Walking Berkeley

I was very excited to receive a note from Andy Datlen, a Berkeley resident who has also been attempting to walk every street and path in Berkeley! He started when he retired from EBMUD in 2003, and is about 3/4 of the way done at this point. Like me, he has been using the Berkeley Path Wanderers map to record his progress. Here’s a nice excerpt from Andy’s note, describing his walking experiences in Berkeley:

I was walking in the area North of Marin today around Maryland Ave, and the views across the Bay to the City and Mount Tam were spectacular because it was so clear. In the hilly territory I do about 2-3 miles, whereas in the flat area I used to do about four. Some of those stairways are really steep. I walked the Maryland Steps today, down and back up, and it almost killed me. I do this to keep fit, because I have a serious heart condition, with a pacemaker. If I drop dead on one of the stairways one day I can’t think of a better way to go!

Andy would enjoy being in touch with others who are walking the Berkeley streets. Rather than subject him to lots of spam, please either leave a comment here or email me at jen.in510 [at] yahoo.com, and I will forward your contact information to him.

Progress of Andy’s walk, recorded on the Path Wanderers map

In my series about Why People Walk, I covered exercise in general and spiritual and meditative walking, but Andy’s correspondence made me realize that it would be great to talk about walking and medical conditions. If you have walked to recover from an illness or injury or walk as ongoing therapy for a chronic condition, and would like to share your story, please contact me. Your identity, of course, can remain anonymous if you wish. And if you are in Berkeley and walking has been recommended to you by a medical professional, you are indeed lucky — as you can see from Andy’s comments. While the walking itself may be painful or difficult, you will have a chance to enjoy wonderful views, hidden stairways, interesting architecture, and unique sights.

Lots of interesting news and correspondence related to past posts and walking in general:

• After a few days of rain, the Saturday of the Path Wanderers’ fall harvest walk that I led turned out to be a beautiful day for walking and exploring gardens. Georgia of Local Ecologist went on the walk and did a very nice write-up with photos. If you didn’t attend but are interested in doing the walk, I’ll be getting the walk to the Path Wanderers webmaster this week, so look for it here, along with other self-guided walks in Berkeley and the East Bay.
• And speaking of the ever-popular topic of fruit trees, I was alerted via a blog comment to harvestr dot org, a Google Maps mashup showing public fruit trees and berries, farmer’s markets, and other free or low-cost food. They’ve got a Bay Area map that is under development, where you can easily map the roadside blackberry bushes you spotted out on a walk.
• A couple of weeks ago the Chron had an article about the woman behind the art-SITES series of guidebooks, which feature walking tours of all sorts of art — galleries, contemporary architecture, film centers, sculpture, etc. — in locations such as San Francisco, Paris, and London. The article notes that when researching the books, she walks all day and after dark, often seven days a week. Of course there is the other nine months spent in front of the computer, but the walking part of it sounds amazing. Definitely an inspiring story to see someone pursuing a dream like this.
• I have art-SITES San Francisco on reserve at the library, and am hoping the library will soon be ordering Will Self’s Psychogeography, which Eric Fischer mentions on his blog. I had read the New York Times article about Self’s 20 mile walk from JFK Airport to Manhattan back in December, so I will be interested in checking out the book. If you’re new to reading this blog and/or psychogeography, here’s my post about psychogeography from earlier this year.
• If you are interested in learning more about Claremont and Elmwood, you’ll enjoy reading Northwest Ladybug’s memories of growing up in the area during the 1960s. She has shared all sorts of interesting tidbits about the Claremont Hotel, John Muir School, Elmwood and Claremont shops, the move in 1968 to integrate schools in Berkeley, the People’s Park riots, interesting neighbors. A great read!

Growing up in the suburban Bay Area, I spent a fair amount of time traveling around in cars when I was young. I suppose it was a sign of things to come that I didn’t really enjoy being in the car even back then, and instead have fond memories of the walking and biking. From an early age, we walked to the public library, which was about 15 minutes away. Not only did it establish a pattern of walking for me, but naturally also a love of books and reading. Because of that experience, I always think of the library as a good possible walk destination.

