West Berkeley
In sharp contrast to the well know anti-war demonstrations of the 1960’s, the City of Berkeley played an integral role in the Bay Area’s ship building career. At the zenith of the Liberty shipbuilding era, a company called “Berkeley Pump” made a majority of the pump apparatus parts. There were no fewer than 14 separate warehouses manufacturing and assembling these pumps. An old time real estate agent once told me that all the warehouses in West Berkeley which have the “glass block” design were all former Berkeley Pump properties.
West Berkeley and the Ocean View Neighborhoods border the historic manufacturing district in Berkeley. In 1993, the City of Berkeley began a historic project to rezone the whole city, and the West Berkeley plan was an attempt to keep a true manufacturing district in Berkeley. You might wonder why the 4th Street shopping District doesn’t extend to Gilman Street, which seems like a natural border. It does not extend that far because the City has reserved those last blocks of 4th Street for manufacturing.
The housing stock in these two neighborhoods is built on flat parcels. Many of the bigger buildings demonstrate the age-old idea of a ground floor retail area, with an upper floor reserved for a living area. Many of the houses are modest bungalows, and there are blocks of Victorians, which some locals say were moved to Ocean View and West Berkeley after the 1906 Earthquake. West Berkeley was the first neighborhood to experiment with “loft” type buildings—it seemed a natural fit for the artisans and small businesses that populate the area.
When the idea of a shopping corridor on 4th Street was proposed, many people laughed at the idea. Today, many years later 4th Street has become a Mecca for shoppers. Try the oyster bar at Café Rouge. If you like to cook, Sur La Table is one of the best gourmet cooking stores you can find. If you like East Indian food, a trip to VIK’s (Allston @ 7th Street) is something not to be missed. The breakfasts at Bette Ocenaview Diner are sumptuous, and Skates on the Bay offers a great place to drink a Mojito watch the sun set over the San Francisco Bay.
