Underhill Parking & Field

If you are a student here, you will agree with me: this parking structure sucks. It very much so sucks. First of all, you must come before 9 AM if you want to find parking, otherwise, good luck because you won’t find any until past 3 PM. Secondly, people get nasty. Yes, they get angry if you ask them if they are leaving (I’m thinking of you, mysterious staff member who was clearly leaving but had an attitude problem) and they also get mad if you tell them you aren’t leaving (excuse me, how about you ask next time rather than stand there without asking!) Thirdly, after about 5:30 PM you get homeless people sleeping in the parking lot, and that’s a little scary if you are a female and you’re walking calmly, minding your own business, and then BOOM! you find a homeless person sleeping next to your vehicle while campus police is cruising right in front of them. My solution? Dear Cal, please open another parking lot for students, or dear staff members, ya’ll have a lot of structures, how about you park in them? It is not cool that we have to fight over parking, and it isn’t cool that the university decided to tear down one of the student lots for an aquatics center. If you’re going to do that, at least open a second structure! I do not pay 400 dollars per semester for this. About the homeless sleeping in the lot? UCPD, come on, get it together you guys get paid to cruise on the structure and give people tickets, at least, AT LEAST, try to watch out a little bit more for us, I don’t want to get to my car and find a bum sleeping next to it, as cute and inviting as my car is.

This review is for the field and the space for pickup soccer/​sports.
This field is a great spot for pickup soccer, however during the academic year, the field is reserved for Club teams from the early evening.
The field is open during the week from 12:00 and typically, the clubs start using the field from 3 – 4:30pm.

A nice field for open rec. You mostly see soccer players here because that’s what the field is meant for. Come around early afternoon for pick up soccer, you’ll see the same people here playing every week. To get in you need to scan your ID but most times the door is left open or someone opens it for you. The field is made of nice turf, the black particles (tires) are kinda annoying when they get into your show, but hey at least you don’t have to deal with a muddy field. I would recommend wearing cleats on this field because it does get slippery but it’s not necessary! If it’s raining though. you def need cleats!

I parked here for a recent concert I attended at the UC Berkeley Greek Theater. The parking lot isn’t too far from the venue itself. My only issue with this parking lot is that I parked on section that runs parallel to Channing Way. Despite the parking lot map saying there’s a machine to pay for the parking spot nearby, there wasn’t one to be found. Luckily someone wrote and posted on the map that there is a pay machine by the Haste St. entrance. $ 10 for 6 hours of parking isn’t that bad to me.

Note: This is a review of the parking garage, not the field.
Probably my least favorite parking garage, Underhill is located two block from Berkeley Law underneath a multipurpose field. The lot is usually near capacity and filed with semester/​annual permit holders during the day. It’s also poorly laid out and can take forever to exit during large events.
Payment is an ordeal. I was only able to locate two payment machines in the entire structure the last time I came and only one was working. Even more frustrating was that it only accepted cash and did not return change; I think I spent more than twice the quoted rate on one of my visits! And if you do need a refund, you’d best give up: There’s not a single parking attendant in the entire complex; you’ll have to go to the Parking and Transportation office at 2150 Kittredge in Downtown Berkeley!

I have never, in my life, found parking in this garage save one time I came here and paid like $ 20+ for a Jack Johnson concert. For some reason, not that I knew this was the best parking or whatnot, but every time I come to Berkeley, I inevitably end up here. Recently, it wasn’t as bad since during the day there is street parking around this area and they take credit … so you can reasonably park for 2+ hours and not have to worry about trying to find a space in this silly lot.
This place is under a field, as someone appropriately put, so once in a while … watch your head.
I also found the design of this lot to be confusing since there are ways to get further down other levels, but when you come back up it forces you to go exit another street and you have to retrace your steps down to come back to the street you originally entered on. What a pain!
Oh … and it’s expensive. Like everywhere else in Berkeley.

