San Pablo Ave, South Berkeley

There must be literally dozens of auto repair shops on San Pablo. If you have some kind of automotive problem--from needing a simple oil change to needing work done on your SAAB--this is definitely the street you want to come to. Just about every block on San Pablo has two or three repair shops. Unfortunately, with a couple of exceptions, there is little other reason to come here. Outside of auto repair, it is little more than a wide laned artery that runs north-south along the western end of Berkeley (parallel to the 580/80 highway). It is one of those streets that has that run down, unsafe look to it, and most people would rather not find themselves here without an automobile after dark. This unsafe feel is especially prevalent south of Dwight where stores have iron bars and some fields remain fallow.

The other thing that brings people to San Pablo, are the home decoration and furniture stores. There are nowhere near as many of these on San Pablo as there are auto repair shops, but there are enough where it is worth noting. There is a substantial nursery, some specialized lighting and fixture stores and some bed stores here. You can also find two or three unique looking restaurants and some tattoo parlors that might be worth checking out, but that I have never been to.

The highlight of San Pablo for me is at the corner with Hopkins, where you will find an Acme Bakery. You can get fresh baked Acme bread before it is trucked off to the supermarket and other local stores. In college, me and my roommate would stop off in the morning and get a couple of loaves still warm from the oven---pure heaven!