City of Berkeley
Berkeley looking northwest as seen from the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve.
The City of Berkeley highlighted within Alameda County.
Coordinates: 37°52′13″N 122°16′05″W / 37.87028, -122.26806
Country	United States
State	California
County	Alameda
Incorporated	April 4, 1878
Government
- Mayor	Tom Bates
- State Senate	Don Perata (D)
- State Assembly	Loni Hancock (D)
- U. S. Congress	Barbara Lee (D)
Area
- Total	17.7 sq mi (45.9 km²)
- Land	10.5 sq mi (27.1 km²)
- Water	7.2 sq mi (18.8 km²)
Elevation	0–1,320 ft (0–400 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	102,743
- Density	9,823.3/sq mi (3,792.5/km²)
Time zone	PST (UTC−8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC−7)
ZIP code	94701–94710, 94712, 94720
Area code(s)	510
FIPS code	06-06000
GNIS feature ID	1658037
Website: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington. The eastern city limits coincide with the county line (bordering Contra Costa County) which generally follows the ridge line of the Berkeley Hills. Berkeley is located in northern Alameda County. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve is a small regional park mainly located in the city of Berkeley, California, and administered by the East Bay Regional Park District. ... Image File history File links Alameda_County_California_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Berkeley_Highlighted. ... Alameda County is a suburban county in Californias San Francisco Bay Area. ... This list of countries, arranged alphabetically, gives an overview of countries of the world. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of... This article is about the U.S. state. ... The U.S. state of California is divided into 58 counties. ... Official website: http://www. ... A Municipal Corporation is a legal defintion for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, and towns. ... is the 94th day of the year (95th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger, greater) is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer. ... Tom Bates City of Berkeley Mayors Office (born February 9, 1938) is a California politician, currently serving as the Mayor of Berkeley, California. ... Californias Capitol, where the State Legislature meets California State Assembly chamber California state Senate chamber The California Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of California. ... Don Perata (born April 30, 1945) is a California Democratic politician, who is the current President Pro Tempore of the California State Senate. ... The California Democratic Party is the local branch of the Democratic Party in the state of California. ... The California State Assembly chamber California State Assembly Chamber in the State Capitol The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. ... Loni Hancock served as mayor of Berkeley, California from 1986 to 1994, and is currently representing California State Assembly District 14. ... The 9th Congressional District of California is a Congressional District that currently covers a significant portion of the East Bay portion of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. ... Barbara Jean Lee (born July 16, 1946), American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1998, representing Californias 9th congressional district (map) and is the first woman to represent that district. ... This article is about the physical quantity. ... A square mile is an English unit of area equal to that of a square with sides each 1 statute mile (≈1,609 m) in length. ... To help compare different orders of magnitude and geographical regions, we list here areas between 100 km² and 1000 km². See also areas of other orders of magnitude. ... Elevation histogram of the surface of the Earth – approximately 71% of the Earths surface is covered with water. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... Population density per square kilometre by country, 2006 Population density map of the world in 1994. ... Timezone and TimeZone redirect here. ... The Pacific Standard Time Zone is a geographic region that keeps time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). ... -12 | -11 | -10 | -9:30 | -9 | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3:30 | -3 | -2:30 | -2 | -1 | -0:25 | UTC (0) | +0:20 | +0:30 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +3:30 | +4 | +4:30 | +4:51 | +5 | +5:30 | +5:40 | +5:45 | +6 | +6:30 | +7 | +7:20 | +7... Although DST is common in Europe and North America, most of the worlds people do not use it. ... PDT is UTC-7 The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-8). ... -12 | -11 | -10 | -9:30 | -9 | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3:30 | -3 | -2:30 | -2 | -1 | -0:25 | UTC (0) | +0:20 | +0:30 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +3:30 | +4 | +4:30 | +4:51 | +5 | +5:30 | +5:40 | +5:45 | +6 | +6:30 | +7 | +7:20 | +7... Mr. ... A telephone numbering plan is a plan for allocating telephone number ranges to countries, regions, areas and exchanges and to non-fixed telephone networks such as mobile phone networks. ... Map of California area codes in blue (and border states) with 510 in red North American area code 510 is a California telephone area code which covers eastern Bay Area cities such as Hayward, Castro Valley, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Alameda, Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, Richmond, San Pablo, Union City, and... Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are publicly announced standards developed by the U.S. Federal government for use by all (non-military) government agencies and by government contractors. ... GNIS (The Geographic Names Information System) contains name and locative information about almost two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its Territories. ... San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, and the Golden Gate San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean. ... Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. ... Oakland redirects here. ... The city of Emeryville highlighted within Alameda County Emeryville is a small city located in Alameda County, California, in the United States. ... The city of Albany highlighted within Alameda County Albany is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Kensington is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area, in Contra Costa County, California. ... Contra Costa County is a suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. ... The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges which overlook the northeast side of the valley in which San Francisco Bay is situated. ... Official website: http://www. ...

