Berkeley: Still Fun? (San Francisco, Oakland: crime, how much, home)

[guy1]

I used to LOVE visiting Berkeley. The hot dogs, pizza, bands, carnival barkers and generally festive atmosphere meant you were always in for an interesting day.

Now, the old storefronts are boarded up. The corporate, faceless profiteers have moved in. Old mainstays like Blondie's are a shadow of their former selves. The appeal of the enormous record stores is now diminished by instant online downloads.

The '60's dream of community have been replaced by virtual, online communities where people don't care about socializing except to create digital archives of it later on.

Do you still love Berkeley?

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by guy1

I used to LOVE visiting Berkeley. The hot dogs, pizza, bands, carnival barkers and generally festive atmosphere meant you were always in for an interesting day.

Now, the old storefronts are boarded up. The corporate, faceless profiteers have moved in. Old mainstays like Blondie's are a shadow of their former selves. The appeal of the enormous record stores is now diminished by instant online downloads.

The '60's dream of community have been replaced by virtual, online communities where people don't care about socializing except to create digital archives of it later on.

Do you still love Berkeley?

Gosh, I was just over there on the weekend. I haven't been to Telegraph Ave (where I used to hang out on occasion and buy clothing etc- which sounds like the area you're talkin' about) but I was in another neighborhood where I reveled in the diversity and walkability of it all. I actually found it more diverse and more of it's "former self " than San Francisco.

You need to remember that it's not just Berkeley that's being hit with the whole culture of the internet, but the entire country/world. Places are being boarded up everywhere- the whole homogeneous blandness seems to be filtering into every city. People don't hang out like they used to because of Facebook...People don't hang out in Amoeba like they used to either--it's all downloaded now from home (unless your a DJ or something). And now, even the college is big into admitting more kids from out of state since they're willing to pay 50k. Gee--even Berkeley Square's been closed for a very long time now- And more recently even Larry Blake's.

I still love Berkeley though despite all the "modernization" and/or closed institutions.

[Gentoo]

I agree with clongirl. The city has changed quite a bit but still maintains more of it's charm than SF but less of it than Oakland. People really don't hang out as much as clongirl mentioned. Constitution square used to be a gathering place, especially on the weekends. It was one of those places where your age didn't matter as people would converge from Berkeley High and UC Berkeley as well as randoms from god knows where. Plans were made and everyone got together. There are still musicians hanging out around the BART station and sometimes in the square but that old atmosphere is largely a thing of the past. You can still sometimes find one of those east coast style carts with hot dogs and warm pretzels from time to time. Seems to be hit and miss now rather than the same old guy that you got to know. Hippie-Town is still interesting but again it's changing too. Even Berkeley can't resist the pull of cultural homogenization. I no longer lived there and haven't for a very long time so I can't speak of how much it still feels like a community. I remember that feeling though, you knew everyone and everyone knew you in your neighborhood and you knew the people at your local stores by name. It will always be Berkeley though, the city has always changed with the times to some degree.

[CAVA1990]

Yeah my parents use to complain about how things at Cal just weren't the same when I went there in the '70s as when they did in the '40s and just as I'm sure their older siblings did who went there in the '20s. I believe what you are experiencing is codgerdom.

I'll always love it and will accept whatever it becomes. If you want to step back in time there are plenty of places on campus that are the same as what you remembered. I'm only bummed out that Manuels disappeared.

[04kL4nD]

It's way less trashy and drug infested

I dig it

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

It's way less trashy and drug infested

I dig it

I don't know. My home town still has a drug problem and crime can be quite high some years.

I still love it all the same though

[ImRandy]

Originally Posted by guy1

Do you still love Berkeley?

It's still as oppressive as ever.

[NorCal Dude]

The 60's are long gone. When was the last time you were in Berkeley? Things have flipped 180 degrees. The university is more conservative and the city is more liberal

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

The 60's are long gone. When was the last time you were in Berkeley? Things have flipped 180 degrees. The university is more conservative and the city is more liberal

What's funny about this is the fact the UC is no more conservative than other colleges. It's just the city is THAT liberal

[CAVA1990]

The university was pretty conservative back in the late 60s. Many of the rabblerousers weren't even students, although some were. Remember there was a Republican governor in office then too.