49 Fun Facts About Berkeley

Berkeley, California is named after an 18th-century bishop and philosopher from which country?

Ireland: George Berkeley, the Anglo-Irish Bishop of Cloyne, wrote 'westward the course of empire takes its way', the line trustee Frederick Billings recalled in 1866 when proposing the name.

In which California county is Berkeley located?

Alameda County, formed in 1853 from parts of Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties, contains Berkeley; the city's eastern border follows the Berkeley Hills ridge into Contra Costa.

What was Berkeley's population at the 2020 census?

124,321 people lived in Berkeley at the 2020 census, up from 112,580 in 2010; the city borders Oakland and Emeryville to the south and Albany and Kensington to the north.

Which Indigenous people lived on the site of Berkeley, leaving a shellmound at Strawberry Creek?

The Chochenyo Ohlone lived here for millennia, leaving the West Berkeley Shellmound near the mouth of Strawberry Creek; their grinding mortars survive in rocks such as Indian Rock.

Which Spanish soldier received the land grant, Rancho San Antonio, that included present-day Berkeley?

Luis Peralta, a Spanish soldier, received Rancho San Antonio in 1820 and divided it among four sons; Berkeley lies mostly on Domingo's portion.

In what year was the Town of Berkeley incorporated?

1878 is when the Town of Berkeley incorporated, uniting the campus district with the waterfront settlement; a new charter made it the City of Berkeley in 1909.

What was the name of the waterfront settlement of saloons and industry that became West Berkeley?

Ocean View grew up around Jacob's Landing on the bay shore in the 1850s, a cluster of wharves, factories and saloons that merged with the campus district to form the town of Berkeley.

A 1908 statewide referendum narrowly rejected moving what to Berkeley?

'The state capital' was the prize: the 1908 ballot measure to move it from Sacramento to Berkeley narrowly failed, but the Northbrae streets laid out for the capitol were named for California counties.

How many structures burned in the fire that swept down the Berkeley hills on September 17, 1923?

About 640 structures, including some 580 homes, burned on September 17, 1923 as wind drove the fire down from Wildcat Canyon; a late-afternoon sea breeze turned it short of downtown.

What land-use rule did Berkeley pioneer in 1916 to keep minorities out of white neighbourhoods?

Single-family zoning began in Berkeley's Elmwood district in 1916, widely cited as the first such ordinance in the United States and aimed at excluding non-white residents from the neighbourhood.

What did the university do in 1964 that triggered the Free Speech Movement?

'Banned distribution of political literature on campus' sums up the September 1964 rule that barred advocacy tables at the campus's main southern entrance; the arrest of a former student at one table set off the sit-ins.

Which governor sent the National Guard to occupy Berkeley during the 1969 People's Park fight?

Ronald Reagan, then governor, declared a state of emergency and sent some 2,700 National Guard troops into Berkeley after 'Bloody Thursday', 15 May 1969; the park lot stayed contested for decades.

Which Berkeley street became the focal point of the hippie movement in the late 1960s?

Telegraph Avenue, running south from the campus gate, was the East Bay's answer to Haight-Ashbury in the late 1960s, lined with bookshops, cafés and street vendors and filled with protest.

Which restaurant, opened by Alice Waters in 1971, is called the birthplace of California cuisine?

Chez Panisse, opened by Alice Waters on Shattuck Avenue in 1971, built its menus around local, seasonal produce, the approach later labelled California cuisine.

What did Berkeley's Ecology Center launch in 1973, among the first of its kind nationally?

A curbside recycling program, run by the Ecology Center from 1973, made Berkeley an early adopter; the city later banned polystyrene foam food containers in 1988.

What is the nickname of the North Berkeley commercial area packed with famous restaurants and food shops?

The Gourmet Ghetto is the nickname for the stretch of Shattuck and Vine in North Berkeley, home to The Cheese Board collective and the original Peet's Coffee store, which opened in 1966.

Which legendary all-ages punk venue in West Berkeley helped launch Green Day?

924 Gilman, a volunteer-run, all-ages club that opened on Gilman Street in 1986, hosted Green Day's early shows; its no-major-labels rule later kept the band out after they signed.

Which seismic zone runs through Berkeley, straight down the middle of the university's stadium?

The Hayward Fault runs the length of Memorial Stadium, which was rebuilt in 2010-12 with seismic joints; the USGS has rated it among the Bay Area faults most likely to rupture.

Which East Bay parkland occupies the upper reaches of Wildcat Canyon east of the city?

Tilden Regional Park, opened in 1936 and named for park-district founder Charles Lee Tilden, fills upper Wildcat Canyon with a steam train, a carousel, a botanic garden and Lake Anza.

On which body of water does Berkeley's western shoreline lie?

San Francisco Bay borders Berkeley on the west; the city's shoreline includes the Berkeley Marina and the former landfill that became César Chávez Park.

How many chemical elements have been discovered at Berkeley?

The list runs from technetium and astatine through neptunium, plutonium and americium to lawrencium, rutherfordium, dubnium and seaborgium.

In what year was the University of California founded at Berkeley?

1868 is the founding year: the Organic Act of 23 March 1868 merged the private College of California with the state's Morrill Act land-grant college, and classes moved to Berkeley in 1873.

Which Berkeley professor invented the cyclotron and won the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics for it?

Ernest Lawrence built the first cyclotron at Berkeley in 1931 and won the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics for it; his Radiation Laboratory grew into Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Which Berkeley chemist shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for CRISPR gene editing?

Jennifer Doudna, professor of chemistry and molecular biology at Berkeley, shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Emmanuelle Charpentier for developing CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing.

Sather Tower on the Berkeley campus is nicknamed after which Venetian landmark?