Here in Berkeley, I am just a 5 minute walk from one of the branches. Like many public libraries, Berkeley’s system is set up so that you can reserve books and other items from your home computer and have them sent to the branch of your choice. This is pretty convenient for someone like me, who checks out lots of books — I walk over to the library once or twice a week to pick up and drop off books. A couple of months ago, when I was picking up books, I noticed a sign posted on the door that the library would be closed for several weeks for renovations. I realized how much of a routine I had gotten into by my initial reaction of being upset at the closure. But then I decided that this was a great opportunity to experience the other library branches, which I have walked past on many of my walks.

The Berkeley Public Library is composed of a main downtown branch and four neighborhood branches: South, North, West, and Claremont. They are pretty well spread out around town, so that many people are near one of the branches. Some households in the southwest corner of Berkeley are a bit of a walk from either the South or West branches, and the nearest branch for Berkeley hills residents is the North branch down the hill. Having a library within close walking distance seems pretty important to me, especially if you need to carry a large stack of books home, or if you check out large or heavy books. It’s also nice if you tend to check out movies on a regular basis, which need to be returned in a week.

The libraries are all a bit different architecture-wise. The main branch is an Art Moderne building designed by Berkeley architect James Placheck. Also of interest architecturally are the North branch, a California Spanish style building (also by Placheck), and the Claremont branch, which is a Tudor style building. Each of the branch’s collections varies a bit, with the central library, of course, having the most materials and services. Of particular interest at the central library is the Berkeley History Room, which has all sorts of documents and materials for researching the history of the city. The West and South branches have collections of language (Spanish, Chinese, Japanese) materials, and the West also is the site of the library’s literacy program. The main library has a small Friends of the Library bookstore, and the branch libraries have small shelves of books for sale. But there is also a larger Friends bookstore hidden away near Telegraph Avenue in the Sather Gate center — definitely a place you would miss unless you were on foot or knew about it already.

Next door to the South Branch is the very cool Tool Lending Library, which has free tools for check-out by Berkeley residents and property owners. This is an excellent resource for projects where you will need a tool that you would probably never use again in the future. Tools cost a fair amount of money, and take up space, so this is very handy for many residents. I am not sure if the concept of the tool lending library originated in Berkeley, but it looks like it may have been one of the first if not the original (started in 1979). Other Bay Area tool lending libraries are offered by the Oakland Public Library (Temescal) and in San Francisco.

Many of my walks for this project have been at times when the libraries aren’t open, so I haven’t always had the opportunity to stop in and browse the books for awhile. However, I plan to make a point of taking more walks in the future that include stops at the library when it is open. This week, I stopped into the North branch in the evening, which was a very pleasant experience. This branch is small but cozy, and it has a very community-oriented feel to it. Especially nice was a magazine exchange, where residents can drop off unwanted magazines from the past year; I picked up some copies of magazines that I like to read once in awhile.

Stay tuned for another post about the other libraries in Berkeley beyond the public library!

Earlier this year I had a few things to say about wet weather, but now that it rained last week and it is raining again on and off this week, I thought I’d share a few more thoughts. First of all, I had to laugh reading my statement “I enjoy walking in a mist or light rain, but I do try to plan walks so that I do not get caught in a downpour” because Friday afternoon found me walking for 45 minutes in the heaviest period of rain of the day. My shoes were full of water by the end, and the rest of my clothing was pretty soaked as well. It had such a long time since it had rained that I forgot that that shoes I was wearing and the tiny umbrella I was carrying were inappropriate for the weather.

Despite getting drenched, I was thinking about how walking in wet weather opens up the opportunity for some unique observations. In terms of looking at architecture, this is when I spend a great deal of time looking at roofs, gutters, awnings, and how houses are protected from the elements. I’ve been particularly surprised by the number of architecturally interesting downspouts, many of which are designed from copper. Local Ecologist talked about rain barrels in a post awhile ago, which are used to collect roof water runoff for watering and other uses. So far, I have not spotted any rain barrels in my walks, but I imagine that this is because most are located at the back of residences. I have spotted several nice-looking rain chains, which are chains attached to a roof to collect water in a pot, basin, or drainage system. An interesting exercise, especially in the hills, is to look for drains that travel under the sidewalk and to the storm drains and then follow the path the water takes from the house to the street.

