The commons belongs to us all
By Amber Whitson on Too often, it feels like unhoused people are not considered part of the public.
Telegraph Avenue
Taken in by outsiders: My early life with the gutter punks
By Amber Whitson on 'At 16, I found community among the local gutter punks, who quickly adopted me as one of their own.'
On Place in an Era of Erasure
By Bradley Penner on Here in the East Bay, we find ourselves in a unique position to both honor and expand upon the legacy of place within our communities, or moreover, what those places could become when the community works together.
Thanksgiving on Telegraph Avenue
By Ace Backwords on I always get this weird flashback when I’m walking down Telegraph Avenue on Thanksgiving day. Back in the Good Old Days I used to always meet up with my pals Duncan and Vince at this Telegraph Avenue coffee shop every Thanksgiving. Joint called the Wall Berlin. The Wall Berlin was one of the few coffee shops that was open on Thanksgiving. So it became kind of an annual holiday tradition for the three of us. I can still picture us sitting there at our table outside the café, quietly sipping on our coffee and talking about our plans for the holiday.
Selected poems by Julia Vinograd
By Julia Vinograd on On the Street I’m not here, don’t look at me.Don’t scream when your children look at me,do you think bad
Remembering Julia Vinograd: the Bubble Lady
By Benjamin Schneider on The beloved poet died in early December, leaving behind a legacy of poems that capture a bygone Berkeley.
Julia Vinograd—resistance icon, the Bubble Lady, Berkeley’s very own bard—died on December 4 after a long battle with colon cancer. She was 74. Vinograd has been a staple of Telegraph Avenue since the late 60’s, selling poetry books, blowing bubbles, and watching the world go by.
Taking Down Telegraph Avenue’s Last Hippie
I have known Bob Meister for 25 years. I have watched him raise a family, and help homeless people regain a sense of their self-worth and restart their lives. I took lessons from Bob that helped me end my own homelessness, raise two children and start a new day in my life.
Another Anti-Homeless Ballot Measure? Really?
Berkeley’s business improvement districts continue to obsessively pursue anti-homeless measures in an attempt to cleanse the downtown sidewalks of homeless people. Yet the last thing Berkeley’s small businesses need is another highly politicized and self-destructive campaign about how terrible it is to shop in Berkeley.