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Berkeleyside
Text • Nico Savidge

Election 2026: Who’s running for Berkeley City Council, school board and more

People sit around a semi-curcular dais, in front of a rainbow flag and flag reading "Black Lives Matter."
Voters will pick from crowded fields in two City Council races, while a Rent Board commissioner who didn’t make the ballot for re-election says she’s planning a legal challenge.

Berkeleyside
Text • Momo Chang

Nudi Blue, Coffee Mill and Ben’s temporarily closed

A running list of restaurants that have recently closed in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, and beyond.

Berkeleyside
Text • Andrew Gilbert

Introducing Libro Saltwater, Shakesbear and Booknado — the new fiber mascots of the Berkeley library

These three plush fellows have won top honors in the Berkeley Public Library’s fiber mascot contest.

Berkeleyside
Text • Nathan Dalton

Berkeley’s Dark Carnival bookstore, a home for sci-fi fans and fish-themed car emblem collectors, turns 50

It was saved from closure in 1999 by a Wall Street Journal callout that led to a surge in sales for its line of Gefilte fish, Viagra fish and other godless car emblem parodies inspired by the Darwin fish.

Berkeleyside
Text • Calliope Arkilic

Crawdads, my dad and me

I don't like seafood. But a visit to an Oakland crawfish boil may have changed my mind. Maybe.

Berkeleyside
Text • Alex N. Gecan

3.8 magnitude earthquake in East Oakland shakes Berkeley, delays BART

The first quake hit at 8:30 a.m., and two smaller ones were registered seconds apart shortly after 9 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Berkeleyside
Text • Karen Nguyen Vo and Andrew Gilbert

Around Berkeley: Cat video festival; a sale on imperfect handmade artwork at ACCI Gallery

Other events include free lawn bowling lessons, a workshop to create a living collage and a weekly Berkeley Poetry Slam.

Berkeleyside
Text • Joanne Furio

Berkeley novelist loses San Quentin teaching gig for his book’s prison escape plot

Bill Smoot, who volunteered at the prison for 14 years, says his expulsion is unfair. The head of his program defends the prison, saying Smoot broke the rules and was warned not to call his book “San Quentin Exodus.”

Berkeleyside
Text • Calliope Arkilic and Elsie Yuen

Where to find lunch in downtown Berkeley for $12 or less

With the help of a Berkeley High student, Nosh rounded up the best lunch deals in downtown, with banh mi, bagels, Bart Simpson sandwiches and everything in between.

Berkeleyside
Text • Felicia Mello

UC Berkeley wants to demolish mansion that long housed UC presidents

Cal says the century-old villa at the center of Kensington’s Blake Garden has fallen into disrepair and is too costly to fix.

Berkeleyside
Text • Nathan Dalton

Artist studios pop up at Berkeley’s empty Half Price Books

A company that works to temporarily fill vacant retail with creative space has gotten a discounted six-month lease to build 24 studios where artists can make and sell in downtown.

Berkeleyside
Text • Momo Chang

New Latin Market lands in Richmond, and the East Bay gets fresh cafe and Thai options

A running list of restaurants that have recently opened in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, and beyond.

Berkeleyside
Text • Daniel Ekonde

Sculptures that double as bird nests: Weigh in on 3 public art proposals for new Southwest Berkeley park

The city is soliciting input from residents through Aug. 24 on sculpture proposals for the new park being built on a stretch of the old Santa Fe railroad line.

Berkeleyside
Text • Berkeleyside Staff

Berkeleyside’s guidelines for opinion pieces for the Nov. 3 election

Berkeleyside Opinion
This year we will be accepting op-eds for ballot measures only. The deadline to submit them is Sept. 14.

Berkeleyside
Text • Hope Muñoz

The first new path in 5 years is being built in the Berkeley Hills

For the first time since 2021, volunteers with the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association were hard at work forging a new path.  

