Vacations Blog

This local’s perspective was written by Brent Johnson. He has lived in the Berkeley area for years, as a college student and as a young working professional. I met Brent while working at Nolo and I have often thought of him as the ultimate local guide to Berkeley. He knows all the restaurants, bars and cool things to do. This guy gets around–in a good way. Despite his answer to number 10, he also loves the politics of this vibrant, liberal enclave.

1.Give 5 adjectives that you would use to describe the “feel” of Berkeley and its residents. Sophisticated, aware, remote, artsy, liberal

2.What is your favorite neighborhood of Berkeley?
North Berkeley, especially the Gourmet Ghetto, where great restaurants are jammed into an area of four or five blocks.

3.Which cuisine do you think Berkeley does best? What is the runner-up?
Indian cuisine, definitely — Ajanta for the fine dining, Breads of India for a relaxing meal, and Vik’s Chaat Corner for cheap, tasty Indian snacks. Second place goes to Thai, just because there’s so many Thai restaurants around.

4. What is the best free thing to do?
The thing you can’t do in San Francisco itself — check it out from a distance. Go up into the hills and watch the sun set behind The City and the Golden Gate Bridge — the world curves and the bay is breathtaking.

5. What is your favorite type of entertainment?
Here? Eating! Berkeley has so many restaurants, much more than it should for a town its size. Some are world class while others are dirty holes in the wall — but there’s always something interesting to taste…

6. List the best family friendly activity.
Summer street festivals, farmer’s markets (especially the foodstalls), hiking in Tilden Park.

7. What spot would you send a couple, looking for a romantic weekend?
To San Francisco or the North Bay:)

8. Describe a perfect day…one that captures what your area/city is all about. In 3 sentences or less.
The perfect day begins with coffee — particularly Peet’s at Vine and Walnut, home of the original cafe. Wander over to The Cheeseboard Collective a block over and grab some tasty cheese, fresh baked bread, perhaps a slice of pizza. Then go watch the freaky people wander up and down Shattuck Avenue. Berkeley is one of the most beautiful places on Earth to people watch!

9. Tell us about a place that you love to go, whether it is in the guidebooks or not.
I love, love, LOVE Comic Relief, one of the best places in the world to check out an underappreciated medium. They work hard to stock the best of popular culture, and even if you don’t care for comics, you’ll find yourself smiling at something you find.

10. What should we have asked, but didn’t?
Berkeley’s politics are so liberal they border on fascism.

I live just across the bridge from Berkeley & Oakland and I think these two cities are often overlooked by my friends and neighbors, who usually go south into the city for entertainment. I love Berkeley’s politics, the college influenced environment and the entertainment Oakland offers for families. East bay residents will have other suggestions, but here are my favorites for kids under the age of nine:

Aquatic Park—This small park in Berkeley has a nice concrete path along the “lake” suitable for trikes, strollers and little bikes. Kids can feed the ducks and play for hours on the large play structure on the north end of the park. Best of all, real trains go by on the tracks located right near the play structure and the conductors always wave back at the kids. This is fascinating for my kids. It beats a Thomas the Train video any day.

East Bay Vivarium—This is a wonderful weird place filled with snakes, lots of snakes, especially boa constrictors. It also happens to be one of the largest reptile stores in the nation. My young son can spend an hour looking at the exotic reptiles for sale here. If you ask , you can touch the a snake or two (ummm, I don’t ask.) They also have frogs, spiders and turtles. The turtles are nice. This is a creepy, crawly place and is fun for about an hour. It is one block from Berkeley’s 4^th Street which has several good restaurants, stores and a bookstore and it is only ten minutes from Aquatic park. The vivarium, park and 4th street are a nice way to spend morning, just enough to entertain a young toddler before a nap is needed.

Chabot Space & Science Center—The space center is a nice evening for kids and adults. Winter is a good time to visit because of the night time stargazing they offer through their huge telescopes. Once summer comes, the sky is too light until after nine o’clock to see much, too late for most kids. I suggest you have dinner in one of Berkeley’s or Montclair’s many restaurants and then venture to the nearby space center. My nine year daughter, who introduced me to the planetarium through her brownie troop recommends you go to “learn about outer space and see an interesting , wonderful, and amazing dinosaur show. After walking through all the exhibits about meteors, planets, and an astronaut’s life in a rocket ship you can dash to the telescopes and look beyond the starry night and enter a universe filled with many questions.” The place is interesting to kids and adults. I love gazing at star clusters millions of miles away.

The Oakland Zoo—I have always liked this zoo and used to go almost weekly when my kids were in pre-school. It is just the right size for little legs to wander without getting tired, the children’s exhibit is entertaining, the fruit bats horrifyingly interesting and the lunch spot is in the shade next to the flamingos. Does it get any better than that? It is also much warmer than the San Francisco zoo and more accessible for young kids. A bonus is the little rides park adjacent to the zoo entrance. The rides are fun for the kids and give a break to the “zooed out” parent. This zoo is safe, comfortable and just right for the animal lover in all of us.

There is also the Lawrence Hall of Science, a UC Berkeley Science & Math center, Tilden Park, one of the oldest and most popular parks in the bay area and Berkeley Iceland, a funky ice skating rink. If you need more information on anything in the Bay Area, I recommend the Berkeley Parent’s Network, a collection of tips, advice and discussion on everything for parents and visitors in the bay area.