Berkeley is the site of the University of California, Berkeley, the oldest campus of the University of California system, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Hall of Science, Space Sciences Laboratory, and Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, which are on the campus grounds. The city is noted as one of the most politically liberal in the nation, with one study placing it as the third most liberal city in the United States.^[1] Sather Tower (the Campanile) looking out over the San Francisco Bay and Mount Tamalpais. ... Berkeley Davis Irvine Los Angeles Merced Riverside San Diego Santa Barbara Santa Cruz UC Office of the President in Oakland The University of California (UC) is a public university system in the state of California. ... The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), formerly the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory and usually shortened to Berkeley Lab or LBL, is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. ... The Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) is a public science center, run by the University of California, Berkeley. ... The Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) is run by the University of California, Berkeley. ... The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), founded in 1982, is a mathematical research institution whose funding sources include the National Science Foundation. ... Modern liberalism in the United States is a form of liberalism that began in the United States in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. ...

History

Early history

The site of today's City of Berkeley was the territory of the Chochen/Huichin band of the Ohlone people when the first Europeans arrived. Remnants of their existence in the area include pits in various rock formations which were used to grind acorns from oak trees, and a shellmound now mostly leveled and covered up along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay at the mouth of Strawberry Creek. Other artifacts were discovered in the 1950s in the downtown area during the remodeling of a commercial building, near the upper course of the creek. For the college of the same name, see Ohlone College. ... Species See List of Quercus species The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus (from Latin oak tree), which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably... A midden, or kitchen midden, is a dump for domestic waste. ... San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, and the Golden Gate San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean. ... Strawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the City of Berkeley, California. ... Downtown Berkeley in the foreground, with San Francisco seen across the Bay. ...

The first people of European ancestry (most of whom were actually of mixed ancestry and born in America) arrived with the De Anza Expedition of 1776, which is today noted by signage on Interstate 80 which runs along the San Francisco Bay shoreline of Berkeley. The De Anza Expedition resulted in the establishment of the Spanish Presidio of San Francisco at the entrance to San Francisco Bay (the "Golden Gate") which is due west of Berkeley. Among the soldiers serving at the Presidio was one Luís Peralta. For his services to the King of Spain, he was granted a vast extent of land on the east shore of San Francisco Bay (the contra costa, "opposite shore") for a ranch, including that portion which now comprises the City of Berkeley. Juan Bautista de Anza (July 1736 - December 19, 1788) was a Basque explorer working for the Spanish empire. ... Interstate 80, a major east-west route of the Interstate Highway System, has its western terminus in San Francisco, California, United States. ... The Parade Grounds at the Presidio of San Francisco. ... The Golden Gate The Golden Gate, looking south towards San Francisco. ... Don Luís María Peralta (b. ... The Spanish monarchy, referred to as the Crown of Spain (Corona de España) in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, is the office of the King or Queen of Spain. ...

Luis Peralta named his holding "Rancho San Antonio". The primary activity of the ranch was the raising of cattle for meat and hides, but hunting and farming were also pursued. Eventually, he gave portions of his ranch to each of his four sons. Most of the portion that is now Berkeley was the domain of his son Domingo, the rest being held by his son Vicente. No artifact survives of the ranches of Domingo or Vicente, although their names have been preserved in the naming of Berkeley streets (Vicente, Domingo, and Peralta). However, the legal title to all land in the City of Berkeley remains based on the original Peralta land grant. Rancho San Antonio, also known as the Peralta Grant, was a 44,800-acre land grant by Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá, the last Spanish governor of California, to Don Luís María Peralta, a Spanish Army officer, in recognition of his forty years of service, on August 3...

