FanStory.com - California Dreaming by jake cosmos aller
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reflections on returning to California
the world according to Cosmos
:
California Dreaming
by jake cosmos aller
Background reflections on returning home to the Bay area.
Reflections on Returning to California
I finally made it back to California after a three-year absence. Overall, not too bad. Expensive as hell, crowded, too many homeless people, too many druggies, too much crime. But it is not the dystopian hell hole portrayed on FOX News and the right-wing media.
Here are my reflections, along with some photos and some of my Bay Area-based stories and poems. To see the photos and hear the clips please log on to the site at https://wp.me/p7NAzO-2Eh
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I was traveling with my wife, her brother, his wife, and their 12-year-old Korean niece. First time for my sister-in-law and niece to visit the Bay Area. We stayed at Travis AFB near Fairfield because the hotel costs were so high in the Bay Area.
Berkeley
Berkeley 1975 Street Scenes
[audio mp3="https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/berkeley-2015.mp3"][/audio]
Berkeley Time Travels
[audio mp3="https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/berkeley-time-travels-mp3.mp3"][/audio]
674 Santa Rosa My Childhood Home
[audio mp3="https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/647-Santa-Rosa-Ave-Berkeley-Californa-mp3.mp3"][/audio]
Free Roaming in Berkeley as a Child
[audio mp3="https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/free-roaming-berkeley-streets.mp3"][/audio]
As you may know, I grew up almost 55 years ago in the Thousand Oaks Neighborhood of Berkeley. Solano Avenue was the local commercial street lined with restaurants and called Berkeley's Chinatown because of all the Asian restaurants and Asian residents living there. It was also along with the hills, the "white republican sector" of town. Now there are almost no Republicans living in the city.
Berkeley has a lot of nice new housing, mostly high-rise apartments all over the place, who knows one of them could be mine in a few years. Solano Avenue had a lot of new restaurants to check out and lots of my favorite old ones are there.
Sad to see some of the Movie places closed, I think that there are only two movies left in Berkeley except for a Bollywood Indian movie theater in little Bombay.
For those of you who don't know, Berkeley is so much more than Cal. There are ten official neighborhoods according to the Berkeley tourism office. Demographically the city has about 130k permanent residents, with an additional 30k when school is in session.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Berkeley (/Ã??bÃ??Ã??rkli/ BURK-lee) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emeryville to the south the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington to the north. Its eastern border with Contra Costa County generally follows the ridge of the Berkeley Hills. The 2020 census recorded a population of 124,321.
Berkeley is home to the oldest campus in the University of California, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is managed and operated by the university. It also has the Graduate Theological Union, one of the largest religious studies institutions in the world. Berkeley is considered one of the most socially progressive cities in the United States.
The 2020 United States Census[90] reported that Berkeley had a population of 124,321. The population density was 11,874 people per square mile of land area (4,584/km2). The racial makeup of Berkeley was 62,450 (50.2%) White, 9,495 (7.6%) Black or African American, 24,701 (19.9%) Asian, 253 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 226 (0.2%) from Native American, 1,109 (0.9%) from other races, and 9,069 (7.2%) multiracial (two or more races). There were 17,018 (13.7%) of Hispanic or Latino ancestry, of any race.
The neighborhoods are.
The Hills
The hills are mostly white and wealthy. Many people commute to SF or are affiliated with the University. At the top of the hills is Grizzly Peak BLD which features the best views of the entire East Bay. Behind the hills lie Tilden Park, Wildlife Canyon, and Inspiration Point. Favorite haunts of my growing up.
Tilden Regional Park is a regional park in the East Bay of California. It is between the Berkeley Hills and San Pablo Ridge.
Thousand Oaks/Solano
Thousand Oaks neighborhood, where I grew up, lies at the bottom of the hills, and is centered on Solano Avenue which is lined with restaurants and shops. It blends into Albany which was a white working-class enclave back in the day. It was known as Berkeley's Chinatown due to the numerous Asian restaurants in the area, which are still there. I went to Thousand Oaks Elementary where Kamala Harris went a few years after I went there. The movie theater unfortunately closed.
North Berkeley
Has several sub-neighborhoods and has a BART station. It is also the location of King Middle School where I went as a teenager. There are several small restaurants and businesses throughout the neighborhood. Along Shattuck, the main street is Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto and the home of the original Peets Coffee â?" the best coffee shop in Berkeley and where the premium coffee revolution started in the late 50s.
