The Voice of East Bay Living

This past weekend, I went on a fabulous walking tour of the Elmwood district of Berkeley sponsored by my friends in the  Berkeley Rotary .  The neighborhood is full of beautiful craftsman homes that have been designed by many famous  architects including Walter Radcliffe, Julia Morgan, John Hudson Thomas, Albert Dodge Coplin, and James Plachek. One can view dormer Windows, Tudor roof lines, colonial revivals, Queen Anne and other residential styles from the period. In 1903, a streetcar ran along College Avenue.  In 1905, Alice Alta Bates started a hospital with eight beds on College Avenue and later the current campus of Alta Bates Hospital was founded. In 1906, the Elmwood district became popular after the San Francisco fire when a lot of people moved into the East Bay. In fact it became one of the fastest-growing areas in all of the US.  In 1907, the oldest commercial building of Elmwood was built at the corner of college and Ashby....

Just a hop skip and a jump from Hayward is the adorable town of Niles. It became famous between 1912 to 1916 where silent  films were made by Charlie Chaplin and Bronco  Billy. At one point this town was called the first Hollywood. This historic town is still a charming 5 Block long commercial district loaded with charming antique stores. It was placed on the map also by the Niles Canyon Railway, a unique passenger train that shuttles tourists between Niles  through the hills of Fremont on century old heritage railroad equipment. You can hop aboard this excursion train which makes this journey every Sunday. You won't regret visiting this charming corner of the world.

Featuring special guest photographer Angelina, age 8 http://museumca.org/

This University of California garden was formally established in 1890 in Strawberry Canyon. Within two years the collection of native trees shrubs and plants had 600 species.  The original garden was located near Haviland hall on the north side of the Berkeley campus and was centered around a large glass conservatory modeled after the London crystal palace. One viewer describes the gardens "It was gorgeous up here I mean straight up beautiful - it was freezing and on and off drizzling but the greenery was just breathtaking." In the following decade, it grew to 1500 species and began to expand its scope in collections to have plants from all continents and about 10,000 species. Check it out - it's worth the visit.