The Peraltas' Rancho San Antonio continued after Alta California passed from Spanish to Mexican sovereignty as a result of the Mexican War of Independence. However, the advent of U.S. sovereignty as a result of the Mexican–American War, and especially, the Gold Rush, saw the Peralta's lands quickly encroached on by squatters and diminished by dubious legal proceedings. The lands of the brothers Domingo and Vicente were quickly reduced to reservations close to their respective ranch homes. The rest of the land was surveyed and parceled out to various American claimants. Alta California (Upper California) was formed in 1804 when the province of California, then a part of the Spanish colony of New Spain, was divided in two along the line separating the Franciscan missions in the north from the Dominican missions in the south. ... Combatants Mexico Spain Commanders Miguel Hidalgo José María Morelos Vicente Guerrero Spanish colonial authorities Strength  ?  ? Casualties  ?  ? Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821), was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and Spanish colonial authorities, which started on September 16, 1810. ... Combatants United States Mexico Commanders Zachary Taylor Winfield Scott Stephen W. Kearney Antonio López de Santa Anna Mariano Arista Pedro de Ampudia José Mariá Flores Strength 78,790 soldiers 18,000–40,000 soldiers Casualties KIA: 1733 Total dead: 13,271 Wounded: 4,152 25,000 killed or wounded... The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began shortly after January 24, 1848 (when gold was discovered at Sutters Mill in Coloma). ... This article is about occupying land without permission. ...

Politically, the area that became Berkeley was initially part of a vast Contra Costa County. On March 25, 1853, Alameda County was created by division of Contra Costa County, as well as a small portion of Santa Clara County. Contra Costa County is a suburban county in Californias San Francisco Bay Area. ... is the 84th day of the year (85th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Santa Clara County is a county located in Californias San Francisco Bay Area. ...

The area of Berkeley was at this period mostly a mix of open land, farms and ranches, with a small though busy wharf by the bay. It was not yet "Berkeley", but merely the northern part of the "Oakland Township" subdivision of Alameda County.

Late 1800s

In 1866, the private College of California located in the city of Oakland sought out a new site. It settled on a location north of Oakland along the foot of the Contra Costa Hills (later called the Berkeley Hills) astride Strawberry Creek, at an elevation about 500 ft (150 m) above the bay, commanding a fantastic view of the Bay Area and the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate. The College of California was the predecessor of the University of California. ...

According to the Centennial Record of the University of California, "In 1866…at Founders' Rock, a group of College of California men were watching two ships standing out to sea through the Golden Gate. One of them, Frederick Billings, was reminded of the lines of the (Irish Anglican) Bishop Berkeley, 'westward the course of empire takes its way,' and suggested that the town and college site be named for the eighteenth-century Irish philosopher and poet." Founders Rock On the corner of Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road, in Berkeley, California, lies the Founders Rock, the spot, according to college lore, where the 12 trustees of the College of California, the nascent University of California, Berkeley, stood on April 16, 1860, to dedicate the property they... The Golden Gate The Golden Gate, looking south towards San Francisco. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... For the second husband of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, see George Berkeley (MP). ...

The College of California's "College Homestead Association" planned to raise funds for their new campus by selling off parcels of land adjacent to it. To this end, they laid out a plat and street grid which became the basis of Berkeley's modern street plan. Their plans fell far short of their desires, and collaboration was then begun with the State of California, culminating in 1868 with the creation of the public University of California. Berkeley Davis Irvine Los Angeles Merced Riverside San Diego Santa Barbara Santa Cruz UC Office of the President in Oakland The University of California (UC) is a public university system in the state of California. ...

As construction began on the new site, more residences began to be constructed in the vicinity of the new campus. At the same time, a settlement of residences, saloons, and various industries had also been growing up around the wharf on the bayshore called "Ocean View". A horsecar line was constructed out from Temescal in Oakland along what is today's Telegraph Avenue to the university campus. Ocean View was the name of an unincorporated town which today is the western part of the city of [[Berkeley, California. ... Rapid Transit in San Diego: An original 1886 horse-drawn trolley and its driver participate in a parade celebrating the groundbreaking of the Panama-California Exposition Center in 1911. ... Location of Temescal in the City of Oakland Temescal is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the northern section of Oakland, California. ... On a normal day, street vendors line Telegraph Avenue near the UC Berkeley campus. ...

