2007-06-26T13:49:27-07:00

1100

820

929

2007-06-26T13:49:27-07:00

Other fun stuff to do in Berkeley:  1. Go for a hike in the Berkeley hills! If you can get to the top you will be greated by a breathtaking view of the entire bay area.   2. Go to a Cal game. If you're lucky it will be football season! This is a great taste of some of the local culture. What makes berkeley so unique??   -Berkeley has an element named for it: berkelium. The element was first synthesized in 1949 at what was then called the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory ("Rad Lab") of the University of California, Berkeley. -Berkeley's police department, under its first chief August Vollmer early in the 20th century, was the first in the U.S. to require that officers have a college degree. This department developed the lie detector test, and was one of the first to use fingerprints and radios. -Cloudy, a song on Simon and Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album, makes memorable mention of the city.   -In 1986 Berkeley officially became a Nuclear Free Zone after a local vote passed the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act. The Act prohibited (within city limits) nuclear reactors, work on nuclear weapons, and food irradiation facilities. The Act was also foresighted in its required labeling of irradiated foods sold in Berkeley. The Act with a clear understanding of Berkeley's historic role in nuclear power and weapons: UC Berkeley played a major role in the development of nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project, and a research center, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (one of whose major research areas is nuclear), is located within the city limits. Street signs posted at the city borders declaring its Nuclear Free Zone status are the most noticeable effect of the measure, but as the FDA is moving towards approval of food irradiation without labeling, there may develop a power struggle between the city and the FDA. The University once housed a small research reactor, which was decommissioned in the 1990s, though the University denies that this had anything to do with the Act. The University, as a state institution, is not subject to municipal regulations.   -Berkeley celebrates Indigenous People's Day rather than Columbus Day. Web site for the celebration.   -In 1989, Berkeley banned the use of polystyrene packaging for keeping McDonald's hamburgers warm. This was one of the earliest events in the plastics recycling movement in the U.S.   -In 1973, Berkeley's city council enacted its well-known Berkeley Marijuana Initiative. The act ordered Berkeley police to make "no arrests and issue no citations for violations of marijuana laws."   -Despite its pro-marijuana initiative, Berkeley was the first city in the world to adopt the now-popular no smoking in restaurants law.   -Berkeley has become known as a gourmet food center. There are a number of specialty food shops and restaurants, such as the Berkeley Bowl Marketplace, the Chez Panisse restaurant, regarded as the birthplace of California cuisine. Its proprietor, Alice Waters, has been called "the mother of American cooking." Among the shops, The Cheese Board Collective is a well-known, cooperatively-run bakery and cheese shop.   -Since the 1970s, the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART), a rapid transit train system, has linked Berkeley to San Francisco and the other cities of the Bay Area. Berkeley has nevertheless maintained its own character. BART planners proposed an above-ground route through Berkeley, but Berkeley residents rejected the plan and voted for a subway instead, whose extra cost was funded by a bond issue. Consequently, BART runs entirely underground through Berkeley, but emerges to run above ground at the borders of the neighboring cities of Albany and Oakland.   -Berkeley has had recurring problems with parking meters. In 1999, over 2,400 Berkeley meters were jammed, smashed, or sawed apart. Starting in 2005 and continuing into 2006, Berkeley began to phase out mechanical meters in favor of more centralized electronic meters.   -The city is also the birthplace of the nation's first community-funded radio station, KPFA, the flagship station of the Pacifica Radio network. -Dick Leonard, the "father of modern rock climbing," and noted environmentalist David Brower, founder of Friends of the Earth, learned rock climbing and developed their mountaineering techniques at Indian Rock Park in Berkeley. Brower used this special knowledge to prepare training manuals during World War II.   -The first Peet's Coffee opened in Berkeley in 1966, at the corner of Vine and Walnut. source:wikipedia.com  2833

820

1100

2007-06-26T14:13:52-07:00