Posts: 406
Threads: 20
Joined: Sep 2012
Another unpleasant visit. The discussion on the hell hole near a BART station board is as dim, grim and dingy as Berkeley itself. In the 70s I tried to tolerate Berkeley three times: once as a freshman, once for summer school after freshman year and finally as a law student. Each time I wanted to like it, mainly because it was cheap. But each time I visited, Berkeley was just too awful to tolerate. The aggressive street culture of Telegraph Avenue, sort of a malignant hangover from the Vietnam era, hung like mustard gas over the whole campus. The grim-faced students fighting their way into classes did little to improve the mean-streets feel of the place. I'll forever be grateful that Stanford saved me from having to live in that world.Â
In 2000 my daughter and I went to Big Game at Berkeley. I told her that UCB was one of the great universities in the country and she should look around to see if she'd like to go there. After the game, which Stanford won in OT, I asked her what she thought of it. "It's dirty," she said, "and the people are mean."
Not much had changed in 30 years.