By the 1870s the Transcontinental Railroad had reached its terminus in Oakland. In 1876, a branch line of the Central Pacific Railroad, the Berkeley Branch Railroad, was laid from Oakland into what is now downtown Berkeley. That same year, the main line of the transcontinental railroad into Oakland was re-routed, putting the right-of-way along the bay shore through Ocean View. A Transcontinental Railroad is a railway that crosses a continent typically from sea to sea. Terminals are at or connected to different oceans. ... The Gov. ... The Berkeley Branch Railroad was a 3. ... Downtown Berkeley in the foreground, with San Francisco seen across the Bay. ...

In 1878, the people of Ocean View and the area around the University campus, together with the local farmers, incorporated themselves as the Town of Berkeley. The first elected trustees of the town were the slate of Dennis Kearney's Workingman's Party who were particularly favored in the working class area of the former Ocean View, now called "West Berkeley". The area near the university became known as "East Berkeley". Dennis Kearney (1847–1907) was a California political leader in the late 19th century, known for his anti-immigrant political views toward Chinese immigrants. ... The Workingmans Party was a California labor organization led by Dennis Kearney in the 1870s. ...

The modern age came quickly to Berkeley, no doubt due to the influence of the university. Electric lights were in use by 1888. The telephone had already come to town. Electric streetcars soon replaced the horsecar. A silent film of one of these early streetcars in Berkeley can be seen at the Library of Congress website: "A Trip To Berkeley, California" Most of the industrialized world is lit by electric lights, which are used both at night and to provide additional light during the daytime. ... For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation). ... a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ... Rapid Transit in San Diego: An original 1886 horse-drawn trolley and its driver participate in a parade celebrating the groundbreaking of the Panama-California Exposition Center in 1911. ... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ...

Early 20th century

Berkeley's slow growth ended abruptly with the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. The town and other parts of the East Bay somehow managed to escape even moderate damage from the massive temblor, and hundreds if not thousands of refugees flowed across the Bay. In 1909, the citizens of Berkeley adopted a new charter, and the Town of Berkeley became the City of Berkeley. Rapid growth continued right up to the Crash of 1929. The Great Depression hit Berkeley hard, but not as hard as many other places in the U.S. thanks in part to the University. Sarah San Francisco Earthquake redirects here. ... The Great Depression was a global economic slump that began in 1929 and bottomed in 1933. ... For other uses, see The Great Depression (disambiguation). ...

On September 17, 1923, a major fire swept down the hills toward the University campus and the downtown section. Some 640 structures burned before a late afternoon sea breeze stopped its progress, allowing firefighters to put it out. is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1923 Berkeley Fire was a conflagration which consumed some 640 structures, including 584 homes in the densely-built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California on September 17, 1923. ...

The next big growth occurred with the advent of World War II when large numbers of people moved into the Bay Area to work in the many war industries, such as the immense Kaiser Shipyards in nearby Richmond. One who moved out, but played a big role in the outcome of the War was U.C. Professor and Berkeley resident J. Robert Oppenheimer. During the war, an Army base, Camp Ashby, was temporarily sited in Berkeley. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the West Coast of the United States during World War II headed by Henry J. Kaiser. ... Nickname: Coordinates: , Country United States State California County Contra Costa Government  - Mayor Gayle McLaughlin (G) Area  - City  52. ... J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, served as the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, beginning in 1943. ... Camp Ashby was a temporary U.S. Army installation sited in Berkeley, California during World War II. The base was named for Ashby Avenue, a nearby thoroughfare (at the time, part of State Highway 24, now 13), which in turn was named for an early settler, William Ashby. ...

