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Southside, also known by the older names South of Campus or South Campus, is a
neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
in
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
. Southside is located directly south of and adjacent to the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
campus. Because of the large
student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementa ...
presence in the neighborhood, proximity to Sproul Plaza, and history of the area, Southside is the neighborhood most closely associated with the university.


History

Southside began in the 1860s as a real estate development by the private
College of California The College of California was a private college in Oakland, California. It is a predecessor of the public University of California system. It was established in 1853 as the Contra Costa Academy. In 1868, it merged with the nascent Agricultural ...
, the predecessor to the university. The trustees of the College needed to buy a large farm to the east of the College's planned campus to secure its water rights over the headwaters of
Strawberry Creek Strawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the city of Berkeley, California. Two forks rise in the Berkeley Hills of the California Coast Ranges, and form a confluence at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. ...
. To raise money for that project, they decided to also buy land to the south of the planned campus at the same time and sell lots adjacent to the campus to create a
college town A college town or university town is a community (often a separate town or city, but in some cases a town/city neighborhood or a district) that is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several sma ...
. They initially hired
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
to plan the new town, but eventually decided to go for a more traditional grid layout. Except for a small area around Piedmont Avenue designed by Olmsted, the streets were laid out in a 1/8 by 1/8 mile grid, and named alphabetically for prominent academics. The east-west oriented streets were named in order from the northernmost to the southernmost street: Allston, Bancroft, Channing, and Dwight, all of which retain their old names. The north-south oriented streets were named from easternmost to westernmost: Audubon (now College), Bowditch, Choate (now Telegraph), Dana, Ellsworth, and Fulton. These initial blocks have been subdivided by the insertion of Durant Avenue, and Haste, Kittredge, and Atherton Streets. The neighborhood didn't begin to grow until after 1873, when the university moved to Berkeley from
Downtown Oakland Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States; roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lak ...
. The neighborhood was connected to Oakland by a
horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, w ...
(then
streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
) line along present-day Telegraph Avenue. It grew steadily over the next few decades, with a business district along the streetcar line, and farmhouses and mansions, then rooming-houses, apartments, hotels, churches, and new streets filling the large blocks.Wollenberg, Charles
"Berkeley, A City in History"
By the 1920s the area was a dense urban neighborhood extending as far north as
Strawberry Creek Strawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the city of Berkeley, California. Two forks rise in the Berkeley Hills of the California Coast Ranges, and form a confluence at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. ...
. In the 1930s the university campus began expanding southward into the neighborhood, beginning with
Edwards Stadium Edwards Stadium (also referred to as Edwards Field) is the track and field and soccer venue for the California Golden Bears, the athletic teams of the University of California, Berkeley. This Art Deco-styled stadium was designed by architects War ...
and
Harmon Gym The Walter A. Haas Jr. Pavilion is an indoor arena in the western United States, on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California. It is the home venue of the Golden Bears men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball ...
. In the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, the entire area north of Bancroft Way was acquired by the university and demolished for new campus buildings and Sproul Plaza. During this time the university also greatly expanded its student housing, taking several city blocks within Southside by
eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
to construct high-rise dormitory "units". One of the blocks acquired and demolished during this wave of expansion became the centerpiece of a conflict with people who wanted it to become a neighborhood park. The protests and riots over People's Park became one of the symbolic events of the 1960s, and the park remains a source of controversy and conflict today.


Today

The boundaries of Southside extend roughly from Bancroft Way to the north to Dwight Way to the south, east of Fulton Street and west of
Panoramic Hill Panoramic Hill is a residential neighborhood of the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, California defined by the homes along and within the access corridor defined by Panoramic Way. Geography The Panoramic Hill Neighborhood is located at the eastern ...
. In the
2000 US Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...
, the neighborhood had a population density of approximately 30,000 people per square mile, making it the most densely populated neighborhood in Berkeley. The neighborhood had a median age of 21 years, lower than every other neighborhood in the area, reflecting the dominant student population. The intersection of Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue serves as the primary gateway to UC Berkeley, and Telegraph is a major pedestrian thoroughfare as well as a shopping area, with sidewalk vendors and stores catering mainly to students and out-of-town visitors. Durant Avenue east of Telegraph has many cheap restaurants, many of them Asian, earning it the nickname "the Asian Ghetto" among Berkeley students.
Fraternities and sororities Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept grad ...
are clustered in the eastern end of the neighborhood around Piedmont Avenue, which has become known as "Frat row". During the fall of 2010, the
Berkeley Student Food Collective The Berkeley Student Food Collective (BSFC) is a collectively-operated nonprofit grocery market founded by students of the University of California, Berkeley. The 650-square-foot storefront is located across the street from the university, on B ...
opened after many protests on the
UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
campus due to the proposed opening of the fast food chain
Panda Express Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that serves American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,200 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, where it was founded, and is mainly located in North ...
. Students and community members worked together to open a collectively-run grocery store right off of the UC Berkeley campus, where the community can buy local, seasonal, humane, and organic foods at prices that everyone can afford. The
Berkeley Student Food Collective The Berkeley Student Food Collective (BSFC) is a collectively-operated nonprofit grocery market founded by students of the University of California, Berkeley. The 650-square-foot storefront is located across the street from the university, on B ...
still runs to this day at 2440 Bancroft Way.


Government

Southside constitutes the majority of Berkeley's District 7 and is represented by Kriss Worthington.


See also

* Barrington Hall *
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...
*
Berkeley City Club The Berkeley City Club was commissioned as the club house of the Berkeley Women's City Club, organized in Berkeley, California in 1927 to contribute to social, civic, and cultural progress. This List of gentlemen's clubs in the United States, priva ...
*
California Memorial Stadium California Memorial Stadium also known simply and commonly as Memorial Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California. It&nbs ...
* Cody's Books *
Downtown Berkeley Downtown Berkeley is the central business district of the city of Berkeley, California, United States, around the intersection of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street, and extending north to Hearst Avenue, south to Dwight Way, west to Martin Luther Ki ...
*
Free Speech Movement The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a massive, long-lasting student protest which took place during the 1964–65 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The Movement was informally under the central leadership of Be ...
*
List of Berkeley neighborhoods This is a list of neighborhoods in Berkeley, California. * The Berkeley Hills – Roughly bounded by Cedar Street, Spruce Street, Eunice Street, Sutter Street, and Arlington Avenue on the west, and Tilden Regional Park on the east. ** La Loma Par ...
*
Northside, Berkeley, California Northside is a principally residential neighborhood in Berkeley, California, located north of the University of California, Berkeley campus, east of Oxford Street, and south of Cedar Street. There is a small shopping area located at Euclid and Hea ...
* The Chandler Building * Sather Gate * Student ghetto


References

{{Berkeley, California Neighborhoods in Berkeley, California Student quarters University of California, Berkeley