Berkeley Hills, Berkeley

The Berkeley Hills area of Berkeley is as close as you get to a “posh” area in Berkeley. This is where you find the superstar professors from Cal and the very well off. The streets are narrow and the houses have deceiving entrances often stretching down over the hill or up away from the street. They are not quite mansions but many are really beautiful works of architecture. The view of the Bay is great and the cooling coastal climate ensures that you will never get the scorching temperatures from just over the Contra Costas.

This was the area that was hit hard by the Berkeley fire of the early 90’s where several people lost their houses (along with some novels and other scholarly research as well). So many of he houses are new. Fire remains a fairly constant fear on these narrow tree packed streets.

You are just in reach of Berkeley if you want culture and nightlife. SF is only twenty minutes away or so. Tilden Park is just outside of the borders of the neighborhood if you want hiking and nature. In other words, its got just about everything you could want in the East Bay. One of the best neighborhoods around, if you can afford it. (You won’t find too many rentals here and when you do they will be distinctly beyond the reach of the student type Victorians in other parts of Berkeley.)