Sunday, April 23, 2023

Berkeley

Berkeley is characterized by the Arts & Crafts style architecture of Julia Morgan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Ratcliff, and Bernard Maybeck, as well as many well-preserved Victorians


The Claremont Hotel 
CC BY-NC 2.0 via greenkozi @ oaklandwiki.org


Berkeley Victorian
CC BY-NC 2.0 via decaseconds @ flickr.com

Much of what we think of as the "California lifestyle" was actually invented not in Southern California (as commonly supposed), but in Northern California.

CC0 via Diablanco @Wikimedia Commons

Peet's Coffee, Alice Waters, Farm-to-Table and the Gourmet Ghetto
The Caffe Latte Invented at the Caffe Mediterraneum in the late 1950’s @ 2475 Telegraph Ave, in Berkeley, CA

https://probaway.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/a-day-at-the-med-coffee-shop-in-berkeley/

Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg, Jerry Rubin, Jack Kerouac, and Patty Hearst were once regulars, as is the unofficial poet laureate of Berkeley, Julia Vinograd.

https://blog.pshares.org/literary-boroughs-9-berkeley-california/

Hot Tubs were first invented in Walnut Creek, CA by an Italian family (who made wooden propellers under military contracts) for personal use and then later developed for commercial use as the Jacuzzi brand, just a few miles away, on San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley, CA.


Many famous people have lived in, worked in, and gone to school in Berkeley, but these individuals are of particular interest to this study:

President Obama's maternal grandfather, Stanley Armour Dunham, an Army veteran, attended U.C. Berkeley, and Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, resided here as well 

According to Berkeley Walks by Bob Johnson, Bill and Hilary Clinton lived at 2267 Derby St. in the Summer of '71

Timothy Leary received his Ph.D. in Psychology from UC Berkeley and then taught there as an assistant professor until 1955. He lived at 1230 Queens Road


Terrence McKenna obtained his bachelor's degree from U.C. Berkeley in 1975 in ecology, shamanism, and conservation of natural resources (prior to this he spent time as a professional butterfly collector in Indonesia). 

Isaac Bonewitz, author of Real Magic, is the only person ever to graduate from an accredited university with a degree in magic from U.C. Berkeley

https://www.dailycal.org/2014/03/17/looking-isaac-bonewits/

Patty Hearst was kidnapped from 2603 Benvenue

Allen Ginsberg wrote Howl in a cottage behind 1624 Milvia St. He also wrote, "A Strange New Cottage" there. Jack Kerouac stayed at the cottage for a time, and his beautiful description brings back the Berkeley that I knew when I stayed at 2607 Milvia St., and houesat for 12 years at 2905 Regent St.

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/03/08/flashback-allen-ginsbergs-strange-new-cottage-berkeley

Ted Kaczynski lived in a converted garage at 2628-A Regent St. while teaching at Cal (U.C. Berkeley)



https://www.diablomag.com/people-style/people/chasing-the-unabomber/article_0c6a40c6-fd12-555a-8423-23d4180a0714.html

Wavy Gravy, M.C. at Woodstock and Merry Prankster (born Hugh Nanton Romney, 1936) lives in a commune @ 1301 Henry St. I saw him outside a number of times while walking down Milvia St. in the 90s

This is an interesting article about Wavy Gravy written by the East Bay's Prince Ray:

https://mindcontrolblackassassins.com/2018/07/13/dont-drink-the-kool-aid-stanford-research-institute-wavy-gravy-jerry-garcia-grateful-dead-the-hart-witches/

According to Wikipedia, "Phillip K. Dick moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family at a young age...When he was five, his father was transferred to Reno, Nevada, and when Dorothy refused to move, she and Joseph divorced. Both fought for custody of Philip, which was awarded to Dorothy. Determined to raise Philip alone, she took a job in Washington, D.C. and moved there with her son. Philip was enrolled at John Eaton Elementary School (1936–1938), completing the second through fourth grades. His lowest grade was a "C" in Written Composition, although a teacher said he "shows interest and ability in story telling". He was educated in Quaker schools. In June 1938, Dorothy and Philip returned to California, and it was around this time that he became interested in science fiction.[18] Dick stated that he read his first science fiction magazine, Stirring Science Stories, in 1940.

Philip K. Dick (c. 1953, age 24)
Dick attended Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California. He and fellow science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin were members of the class of 1947 but did not know each other at the time. He claimed to have hosted a classical music program on KSMO Radio in 1947.[19] From 1948 to 1952, he worked at Art Music Company, a record store on Telegraph Avenue.

He attended the University of California, Berkeley from September 1949 to November 11, 1949, ultimately receiving an honorable dismissal dated January 1, 1950. He did not declare a major and took classes in history, psychology, philosophy, and zoology. Dick dropped out because of ongoing anxiety problems, according to his third wife Anne's memoir. She also says he disliked the mandatory ROTC training. At Berkeley, he befriended poet Robert Duncan and poet and linguist Jack Spicer, who gave Dick ideas for a Martian language...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick

philip k. dick's home:
1126 francisco
berkeley, california 94702

Philip K. Dick moved here with his second wife in 1950 shortly after they were married. They would stay here for eight years. He was a prolific writer of short stories (thirty stories were published in 1953 alone) and his first novels, including Solar Lottery and The Man Who Japed, were also published by Ace books during this time.

https://popturf.com/locations/literature/philip-k-dick/philip-k-dicks-home

The infamous, James Holmes' father had degrees from U.C. Berkeley and Stanford. Holmes himself had a B.S. in neuroscience with the highest honors from theUniversity of California, Riverside. (U.C. Davis professor, Darrell Hamamoto refers to Berkeley, Stanford, and U.C. San Francisco as "the neuro-triangle."

