The Berkeley Experience

Berkeley Experience

Had a great night in LA at the Embassy Suites and a bumpy flight to Oakland. Execucar was right there to pick us up for our journey to The Hotel Shattuck Plaza in Berkeley. We had been reading about the riots in Berkeley to protest the two Grand Jury verdicts in the Ferguson and New York City police deaths so just before we left I got this email from my cousin Rich Wilbanks with his typical sense of humor…..

Elaine:

We wanted you to end your trip with a Berkeley experience with which to regale

friends and family.  We may have overdone it. Right now, there are

demonstrations going on between us and the Shattuck Hotel. Things are very quiet

here, though I can hear helicopters. What tomorrow evening will bring is

unknown, of course. Right now, access to the hotel is disrupted.

We expect that access to the hotel will be easy tomorrow afternoon. The

demonstrators' contract does not call for daytime work. I will try to learn if

there is a route for secret underground egress. We will play it as it comes.

Bring your cell phone and a book, just in case.

My cell phone number is 510-915-3795.

Rich

Arrived at the hotel just fine. The Hotel Shattuck Plaza is a

fine old historical hotel in the heart of Berkeley and very near the university campus. While San Francisco was finding its way out of the chaos of the devastating earthquakes and fire of 1906, several enterprising business men were drawing up plans for a hotel in downtown Berkeley.

Francis Kitteredge Shattuck, born in New York, was one of the adventurous gold seekers who headed for the Mother Lode shortly after the cry “Gold Discovered in California” rang across the land. Along with two other men he acquired a considerable amount of real estate, some of which encompasses the University of California campus and much of the present business district. In 1868 Francis Kitteredge Shattuck built a Victorian estate on Shattuck Avenue. Subsequently, part of the Shattuck property was donated to the site of the Berkeley Public Library.

In 1907 Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way was selected as the site of the Shattuck Hotel which opened December 10^th, 1910. Constructed from reinforced concrete, the hotel is one of the few downtown buildings in the mission style which represents California’s architectural heritage. The lobby, at this time, features a lovely Christmas tree and a beautiful red glass chandelier. The bar area is lovely too. Thanks to Leigh for finding this lovely place. 

We are grateful that we got upgraded to a Superior Room- which is very tiny. Jim laughed and said the Deluxe we paid for must have no room for a bathroom. I guess in olden days when this hotel was built people were smaller and didn't travel with so much stuff. 

We had a delightful dinner last evening with our cousins and got to conclude the evening with time to chat in their new apartment home.

This has been a great trip but I think we are ready and excited to head for home tomorrow.