Walking Berkeley

I had seriously hoped to have many posts about people walking every street of cities in different parts of the world, but this may not be the case. I found plenty of every-street walkers in New York and California, but not many in other places. In the U.S., Francine Corcoran walked every street in Minneapolis. In New Mexico, Suzanne is walking all 400 miles of Catron County.

Outside of the U.S., Bob and Linda are walking the streets of Dunedin, New Zealand. In Australia, Alan Waddell is walking every street of the Sydney suburbs (over 200 suburbs as of this writing). Also in Australia, Spike — who maintains the blog This Isn’t Sydney — walked the streets of Woy Woy and is continuing on with the towns and suburbs in Brisbane Water (north Broken Bay, in New South Wales). Spike’s walking plan has been inspirational in terms of thinking about my own walking. After I finish walking all of Berkeley, I would like to continue with neighboring communities and other towns in the Bay Area. Spike has a nice set of maps that show his walks, which — like Berkeley and its environs — are situated on a bay.

Although I did plenty of it earlier in my life, I really began to appreciate walking when I went to London for a semester in college. When I didn’t have classes or other activities, I spent hours walking everywhere in the city, either directly from my flat or by picking a random Tube stop and getting off and walking from there. It was winter, and an unusually cold one for London, so I had a hard time convincing my friends and classmates (who were from California and Hawaii) to go on walks, even with promises of stops at pubs along the way. It was their loss — it really was a great way to get to know the city. In the 1930s, Phyllis Pearsall walked all of London’s streets and went on to found the A-Z Map Company. I have not been able to find any information about anyone else doing this since then, in London or elsewhere in the UK. There is, however, a novel (which I have not read yet) by Geoff Nicholson called Bleeding London that features a character who walks every street in London.

I have not yet found instances of every-street walkers in other parts of the world. Of course, there may well be others that I have missed because I have only searched for material in English.

A walk past a community garden in the Bay Area is pleasant at any time of the year. Even in the middle of winter, the weather is mild enough for greens and root vegetables to survive and grow a bit. But fall is an especially fun time to see what is happening in the gardens. Pumpkins are still on the vine, tomatoes and peppers are making a final push, and some of the other vegetables are starting to die down to the ground. There are several community gardens in Berkeley, many of which are part of the Berkeley Community Gardening Collaborative. The gardens are open to the public for several hours each week, and most welcome volunteers at garden workdays.

The once barren piece of land on the BART right-of-way at Hopkins and Peralta streets is now the site of a trio of community gardens — Peralta, Northside, and Karl Linn. Thanks to landscape architect and community activist Karl Linn (who passed away in 2005) and a host of volunteers, this land is now filled with vegetable plots, herbs, fruit trees, and native plants.

A 10th anniversary party was recently held at the Peralta Community Garden, which — in addition to garden plots and an herb and native plant circle — showcases a variety of sculpture, paintings, metalwork, and other pieces by local artists. The documentary film A Lot in Common tells the story of the garden. Connecting to Peralta is the Northside Garden, which features a beautiful straw bale toolshed. Across the street is the Karl Linn Garden and the EcoHouse, with a permaculture demonstration garden. And outside the gardens, California Habitats Indigenous Activists (CHIA) has been restoring a section of the Ohlone Greenway with local native plants.

Photo by Joe Reifer

The contrast between the hills and the flatlands of Berkeley comes up often in historical accounts of Berkeley and in current-day conversations about Berkeley. I have talked to a number of people who own homes in the flatlands of Berkeley but hope someday to “trade up” to a house in the hills. I have also encountered some envy and even a few disparaging remarks about the “hill people.” For the most part, though, people seem to appreciate the variety offered by the different parts of town. After a number of walks in the hills, I began to notice that the Berkeley hills are somewhat different from the affluent hilly neighborhoods that I have encountered in other parts of the Bay Area and beyond. There are plenty of large homes with sweeping views of the Bay, but there are also some modest homes mixed in. The photo here (taken earlier this year — I just remembered it after a recent and surprisingly difficult search for a notary) shows a view of a small, one-story ranch house up in the hills. The other houses on the street were much larger, but this one sat amongst them appearing to be untouched by any remodeling.

Another characteristic of the hills is very apparent to a walker is the lack of businesses. Most other neighborhoods have a commercial strip of some sort in the vicinity. It would definitely present a challenge to the walker or cyclist, but I have not doubt there are at least a few people who live in the hills without a car and find ways to haul their groceries up the streets and stairways. One day on a Sunday morning walk on a street bordering Tilden Park, a woman walking out of a house asked me if I knew where she might get some cigarettes around there. It appeared as though she had been at a party up there and stayed the night. I had to break the news to her that she was a long way from a corner store.