Observing what happens to water on the street is easy as a walker because (unless you are wearing galoshes) you are probably watching for the places where the water floods at curbs and street crossings! Puddles, potholes, sand bags and other flooding prevention, are all things to look out for during or after a rain. An interesting bit of environmental history that I learned from Richard Walker’s The Country in the City (history of the conversation of the Bay Area’s greenbelt) is that the idea of storm drain stencils originated in Berkeley. If you look down at the drains in Berkeley, you’ve probably notice the bright “No Dumping, Drains to Bay” stencils; this stenciling idea has been adopted by many cities to help remind people not to dump toxic materials into the drainage system that may connect to a bay, river, or ocean depending on where you live.

If you enjoy people-watching, a rainy day is a good opportunity for this activity — rain-gear, umbrellas, reactions to rain, etc. Berkeley and the Bay Area can get a fair amount of rain or not much at all, depending on the year. I don’t see nearly as many people unfazed by the rain as I have on visits to rainy cities such as Portland (Oregon) and Seattle, nor as many people who venture out in the wet weather without an umbrella. And, although I have seen plenty of people braving the rain on bicycles with fenders, I often see the bikes locked up without plastic bags or covers over the seats. I am always on the lookout for other people who seem to be enjoying the rain. Getting a little wet seems way more appealing to me than be in a car in rainy weather or being stuck inside all day, and a warm beverage afterwards (or carried along in a thermos) makes the experience even more satisfying. I am hopeful that more people will get out for walks when it is raining; that is why I made sure to smile and indicate that to others that I was having a good time even as I sloshed along the pavement on Friday.

One of my most popular posts has been one from last year about banana trees, and searches related to bananas, fruit trees, and the like are regularly at the top of the search terms used to find this blog. Regular readers and Berkeley gardeners may remember, however, the past winter’s rare cold spell and its damage to plants. As a result, I was not expecting to satisfy eager banana Googlers with more photos of local bananas. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I was walking in South Berkeley near Alta Bates Hospital and spotted a bunch of bananas growing on a tree in front of a house on Dana street! As you can see from the photo, the bananas are quite green and probably don’t stand much of a chance of ripening completely now that we are into October. Nonetheless, it was fun to see the bananas and thing about the cycle of plant life.

And speaking of plants, I have spotted a few instances of guerrilla gardening while out walking during the summer and fall. “Guerrilla gardening” involves acts of planting seeds and plants secretly or without asking for permission. This might be in the form of throwing wildflower seed balls (seeds mixed with compost and clay) in to a vacant lot or sneaking some vegetables into a landscaped bed of annual flowers. Near the Here/There art that I wrote about a few weeks ago, was a huge sunflower in an otherwise unplanted area near the intersection. The photo above was taken at the building site for the David Brower Building/Oxford Plaza in downtown Berkeley. The development, which is under construction now after several years of negotiations, is expected to open in 2009. I have also seen little gardens planted in various abandoned spaces in other parts of town, but I’ll leave those unnamed. If you are interested in reading more about guerrilla gardening, a book was published on the subject earlier this year, Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto. I haven’t read that one yet, but I can recommend two other books with information on the subject: Avant Gardening (published by Autonomedia) and Urban Wilds, edited by local author Cleo Woelfe-Erskine. 

I have not talked much about bicycles and cycling — what it is like to ride a bike in Berkeley or my observations while on a bicycle — because this is, after all, a walking blog. However, I do have noticed a few things about this subject while out on walks. First of all, there are many bike lanes and bicycle boulevards in Berkeley, mostly in the flatland areas. Cyclists do not generally need to go too much out of the way to ride on streets that accommodate bicycles, and can connect lanes and boulevards to find an easy route across town. Because of the bike routes and the flat roads, there tend to be all sorts of people out on bicycles, and all varieties of bicycles from fancy to rusty. In the Berkeley hills, however, there are only a handful of roads that are popular bike routes (Spruce, Euclid, Grizzly Peak, and Wildcat Canyon), and in the Claremont area, most cyclists travel from Russell Street up Tunnel Road (with a few connecting to Tunnel from The Uplands). In contrast to the flat areas of Berkeley, in these hilly areas I have mostly seen only cyclists who are out riding for exercise on road bikes.