St Mark's Campanile in Venice was the model for Sather Tower, completed in 1914 and known on campus simply as the Campanile; it stands 307 feet tall with a 61-bell carillon.

What is the name of Cal's costumed bear mascot, introduced in 1941 to replace live bear cubs?

He is named after the Oski-wow-wow yell, and only the Oski Committee knows who is inside the suit.

What trophy has gone to the winner of Cal's Big Game against its arch-rival since 1933?

The Stanford Axe, seized by Cal students at a Stanford rally in 1899, became the Big Game trophy in 1933 after Stanford's 'Immortal 21' stole it back in 1930.

What were the university's first school colours, chosen by students in 1873?

Yale Blue and gold were chosen in 1873, the blue honouring Yale, alma mater of several founders, and the gold standing for the Golden State.

Which league did Cal's teams join in 2024 after the collapse of the Pac-12?

The ACC took in Cal, Stanford and SMU for the 2024-25 season after the Pac-12 lost ten of its twelve members to other leagues in 2023-24.

The California Victory Cannon fires after every Cal score from which spot overlooking Memorial Stadium?

Tightwad Hill, the slope east of Memorial Stadium where fans watch for free, holds the Victory Cannon, fired at kickoff and after every Cal score; the 1991 rout of Pacific used up its ammunition.

Which Berkeley researcher modified AT&T Unix and released it in 1977, starting BSD?

Unix co-creator Ken Thompson had earlier worked on Berkeley's Project Genie, which gave Unix the idea of process forking.

Which Apple co-founder is a Berkeley alumnus?

Steve Wozniak attended Berkeley in 1971-72, designed the Apple I and Apple II in the years after, and returned to finish his electrical engineering degree in 1986 under the alias 'Rocky Raccoon Clark'.

Which Berkeley collection holds tens of millions of manuscripts and maps on western North America's history?

The Bancroft Library, built on historian Hubert Howe Bancroft's collection bought by the university in 1905, holds some 60 million manuscript items and the Mark Twain Papers.

Which trees, planted as an 1870s windbreak, form the grove at the campus's west entrance?

Eucalyptus trees, Tasmanian blue gums planted in the 1870s as a windbreak for the athletic field, make up the grove beside Strawberry Creek at the campus's west entrance.

Who became Berkeley's first chancellor when UC reorganised into campuses in 1952?

Clark Kerr, a labour economist, became Berkeley's first chancellor in 1952 and UC president in 1958; his 1959 'Kerr Directives' on student politics became a target of the Free Speech Movement.

How much controversial debt did the university take on to renovate Memorial Stadium and build an athletic centre?

$445 million in bonds financed the 2010-12 seismic retrofit of Memorial Stadium and the adjoining Simpson athletics centre, a debt that became a lasting strain on the athletics budget.

What did the state's 1876 'mile limit law' ban within a mile of the new university?

'Sale or public consumption of alcohol' is the answer: the 1876 mile limit law barred liquor sales within a mile of campus, keeping saloons out of the district for decades.

Which day did Berkeley become perhaps the first US city to officially recognise in 2012, on September 23?

Celebrate Bisexuality Day, marked on 23 September, was proclaimed by Berkeley's council in September 2012; the city had earlier pioneered domestic-partner benefits for employees in 1984.

Which company ran the first electric interurban trains from Berkeley to a San Francisco ferry pier in 1903?

The Key System opened its first electric line in October 1903, running from Berkeley to a pier where ferries met the trains; from 1939 its trains crossed the Bay Bridge's lower deck to the Transbay Terminal.

How did Berkeley's population change between the 1900 and 1910 censuses?

'It roughly tripled': Berkeley counted 13,214 residents in 1900 and 40,434 in 1910, swollen by refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which the East Bay largely escaped.

Which architect designed Berkeley's First Church of Christ, Scientist, completed in 1910?

Bernard Maybeck designed the First Church of Christ, Scientist on Dwight Way, completed in 1910 and blending Gothic, Romanesque and Japanese elements; it is a National Historic Landmark.

Which Pacifica radio station has broadcast from Berkeley since 1949?

KPFA went on air in Berkeley in April 1949 as the flagship of the Pacifica Foundation, founded by pacifist Lewis Hill, and pioneered the listener-supported model of non-commercial radio.

In November 2014, Berkeley voters approved the first US tax of what kind?

A soda tax, Measure D, passed with about three-quarters of the vote in November 2014, the first such tax approved by US voters, adding a cent per ounce to sugary drinks.

On November 8, 1971, Berkeley became the first place in the US to pass what kind of measure?

'A sanctuary resolution' passed on 8 November 1971 offered refuge to sailors from the carrier USS Coral Sea who refused to sail for Vietnam, the first measure of its kind in the country.

Which local theatre company has won a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre?

The Rep, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1997; founded in 1968, it runs two stages on Addison Street and a theatre school.

Which philanthropist sponsored the 1898 competition that produced the campus master plan?

Phoebe Apperson Hearst funded the 1898 international competition for a campus plan, won by French architect Émile Bénard; her gift also built the Hearst Memorial Mining Building, honouring her husband George.

What is the oldest surviving building on the Berkeley campus, completed in 1873?

South Hall, completed in 1873 in Second Empire style to David Farquharson's design, is the only survivor of the original campus; its twin North Hall was demolished in 1917.

The Big 'C' on Charter Hill was built in 1905 by two classes to replace which brawling campus tradition?

Rush pitted freshmen against sophomores in a race up the hill that often turned into a wrestling match, so the classes united to build the C instead.

Whose arrest in Sproul Plaza in 1964 set off the events that became the Free Speech Movement?

Jack Weinberg, a recent graduate and chair of Campus CORE, was arrested at an information table on 1 October 1964; students surrounded the police car for 32 hours, launching the Free Speech Movement.