I know the state is short billions of dollars, and cutting higher education funding, but don’t try to close the gap with a parking garage! Jeez.
Underhill, the multi-​level parking garage 2 blocks from campus, between dormitories Unit 1 and 2, with it’s multi-​purpose synthetic field turf on the top, was here back when I went to Cal. We used to come here and play different sports to work off our youthful effervescence.
But when I came here last week to park to go to the University Art Museum, well, what a rip-​off! This was such a rip-​off, I felt like going to Sproul Plaza and starting an ad hoc protest against the Administration. Perhaps a sit-​in. We could sit on the Sproul steps and chant «lean to the left, lean to the left, sit-​down sit-​down, fight fight fight!»
(Or is that a Berkeley football cheer?)
Anyway, the way parking works is the stalls are all numbered. You go to a little central parking pay meter on the wall, which is on the other side of the garage because the one next to you and closest to the campus is of course OUT OF ORDER, and you put in money and key in your stall number.
Only problem is, IT DOESN“T TAKE COINS! The Sunday rate was something like $ 1.50 for 3 hours. I only had a $ 5 bill. Oh, it till take a $ 5 bill, BUT IT DOESN“T MAKE CHANGE! It spits out a ticket marked «REFUND» on it, so you can take it to the parking office to get your $ 3.50 in change.
Where is this parking office? Somewhere else in the garage? On another level? On the corner nearby? On Campus nearby? Anywhere on Campus?
Would you believe 2150 Kittredge Street?
8 BLOCKS AWAY TO GET YOUR Fricking PARKING REFUND?
16 BLOCKS ROUND TRIP?
«Hell NO, we won’t go, my parking money you just stole!»
«Hell NO, we won’t go, my parking money you just stole!»
Come on! Join in with me to fight the oppressive capitalist establishment and their draconian parking authority pigs!
Where’s my bullhorn?
Where’s People’s Park?

**This review is of the parking garage.**
I’m sure this garage is fine, if you have a monthly/​annual/​semester parking permit. If you are visitor, then DO NOT PARK HERE.
First you must park, no problem, you’d have to do that anywhere.
Then, remember your parking space number, because you will have to then go pay for your parking and place the ticket on your dash (that’s fine, pretty routine).
Here comes the ridiculous part: You have to visit one of the only 2 payment machines. There’s one on the 1^st floor, and one one the 2^nd, only those two. Most likely you will park on the 4^th, or 3^rd floor, because it is busy during the day so you will have to go pay near the entrance, then come back to your car.
So. This means, you have to park, go pay for parking (in advance, do you know how long you will be there? You better), THEN you have to return to your car to place the ticket on your dash. Okay… that is a little dumb, but that’s not a problem.
IT GETS BETTER!!!
None of the machines accept credit cards. They do not accept change. They DO NOT give change. So if your total is $ 8 and all you have is a $ 20 bill, then you’ll be paying $ 20.
This is the most absurd payment system I’ve ever seen/​heard of. The payment system is a total rip-​off.
VISITORS BEWARE!!!

Just another parking structure in Berkeley. I don’t drive so I don’t use the parking lot for parking a car, but I am a avid longboarder and this place is awesome for that purpose. Especially at night (12am onward), there are nearly no cars here and you have tons of space to board. The slopes are large enough such that you can practice power sliding to your hearts desire~

Public service announcement:
Do not park here on a big game day (like, for example, when Cal plays the number one ranked Oregon Ducks, as they did last night) unless you are ok with spending 45 minutes or more trying to inch your way to the exits. Ugh.

Underhill should really be called Underfield. Because that’s what it is. Under a field. When I returned to my car it looked like a group was playing lacrosse, or another one of those other crazy games kids play nowadays.*
I venture into Berkeley for work approximately three times a year for a series of conferences. The conferences are held at Clark Kerr campus but parking there is extremely limited and I rarely arrive early enough to take advantage of the close parking. Luckily, I have always been able to find parking at Underhill Parking. There are easy entrances and exits on both Haste and Channing. (a block below Piedmont) Then it is a reasonable walk to Clark Kerr campus.
*According to the UC Berkeley recreational sports website, Cal students and faculty can open the field gate with a simple swipe of their Cal ID. More info:

Underhill is a pretty decent sized field for any of your athletic needs that is land-​based. I’ve seen some of the Cal sports teams practice here pretty early in the morning. Aside from sports team practices, the facility is open to pretty much any Cal student provided you have your ID. I hate that the bright field lights don’t turn off on certain occasions and are left on even until the next morning. It bothers the residents in the res halls!
The parking is mainly for permit holders. I think there are three or more levels of parking here under the field. The entire structure opened up in 2005 or 2006 so everything is pretty modern. Props to the walkway behind Crossroads that is lit at night.