Living Like A Local (Pictures)

OR HOW ONE BEGINS TO SEE BERKELEY BETTER, SHINY-ER, AND MORE WONDERFULLY WORN

I knew I was in luck when I began to be able to give directions. Tourists looking for the UC Berkeley campus (my usual direction: "you're already on it."), looking for the BART station, trying to find major roads to go to some some major or minor places. Basically I have gone from a lost, confused, ill-fitting person ("What do you mean you're not a graduate student? You graduated right?" or my favorite "Why did you come to California to study Chinese? Don't they have Chinese classes on the East coast?") to a local! For about 3 weeks, that is. Take a look at the locals-only hangout spots I hit in my last few weeks in Berkeley.

Cheeseboard Collective Pizza and Cheese Shops

My favorite memory here was getting pizza with some Obies during my last week. We sat on the median eating our 2 1/2 slices a piece -- the half slice goes on top of course. The day's pizza? Mushroom, onions, goat cheese, and mozzarella.

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Indian Rock Park

I found this place by becoming horribly lost. (I was trying to find another park to see an outdoor, gorilla-theatre style rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream.) This is a famous park on a huge boulder with a magnificent view of the Bay and San Francisco. Families and couples bring food and alcohol up to the top of this boulder and watch the sun set. Luckily sunset was exactly when I showed up.

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Berkeley Bulb

I was taken here after announcing at a Thai Temple meal that I wanted to see the "real Berkeley" (because I didn't much like living on Frat Row and hoped that other areas of Berkeley had more to offer me). This place is the literal intersection of art, trash, and nature. Throw in some pebble beaches, homeless hippies (with their own library in a shack), huge found-object statues, a tree house, rolling hills, and wild blackberries and you've got Berkeley Bulb.

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Buena Vista Park (in San Francisco)

I also found this park while getting lost. I was looking for Golden Gate Park -- in order to play in a drum circle -- and instead, I ended up here. I played doumbek in the hills of this park. It was super fun, a bit meditative, and I even got complimented on my playing!

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Chinatown (in San Francisco)

I know what you're thinking. How could Chinatown possibly be a locals-only hangout? Well let me tell you, I made it one. My personal mission in Chinatown was to find a great Chinese bakery, where I bought delicious, steamed, stuffed buns (custard and meat ones). I also found some quieter alleyways with murals and interesting locals-only spots.

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UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

I was brought to this beautiful garden in the hills behind I-House by a fellow Obie. When I visited I found the tallest cactus to take a picture with, hung out in the tropical greenhouse to remind me of DC humidity, and explored the Chinese medicinal garden, jokingly diagnosing my friend and I.

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Sutro Baths (in San Francisco)

From Berkeley you take BART all the way into San Francisco. You then take a bus until it hits the end of the line. You've reached the Pacific Ocean and, quite possibly the Sutro Baths. It's this beautiful place by the ocean, ruins of former bathhouses and lots of crashing waves. On the top of the hill we found a dinner which served warm muffins and hot chocolate. It was an awesome visit.

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Other Awesome Things I Did

(L) see Carol Queen speak & (R) get to see an awesome sunset from out of a plane window going across the country