Category: Events

December 5, Wednesday, 7:30 to 9 pm

(Live Oak Park Center – Theatre, in Live Oak Park, 1201 Shattuck Avenue,)

Within less than a decade, New Deal public works agencies such as the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps put millions of men to work creating and improving the nation’s public parks and recreational facilities, but their contributions were quickly forgotten after WWII killed those agencies. Gray Brechin is the Project Scholar for The Living New Deal Project, a collaborative effort to inventory, map, and interpret the great legacy of these agencies on California. He is also a fascinating and engaging speaker. He will illustrate the invisible landscape of New Deal accomplishments in Berkeley and seek recollections of long-time residents in the parks so improved. $5-10 donation at the door; Contact: John Steere or Georgia Silvera: seatulip AT hotmail DOT com

November 17, 2007, Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon
Berkeley’s Downtown Parks: Real, Envisioned, and Vanished.
Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and led by Steve Finacom & Linda Perry. Downtown Berkeley is a commercial, transportation, and civic hub, with a hidden history of open space. Learn of Civic Center Park and the vanished park in Shattuck Square, and fountains that once ran down the center of Shattuck Avenue. In celebration of the Centennial of Berkeley’s public park system, we’ll visit all these sites, as well as sites of proposed open spaces that never were. Contact: Reserve a space by calling (510) 848-0181, between 1 pm and 4 pm on Thursday or Friday before the tour; or go to www.cityofberkeley.info/histsoc/#EVENTS

November 3, Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon
Lower Codornices Creek: From Rails to Restoration
Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and Led by Susan Schwartz with Drew Goetting & Richard Register. Explore lower Codornices Creek and its varied history, from early rails and industry through World War II worker housing and shipyard railway to recent nature restoration. 2.5-mile walk is level, but two blocks of trail are not suitable for strollers or wheelchairs. Contact: Reserve a space by calling (510) 848-0181, between 1 pm and 4 pm on Thursday or Friday before the tour; or go to www.cityofberkeley.info/histsoc/#EVENTS