Gary over at runs brooklyn/brooklyn runs asked to hear more about the planning process for my walks, whether I carry a map, etc., so I thought I would explain it for others who might be interested. Gary, who is in the process of running every street in Brooklyn, documents all of the details of his runs (distance, time, temperature, etc.) in addition to providing interesting commentary on the neighborhoods.

Before I go on a walk, I pull out my map and decide which neighborhood I want to visit that day. I try to vary what part of town I pick with each walk or with every other walk, so that I can compare and contrast different areas. On a small piece of paper I start writing out directions for a walk, with the distance based on how much time I have to walk that day. Sometimes I will write in an optional addition to the route to walk if I end up having more time. With any luck, I can follow the directions without having to pull out the map during the walk. I carry the map with me in case I need to use it, but generally try to be discreet about it. When I am walking alone in neighborhoods that tend to have higher incidences of crime, I never pull out a map or give any indication that I don’t know where I am going. It would be nice to not have to worry about these things, but as woman walking alone I have to be realistic about the potential dangers of appearing hesitant or lost.

Generally on my walks I take notes in addition to photos. When I get home, I mark the completed streets on the map, and transfer my notes into a master notebook for the walk. I do not record details like distance, time, weather, etc. Normally, it would be more appealing to me to keep a detailed journal or spreadsheet, and this is precisely the reason I have not done it for this project. I tend towards more scientific, goal-oriented methods for my other projects and interests, so I thought it would be good to break out of that habit and try to be okay with a more free-form approach once in awhile. Sometimes it is difficult. This weekend my walk was going smoothly until I could not find the street where I was supposed to turn next. It was not a good area to be pulling out the map, so I had to keep going and hope to eventually get back on track. I was frustrated that something had gone wrong, but in fact it turned out okay in the end. I got back to the route and, though I missed a couple of streets I wanted to walk, I walked a couple of other streets that I had planned on leaving for another time.

Of course if I had a limited amount of time to walk (or had to contend with a much larger area and more harsh weather conditions), I would be much more precise about my planning. And as I approach the end of walking every street, I imagine I will be a bit more careful to avoid going back to an area to get one or two streets I missed.

Photo by Joe Reifer

One mystery solved (banana trees), two more added to the list: a strange tram and a pulley device. The trolley pictured above might seem perfectly normal in a park or in front of a historical museum. But no — this very short tram is in someone’s front yard in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood. Grocery transport system? Part of a railfan’s collection? Fun for the children? Hard to say.

Across town, not far from University and San Pablo, is a strange weight/pulley system attached to the side of an apartment building. The weight (at least that’s what I think this is) is just hanging from the cord attached to the balcony at the next level up. I have seen all sorts of laundry lines, dumbwaiters, fire escape systems, etc., but I could not immediately see the purpose of this object. Perhaps something is missing from the system. Any clues about this device would be greatly appreciated!

I received quite a few messages in response to my fruit trees post last month, including a couple of tips about fruiting banana trees in the area. The first one is near San Pablo, several blocks south of the north Berkeley border. It difficult to tell from the photo, but this is a very big banana tree. It seems hard to believe that got to be that size in outdoors in Berkeley, which is far from a tropical environment. Just over the Berkeley border on San Pablo is another tree in front of Ruen Pair, a Thai restaurant. I am familiar with the seasons for most fruit, but have no idea when bananas would be growing, so I was pleasantly surprised to find actual bananas growing on the tree! My next task will be to find out if any nurseries carry these trees. Interestingly, I recently wandered through Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (a favorite nursery of many Berkeley gardeners) on a recent walk and noticed that they had a few tropical fruit trees such as mangoes and guavas. I asked an employee whether they would really fruit here, and he said it was unclear whether they would; you really have to have to find the right spot and protect it from frost (not usually much frost here) and maybe in several years, if you are lucky, you will get a fruit or two. I may be willing to take that chance if I find a banana tree.

Also related to the fruit trees post, I found that Michael Pollan’s recent book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” includes a brief description of looking for fruit from neighborhood fruit trees in Berkeley. Actually, there are a few mentions of Berkeley in the book (Pollan is currently teaching at the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism), most notably his commentary on a visit to the Berkeley Whole Foods Market, which generated a response from the Whole Foods CEO. In one of the meals he prepares as part of this book, he includes bing cherries from a tree in Berkeley and chamomile gathered in Claremont Canyon.

Though I understand the reasons why some people prefer to walk indoors at the gym on a treadmill, I would be bored out of my mind in under 5 minutes of walking on that giant conveyor belt staring outside where I could be walking. Of course most gyms have many more options for exercise, but they are also fairly expensive. One of the nice benefits of walking outside, in addition to all of the interesting experiences, is getting a bit of exercise along the way. No sign-up fee and monthly charges. If I wanted more exercise on a walk and was creative, I could come up with other ways to exercise for free. Walk to a local track for some laps. Run up stairs. Stop at a park and do some stretching exercises on the lawn. But the option that intrigues me the most is the outdoor fitness course (commonly known by the brand name Parcourse). The Parcourse is a set of exercise stations set along a path or trail. There might be sit-ups, pull-ups, a balance beam, and others, along with instructional signs. You would do an exercise, walk or jog to the next station, and so on until the end. Growing up in the suburban Bay Area, I remember the popularity of the Parcourse. As this article from Outside magazine notes, the Parcourse peaked in the mid-1980s and then faded from popularity.

