When I was dividing my time, and youthful sexual activities in the Haight in the Sixties, I had many friends who escaped the city, heading for seclusion to the north in Marin, and to the east to Berkeley. Most of my out of city and a lot of my out of body experiences in those days were spent in a daze going chemically berserk in Berkeley at many a friends apartment. The Sixties are gone, up in smoke, and only the seeds and stems of fading memory keeps the era alive, creating more mountains of mythology and legend for those who were not there, and are today too young to have been there, to know what it really was all about. There was more to it than hanging up a Jimi Hendrix poster in a college dorm room or wearing a Doors t-shirt to a Hempfest! Also remember, the term "hippie" was created by the media, so it means absolutely nothing and if you think you're hip..you ain't!
As the Sixties began to flicker and fade, the beat bards moved on. Some back to Lowell, Massachusetts, and some back to New York City. Allen Ginsberg, who "howled" as the voice of his generation settled for awhile in Berkeley, escaping the circus like atmosphere of the Haight and overcrowding of the Summer of Love! The Haight is still there, but now with ATM machines and fern bars, but, the Peoples Republic of Berkeley marches on! It is still the Mecca for independent thought and leftist politics, and is ready at a moments notice to give a political enema to academia and right wing America. It's the stage of the new bohemians in the political theater of old Bohemia.
There is more to Berkeley than politics. Nightclubs alive with music, micro brews, and comedy. During the day people watching on Telegraph Ave. is more exciting than watching whales breach in the Pacific Ocean. Restaurant fare runs from vegetarian to organic, and there are enough yoga and meditation establishments to fill the hearts desire with eastern philosophy and centered peace and calm.
If you're looking for chain store slavery freedom, try the merchants on Fourth Street. Not a Gap in sight, and there are artists galleries and boutiques to browse, and restaurants that serve up vegetarian dishes and organic fare to proclaim our freedom from harmful agricultural chemicals that infuse our foods seemingly in a battle to wipe us out as a species with a form of gastronomical chemical warfare! Monsanto creating genetically engineered foods that only Dr. Frankenstein would approve of, so amigo's y amiga's, Get off the Genetic Grid! Purveyors of caffeine to make a junkies head spin abound with a cornucopia of coffee shops loaded with latte's and cups of cappuccino to get you wired up enough to tackle a battalion of microbreweries to wind down your day and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow comrades in arms. Hey, it's the People's Republic and it just feels good to say "Comrades" comrades!
Got your med card? Dispensaries are as numerous as lost boys in Peter Pans Neverland. One great source for a listing of all the dispensaries, legal advice and listings of cannabis clubs and social network is online at legalmarijuanadispensary.com Enjoy and get socializing today!
One side trip you may want to take in or take off at as the case may be are the many nude beaches on the San Francisco peninsula. One of my favorites is Grey Whale Beach. I spent a lot of time there during my "when in Rome" phase and even got to get in a few games of nude volleyball..it's absolutely legal, and if you are not inhibited...strip and enjoy so that others may enjoy you, and so you may enjoy them. Hey, what are friends for? Especially nude ones, eh? I can feel the sexy pounding Pacific surf now! Surfs Up!
It's time to leave the nude beaches and clothing optional lifestyle behind, so put your pants and bra's back on and head back to Berkeley, for a taste of the land of the Rising Sun! Think California, you think wine, but, that is not always the case. In Berkeley you can get a sake fix at Takara Sake which is part museum, part education center and part down the hatch kamikaze tasting room..argigato!
If you want to visit space, the final frontier, you can in the comfort of theater seating at the Planetarium, and for more earthly pursuits any number of art galleries and bookshops will appeal to the page turner in all of us. The streets are a proletarian concert hall with some of the best street musicians around. Blues guitar and sax players, what the hell, a little early morning sax never hurt anybody. Sax, anyone?
The blue expanse of the Pacific Ocean is a watery muse that can answer the call of the wild in all of us. Kayaking is one thing, but sea kayaking takes the sport to extremes. The bay is a marine biologists playground of plenty and the sea kayaker can cavort with sea going carnivores who inhabit the bay, such as tiger sharks and other creatures of the deep, to add an element of danger and a little zing to the Zen of the art form.
Berkeley, being Berkeley, has a few activities that register high on the oddity scale for an urban enclave. Tilden Park sits high above the People's Republic, and encompasses over 2,000 acres of nature trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding. That's right, horseback riding in the hills over looking the city for the Urban Cowboy, not to mention enough nightlife of the streets of a diverse nature to appeal to the Midnight Cowboy in some of us. Camping is allowed to so if you want to "occupy" something make it Tilden Park and bring a tent. Political agenda's not included.
Botanical gardens are behemoth in Berkeley. The gardens at Tilden Park are certainly a pleasure playground for the ardent outdoor activist, but the gardens in Strawberry Canyon include almost 10,000 species including 34 cres of Chinese Herbal Gardens for that dose of ancient medical wisdom. There are also many succulents, cacti, a visitor center with a compost pile of information and a greenhouse.
Berkeley is green, and green leafy, and this green leafy lefty has spent many a pleasant day and night in the Peoples Republic. It's great place to stop and smell the flowers! Hell, it beats the smell of tear gas, eh? But just remember this, if you want to hallucinate ... Go to the Haight...if you want to go berserk..go to Berkeley! I have many times, and it's well worth the trip!