Winter 2018 Walking Tours

Enjoy a series of four walks in February and March, led by expert local guides exploring lesser-known aspects of Berkeley’s historical and architectural heritage. Space is limited; paid reservations are required.

Admission per walk: $15 general; $12 BAHA members

Purchase tickets online or by mail.

Ticket holders will be notified of the starting location(s) by e-mail.

BAHA archives

Berkeley Deco and Moderne
Sunday, 18 February 2018
1:00 pm–3:00 pm
Leader: Steven Finacom
SOLD OUT

Berkeley is not commonly known as a center of Deco-era architecture, but we actually have many fine buildings designed in the cutting edge styles of the 1930s and 40s. They are concentrated in the downtown area and on the U.C. Berkeley campus. The walk will visit most of these buildings, including what was once the largest academic building in the world, Berkeley’s near-forgotten 1940s Moderne downtown bus station, the narrowest commercial building in town, and possibly a look inside our finest movie palace.

Courtesy of Tom Dalzell

Unknown South Shattuck
Sunday, 4 March 2018
1:00 pm–3:00 pm
Leader: Steven Finacom
SOLD OUT

People may speed through Berkeley’s South Shattuck district regarding it only as Berkeley’s “auto row,” but it’s actually a fascinating neighborhood that includes rare 19th-century buildings, reminders of the railroads, pleasant tree-lined residential blocks of handsome bungalows, Victorians, and Colonial Revival residences, two magnificent Moderne buildings built as Berkeley’s indoor recreation hubs, and the site of Berkeley’s early traveling circus grounds. We’ll sample the rich history of the blocks south of Dwight Way, between Fulton Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.

Daniella Thompson

The Berryman Neighborhood
Sunday, 18 March 2018
1:00 pm–3:00 pm
Leader: Carrie Olson
SOLD OUT

Browse one of North Berkeley’s most eclectic early residential districts west of the Gourmet Ghetto and near Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, guided by a neighborhood native. Historic and architecturally interesting houses abound on quiet side streets. The walk route includes the early Berkeley home of the Maybeck family, Victorians and brown-shingles, the Edible Schoolyard, two hidden creeks, and even two of Berkeley’s oldest automobile service stations.

BAHA archives

Berkeley’s Shellmound Heritage
Saturday, 31 March 2018
1:00 pm–3:00 pm
Leader: Stephanie Manning
SOLD OUT

Explore the Bay Area’s oldest residential neighborhood—the vicinity of the West Berkeley Shellmound—where locals were living more than four thousand years ago. Learn about the ancient “pre-contact” history of this neighborhood and the modern movement to reclaim its native heritage. See buildings saved from the early neighborhood of Ocean View, where Berkeley’s post-Gold Rush settlement began. This is also where Berkeley’s modern preservation movement was born half a century ago, as residents and activists fought to preserve Ocean View from redevelopment into a warehouse district.

All walks will generally be on public sidewalks, but some include some steep streets or narrow sidewalks. Unless otherwise noted, buildings will be viewed from the exterior.