The bicycle boulevards are signed, often with the distance to destinations such borders with other cities, BART stations, points of interest, parks, and schools. This is handy for me as a walker, as well, to know the distances to different landmarks. I have also found that I really enjoy walking on the bicycle boulevards because it is fun to see what bicycles people are riding, what they are carrying, and what types of people are out on bikes. Admittedly, it is also more pleasant to hear the sounds of bicycles and people laughing and talking than only cars whizzing by. Last night I realized that another thing I like about the bike boulevards is the increased level of safety provided by them. I don’t often walk alone at night, but yesterday I went to a meeting that finished after dark and was walking home along Milvia Street. Other side streets seemed deserted, but Milvia was just the opposite because of the number of people on bicycles. Extra people and extra light (from streetlights and bicycle lights) made the walk enjoyable. I was reminded of another idea from Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which I mentioned in my last post about parks: that streets that have a high concentration of people coming and going at different hours of the day and night are safer and more pleasant.

In keeping with my aim of trying to observe as much around me as possible while walking, I have looked at lots of cars around town even though I would prefer not to think about them too much. I would much rather look at more bicycles. Although I have seen lots of bicycles whizzing by on the road, I have not had a chance to look at too many up close. Like most American cities and like most college towns, bicycle theft is a regular occurrence here. For that reason, most people do not leave nice bikes locked up anywhere. Any bicycle that is halfway decent or that has quick-release parts is likely to be taken in part or in whole. Mostly what I see locked to bike racks are beat-up bikes or bikes with various parts missing. At some cafes with outdoor seating, there will be higher concentrations of bicycles because owners can keep an eye on them. Also, there is a Bikestation in the downtown Berkeley BART station that provides secure bike parking on weekdays.

A couple of weeks ago I finally started reading a book that had been on my list for years now, Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities. If you read anything related to city planning, neighborhoods, community, and the like, it will likely contain quotes from this book. I am only about a third of the way through, mainly because it so though-provoking that I am finding it easier to read it in small pieces. Now this book is about large cities, but it is still interesting to think about Jacobs’ ideas and how they apply to a smaller city like Berkeley. After reading the book’s chapter on parks, I spent some time thinking about all of the parks I have visited while walking throughout Berkeley. The first thing I had observed while walking is that Berkeley has quite a few parks for a small city; I think most of my walks ended up passing at least one park, if not a few. Second, Berkeley has a mix of general use and specialized parks. Some of the specialized uses include the Adventure Playground (tools and building experiences for children), boating at the Aquatic Park, kite flying at Cesar Chavez Park, bouldering and rock climbing at the rock parks, skateboarding ramps at Harrison Park, and off-leash dog areas at Cesar Chavez and Ohlone parks. Playing fields and courts for various sports are available at several parks.

Despite my observations about lots of people being out and about at all times of the day in Berkeley, I have found that most of the parks are not filled with people all day long. The city has several “tot lots,” which are small parks with playground equipment, but many are fairly empty during the daytime hours. One exception is Virginia-McGee Totland, which has a huge selection of toys and play equipment and seems to be packed with children and parents all day long. Totland may explain part of the absence of crowds at the other parks (it definitely appears that people come to Totland from other neighborhoods to for the social and play opportunities), as does the great number of children who go to pre-school these days. Adults who have leisure time during the day are more likely to be at the numerous cafes around town. Would this change if wireless Internet access where available throughout town? And what if there where coffee carts located at or within a block of some of the parks? The Sea Breeze Market/Deli is a good example of this in Berkeley, as it is a nice coffee and snack stop for cyclists and walkers coming over the bicycle bridge and to the Berkeley Marina, (although many people also stop there in their cars getting off the freeway, and then drive the rest of the way to the Marina). In San Francisco, I’ve witnessed many people picking up some coffee at the Blue Bottle Coffee kiosk in San Francisco and taking it over to the Hayes Green (which I highly recommend visiting if you are interested in successful parks/public commons).