The 1950s and 1960s

The postwar years saw moderate growth of the City, but events on the U.C. campus began to build up to the recognizable activism of the sixties. In the 1950s, McCarthyism induced the University to demand a loyalty oath from its professors, many of whom refused to sign any such oath on the principle of freedom of thought. In 1960, a U.S. House committee (HUAC) came to San Francisco to investigate the influence of communists in the Bay Area. Their inquisition was met by protesters, including many from the University. Meanwhile, a number of U.C. students became active in support of the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, the University in 1964 provoked a massive student protest by banning the distribution of political literature on campus. This protest became known as the Free Speech Movement. As the Vietnam War rapidly escalated in the ensuing years, so did student activism at the University, particularly that organized by the Vietnam Day Committee. A 1947 comic book published by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning of the supposed dangers of a Communist takeover. ... The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was an investigating committee of the United States House of Representatives. ... Historically, the civil rights movement was a concentrated period of time around the world of approximately twenty years (1960-1980) in which there was much worldwide civil unrest and popular rebellion. ... The Free Speech Movement was a student protest which began in 1964 - 1965 on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley under the informal leadership of student Mario Savio and others. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... The Vietnam Day Committee (VDC) was a coalition of left-wing political groups, student groups, labour organizations, and pacifist religions in the United States of America that opposed the Vietnam War. ...

The late sixties would become the time period for which Berkeley is most identified, even today, in the memories of Americans who were alive at the time. In that period, Berkeley—especially Telegraph Avenue—became a focal point of the hippie movement, spilling over the Bay from San Francisco. Hippies were apolitical drop-outs, rather than students, but in the heady atmosphere of Berkeley in 1967–1969 there was considerable overlap of the hippie movement and the radical left. Perhaps the crowning event of the Berkeley Sixties scene was the conflict over a parcel of University property south of the contiguous campus site which came to be called "People's Park". For the British TV show, see Hippies (TV series). ... Peoples Park, Berkeley Peoples Park in Berkeley, California, USA is a park off of Telegraph Avenue, bound by Haste and Bowditch Streets and Dwight Way, near the University of California (UC Berkeley) that was created as part of the citys radical activism in the 1960s. ...

People's Park with high-rise student housing in the background

The battle over the disposition of People's Park resulted in a month-long occupation of Berkeley by the National Guard on orders of then-Governor Ronald Reagan. In the end, the park remained undeveloped, and remains so today. A spin-off "People's Park Annex" was established at the same time by activist citizens of Berkeley on a strip of land above the Bay Area Rapid Transit subway construction along Hearst Avenue northwest of the U.C. campus. The land had also been intended for development, but was peacefully turned over to the City and is now Ohlone Park. Picture of Peoples Park in Berkeley, California taken by Minesweeper on December 14, 2003 and released under terms of the GNU FDL. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Picture of Peoples Park in Berkeley, California taken by Minesweeper on December 14, 2003 and released under terms of the GNU FDL. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The United States National Guard is a reserve forces component of the United States Army (the Army National Guard) and the United States Air Force (the Air National Guard). ... Reagan redirects here. ... A westbound BART train with aerodynamic design A car in downtown San Francisco. ... Ohlone Park is a public park in the city of Berkeley, California. ...

1970s to present

The 1970s saw a decline in the population of Berkeley, partly due to an exodus to the suburbs. Some moved because of the rising cost of living throughout the Bay Area, and others because of the decline and disappearance of many industries in West Berkeley.

The period from the 1980s right up to the present has been marked by a continuation of rising costs, particularly with respect to housing, especially since the mid-1990s. In 2005–2007, sales of homes began slowing, but average home prices were, and as of 2008 remain, among the highest in the nation. 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Although many think of the 1960s as the heyday of liberalism in Berkeley, it remains one of the most overwhelmingly Democratic cities in the United States, with its 2004 presidential vote going more than 90% for John Kerry (54,419 votes) versus only 6.7% for George W. Bush (4,010 votes).

The era of large public protest in Berkeley waned considerably with the end of the Vietnam War in 1974. One person who rose in prominence during the late sixties and into the seventies was Ron Dellums, nephew of C.L. Dellums, an African American labor leader. He first served on the Berkeley City Council, and later became a federal representative for the district which includes Berkeley. He was elected as Mayor of Oakland in 2006. Ronald Vernie (Ron) Dellums (born November 24, 1935), U.S. Democratic Party politician, is the mayor of the City of Oakland, California. ... C.L. Dellums was one of the organizers and leaders of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. ...