Downtown
Downtown has been transformed with lots of high-rise apartments and a thriving Arts District. Sadly, the five movie theaters have all closed, leaving the Pacific Film Institute the only theater in town. There are a lot of restaurants and coffee shops downtown as well as office buildings. There are several rooftop terrace restaurants. We had dinner in the Study Room on top of the new Marriot. Great views, and decent though expensive food. We dropped $350 for seven people. Berkeley High School is located downtown as is the main public library. Downtown is a booming area filled with apartments, resturants and several live theathers including Berkeley Rep. It is also the site of the Berkeley Film Archives, the last movie theather in Berkeley, and the Berkeley Art Museum.
berkeley friends
Campus
the University Campus domiantes the city as is to be expected. there are three student districts near the campus known as Northside, Southside and College Avenue. Each features resturants, shopping and housing for student, faculty and staff. The northside is also called seminary hill because of all the religious seminaries there - Buddhist, Christian and now a Muslim seminary as well.
.The campus is huge and spreads out from downtown to the hills but most of the campus is the center of the campus a short block away from Telegraph on the South and Hearst on the North. Despite the banning of affirmative action, CAL has done a good job â?" lots of Asian students, international studies, some Hispanic and some blacks, and less than 50 percent white.
Lots of activities on Campus, music, and free lectures open to the public. About half the students live on or near Campus but housing students faculty and staff is a huge problem for the University community. Just west of the Campus is the new home of the Berkeley Art Museum and The Pacific Film Institute which screens classic, art, and international movies every night
[caption id="attachment_8015" align="alignleft" width="300"] "Gorgeous sunset from UC Berkeley!"[/caption]
Telegraph Avenue runs south from the Campus and into Oakland. It is lined with services for students, and lots of restaurants. Lots of apartments nearby. Used to have a lot of independent bookstores, but a few are still there.
Dwight Street and Telegraph seems stuck in 1969. People's Park is being torn down to be turned into more student housing although they are going to keep a small park there. Right now, it is a homeless encampment and has been an eyesore for years.
South Berkeley
South Berkeley lies between Telegraph, Shattuck, and Sacramento along Ashby Avenue where there is BART station. It also has lots of restaurants and places to go. Back in the day, it was also the unofficial heart of Black Berkeley as Berkeley was 40 percent black, now it is about 6 percent black due to the high cost of real estate in Berkeley where the medium price of a house is over a million and the average rent is over $2,500 per month.
College Avenue Elmwood Rockridge
College Aveue is just west of Telegraph and is lined with residential housing, including the fraternities and sororities. It also has the International House which is a dormitory for foreign students. Elwood is a residential shopping district as is Claremont and Rockrige which is just across the border in Oakland and borders on Piedmont, a traditional wealthy enclave independent of Oakland.
Elmwood is on College Avenue and is similar to Solano Avenue but a bit smaller. Nearby is the Claremont Hotel and neighborhood one of the wealthiest enclaves in Berkeley.
Gilman Street
Gilman is in northwest Berkeley and was a working-class enclave -still is to a certain extent. Nice neighborhood eateries, and live music spaces
Albany
Albany is a suburban neighborhood just west of Berkeley between El Cerito and Gilman district centered on Solano and San Pablo Avenues. It use to be mostly white working class, but is not close to 50 Asian American.
Lorin and North Oakland including Korean Town
To the west of South Berkeley is the Lorin neighborhood which is an up-and-coming neighborhood. To the south is North Oakland including the second-largest Korean town on the West Coast after LA.
This was the traditional heart of Black Berkeley. There are still a lot of blacks living in Berkeley but due to the high rent and housing costs, the city is only seven percent black, when I was a young lad, it was 40 percent black and Oakland was 60 percent black.
West Berkely/Marina
West Berkeley has been gentrified beyond recognition. Back in the day, it was 90 percent black. I spent my first few years there as that was the only neighborhood a junior Cal professor could afford. It is no longer mostly black and is a hipster neighborhood. Lots of brew pubs in the area. Lots of students live here too.
The marina is on the bay. The bay trail runs through the neighborhood. There are restaurants on the bay and the dock of the Bay which is the site of the famous song.
SItting on the Dock of the Bay
[caption id="attachment_10351" align="alignleft" width="300"] the dock of the bay[/caption]
I grew up in Berkeley, California
In the turbulent fabled late '60s
And in Berkeley in those days
Time seems to stand at a standstill.
On the corner of Dwight and Telegraph
Across from People's Park
It seems to be always May 1969
With the man
Down the street
Oppressing the hippies
On the street
As they smoked their weed
Dodging the bored cops
Who looked the other way?
If they did not partake
And then I went to college
In the valley
As I drove into Stockton
I felt I was traveling again.
In time
Back to the fabled '50s
Stockton was also.
Stuck in a time warp of sorts.
And as I left the Bay area.
And traveled the world.
I would come back.
To that corner
And just be there.
Stuck in May 1969
Again
Marveling at the changes
That had and had not occurred.