I don’t walk through parks at night, but during the day most of the Berkeley parks I visited seemed safe. One park, Greg Brown, has limited hours and has been locked up when I have walked in the neighborhood. It is pretty secluded, and I imagine the closing is due to concerns about drug dealing and other illegal activity in the park after dark. Previously I had mentioned my concerns about safety at the Aquatic Park. After reading Jacobs’ writing about parks, I realized that the location of the park has much to do with this. Because it is at the waterfront near the edge of the city, you don’t walk through the park to get to anything else. The railroad tracks further isolate the park because it cannot be accessed at every east-west street it intersects. It will be interesting to see what happens at the south end of the Aquatic Park once the West Berkeley Bowl opens a few blocks away and brings lots of people to the area at all hours of the day. Will more people visit or will they not even realize there is a park a few blocks away?

If you are interested in learning more about some of the parks I have mentioned here and in past entries, Berkeley Partners for Parks has organized a series of events to celebrate the centennial of the city’s parks. This Sunday, a fundraiser will be held at the Aquatic Park, and there will be an opportunity that day to walk at future site of the labyrinth that the East Bay Labyrinth project hopes to build, and a fall equinox celebration at Cesar Chavez Park’s solar calendar. Other park events will be happening through mid-November and are listed on the website’s calendar. Another fun project for learning about the parks and city would be to visit a different Berkeley park each week; conveniently Berkeley has 52 official parks! Even if you have been to all of the parks, I recommend visiting them again and at different times of the year. You never know what interesting things you will find, such as the strange scene (pictured below) that I came upon last year, at Oak Park, with a felled oak tree!

Photo by Joe Reifer

A number of readers are interested in gardens, so I thought I’d let you know that I will be leading a “fall harvest” walk for the Berkeley Path Wanderers on Saturday, October 20. The walk (which is free and open to the public) starts at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley BART station, and will visit school and community gardens in the Northbrae and Westbrae neighborhoods to see what is ready for harvest and what is being planted for the fall and winter seasons. The walk may last 3 hours, but it is completely flat and there will be places for people to break off and return to the start. For those interested in fruit trees, we will be on the lookout along the way for trees that have fall fruit, such as citrus and persimmons.

I’m also excited to announce that the Path Wanderers asked me to be on their board for the next term starting in 2008. As you know, I have been using the Path Wanderers map to track my progress of walking all of the streets and paths in Berkeley. A new edition of the map was just released, which you can get at local bookstores or order by mail. Unlike many maps, this one has been extremely durable; despite many, many foldings and unfoldings throughout the course of my walk, its has not ripped. I also have enjoyed using the map because it is clear and easy to read, especially the markings for the stairways and paths. In addition to the map, the Path Wanderers repairs and maintains paths and stairways and offers monthly walks on Wednesdays and Saturdays in Berkeley and in other East Bay locations. Membership is $5 per year, and the group accepts monetary donations and tools.

The Path Wanders annual meeting is next Thursday evening at the Hillside Club, and is also free and open to the public. The featured event at the meeting will discuss two trails that will eventually circle the Bay Area — the Bay Trail and the Bay Area Ridge Trail. The Bay Trail, which I mentioned in a post awhile back, runs close to the Bay’s shoreline and (when completed) will form a 400-mile network of paths and trails for walking, biking, and other recreational activities. The Bay Trail is extremely varied, as it passes through both natural areas and industrial and urban settings. The Bay Area Ridge Trail, by contrast, circles the Bay along the ridgeline and will be 500 miles long when completed. It passes through many parks and open space areas, and is used by hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers. The Berkeley section is complete, and runs through Tilden Park. The completion of both of these trails will be a challege because of the multiple agencies and owners that have to be negotiated with to open up the trails. I would like to think that in my lifetime I will get a chance to walk one of these trails in its entirety, but it will likely be some time before that happens. In the meantime, though, there is plenty to explore on the large sections of the trails that are open!

Photo by Joe Reifer

More in this series: Art, Psychogeography, Car-free, Spiritual & Meditative

I did not originally imagine writing anything about the exercise aspects of walking because it seemed pretty obvious that one of the main reasons people walk is to get exercise. But then I remembered that at one point it wasn’t so obvious to me that walking was a way to stay fit. From about age 12 and through college and beyond, I did quite a bit of running for fun and exercise. Soon after college, while working for a nonprofit organization, I got to know a (I thought at the time) middle-aged woman who was a regular and enthusiastic volunteer for the group. She was active in race-walking, a competitive sport that involves walking very fast. One day I got a chance to look at some of her race result clippings, and was surprised to see her listed in the 70-79 age group! This was a turning point for me to realize that walking could be good exercise and to see an example of someone who — at least partially as a result of walking — was enjoying an active and rewarding retirement and had the energy to do volunteer work and pursue other interests later in life.

