What's it all about?

“It Came from Berkeley: How Berkeley Changed the World”  
is an amusing, touching, anecdote-filled, and colorfully
illustrated social history of Berkeley that shows how so
much of what makes America great got its start, or at least a
kick in the pants, in the often-maligned city of Berkeley.
This book suggests that, rather than existing outside of
America, Berkeley exists at its heart.

From its early years, Berkeley has pioneered much of what
is best about America. Berkeley pioneered public university
education, temperance as a force for families, and the
spiritual in art. Throughout its history, Berkeley’s leading
thinkers have defined the good life not as a life of wealth but
a life devoted to the arts and the betterment of their fellow
men and women.

Berkeley pioneered humane crime-fighting, decried corporal
punishment of children in the 1910s, helped create national
parks and helped invent the concept of regional open space
by taking part in the creation of the East Bay Regional Park
District.

During the 1960s, when the world at large woke up to
Berkeley’s influence, young people associated with the
university defined free speech as a cause, and helped give
America a true counter-culture. Berkeley’s creation of
California cuisine a few years later only emphasizes what
Berkeley has always been about – a sophisticated, knowing
version of the good life.
The history of the city that gave America listener-
sponsored radio, California cuisine, the lie-detector, the
atom bomb, Free Speech, the hot tub and yuppies; that
pioneered independent living for disabled people, school
integration, women’s rights, the preservation of urban wild
lands, and Prohibition; that commercialized LSD; that
welcomed artists, poets, preachers, prophets and homeless
people; that went from “the Athens of the Pacific” to the
“People’s Republic ….This is the liveliest social history of
Berkeley ever written!
Dave Weinstein
Author of "It Came from Berkeley: How
Berkeley Changed the World," Gibbs
Smith, 2008, hardcover, 224 pages, more
than 100 photos. $24.99 US dollars.

Contact the author:
155 Ashbury Avenue
El Cerrito, CA, 94530
davidsweinstein@yahoo.com

Dave Weinstein, author of the new book “It Came
from Berkeley: How Berkeley Changed the
World,” also wrote “Signature Architects of the
San Francisco Bay Area,” (Gibbs Smith)  and the
text for “Berkeley Rocks: Building with Nature,”  
(10 Speed Press) which features photos by
Jonathan Chester.

Dave also writes a popular series about Bay Area
architects for the San Francisco Chronicle’s Home
& Garden section, and writes about modern
architecture for CA Modern magazine, published
by the Eichler Network.

A longtime Bay Area journalist, Dave was a
reporter and editor at the Contra Costa Times.
A resident of El Cerrito for almost 30 years, Dave
initiated the successful effort to preserve El
Cerrito’s long abandoned Art Deco movie palace,
the Cerrito Theater, and is chairman of the
Friends of the Cerrito Theater.

To buy "It Came from Berkeley," click
here for a list of our favorite
neighborhood stores!
It Came from Berkeley
How Berkeley Changed the World
Dave Weinstein
Author, preservationist, historian
"It Came from Berkeley" is based on original archival
research, much delving in musty old newspapers, and much
spinning of annoying microfilm reels. The results? Tales that
will surprise even the most jaded of Berkeley historians.

Consider these:

How co-eds doffed their hats. Grown men gasped. Children
wondered -- when Berkeley's entire female population
removed their chapeaus!

How Cal howled for Sproul. Few presidents did as much as
Robert Gordon Sproul to transform the University of
California from homey to a juggernaut. But that's not why
students loved him!

How Telegraph Avenue suffered its troubles. Berkeley
began reinventing the world in the 19th century but it didn't
come to the world's attention until the 1960s. Here's a taste.
Co-eds show off their "plugs," battered
top hats usually worn by junior men in
the early 1900s.
Photo courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley
Good news, Berkeley history fans! "It Came from Berkeley" is
available now in your favorite stores (yes, and through online
merchants too). So, do not delay. As one reader just announced, the
book is "tons of fun!"
How Berkeley Got Religion
How Berkeley Became Bohemian
How Berkeley Revealed Nature's Spirit:
William Keith
How Berkeley Developed its Look: Bernard
Maybeck
How Berkeley Went Dry
How Berkeley Pioneered Modern Crime
Fighting
How Berkeley Burned
How Berkeley Won the Big Game
How Berkeley Cooperated
How Berkeley Spurned Spanking
How Berkeley's Japanese Persevered through
Adversity
How Berkeley Invented the Bomb
How Berkeley Pioneered School Integration
How Berkeley Promoted Free Speech
How Berkeley Became the People's republic
How Berkeley battled for a Park
How Berkeley Got Good taste
How Berkeley Invented the Hot Tub
How Berkeley Discovered Yuppies
... and many more!
Chapters include:
Read some sample chapters!!
Dave Weinstein at Rose Walk in Berkeley. Steps
designed by Bernard Maybeck, houses by Henry
Gutterson. Photo by Foster Goldstrom