South Berkeley is a neighborhood in the city of Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It extends roughly from Dwight Way to the city’s border with Oakland, between Telegraph Avenue

Telegraph Avenue

Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, USA, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California campus in Berkeley, California...

 in the east and either Sacramento Street or San Pablo Avenue in the west. It lies at an elevation of 102 feet (31 m).

Demographics

This neighborhood is the center for Berkeley's African-American community, with a population of 9,341 that is roughly 52% African American. Traditionally, it was considered to be the most economically depressed portion of Berkeley; however, as rent has risen in the city over the past several years, South Berkeley has become more attractive to students and other young people, and rents in the area have become comparable to other, more affluent Berkeley neighborhoods. South Berkeley is crisscrossed by bus lines and is arguably among the most bicycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

-friendly areas of the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

. Recently, the neighbhorhood has become home to Cooperative Roots, a nonprofit dedicated to building sustainable, affordable cooperative housing. The first two pilot cooperative houses, Fort Awesome and Fort Radical, are located on King Street near the Berkeley-Oakland border.

History

Along Ashby Avenue, the Union Pacific once ran a trolley that took passengers to the shoreline, which at the time extended along what is now San Pablo Avenue. South Berkeley has been the East Bay

East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)

The East Bay is a commonly used, informal term for the lands on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States...

 mecca for sports. From highly competitive Softball leagues to the Midnight & Twilight Basketball League at Grove Street Park and "YAP", which stands for the "Young Adult Project".

Places

Services and businesses located in South Berkeley include the Ashby BART station, the Shotgun Players

Shotgun Players

The Shotgun Players is a critically acclaimed California East Bay regional theater group formed in a pizza parlor in Berkeley, California in 1992 by artistic director Patrick Dooley. The group specializes in unfamiliar productions by modern playwrights, Greek plays, and Shakespeare...

 theatre, La Peña Cultural Center

La Peña Cultural Center

La Peña Cultural Center is the main Chilean-American culture center in the United States. It opened in 1975 and has been operated by the same two expats since in the Ashby neighborhood in Berkeley, California...

, and the Berkeley Tool Lending Library. The Berkeley Bowl supermarket, which has one of the most extensive selections of produce and specialty foods in the Bay Area, operates one of its two stores there. The Ashby BART station hosts a flea market each weekend in its parking lot. The area is also home to Wat Mongkolratanaram

Wat Mongkolratanaram

Wat Mongkolratanaram is a small Thai Buddhist temple located in Berkeley, California. It mainly attracts Thai American Buddhists, including many who are students at the University of California, Berkeley, but it also draws in many local, non-Buddhists who come searching for the authentic Thai food...

, a Thai

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 Buddhist

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 temple that serves a Sunday brunch.

Parks and recreation

The Tennis court area at "Grove Street Park" is now called William C. Charles Courts, named after the late "Mr. Charles" (also known as "the waving man"). He would stand in front of his house on the corner of Grove and Oregon Streets every morning from about 7 am to 10 am waving to passersby while saying "Keep smiling" and "Have a beautiful day". He did this every day for 25 years. South Berkeley residents respected and appreciated Mr. Charles, who died in 1998, and the Grove Street Park tennis courts were named in his honor.

Grove Street Park is home to the only nationally ranked men's team "Berkeley All-Stars" who are coached by Bay Area basketball legend Eugene Evans. Grove Park and San Pablo Park have been the training grounds for many well-known athletes, including Don Barksdale

Don Barksdale

Donald Angelo "Don" Barksdale was a professional basketball player. He was a pioneer with a number of African-American firsts to his credit.-Early life:...

, Claudell Washington

Claudell Washington

Claudell Washington is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Oakland Athletics , Texas Rangers , Chicago White Sox , New York Mets , Atlanta Braves , New York Yankees and California Angels...

, Phil Chenier

Phil Chenier

Philip Chenier is a former professional basketball player. He is presentlya television sports broadcaster for the NBA's Washington Wizards.-NBA playing career:...

, Shooty Babitt

Shooty Babitt

Mack Neal "Shooty" Babitt was an American baseball second baseman. Babitt was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 25th round of the Major League Baseball Draft. He began his career with a seven-game hitting streak, the second such longest streak in Oakland A's history...

 and Jason Kidd

Jason Kidd

Jason Frederick Kidd is an American professional basketball point guard who plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Raised in Oakland, California, Kidd played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley and was drafted second overall by the Dallas...

.