Also in 2006, a tree sit-in began, protesting the construction of a new sports center annex to Memorial Stadium at the expense of a grove of oak trees on the UC campus. The protest continues in early 2008.

In 2007–08, demonstrations against a Marine Corps recruiting office in downtown Berkeley were ongoing, receiving special media attention after the City Council proposed to draft an anti-recruiting letter to the Marines. (See Berkeley Marine Corps Recruiting Center controversy)

Geography

Berkeley is located at 37°52′18″N, 122°16′29″W (37.871775, −122.274603)^[2].

View of Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay from LBNL.

View of Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay at nightfall.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.7 sq mi (46 km²). 10.5 sq mi (27 km²) of it is land and 7.2 sq mi (19 km²) of it (40.9%) is water, most of it part of San Francisco Bay. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1188 KB) A view of Berkeley, California, and the San Francisco Bay from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1188 KB) A view of Berkeley, California, and the San Francisco Bay from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. ... The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), formerly the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory and usually shortened to Berkeley Lab or LBL, is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 532 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Berkeley, California Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 532 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Berkeley, California Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census as defined in Title ) is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. ... San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, and the Golden Gate San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean. ...

Berkeley borders the cities of Albany, Oakland, and Emeryville and unincorporated Contra Costa County including Kensington as well as San Francisco Bay.

Berkeley lies within telephone area code 510 (historically, part of 415), and the postal ZIP codes are 94701 through 94710, 94712, and 94720 for the University of California campus. A telephone numbering plan is a system that allows subscribers to make and receive telephone calls across long distances. ... Mr. ...

Geology

Most of Berkeley lies on a rolling sedimentary plain, rising gently from sea level to the base of the Berkeley Hills. From there, the land rises dramatically. The highest peak along the ridge line above Berkeley is Grizzly Peak, elevation 1,754 ft (535 m). A number of small creeks run from the hills to the Bay through Berkeley: Codornices, Schoolhouse, Marin and Strawberry are the principal streams. Most of these are largely culverted once they reach the plain west of the hills. The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges which overlook the northeast side of the valley in which San Francisco Bay is situated. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Codornices Creek is one of the principal creeks which runs out of the Berkeley Hills in the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. ... Schoolhouse Creek is the name of a creek which flows through the city of Berkeley, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. ... Strawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the City of Berkeley, California. ...

The Berkeley Hills are part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, and run in a northwest–southeast alignment. In Berkeley, the hills consist mainly of a soft, crumbly rock with outcroppings of harder material of old (and extinct) volcanic origin. These rhyolite formations can be seen in several city parks and in the yards of a number of private residences. One such park is Indian Rock Park in the northeastern part of Berkeley near the Arlington/Marin Circle. The Pacific Coast Ranges are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the west coast of North America from Alaska to northern and central Mexico. ... This page is about a volcanic rock. ... Indian Rock Park is a public park in the city of Berkeley, California. ...

Berkeley is traversed by the Hayward Fault, a major branch of the San Andreas Fault to the west. No large earthquake has occurred on the Hayward Fault near Berkeley in historic times (except possibly in 1836), but seismologists warn about the geologic record of large temblors several times in the deeper past, and their current assessment is that a quake of 6.5 or greater is imminent, sometime within the next 30 years. The Hayward Fault Zone is located in northern California in the San Francisco Bay Area. ... View of the San Andreas Fault on the Carrizo Plain in central California, 35°07N, 119°39W The San Andreas Fault is a geological fault that runs a length of roughly 800 miles (1300 kilometres) through western and southern California in the United States. ...

In 1868, a large earthquake did occur on the southern segment of the Hayward Fault [1] in the vicinity of today's city of Hayward (hence, how the fault got its name). This quake destroyed the county seat of Alameda County then located in San Leandro and it was subsequently moved to Oakland. It was strongly felt in San Francisco, causing major damage, and experienced by one Samuel Clemens (also known as Mark Twain). [2] It was regarded as the "Great San Francisco Quake" prior to 1906. The quake produced a furrow in the ground along the fault line in Berkeley, across the grounds of the new State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind then under construction which was noted by one early University of California professor. Although no significant damage was reported to most of the few buildings which then existed in Berkeley, the 1868 quake did destroy the vulnerable adobe home of Domingo Peralta in north Berkeley. ^[3] Hayward is a city located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area in Alameda County. ... San Leandro is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humanist,[2] humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. ... The California School for the Blind is a public educational institution for blind children, K-12, located in Fremont, California. ...