Berkeleyside
Text • Momo Chang

July restaurant closures include pair of taprooms, 2 popular pop-ups, and Peruvian and Mexican options

Line 51, Match Point Brewing, Kathiew House, Pour Manners, Ace Seafood, Pucquio and Gallego's are among the East Bay establishments to recently close.

Berkeleyside
Text • Nathan Dalton

Pickleball in the sky: A new Berkeley club plays 6 stories above downtown

Since May, members have been swatting pickleballs on three courts atop a parking garage.

Berkeleyside
Text • Skylla Mumana

Matt Horn closes last Horn Barbecue location amid wage theft accusations

The coals lost their glow at Horn's Oakland restaurant as the renowned pitmaster deals with accusations of wage theft across his crumbled barbecue empire

Berkeleyside
Text • Momo Chang

Cafe Santana shuttering original cafe, Ben’s bows out after 40 years, plus two Montclair restaurants close

A running list of restaurants that have recently closed in Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, and beyond.

Berkeleyside
Text • Nico Savidge

What new owners have planned for Berkeley’s legendary Fantasy Studios building

An office building rises above a garden of trees and flowers under a clear blue sky.
Steve Meckfessel said his firm hopes to attract tech companies to the West Berkeley building, while still supporting its community of independent filmmakers.

Berkeleyside
Text • Berkeleyside Staff

The Wire: What Trump admin’s student visa limits could mean for research at UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley students study outside McLaughlin Hall, with Sather Tower, aka the Campanile, in the background. March 2022.
Also: Cal is close to an agreement to host the first big concert at Memorial Stadium since Paul McCartney played there in 1990.

Berkeleyside
Text • Vanessa Arredondo

Beatriz Leyva‑Cutler, Reichi Lee among 6 finalists for vacant Berkeley school board seat

The board will interview all finalists publicly on Aug. 19 and may make a selection immediately afterward.

Berkeleyside
Text • Eli Wolfe

$30 minimum wage won’t appear on November ballot after Alameda County leaders call for study

Organizers are undeterred and say they have also submitted a separate initiative to create a $30 minimum wage in Oakland.

Berkeleyside
Text • Momo Chang

Pinkies up! Afternoon tea’s having a moment in the East Bay

Tea services are booming in the Bay, with multiple new options added in the past year and a variety of styles, including vegan, Filipino, Thai and Malaysian.

Berkeleyside
Text • Joanne Furio

Married 70 years, writing partners for over 40: Their latest novel is likely their swan song

Berkeley couple Richard and Phyllis Kluger are publishing their third jointly written novel next week — “The Swiss Account,” a literary thriller about the moral dilemma of inheriting a tax dodger’s hidden fortune.

Berkeleyside
Text • Karen Nguyen Vo and Andrew Gilbert

Around Berkeley: Hike to Grizzly Peak, women in tattooing, learn Irish dancing

Other events include a picnic for World Breastfeeding Day, an exhibition of unfinished artwork and a late-night vinyl hangout.

Berkeleyside
Text • Hope Muñoz

The rebuild of Tilden Park’s Environmental Education Center is on hold

Replacing the 1974 visitor center that’s near the Little Farm is paused indefinitely due to lack of funds, according to the EBRPD.

Berkeleyside
Text • Skylla Mumana

Little Hill Lounge, an iconic, decades-old East Bay music venue, is up for sale

The owners cite debt and rising costs as reasons for listing, raising concerns among musicians and longtime patrons about the future of the cherished El Cerrito bar.

Berkeleyside
Text • Family of Donald Watkins

Remembering Donald Watkins, who co-wrote book helping Vietnam vets tell if they’d been exposed to Agent Orange

He went on to work for many decades at the Social Security Administration and was a longtime volunteer at the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Oakland.

Berkeleyside
Text • Local sponsor

BAMPFA goes behind the scenes to recognize the art handlers

"Las frutas del labor" pays homage to the people who do the heavy lifting in the art world.