more centralized electronic meters.
The first commuter service to San Francisco was provided by the Central Pacific's Berkeley Branch Railroad, a standard gauge steam barns , which terminated in downtown Berkeley, and connected in Emeryville (at a locale then known as "Shellmound") with trains to the Oakland ferry pier as well as with the Central Pacific chief line starting in 1876.
The Berkeley Branch line was extended from Shattuck and University to Vine Street ("Berryman's Station") in 1878.
Starting in 1882, Berkeley trains ran directly to the Oakland Pier. In the 1880s, Southern Pacific assumed operations of the Berkeley Branch.
In 1911, Southern Pacific electrified this line and the a several the rest it constructed in Berkeley, creating its East Bay Electric Lines division.
The Shattuck line was extended and connected with two other Berkeley lines (the Ninth Street Line and the California Street line) at Solano and Colusa (the "Colusa Wye").
(The Rose Street Undercrossing is not accessible to the public, being situated between what is now two backyards.) The fourth Berkeley line was the Ellsworth St.
Principal lines in Berkeley ran on Euclid, The Arlington, College, Telegraph, Shattuck, San Pablo, University, and Grove (today's Martin Luther King Jr.
The first electric commuter interurban-type trains to San Francisco from Berkeley were put in operation by the Key System in 1903, a several years before the Southern Pacific electrified its steam commuter lines.
1 University of California, Berkeley 14,245 4 City of Berkeley 1,451 5 Berkeley Unified School District 1,166 10 Berkeley City College 260 Main article: List of companies based in Berkeley, California Berkeley is the locale of a number of nationally prominent businesses, many of which have been pioneers in their areas of operation.
Berkeley has mostly several chain stores for a town/city of its size, due to policies and zoning that promote small businesses and limits to the size of certain types of stores. Shattuck Avenue passes through a several neighborhoods, including the downtown company precinct in Berkeley.
University Avenue runs from Berkeley's bayshore and marina to the University of California campus.
Ashby Avenue (Highway 13), which also runs from Berkeley's bayshore to the hills, joins with the Warren Freeway and Highway 24 dominant to the Caldecott Tunnel, titled for a former Berkeley mayor.
San Pablo Avenue (Highway 123) runs north south through West Berkeley, connecting Oakland and Emeryville to the south and Albany to the north.
Telegraph Avenue, which runs north-south from the college campus to Oakland, historically the site of much of the hippie culture of Berkeley.
Solano Avenue, a primary street for shopping and restaurants, runs east-west near the north end of Berkeley, closing into Albany.
The Eastshore Freeway (I-80 and I-580) runs along Berkeley's bayshore with exits at Ashby Avenue, University Avenue and Gilman Street.
Berkeley I-80 bridge opened in 2002, an arch-suspension bridge spanning Interstate 80, for bicycles and pedestrians only, giving access from the town/city at the foot of Addison Street to the San Francisco Bay Trail, the Eastshore State Park and the Berkeley Marina.
Berkeley's Network of Historic Pathways Berkeley has a network of historic pathways that link the winding neighborhoods found in the hills and offer panoramic lookouts over the East Bay.
See also: List of Berkeley neighborhoods Berkeley has a number of distinct neighborhoods.
West of the ground is Downtown Berkeley, the city's traditional commercial core; home of the civic center, the city's only enhance high school, the busiest BART station in Berkeley, as well as a primary transfer point for AC Transit buses.
Most of Berkeley's neighborhoods are primarily made up of detached homes, often with separate in-law units in the rear, although larger apartment buildings are also common in many neighborhoods.
West of (and including) San Pablo Avenue, a primary commercial corridor, is West Berkeley, the historic commercial center of the city, and the former unincorporated town of Ocean View.
West Berkeley contains the remnants of Berkeley's industrialized area, much of which has been replaced by retail and office uses, as well as residentiary live/work loft space, with the diminish of manufacturing in the United States.
The areas of South and West Berkeley are in the midst of redevelopment.
Along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay at the foot of University Avenue is the Berkeley Marina.
Nearby is Berkeley's Aquatic Park, featuring an artificial linear lagoon of San Francisco Bay.
North of Downtown is the North Berkeley neighborhood, which has been nicknamed the "Gourmet Ghetto" because of the concentration of well-known restaurants and other food-related businesses.
West of North Berkeley is Westbrae, a small neighborhood through which part of the Ohlone Greenway runs.
Meanwhile, further north of North Berkeley are Northbrae, a master-planned subdivision from the early 20th century, and Thousand Oaks.
Above these last three neighborhoods, on the slopes of the Berkeley Hills are the neighborhoods of Cragmont and La Loma Park, notable for their dramatic views, winding streets, and various enhance stairways and paths.
Apartments and other higher density housing in Berkeley, California Doe Memorial Library, the chief library of the University of California, Berkeley Libraries.
Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay at eveningfall, as seen from the Lawrence Hall of Science.
University of California, Berkeley Berkeley Public Library (Shattuck Avenue at Kittridge Street) The Campanile (Sather Tower) in the University of California, Berkeley campus.
The Edible Schoolyard is a one-acre garden at Martin Luther King Middle School (Berkeley) Berkeley High School The town/city has planted trees for years and is a prestige in the nationwide accomplishment to re-tree urban areas. Tilden Regional Park, lies east of the city, occupying the upper extent of Wildcat Canyon between the Berkeley Hills and the San Pablo Ridge.
The Berkeley Marina and East Shore State Park flank its shoreline at San Francisco Bay and organizations like the Urban Creeks Council and Friends of the Five Creeks the former of which is headquartered in Berkeley support the riparian areas in the town and coastlines as well.
Cesar Chavez Park, near the Berkeley Marina, was assembled at the former site of the town/city dump.