To the corner of the land
Forever stuck in time
And space
San Francisco
We toured much of San Franciso and saw the Giants Lose at Oracle Park.
The neighborhoods are still vibrant but everything is too expensive.
We drove through South Beach, Mission District, Filmore, Haight-Ashbury, Castro District, Noe Valley, Presidio, Richmond, Sunset, North Beach, and Chinatown and walked through Union Square. Ran out of time to fully explore the city.
South Beach is a newly developed neighborhood west of downtown near Ball Park and the vibrant
Dogpatch neighborhood which was recently been officially rated the 17th coolest neighborhood in the world. An ethnically diverse community with and bohemian hipster feeling.
The Mission district is south of the ballpark and is the heart of San Francisco's Hispanic district. Still mostly Hispanic but gentrifying.
The Filmore used to be the heart and soul of Black San Franciso. It has been heavily gentrified as has the adjacent Western addition but recently there has been a revival of the jazz scene in the area. We walked through the famous counter-cultural neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. It still has the 67 vibe and like Telegraph in Berkeley, it seems stuck in a time warp.
We drove through the Presidio which is now an urban national park based on the old Presidio military base which closed in the early 90s. I remember shopping at the commissary back in the day. Cristy Field is a nice, restored beach.
We toured Fisherman's Wharf and Piere 39. A bit of a tourist trap but still worth a visit, bought chocolate at Ghirardelli Square.
We also drove through Russian Hill and Nob Hill neighborhoods which are among the wealthiest in the city and saw the famous Lombard Street but did not drive down it.
We walked through Chinatown and North Beach. Chinatown has seen better days as has North Beach. Still work visiting and walking about.
Union Square was strangely deserted as many people felt that it was just too dangerous a place â?" there were homeless people everywhere in the city and there was a fear of crime. Everything is just so damn expensive.
We drove through the CIVIC center which was impressive from an architecture point of view. Did not see homeless people shooting up and defecating there despite the hysteria of Fox News.
We drove through the edges of the tenderloin. I think that the Tenderloin, the highest crime area in the city, is ripe for gentrification given its central location. We did see a lot of homeless people hanging about, but again no people shooting up or defecating on the street.
The sunset area is nice. We had a great Mexican dinner at Cecilia's by the Beach which was not too bad. Ocean Blvd was great. The beach was great but a bit cold.
SF Time Travels
Visitng SF After Being Gone for Three Years
In the summer of 2023,
I found myself.
Back in San Franciso
My homeland.
Last visited pre-covid
2018
Touring the city
With my Korean -in Laws
We stopped in Haigh Ashbury
Took photos.
Wearing flowers
In our hair
Our video
Of our San Franciso adventures
Particularly our hiking
The seven hills
And having croissants
And coffee in North Beach
Became a surprise TikTok hit.
Note: grew up in Berkeley, visiting every other year since I left in 1979 Found San Franciso is still a fascinating city to visit, is not the dystopian nightmare that Fox News portrays, but too expensive, with too many homeless and too much street crime.
Use in your story or poem the following - bold these words for tomorrow's judge:
flowers
San Francisco
seven bridges
croissant
TikTok hit
Only in SF
One day
while driving down Geary
in famous SF
I saw a sight
that would haunt
my nights for many years
I saw a young white punk
a white punk on drugs
walking down the street
with a purple mohawk
dressed in leather
and torn jeans
and a don't F with me
attitude
zdude to the max
just another random
SF freakazoid
getting his nightly
freak on
He was walking a dog
a snarling doberman
who also had ztude
on top of the dog
was a cosmic cat
looking about
and on top of the cat
riding him
as if he was the boss
of this motley crew
was a white lab rat
just looking about
as if to say
WTF you looking at dude
I wanted to take a picture
but the moment was gone
later I learned
it was on Instagram
but I never saw the photo
the moment lingered
in my mind
a metaphor perhaps
of how we can all
live together
and love one another
For more info see the following
San Francisco Travel
https://www.sftravel.com
San Francisco Travel " Official Visitor Information
San Francisco Bucket List: 60 Best Things to Do in the Fun ...
bucketlistjourney.net
27 Top Tourist Attractions in San Francisco (with Map) - ...
touropia.com
U.S. News Travel
https://travel.usnews.com/San_Francisco_CA/Things_To_Do
34 Top-Rated Things to Do in San Francisco " U.S. News Travel
15 Beautiful Places to Visit In San Francisco - ...
traveltriangle.com
Tripadvisor
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g60713-San...
Best Places to Visit in San Francisco, CA (2023)â?¢
Best Things to Do In San Francisco
https://www.getyourguide.com/activities
San Francisco - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco
List of neighborhoods in San Francisco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of.
