The Berkeley Time Warp

I'd heard about it before, but was surprised all the same. When you catch the BART subway across the bay to Berkeley, all the 30-somethings white men with matted dreadlocks get out the train at the Berkley stop, and you set your watch back to the 1960's. People really are protesting by living in trees, railing against US politics outside the gate and selling tie-died T-shirts (Made in India) on Telegraph Avenue. Its an anachronism, but its also cool.

I went there to hook up with Sandy, my neighbour in New York, who was at her sister's graduation. We had a cup of coffee at International House Berkeley, which we walked past by accident. IHouse Berkeley is a mixture of Mexican villa on the outside and faux medieval hall on the inside. Not only that, but it also offered my very first view of the Golden Gate bridge. Sandy and I had a good time, walked around the campus, visited the t-rex (California seems to have lots of these) and a conversation which was strangely deeper than anything we've ever had in New York. Maybe things were like that in the 60's too.