Just south of the
UC Berkeley campus lies the neighborhood known as Southside or South Campus. This student-oriented area wins our vote for the most colorful and vibrant neighborhood in the East Bay. You’ll find students, homeowners and tourists meandering through the endless cafes, eclectic bookstores, record shops, and ethnic restaurants lining busy Telegraph Avenue. The energy is reflective of Southside’s young population.
Southside is also home to works by
Berkeley’s first planners and architects, including
Julia Morgan,
Bernard Maybeck, and Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park and Golden Gate Park who had a hand in planning the leafy residential streets southeast of campus. UC Berkeley and Southside real estate includes restored Victorians, neo-Colonial boxes, vernacular-style bungalows, and shingled cottages. Many of these homes feature separate, self-contained “in-law” units, which provide additional income for homeowners who rent them to students.
For an interesting exploration of the neighborhood, check out
Bancroft Way, which intersects Telegraph Avenue and runs along the southern border of campus. Sidewalks here are lined with stores and coffee houses frequented by students living in the residential areas above campus. The neighborhood is also home to the infamous
People’s Park, and any afternoon spent exploring this area is sure to evoke the era of the 1960s and ’70s, which put Berkeley on the map worldwide.