Stanford/Silicon Valley
after our tour of SF and Berkeley, we drove down to Standford and SIlicon Valley. We walked across the Campus and drove aroud Menlo Park saw the Google main Campus. Ran out of time to further explore San Jose and Santa Clara country which is the heart of Silicon Valley. Silcion Valley started near Standford as many of the engineers that started all the tech firms were Standford Computer science engineers including the founders of Google, Apple and HP. And Thomas Edison lived in Menlo Park where he came up with many of his revolutionary inventions in his labs located there.
Travis AFB/Fairfield/Vacaville
well and 45 minutes to Sacramento as well. The housing is affordable by Northern California style, and it is considered the edge of the San Franciso area. It is a typical Air Force Base with a commissary, PX, hospitals, and all the conveniences and it is a lot cheaper staying there than staying in the central Bay Area. and is where most MAC flights to and from the Pacific take off.
This time around I was staying with my Korean In-laws, and we decided to check out the neighboring cities while we were there. We found that the base had a very nice military aviation museum so it's worth a visit, but non-military-affiliated people may have a hard time getting on base to see the museum. One of the most interesting artifacts is a replica of the infamous Fat Boy the destroyed Hiroshima. Fat Boy bomber took off from Travis I believe.
The nearby towns of Dixon, Fairfield, and Vacaville are all worth a visit, as are the Delta towns nearby.
Factoid
California is the rice basket of the U.S., growing most of the U.S. rice in the vast San Joaquin-Sacramento River delta communities which are just southeast of Travis. And they are also the biggest sake producers in the world exporting raw Sakae back to Japan!
These little towns are worth a future visit.
They have lots of outlet malls nearby, the biggest shopping malls in the Northern California region., Vacaville has the Jelly Bean museum which was worth a visit as well as hosting a nice wine and vine festival when we were there.
There are wineries nearby and there are regional parks nearby with lots of hiking opportunities. Most of the year it's not too hot except for the afternoons when they can get into the hundreds occasionally. It is not a bad place to be based for a visit to the San Francisco Bay area, especially if you can stay on base.
Dixon
My niece lives in Dixon which is about half an hour from Sacramento, and Travis and 45 minutes to the central Bay Area. While I did not get to see much of the city, it seemed to be a nice community with a cute downtown. Reminds me of Medford, Oregon where we were spending the summer.
for more info see the following Bing AI Chat info
Here are some of the top things to do near Travis Air Force Base:
â?¢ Travis Air Force Base Heritage Center: A museum that highlights the history of Travis Air Force Base and the United States Air Force. It has a collection of aircraft, engines, and other artifacts that are sure to fascinate aviation enthusiasts 1.
â?¢ Jelly Belly Factory Tour: A fun and interactive tour of the Jelly Belly candy factory in Fairfield. You can learn about the history of the company, see how the candy is made, and even sample some of the flavors 1.
Note: worth a visit. loved it,
â?¢ Western Railway Museum: A museum that displays historic electric railway cars and other artifacts from the early 20th century. You can take a ride on one of the restored streetcars and learn about the history of electric transportation 1.
â?¢ Lagoon Valley/Pena Adobe Regional Park: A beautiful park with hiking trails, picnic areas, and a lake. You can enjoy a leisurely hike, have a picnic, or go fishing 1.
â?¢ Brenden Vacaville 16: A movie theater that shows the latest Hollywood releases. It has comfortable seating, a large screen, and excellent sound quality 1.
â?¢ Wooden Valley Winery: A winery that produces a variety of wines, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Merlot. You can take a tour of the winery, taste some of the wines, and enjoy the
beautiful scenery 1.
â?¢ Suisun City Marina and Boat Ramp: A marina that offers boat rentals, fishing charters, and other water
activities. You can rent a boat and explore the Delta, go fishing, or just enjoy the scenic views 1.
â?¢ Vezer Family Vineyard: A family-owned winery that produces award-winning wines. You can take a tour of the vineyard, taste some of the wines, and enjoy the beautiful surroundings 2.
â?¢ Rockville Hills Regional Park: A park with hiking trails, picnic areas, and scenic views. You can enjoy a leisurely hike, have a picnic, or just relax and take in the scenery 3.
â?¢ Scandia Family Center: An amusement park with mini-golf, batting cages, bumper boats, and other attractions. It's a great place to spend a fun-filled day with family and friends 2.
â?¢ Sonoma Harvest Olive Oil & Winery: A winery that produces high-quality olive oil and wine. You can take a tour of the winery, taste some of the products, and learn about the production a
Author Notes
Reflections on returning home after a three-year absence. Everything was so expensive, homeless people were everywhere, and the fear of crime was on everyone's mind, but it was not the dystopian Hell Hole the right-wing media proclaims it to be. It felt that it was still my spiritual homeland and I hope to return someday to live there.