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Berkeley is the site of the University of California, Berkeley, the flagship campus of the University of California, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Hall of Science, and Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, which are on the campus grounds.
The history of the city is inextricably linked to its university. According to the Centennial Record of the University of California, "In 1866...at Founders' Rock, a group of College of California men were watching two ships standing out to sea through the Golden Gate. One of them, Frederick Billings, was reminded of the lines of Bishop Berkeley, 'westward the course of empire takes its way,' and suggested that the town and college site be named for the eighteenth-century English philosopher and poet."
The University of California first operated in Berkeley in 1872. Much of Berkeley's economy, status, and reputation has long derived from its relationship with the institution.
The 1910Events January events January 13 The first live musical radio program. Lee De Forest broadcasts a live performance of Enrico Caruso from the Metropolitan Opera. January 26 ? Seine floods in Paris. February events February 8 The Boy Scouts of America is in "First Church of Christ, Scientist", designed by Bernard MaybeckBernard Ralph Maybeck ( February_7, 1862 October_3, 1957) was a prominent architect in the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th Century. Maybeck was born in New York City and studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France. He moved to Berkeley, is a mix of CraftsmenArt history Art movements The Arts and Crafts Movement was a reformist movement, at first inspired by the writings of John Ruskin, that was at its height ca. 1880-1910. The movement influenced British decorative arts, architecture, cabinet making, crafts, GothicBesides its original meaning, "of or relating to the Goths, a Germanic tribe" and thus the Gothic language and the Gothic alphabet, and aside from its Early Modern connotations of "rough, barbarous," the word Gothic has been used since the 18th century to, and Romanesque styles. It is a National Historic LandmarkCathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawai'i was declared a National Historic Landmark and later listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also the site that Father Damien was ordained to the priesthood. In the United States, Nation.
Both city and university have long been famed as a center of activist politics and radical social ideas. The Free Speech MovementThe Free Speech Movement was a student protest which began on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley in 1964 under the informal leadership of Mario Savio, a philosophy, later physics, student. Unprecedented protests by students of the campus began on the Berkeley campus, arguing for free speech on campus, despite its ownership by the Regents. Many student demonstrations against the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a war fought between 1957 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos See Secret War) and in bombing runs ( Rolling Thunder) over North Vietnam. See also the timeline of the Vietnam War. Fighting on occurred there in the 1960s, which American news organizations dramatically televised.
Another notable series of events that helped to solidify this popular conception of Berkeley is the repeated takeover by populists of an open lot owned by the University of California. The University has long sought to build on the lot, but the populists have demanded that the lot remain undeveloped and open as a public park. Today this lot is called People's Park and 1960s era culture and spirit still lives on Telegraph Avenue.
Due to the generally liberal to radical views of the Berkeley public, the city is sometimes mockingly referred to as the People's Republic of Berkeley.
In 1986 Berkeley officially became a Nuclear Free Zone after a local vote, disallowing the operation of nuclear reactors within city limits and preventing work from being done on nuclear weapons within its borders. While this can be seen as a logical extension of its radicalism, it also is an ironic play with Berkeley's past: the University of California, Berkeley played a major role in the development of nuclear weapons during World War II, a DOE National Laboratory still sits above the city. Signs posted at the city borders declaring its Nuclear Free Zone status are the most noticeable effect of the measure.
More recently, Berkeley has become known as a gourmet food center. Even by the standards of the Bay area it has an exceptional number of specialist food shops and restaurants, and a Berkeley restaurant, Chez Panisse, is regarded as the birthplace of California cuisine. Its proprietor, Alice Waters, has been called "the mother of American cooking."
Since the 1970s, the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART), a metro train system, has linked Berkeley to San Francisco and the other cities of the Bay Area. Berkeley has nevertheless maintained its own character. Originally the planners of BART proposed an above-ground route through Berkeley, but Berkeley residents voted for a below-ground tunnel route instead, whose extra cost was funded by a bond issue. Consequently, BART runs entirely in a subway through Berkeley, but not in the neighboring cities of Oakland and Albany.
Humorous saying: "Three things have come out of Berkeley: LSD, BSD, and the SCA. This is no coincidence."