My second husband's paternal grandfather obtained his Ph.D. in Indonesian folk art from Berkeley and published a book on the subject.

My current husband's mother was born in Berkeley. She attended U.C. Berkeley as did her father. My husband's father was born in Oakland, and his father's father and his father's sister attended U.C. Berkeley. His father's father taught there before starting the economics department at U.C. Davis. His father's sister has spent most of her adult life in Indonesia and was Obama's mother, Ann Dunham's, best friend in Indonesia.

Guided tour, map and photos of Berkeley's most famous occultists including Grady McMurtry, and Robert Anton Wilson (also the former editor of Playboy, and Libertarian activist), and historical sites of note (some of my favorite hang-out spots back in the day):

http://www.cornelius93.com/photos-berkeleytour.html

This is an interactive map of the residences and offices of additional Berkeley historical figures of note, from the Counterculture (Owsley "Bear" Stanley and Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin) to actors and writers, and famous scientists such as Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller, as well as other famous locations in Berkeley.

 

Fascinating interview on the origins and history of California, and the origins of the University of California by Jan Irvin and former U.C. Davis professor, Darrell Hamamoto:

“UC” is for “Undercover Cop” - #209
Interesting discussion and video footage of Berkeley, although only showed a few parts but not the most beautiful ones (2022)


This is the "old Berkeley" that I remember and love (from the comments section):

Denver DuBois

1 year ago (edited)

I inherited my mother's house in Berkeley but after some consideration, sadly decided to sell it because Berkeley isn't the funky, friendly place it used to be. I mean...there were a lot of homeless in the '80s, crime too, but it was concentrated in the downtown and mostly just panhandling and petty thievery. The homeless didn't LIVE on the sidewalks.

The rest of Berkeley was still edgy, rebellious and gritty, but it was beautiful too. We used to take walks on the campus as if it was a park, and the parks were great too--especially the Rose Garden with its scenic views of the Bay. But Berkeley was also a blue collar town and affordable. We paid $175 a month for a two bedroom in the mid 1970s. And Berkeley was cool, mellow and, you know, cosmic--the hippie thing, before it went bad and became the weird "me generation" ego trip this video's guest speaks of so eloquently. When I was little, my student babysitter used to do card readings for me and read me stories from "Seth Speaks". Then we'd watch "In Search Of" together and talk about aliens, lol. No lie!

Perhaps the ultimate "old Berkeley" thing was a guy on Essex Street, who, since the 1970s, had a mysterious free communal hot tub in his backyard that, if you played your cards right, you could get the gate code to--but if you were male, you could only visit as the guest of a female. It was an honor system and one transgression got you banned for life. No sex, no booze, no drugs, and no bugging women. Astonishingly, this worked--and well--for decades. I went there myself a few times. It was super heated to keep the chlorine content minimal; I couldn't stay in for long but it was so incredibly peaceful. My friend Dana and I would go late at night on warm evenings. The dude's yard was full of huge redwood trees, like a small forest. You could sit on various little benches there, chatting, or relax in the tub. When other people showed up, they'd nod in a friendly way, maybe talk to each other. Nobody acted creepy that I ever saw. There were even nice showers, and you were politely asked to rinse off before using the tub. Everyone did.

Now, it's a different world. The global elite presence in Berkeley is actually frightening. The mayor's Antifa ties, domestic terrorist and elementary school teacher Yvette Falerca of "BAMN" (By Any Means Necessary), the presence of Soros and his son in town (the son, Alex, is a Berkeley graduate and lives in Berkeley still, last I heard.) Notice how there aren't really violent demonstrations actually IN Berkeley anymore? Ha.

There's a lot of darkness in Berkeley that was never there when I was growing up. Then, it was just disgusting People's Park, occasional creepy government activities on the campus and at Lawrence Lab, and some street people with drug problems. Now the nastiness is festering everywhere just beneath the surface. Berkeley used to be a town full of hard-working ordinary people, bright-eyed young students, pioneering intellectuals and eccentric professors. There were beat era coffeehouses, the best used bookstores outside of NYC and London, jazz musicians, street poets, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday night at the UC Theatre. There were writers, dreamers, yoga teachers, potheads, hot tubs, legendary "Top Dog" hotdogs, and fondue restaurants.

Now... it's tent cities, trash and blight by the bay and multimillion dollar homes in the hills, and angry progressives and professional radical agitators plotting the demise of America as we know it. It's real estate investors, weapons research creepers, yuppies and limousine liberals swanning around the overpriced cheese shops--didja know the word "yuppie" was invented by Alice Kahn, a Berkeley writer? It's the one percent hoarding wealth and power over their pricey dinners at Chez Panisse--didja know that Panisse's owner, Berkeley icon Alice Waters, is buddies with James Alefantis of "Pizzagate" notoriety? You can't make this shit up.

Berkeley has become everything it used to decry and fight against. We've gone from "Subvert The Dominant Paradigm" to leftist authoritarianism worship and "I bought the new Tesla". (20 years ago it was "look at my Mercedes", 10 years ago it was "look at my Prius"...and when I was a kid, it was "look at my VW bus! We're driving it down to Baja to surf this summer!" See the progression?) My late mother went to college at Berkeley in the 1940s because it was a good public university she could afford. She got a decent job and supported her widowed mother. She loved Berkeley, lived there her whole adult life and never wanted to leave. I'm glad she can't see the tent cities and fields full of garbage now. She would cry.

That hot tub owner I mentioned, the one who let strangers use his tub for free, 24/7? After 40 years of simple hippie generosity, he closed up shop. Why? Because mtf trannies attacked him for treating them as biological men and not allowing them unfettered access to his hot tub. That pretty much says it all. The Berkeley my mother and I loved is effectively dead. Thanks for doing this video, man. Nice job.

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