Berkeley CA neighbourhoods?
Nov 7th, 2015, 07:33 PM
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Berkeley CA neighbourhoods?
I'm just doing a little forward thinking about my SO's sabbatical year coming up in 2017. If we wanted to live in Berkeley for 3 or 4 months, what are some nice neighbourhoods?
He'd likely be working at the university so something within walking or transit distance would be good (we may or may not have a car). We like safe, walkable neighbourhoods with a lively main street -- shops, cafes, restaurants. A public library would be great. We'd likely be renting a one-bedroom apartment.
I don't know the town at all but just to amuse myself in a spate of boredom, I've been browsing Berkeley apartments. It doesn't really do me any good thought if I don't know the neighbourhoods.
This is really long-range thinking on my part and it may never come to fruition but it's nice to think about it.
He'd likely be working at the university so something within walking or transit distance would be good (we may or may not have a car). We like safe, walkable neighbourhoods with a lively main street -- shops, cafes, restaurants. A public library would be great. We'd likely be renting a one-bedroom apartment.
I don't know the town at all but just to amuse myself in a spate of boredom, I've been browsing Berkeley apartments. It doesn't really do me any good thought if I don't know the neighbourhoods.
This is really long-range thinking on my part and it may never come to fruition but it's nice to think about it.
Nov 8th, 2015, 02:54 AM
#2
gtg - I'd be doing what you're doing too!
Are you familiar with sabbatical homes website? With pre planning you might pick up a house swap or low(er) cost rental.
https://www.sabbaticalhomes.com/
Are you familiar with sabbatical homes website? With pre planning you might pick up a house swap or low(er) cost rental.
https://www.sabbaticalhomes.com/
Nov 8th, 2015, 07:47 AM
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Thanks, Peter, that gives me a good start.
Hi Elizabeth, yes, I'm absolutely familiar with Sabbatical Homes. In fact, that's how we got our lovely apartment in London in 2010 during my SO's last sabbatical in 2010. It's an excellent site and I've recommended it to many people. I'll definitely be using it wherever we go.
Re a home swap, I'd love to do that but SO doesn't want strangers living in our house. Last time, we were lucky enough to have a young couple that we know house sitting for us. We let them live here rent free so it was a great saving for them and we felt confident that we knew who was taking care of our place. Besides, I know his mother.
Hi Elizabeth, yes, I'm absolutely familiar with Sabbatical Homes. In fact, that's how we got our lovely apartment in London in 2010 during my SO's last sabbatical in 2010. It's an excellent site and I've recommended it to many people. I'll definitely be using it wherever we go.
Re a home swap, I'd love to do that but SO doesn't want strangers living in our house. Last time, we were lucky enough to have a young couple that we know house sitting for us. We let them live here rent free so it was a great saving for them and we felt confident that we knew who was taking care of our place. Besides, I know his mother.
Nov 8th, 2015, 08:54 AM
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This neighborhood list and a city map would be a start:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List..._neighborhoods
Walking (vs. hiking) to the campus limits things, but lots of people bike, esp. If the route isn't uphill home.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List..._neighborhoods
Walking (vs. hiking) to the campus limits things, but lots of people bike, esp. If the route isn't uphill home.
Nov 8th, 2015, 09:36 AM
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Maybe, Elizabeth -- I'd be mighty pleased if that were the case! Where did you get your apartment (country/city)?
Samba, thanks, that will be a help. Walking to campus isn't a must (and neither of us is a bike rider) as long as there's decent transit. He won't have to go in rush hour.
Samba, thanks, that will be a help. Walking to campus isn't a must (and neither of us is a bike rider) as long as there's decent transit. He won't have to go in rush hour.
Nov 8th, 2015, 11:27 AM
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Wow, lucky you. No neighborhood recommendations, just a few cheap places to eat. Top Dog on Durant, Cream for ice crean sandwiches on Telegraph, Cheese Board Pizza on Shattuck and Bongo Burgers (lamb burgers) on Dwight.
Alfred's Steakhouse in the city is decent (steak lover that you are), also the steak and spaghetti at Original Joe's in North Beach is pretty good, they butcher their own beef there. Both are long time SF institutions.
Alfred's Steakhouse in the city is decent (steak lover that you are), also the steak and spaghetti at Original Joe's in North Beach is pretty good, they butcher their own beef there. Both are long time SF institutions.
Nov 8th, 2015, 01:17 PM
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Hi Godess,
I question I finally know something about!