165 buildings in Berkeley are designated as small-town landmarks or small-town structures of merit.
Berkeley High School (the city's only enhance high school) and the Berkeley Community Theatre, which is on its campus. Berkeley Women's City Club, now Berkeley City Club Julia Morgan (1929 30) Studio Building, 2045 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA.
Edwards Stadium Located at intersection of Bancroft Way and Fulton Street on University of California, Berkeley ground (80 acres (32 ha), 3 buildings, 4 structures, 3 objects; added 1993).
Site of the Clark Kerr Campus, UC Berkeley until 1980, this locale homed the State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, also known as The California Schools for the Deaf and Blind Bounded by Dwight Way, the town/city line, Derby Street, and Warring Street (500 acres (2.0 km2), 20 buildings; added 1982).
See List of Berkeley Landmarks, Structures of Merit, and Historic Districts The Campanile and Sather Gate on the UC Berkeley campus.
Berkeley is home to the Chilean-American community's La Pena Cultural Center, the biggest cultural center for this improve in the United States.
Cal Day University of California, Berkeley Open House April Berkeley Arts Festival April and May The Solano Avenue Stroll Solano Avenue, Berkeley and Albany September University of California, Berkeley's chief campus is in the town/city limits.
The Graduate Theological Union, a consortium of nine autonomous theological schools, is positioned a block north of the University of California Berkeley's chief campus.
Wright Institute, a psychology graduate school, is positioned in Berkeley.
Berkeley City College is a improve college in the Peralta Community College District.
Berkeley High School The Berkeley Unified School District operates enhance schools.
The first enhance school in Berkeley was the Ocean View School, now the site of the Berkeley Adult School positioned at Virginia Street and San Pablo Avenue.
The enhance schools today are administered by the Berkeley Unified School District.
In the 1960s, Berkeley was one of the earliest US metros/cities to voluntarily desegregate, utilizing a fitness of buses, still in use.
The town/city has one enhance high school, Berkeley High School (BHS).
The Berkeley High ground was designated a historic precinct by the National Register of Historic Places on January 7, 2008. Saint Mary's College High School, a Catholic school, has its street address in Berkeley, although most of the grounds and buildings are actually in neighboring Albany.
Berkeley has 11 elementary schools and three middle schools.
The East Bay ground of the German International School of Silicon Valley (GISSV) formerly occupied the Hillside Campus, Berkeley, California; it opened there in 2012. In December 2016, the GISSV closed the building, due to unmet seismic retrofit needs. University of California, Berkeley Libraries operates the University of California Berkeley libraries.
See also: List of mayors of Berkeley and Government of Alameda County, California Berkeley has a council manager government. The mayor is propel at-large for a four-year term and is the ceremonial head of the town/city and the chair of the town/city council.
The Berkeley City Council is composed of the mayor and eight council members propel by precinct who each serve four-year terms.
Berkeley is also part of Alameda County, for which the Government of Alameda County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law, and the Charter of the County of Alameda. The county government provides countywide services, such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, enhance health, and civil services.
Main articles: List of citizens from Berkeley, California and List of Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) citizens a b c d "Structure of Berkeley Government".
City of Berkeley.
City of Berkeley.
Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
"George Berkeley Biography".
Berkeley Gazette.
Berkeley 1900: Daily Life at the Turn of the Century, by Richard Schwartz.
"Downtown Berkeley Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey" (PDF).
City of Berkeley.
City of Berkeley.
Exactly Opposite the Golden Gate, edited by Phil Mc - Cardle, presented 1983 by the Berkeley Historical Society, p.251 "Berkeley, A City in History" Archived January 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine..
City of Berkeley.
City of Berkeley.
"Berkeley, CA Home Prices & Housing Information".
"South Berkeley inhabitants mobilize around plan to precarious Adeline Street corridor".
"Berkeley becomes first US town/city to declare Bisexual Pride Day, support 'marginalized' group".
"Berkeley Pushes a Boundary on Medical Marijuana".
"Berkeley, California".
"2010 Enumeration Interactive Population Search: CA - Berkeley city".
"Berkeley CA crime rates and statistics - Neighborhood - Scout".
"Crime in Berkeley, California (CA): murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts, arson, law enforcement employees, police officers, crime map".
Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety in Berkeley, City of Berkeley.
Berkeley Gazette, January 22, 1903 "list of current and past City of Berkeley CAFR's".
Berkeley Inside Out, Malcolm Margolin.
City of Berkeley.
"Berkeley City Council moves to limit abundance of large drugstores".
"Berkeley Path Wanderers Association".
"Berkeley High".
Addison St Freight and Salvage Aug09 City of Berkeley, CA.
"UC Berkeley | Cal Day 2013 | Share".
"Berkeley Kite Festival website".
"2011 Berkeley Juggling & Unicycle Festival".
Berkeley Daily Planet, January 22 24, 2008 "German School opens on historic Berkeley campus".
"Future uncertain for Berkeley school due to unsafe building".
"City of Berkeley Sister Cities".
City of Berkeley.
"Berkeley's Borneo Project Aims to Restore Lands by Teaching Mapping By MATTHEW ARTZ".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Berkeley, California.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Berkeley, California.
Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Berkeley, California Finding Aid to City of Berkeley Records, The Bancroft Library Wikisource-logo.svg "Berkeley, a town/city of Alameda county, California, U.S.A.".
Berkeley, California
Categories:
Berkeley, California - 1878 establishments in California - Cities in Alameda County, California - Cities in the San Francisco Bay Area - Incorporated metros/cities and suburbs in California - Populated places established in the 1850s - Populated places established in 1878 - University suburbs in the United States - Populated coastal places in California
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