Today, the Hayward Fault can be seen "creeping" at various locations in Berkeley, although since it cuts across the base of the hills, this creep is typically concealed by and confused with slide activity. Some of this slide activity however is itself the result of the Hayward Fault's slow movement. Springs and sharp perpendicular jogs of streams are another sign of the fault's location and movement.

One notorious segment of the Hayward Fault runs lengthwise right down the middle of Memorial Stadium at the mouth of Strawberry Canyon on the campus of the University of California. Photos and measurements show the movement of the fault through the stadium.

Climate

Berkeley has a Mediterranean climate, with dry summers and wet winters as is typical in the Mediterranean region, but with a cool modification in summer thanks to upwelling ocean currents along the California coast, which help to produce cool, foggy days. Berkeley's position directly opposite the Golden Gate ensures that typical eastward fog movement will blanket the city more often than its southerly or northerly neighbors.^[4]  Areas with Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate is one that resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes over half of the area with this climate type world-wide. ... Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface, replacing the warmer, usually nutrient-depleted surface water. ... The Golden Gate The Golden Gate, looking south towards San Francisco. ...

Winter is punctuated with rainstorms of varying ferocity and duration, but also produces stretches of bright sunny days and clear cold nights. It does not normally snow, though occasionally the hilltops get a dusting. Spring and fall are transitional and intermediate, with some rainfall and variable temperature. Summer typically brings night and morning low clouds or fog, followed by sunny, warm days. The warmest and driest months are typically June through September, with the highest temperatures occurring in September. Mid-summer (July–August) is often a bit cooler due to the sea breezes and fog which are normally most strongly developed then. For other uses, see Fog (disambiguation). ...

The National Weather Service cooperative station's records since 1919 show that January, the coldest month, has an average maximum of 56.2 °F (13.4 °C) and an average minimum of 42.9 °F (6.1 °C). September, the warmest month, has an average maximum of 71.8 °F (22.1 °C) and an average minimum of 55.0 °F (12.8 °C). Annually, there are an average of 2.9 days with highs of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher and an average of 1.0 days with lows of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower. The highest temperature recorded was 107 °F (42 °C) on June 15, 2000, and the lowest temperature recorded was 25 °F (−4 °C) on January 21, 1937, and December 9, 1972. The National Weather Service (NWS) is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States government. ... is the 166th day of the year (167th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 343rd day of the year (344th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Average annual precipitation is 23.57 in (599 mm). The wettest year was 1983 with 48.42 in (1,230 mm) and the dryest year was 1929 with 9.89 in (251 mm). The wettest month on record was December 1955 with 15.04 in (382 mm). No measurable rainfall has been common during the summer months. The most rainfall in 24 hours was 6.98 in (177 mm) on January 4, 1982. Although snowfall is rare in the lowlands, averaging only 0.1 in (2.5 mm) each year, 6.0 in (150 mm) fell on January 29, 1922. Snow has generally fallen every several years on the higher peaks of the Berkeley Hills.^[5] is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges which overlook the northeast side of the valley in which San Francisco Bay is situated. ...

In the late spring and early fall, strong offshore winds of sinking air typically develop, bringing heat and dryness to the area. In the spring, this is not usually a problem as vegetation is still moist from winter rains, but extreme dryness prevails by the fall, creating a danger of wildfires. In September 1923 a major fire swept through the neighborhoods north of the University campus, stopping just short of downtown. (See 1923 Berkeley fire). On October 20, 1991, gusty, hot winds fanned a conflagration along the Berkeley–Oakland border, killing 25 people and injuring 150, as well as destroying 2,449 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. (See 1991 Oakland firestorm) The 1923 Berkeley Fire was a conflagration which consumed some 640 structures, including 584 homes in the densely-built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California on September 17, 1923. ... is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar. ... Infrared aerial photograph of the firestorm. ...