We live in the area and have used Sabbatical Homes both to rent out our place and to find places to stay when we go away. In fact we leave for two months on Tuesday and we're renting a place in NY from an academic. This time we've rented our place to a young Brazilian couple relocating to Berkeley but normally we rent it to people on sabbatical.
As you're familiar with Sabbatical Homes you may know this already but here's my take.
1) It's very much worth putting a "wanted ad" rather than just answering the open listings. For example we don't really like to advertise our home and would much prefer to reply to someone who has told us a little about themselves, what they're looking for and why they're coming to Berkeley. Also sometimes we are very open to when we go away and could plan our dates around the renter's schedule.
2) Looking at the Berkeley/Oakland listings there's quite a lot of variability in price/location/value. Some people are clearly running an ongoing business and others are renting out their own homes while they are away. Frankly I'm shocked at some of the rents given the size of the places and the locations.
Overall in terms of neighborhoods I'd recommend the ones others have suggested, namely Elmwood and Rockridge, basically anywhere along the spine of College Avenue would be great. These are two neighborhoods that run into each other and run south from campus into Oakland.
Elmwood has the advantage of being closer to campus and Rockridge has the advantage of being closer to BART. They are in many ways very similar, increasingly affluent, safe, lots of restaurants, cafes, both have a local library branch, both have independent bookstores, yoga, fancy ice-cream and more places to eat than anyone needs.You've got Market Hall for all the fancy provisions anyone could need, Trader Joes and a series of small shops including a butcher, baker and green grocer at the intersection of College and Alcatraz (right opposite a Safeway) where Berkeley and Oakland meet.
I live in Rockridge and it has a more walkable European feel than many other parts of the US. These articles give you an idea. The first has links to a pile of descriptions of East Bay neighborhoods.
http://www.sfgate.com/neighborhoods/eb/rockridge/
http://www.sfgate.com/style/article/...al-6509351.php
Other areas that could be nice would be the Northside of campus/Gourmet Ghetto which is the area around Chez Panisse. There are many other areas that are very livable. I like Albany all along Solano Ave but the drawback would be you're further from campus and Bart, though it isn't very far by bus. Temsescal south of us has become very trendy and is profiled in one of the links above but again you're getting a little (though perhaps not too far) further from Bart and campus.
To be honest I think it will come down to finding a place that's available, the rental market is quite tight right now.
Feel free to contact me directly if you want any advice on specific areas/properties closer to the time. If you're interested I have my contact info on my blog
www.somuchmoretosee.com
Frankly we'd love to do a swap but it has never worked out, so we've ended up renting on both ends. Believe me when we first did this three years ago my husband thought I was mad to have strangers in our home but it has worked out so well that we've become friendly with the people we've rented to and our neighbors even visited one set of the renters in the UK recently!
Curiousgeo you're really hitting some Berkeley institutions there -I love Top Dog and the lamb burger at Boingo burger!
I question I finally know something about!
We live in the area and have used Sabbatical Homes both to rent out our place and to find places to stay when we go away. In fact we leave for two months on Tuesday and we're renting a place in NY from an academic. This time we've rented our place to a young Brazilian couple relocating to Berkeley but normally we rent it to people on sabbatical.
As you're familiar with Sabbatical Homes you may know this already but here's my take.
1) It's very much worth putting a "wanted ad" rather than just answering the open listings. For example we don't really like to advertise our home and would much prefer to reply to someone who has told us a little about themselves, what they're looking for and why they're coming to Berkeley. Also sometimes we are very open to when we go away and could plan our dates around the renter's schedule.
2) Looking at the Berkeley/Oakland listings there's quite a lot of variability in price/location/value. Some people are clearly running an ongoing business and others are renting out their own homes while they are away. Frankly I'm shocked at some of the rents given the size of the places and the locations.
Overall in terms of neighborhoods I'd recommend the ones others have suggested, namely Elmwood and Rockridge, basically anywhere along the spine of College Avenue would be great. These are two neighborhoods that run into each other and run south from campus into Oakland.
Elmwood has the advantage of being closer to campus and Rockridge has the advantage of being closer to BART. They are in many ways very similar, increasingly affluent, safe, lots of restaurants, cafes, both have a local library branch, both have independent bookstores, yoga, fancy ice-cream and more places to eat than anyone needs.You've got Market Hall for all the fancy provisions anyone could need, Trader Joes and a series of small shops including a butcher, baker and green grocer at the intersection of College and Alcatraz (right opposite a Safeway) where Berkeley and Oakland meet.
