City of Berkeley

My dad used to live in Berkeley back in 1995. I was only 7 years old and while walking through the city I remember being fascinated by the types of people
I saw and all the festivals that would be at the parks. It’s truly a diverse city full of personality! My dad passed away shortly after those times. Even now at 28 years old, when I walk down a busy street in Berkeley I feel as though nothing has changed. There’s still so much to do and see. Maybe it’s the fact that I have such fond memories of this city that keeps me coming back (now with my own kids). If you want to try new foods, experience new cultures or have a slew of activities to embark on then Berkeley is your city!

Review a city? Hmmmmm never done it but I figure Berkeley would be a great city to start with. Why you ask? Because for a good decade, I used to say Berkeley was my fav city in the bay. Because I used to say Berkeley was my Mecca… Because as a vegan, Berkeley USED TO BE a Mecca. I say ‘used to be’ because all the progressive movement that Berkeley may have started, has been picked up by other cities and they have done it better. What happened Berkeley? I LOVED your hippie dippie, tree protecting (and living), vegan friendly environment. I mean this is the home of Cinnaholic and Cha Ya Sushi. It was the sh*t back in the day. I wanted to move here soooo badly. Anyone remember Fellini (the restaurant and not the coffee shop)!!! It was by far the best vegan breakfast I’ve EVER had. Berkeley had soooo much potential. But wtf happened? It stopped progressing. The tree people left and Berkeley became less, well it became less Berkeley. Yes, it now has Butcher’s Son and it has Vegan Republican which both are ground breaking (that mozzarella cheese at Butcher’s Son tho). But the city as a whole is just so stagnate. As someone from San Jose, when I want good vegan food, I will make the trip to SF or to Oakland but I haven’t been motivated to make the trip to Berkeley for about 5 years. Hopefully the Butcher’s Son will spark something and motivate people to pack their bags and go live in trees again and business people to start opening vegan places again and restore the Mecca status back to Berkeley

No comprehensive review needed. The City of Berkeley is mostly nice and has a lot of restaurants and such in their central area. They also have much of the same accessibility near their college. However parking is either expensive or unavailable for the most part and the areas that attract the most are not very bicycle friendly. This coupled with the average driver in the area having sub-​par driving skills, this leaves BART as the best means for visiting Berkeley. The only issue with that is most public transportation in the area does not run during the late hours. Overall it is an area with a lot of personality and should be visited if you get the chance, but I do not see any major attraction to this twon other than the college.

Berkeley is an above average city. There is lots to do in Berkeley, and by extension the San Francisco Bay Area, or Northern California for that matter. The transit is good, which helps because traffic can be slow even in terms of foot traffic on the sidewalks. Things can also get too hilly at times. Berkeley’s prominent collegial atmosphere makes for lots of fun. Solano and Telegraph Avenues deserve the utmost acclaim.
Although Berkeley is well known, it is not as good as other adjacent cities. Oakland and San Francisco have more water and more to do. Contra Costa County, except for Lafayette and Orinda, outstanding cities, is generally inferior, though the suburban calm might be nice. Vallejo provides a reccomendable balance among all factors. So much is to learn in Berkeley that your brain could catch fire and I love learning. I’d personally want to go home from a braniac session at the university to the simple bliss of Oakland. Lots of good food, movie theaters and stores dot the Berkeley landscape.
A good excursion awaits in Berkeley.

What’s with the Lynn guy? This is the best place to go in west Contra Costa and Alameda counties. You get in and out faster compared to what truly is a rip off in Waste management on Davis street. Worse still, is the San Carlos transfer station where you get charged $ 35 to dump a couch on top of the minimum.
Berkeley has great people who are friendly, knowledgeable, plus they have a partnership with Urban Ore to salvage things people dump there everyday.
Lynn, you’re ignorant or plain CHEAP!

It’s mostly for professional dumpers, but for the casual dumper, it’s a good experience. I accidentally went on prime weekend dumpage hours, and there was a car line to drive up to the scales. The big concrete plug that we pulled out of the ground, that waste management wouldn’t take, since they classified it as construction material, it sat in the passenger chair next to me.
The dude poked his head in my window when my turn came, he said, «minimum price, yo, $ 29.»
I said, «Jiyeah,» since the dump is relatively pungent, and that always makes me think of Ryan Lochte.
He said, skip the line on the way back, put that over by the construction stuff, and ask anyone if you have any questions.
It was actually a fun, if slightly stanky experience.

Lets hang out!!!
We came to dump our tree trash and it was quick and easy– this is my third visit to this place and I like it– I wonder if Anaheim has one of these that is as convenient???

This place is awesome. Duane Anderson and crew are especially nice and accommodating. Who would known that visiting the city dump would have been such a pleasant experience.

Spent 5 minutes in a line. Each vehicle went up to a weigh scale before entering the dumping area.
Staff: Where do you live?
Me: Berkeley
Staff: What are you dumping?
Me: Motor Oil
Staff: How many gallons?
Me: 1 quart
Staff: Go ahead to the used motor oil station.
Apparently they pay for your used motor oil. Something like 16 cents per gallon. I just drove the hell out of there.

Legalized thievery … I paid $ 30.00 to dump off 8 pieces of plywood … a grand total of 160 lbs… for plywood … for f*ing plywood. The guy working the kiosk was embarrassed when he told me the charge. I have always considered people that dump refuse in public spaces to be the lowest of the low … but with these charges I’m staring to re-​consider. Wish I could give it a zero… an awful experience.

Do yourself a favor and visit The Dump if you’re in North Oakland or Berkeley. It smells, it’s dusty and loud, and probably hazardous to your health if you don’t wear a mask. But go, to see where your stuff ends up. If you’ve already used up your free once a year takeaway by the City of Oakland, take the rest here. I have transported:
1. An entire tree, inside and strapped to the top of my Scion xB, in trips
2. Scrap plywood
3. Wood scraps from construction
4. Random junk left by previous tenants
5. Crappy ikea furniture that fell apart
6. The detritus of life
7. Another tree. (don’t worry, I planted 4 for every 1 I took down)
as Rusty said, take the recyclables, batteries, etc., down the street and the computer stuff down to ACCRC on the frontage rd.
at these three places you will truly understand what it means to reduce, reuse, and recycle, by seeing these processes in action. And you won’t want to come back, so you will probably produce less junk. :-)

I have been to this dump more times in the last ten years than I have been to the doctor. I liquidated both my grandmother’s and late uncle’s estates and they had so much stuff Good Will wouldn’t take I had to dump it.
Bring gloves, a mask and tools to get the stuff out of your vehicle and work with a friend.
This dump is expensive and don’t take computer stuff there, go to
down the road.
This dump is in Berkeley so it is mired in rules and regulations but it is relatively quick and easy.

Somehow an employee always knows when you are throwing out porn. «I’ll take that,» he’ll say, in an extremely professional, matter-​of-​fact tone that makes you GLAD that your depraved, disgusting, discarded porn will find a new home. Maybe it was porn. It could have been a file cabinet.
The Dump is a little like hell: huge piles of steaming garbage, lots of noise, smells terrible. My soul feels at peace here.
I would like to award a sixth star for all it has done for me. It has taken letters and assorted items from ex-​girlfriends, crappy furniture that even the Salvation Army didn’t want, and random crap that lived in our basement and housed mutated spiders.
I don’t think I’ve moved to a new apartment without making a trip here. It is my Welcome Wagon.