Solano Avenue / Thousand Oaks
Solano Avenue is Berkeley’s northernmost commercial shopping corridor. You can find everything on Solano Avenue. The pizza at Zachary’s Pizza is the best! Up the street at Cactus Tacqueria, you will find a delightful spin on fresh Mexican food. The tapas (and the service!) at Fonda’s is something special, and the La Farine Bakery makes the best fresh fruits tarts, each one a work of art. The best kept secret on Solano Avenue is Zand’s – home to the best millefeillue in the East Bay.
The Solano Avenue/Thousand Oaks neighborhood also appeals to people wanting to walk everywhere. Since Solano Avenue offers most commercial services such as banking, the post office, grocery stores, novelty boutiques, two movie theatres and several specialty delicatessens.
Every September the Solano Avenue Merchants sponsor the “Solano Stroll”. The street is blocked off, and Solano Avenue becomes a great street party offering music, food, dancing, crafts, and fun for about 50,000+ people.
When we think about the Thousand Oaks neighborhood, we think about the remarkable harmony between the houses, the stately oaks, and the serpentine rocks. As you wander through the neighborhood, you can see houses that seem to be growing out of a huge serpentine rocks. You can also find houses that have been built around a huge oak tree, or a basement floor which has a giant serpentine rock at one corner. The Rocks and Oaks were here long before the houses were, and it is such a pleasure to see how creative an architect can be when asked leave a bit of natural wonder intact.