I live in Rockridge and it has a more walkable European feel than many other parts of the US. These articles give you an idea. The first has links to a pile of descriptions of East Bay neighborhoods.
http://www.sfgate.com/neighborhoods/eb/rockridge/
http://www.sfgate.com/style/article/...al-6509351.php
Other areas that could be nice would be the Northside of campus/Gourmet Ghetto which is the area around Chez Panisse. There are many other areas that are very livable. I like Albany all along Solano Ave but the drawback would be you're further from campus and Bart, though it isn't very far by bus. Temsescal south of us has become very trendy and is profiled in one of the links above but again you're getting a little (though perhaps not too far) further from Bart and campus.
To be honest I think it will come down to finding a place that's available, the rental market is quite tight right now.
Feel free to contact me directly if you want any advice on specific areas/properties closer to the time. If you're interested I have my contact info on my blog
www.somuchmoretosee.com
Frankly we'd love to do a swap but it has never worked out, so we've ended up renting on both ends. Believe me when we first did this three years ago my husband thought I was mad to have strangers in our home but it has worked out so well that we've become friendly with the people we've rented to and our neighbors even visited one set of the renters in the UK recently!
Curiousgeo you're really hitting some Berkeley institutions there -I love Top Dog and the lamb burger at Boingo burger!
Nov 8th, 2015, 03:13 PM
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Wow, what a wealth of fabulous information! I feel a little guilty now and want to reiterate that this is just a thought at the moment. The sabbatical year is January to December 2017, so we have lots of time to plan.
We're very tempted to return to London because we both loved it and because travel was so easy there. We were in Paris several times as well as Hamburg and Lisbon. We're also thinking about Tel Aviv because we've never been to Israel and also it helps to be in a place where people speak English. New York is a possibility too but it's a little too close to home to feel "away", plus we've been there often. Not only do I have family there but we lived in NJ for a few years and NY was a pretty cheap stomping ground for two penniless students.
That said, due to some family stuff it may be prudent for us to stay on this continent and Berkeley is appealing because of San Francisco, the weather and the wide variety of places to visit in California.
welltravelbrit, your blog is amazing and I feel quite housebound when I read about all your travels! I'm definitely going to be in touch -- maybe I can convince my SO to do a trade. Have you ever been to Toronto?
We're very tempted to return to London because we both loved it and because travel was so easy there. We were in Paris several times as well as Hamburg and Lisbon. We're also thinking about Tel Aviv because we've never been to Israel and also it helps to be in a place where people speak English. New York is a possibility too but it's a little too close to home to feel "away", plus we've been there often. Not only do I have family there but we lived in NJ for a few years and NY was a pretty cheap stomping ground for two penniless students.
That said, due to some family stuff it may be prudent for us to stay on this continent and Berkeley is appealing because of San Francisco, the weather and the wide variety of places to visit in California.
welltravelbrit, your blog is amazing and I feel quite housebound when I read about all your travels! I'm definitely going to be in touch -- maybe I can convince my SO to do a trade. Have you ever been to Toronto?
Nov 8th, 2015, 03:48 PM
#11
I am SO glad welltraveledbrit saw your thread. I was going to post that my info re Berkeley neighborhoods is too old to be very useful but I knew wtb would be up on everything you need to know.
Was going to try and find a thread she had posted to to direct her here . . . but forgot
and found it on her own
Was going to try and find a thread she had posted to to direct her here . . . but forgot
and found it on her own
Nov 8th, 2015, 05:42 PM
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Glad it was useful and glad I found the tread janisj!
Goddess -Thanks for your kind words about the blog, it does seem to grow and grow and is rather a labor of love.
I saw you were talking about 2017 but it's great to weigh all the options. There's something about discussing and putting the ideas out there that makes things happen. We haven't been to Toronto but we have very dear English friends who go for 4 months most summers and they rave about your city. However, we are just back from the UK and despite the charms of California, I can see the temptation to return to London, we had a wonderful time there too.
Goddess -Thanks for your kind words about the blog, it does seem to grow and grow and is rather a labor of love.
I saw you were talking about 2017 but it's great to weigh all the options. There's something about discussing and putting the ideas out there that makes things happen. We haven't been to Toronto but we have very dear English friends who go for 4 months most summers and they rave about your city. However, we are just back from the UK and despite the charms of California, I can see the temptation to return to London, we had a wonderful time there too.
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