I still think the Parcourse was a great idea, but it appears to have faded here in Berkeley as with other places. I have seen Parcourses out at the Berkeley Marina, at the Aquatic Park, and along the Ohlone Greenway. I tried on a few occasions to do the Parcourse circuit, and failed mostly because the stations were damaged. The station I show here is actually still usable despite the missing sign, but in other cases crucial parts of the equipment were missing. On the Ohlone Greenway, there are at least two, if not more different Parcourses, and I got really confused trying to find the next station in a particular course. My best guess is that they were funded and installed by different cities along the Greenway. Also (thought while doing jumping jacks alone, as cars and people passed by), many people would probably be less self-conscious and more motivated to do the Parcourse if others were doing it along with them. Berkeley has many “Friends of” groups for parks, trails, creeks, etc., but it does not appear that anyone has yet organized a “Friends of the Berkeley Outdoor Fitness Courses” group.

You may remember my post awhile ago about the playground construction at Cedar-Rose Park. A trip by there this weekend showed definite progress. It’s not done yet, and the turtle has not yet been re-installed, but the structure of the play equipment is there. Appearing closer to completion is the multi-use pathway along a portion of the Santa Fe right-of-way stretching from Delaware Street to University Avenue. The current section of the path that has been paved ends up at Berkeley Montessori School, which resides in what was one the Berkeley train depot for the Santa Fe Railroad.

Much of the rest of the right-of-way, which used to be the route of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, is currently fenced off. Various proposals have been made for a continuous path along the right-of-way, from the Ohlone Greenway in the north through to Sacramento and Oregon streets in the south. All of this takes time and money, though. In the mean time, it will be interesting to observe this section of the trail, especially at the University end. Will students use the trail to walk or ride their bikes to school? Will traffic on University be affected by the crossing? (University is a thoroughfare to the freeway, and is regularly backed up with traffic to the site of this crossing.) After I had spent some time on the path with no one else in sight for some time and was walking back and pondering these questions, I was suddenly passed by a cyclist who seemed like he had used this route many times in the past even though it had just been built.

The recent closing of Cody’s Books on Telegraph Ave. sparked a flurry of responses about the commercial strip going downhill and opinons about what should be done to improve the area. One of the topics of discussion has been what to do about the numerous homeless youth who hang out on the street. Right after Cody’s closed, I went for a walk down Telegraph with a woman (I refer to her as J. througout this post in the interest of her privacy) who had come to Telegraph Ave. in 1970, as a runaway teenager. She gave me some newspaper clippings from the time, one of which (Berkeley Daily Gazette, July 17, 1970) carried the headline “Police Begin Crackdown on City’s Summer Runaways.” Much as today’s articles have stated, this article mentions the city’s desire to get a handle on “transient-caused problems.”

Our walk started at the student union building at Sproul Plaza at the edge of the U.C. Berkeley campus, which is where J. first met up with a young man who helped her and some of the many other young people who came to Berkeley during this time period. As we walked south on Telegraph from the campus, J. pointed out where the many craft-oriented businesses existed on Telegraph at the time, many more than the few tables along the sidewalks now (some of which sell bumper stickers and other non-handmade items).

We stopped around the corner from this photo supply store on Telegraph, where a door to what was once a separate part of this building has now been closed off. At the time that J. arrived on Telegraph, this door was the entrance to the Berkeley Free Church, which got involved in the political issues of the time and helped people living on the streets. She still had a copy of one of the group’s newsletters from the time, which I looked through. The Graduate Theological Union at U.C. Berkeley holds a substantial collection of materials from the Berkeley Free Church, which I hope to get over to see one of these days.

When J. arrived on Telegraph, her new friend took her down Telegraph to a house that, at the the time, was abandoned. She and a number of other youth lived there for a time, until the police eventually raided the house. J. was not at the house at the time, but some of her belongings were there. A letter she had written to her parents and not yet mailed was taken by the police and released to the newspaper. Her letter, which tells her parents that she made it safely to Berkeley and describes her new puppy and her friends, was printed in the Gazette. Eventually, J. was persuaded to leave Berkeley and head up to one of the communities in Occidental, in Sonoma County. She has since lived in Berkeley at other times (a story related to another of her residences will appear in a future post), and was packing up to leave town at the time of our walk. The house still stands in the same location today, but is neat and painted and appears to have been split into a couple of residences sometime since then time that J. lived there. J. left some flowers at the house, as she had done several times in the past, and we made our way back on Telegraph.