One of the great things about walking for exercise, one that is often brought up in articles about walking, is that it requires very little equipment; a good pair of walking shoes is a relatively low investment compared to most other athletic endeavors. If there are too many hurdles to jump through in terms of time and expense, exercise can seem like too much of a hassle for some people. On the other hand, people who enjoy gear and equipment have options for walking: headphones and music devices, walking poles, clothing made with technical fabrics, etc. I fall into the minimalistic category for walking, so I only in the past year or so had noticed step-counters and pedometers that tracks the number of steps a person walks. It appears that step walking has steadily been increasing in popularity and is often used as a motivational tool for starting a walking fitness program. It looks like 10,000 steps a day is often the goal of such programs, which is equivalent to about 5 miles. Additional fitness could be obtained by walking more steps and/or at a faster pace. At first I didn’t understand why one would track steps instead of distance or time, but now I realize that with steps it would be easier to figure out things like walking up stairs or totaling a bunch of smaller walks throughout a day. I doubt I’ll get one of these myself, though I do wonder just how many steps it takes to walk all of Berkeley…

Another aspect of walking for exercise is the treadmill. I have met a couple of people who enjoy walking on the treadmill indoors at the gym, but many more people find it to be incredibly boring. Here in Berkeley, it is a rare day that one would be forced indoors to a treadmill due to weather conditions, and walking outdoors is an option year-round. For those who do not enjoy gyms or cannot afford a membership, walking outdoors for fitness is an option here in the Bay Area with its usually mild climate. One of the coolest ideas I’ve heard of in terms of fitness programs is the Green Gym in England. The idea is to meet regularly to do volunteer work that is physically active, such as gardening or environmental conservation. The sessions start with warm-up exercises, and the participants get the benefit of both exercise and volunteering for their community! I think that the Green Gym is a great concept that could be combined with walking and applied here in Berkeley. I imagine starting at a transit-friendly meeting place, walking to the volunteer location as a warm-up, and then doing active volunteer work. This program would be a great collaboration with the Berkeley Partners for Parks, which amongst its member groups would offer opportunities for habitat restoration, creek cleanups, path-building, garden work, and much more. Walking to the locations would fit in with Berkeley’s climate action goals outlined in Measure G.

What if you really want to walk for exercise, but live somewhere that is unsafe or otherwise inhospitable to walking? If you work or go to school in a different neighborhood, you could take your walks from that location. Think about any other locations you visit regularly; could you walk in those places? Another option is to check the transit routes near where you live to see if you can ride the bus or train to a location that is better for walking. Coming soon, I will post some additional ideas about walking safety that have come up throughout the course of the Berkeley walk.

I had planned a longer post today, but had a few more bits and pieces of information come up that were relevant to past postings:

First of all, Alfred Peet, founder of Peet’s Coffee died today. Here’s a little bit on Peet’s from my post about coffee roasters.

Thanks to Laurie, who commented here that she found a Wednesday hiking group in Marin that has an offshoot group of Wednesday hikes in the East Bay. I like that many of the Marin hikes meet at a bus stop, and also noticed that one of the upcoming East Bay hikes is one that I had been hoping to do myself, a trek from Orinda BART over the hill to Berkeley BART. I also ran across the Weekly Wanderers all-women hiking group, which has regular East Bay hikes and urban walks in Berkeley and neighboring cities. Glancing through the group’s message archives, it looks like there are quite a few that are transit accessible and others that have carpools from Berkeley.

Also, thanks to the ever-observant Georgia for pointing out the recent Chronicle food section article about healthy after-school snacks, which has suggestions from Berkeley Unified School District’s nutrition services director Ann Cooper. I had actually recently checked out Cooper’s book, Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, from the library. The book has a bunch of recipes from Cooper, from the Chez Panisse Foundation, and other sources, if you are looking for more child-friendly and healthy food ideas.

Catching up on the Berkeley Daily Planet, I found that they have a review of Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley, which I mentioned in my last post. Another recent issue has a series of articles on getting around Berkeley without a car, covering walking, transit, and bicycles.