Years ago a neighbor’s apartment in Berkeley was burglarized and he came home to find the police investigating after a neighbor reported a broken window. They told him that it appeared that his television was stolen but his stash of pot was okay.
It is coming up on 20 years since I left Berkeley and while about 80 percent of the stores and restaurants are different, the city feels exactly the same way I left it. The best produce is still at the Berkeley Bowl, the Tilden Park carousel is newly renovated, and the UC Berkeley police still shine blinding lights into your car if you pull over in the hills at night to see the view of the Bay. It apparently remains as one of their top priorities.
But it would be wrong to suggest that nothing has changed, that Berkeley has not kept up with modern day trends. At a local ”Spice of Life” festival on Sunday in Berkeley’s gourmet ghetto we were offered organic hash brownies.
