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Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto Sketches

Earthly Goods, Shattuck & Vine, Berkeley, ink & watercolor, 8x5"
Earthly Goods, Shattuck & Vine, Berkeley, ink & watercolor, 8×5″

Back in the 1970s when Chez Panisse first opened, the neighboring area became known as Gourmet Ghetto, and it has continued in that tradition since then. The area is packed with wonderful foodie joints, fine restaurants and specialty food shops as well as boutiques like Earthly Goods (above).

French Hotel, ink & watercolor, 8x5"
The French Hotel has lost part of its neon sign. Ink & watercolor, 8×5″

The French Hotel (above) is in the same neighborhood and has a great espresso bar on the ground floor. A couple of doors down is the Cheese Board Collective, famous for their special pizzas that people line up for while being entertained by a jazz band and then eat, picnic style, on the center median strip of Shattuck, despite signs saying not to. (This previous post has funny video of people breaking that particular rule.)

5 replies on “Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto Sketches”

Yeah, it’s so very Berkeley! It’s a wonderful town, a combination of students, old yuppies, old hippies, young yuppies, social and environmental activists and lots of artsy and literary types with interesting architecture and gardens. I love it! When I first found Berkeley I knew I’d found home. Jana

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Great sketches. I also watched the video which made me laugh. It seems to me people are the same across the country. Give them a strip of grass or some water and they want to eat on/near it.

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