InBerkeley

We came for the tartare but stayed for the “suite” tour.

The newly renovated Shattuck Hotel held an open house this evening, during which tastes were offered from the revamped menu and viewings of the spruced-up rooms and suites.

The dining room is a welcome change from the previous incarnation of the space with classic white and bright walls and a much more open feel. The signature drink of the night, as described by the bartender, was a rhubarb-strawberry cocktail sprayed with berry coulis in the shape of a “5″ on top of egg white foam (pictured).

Restaurant Five is named for the senses and is headed up by Chef Scott Howard. Samples such as beef brisket with tomato jam, goat cheese and smoked jamon crostini, tuna tahini tartare and butterscotch candied-walnut parfait were served to a capacity crowd of uncharacteristically well-dressed Berkeleyans.

The hotel rooms displayed during the evening overlook Shattuck and are equipped with modern amenities including free wifi. Pictures of Berkeley adorn the walls.

Above all, it’s nicer to have a restaurant opening in Berkeley than one closing, and the Shattuck Hotel fills a much-needed niche in the heart of downtown.

Business, Downtown, Food, restaurants allston, bar, Downtown, Food, hotel, opening, restaurant, shattuck

Michael Lewis

Berkeley author Michael Lewis must have a smile on his face.

In addition to having his memoir on fatherhood, Home Game, on the New York Times bestseller list, it looks like the movie version of Moneyball, another one of his bestsellers, is on again.

Sony Pictures co-boss Amy Pascal green-lighted the movie on July 9 – after having canceled it on June 22. She did an about face because Steven Soderberg is no longer attached as director. He had done a rewrite of the script that Pascal didn’t like.

Now Aaron Sorkin of West Wing fame will rewrite the script.  He may have been tapped because his script for  The Social Network, about the founding of Facebook, is getting accolades. There is no word yet on the new director for Moneyball.

Brad Pitt will star in Moneyball

Brad Pitt is still scheduled to star as Billy Bean, the Oakland A’s manager.

Just one question: will they film the movie in the aging Oakland Coliseum?

Maybe Alameda County can charge a fee to use the stadium and recover a fraction of the millions it lost in luring the team here from Los Angeles.

Other Berkeley writers who have movies based on their books coming out include Ayelet Waldman and Michael Pollan. Natalie Portman stars in a film based on Waldman’s Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. It wrapped up shooting last year but no release date has yet been scheduled..

PBS will screen a film on October 28 based on Pollan’s Botany of Desire.  Of course, Pollan fans already know he shows up as a commentator in two current films, Food Inc, and Fresh.

Arts, Books, Movies

In his blog, Robert Reich, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, says that with a recession this deep, recovery doesn’t depend on investors. It depends on consumers. And until consumers start spending again, you can forget any recovery.

Problem is, consumers won’t start spending until they have money in their pockets and feel reasonably secure. But they don’t have the money, and it’s hard to see where it will come from. They can’t borrow. Their homes are worth a fraction of what they were before, so say goodbye to home equity loans and refinancings. One out of ten home owners is under water — owing more on their homes than their homes are worth. Unemployment continues to rise, and number of hours at work continues to drop. Those who can are saving. Those who can’t are hunkering down, as they must.

Reich concludes by stating, “…the current economy can’t “recover” because it can’t go back to where it was before the crash. So instead of asking when the recovery will start, we should be asking when and how the new economy will begin.”

General

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that three alleged leaders of a Berkeley gang were arrested today:

The suspects, Coleon Carroll, 19, his brother Joseph Carroll, 22, and Gregg Fite, 34, were at the center of a long-running feud between groups in Berkeley and North Oakland, police said.

A recent flareup resulted in a flurry of shootings, including a May 16 slaying in Berkeley, authorities said. The suspects in that case fled from police, a chase that ended with their car causing a crash that killed two men in North Oakland, authorities said.

Coleon Carroll was shot and wounded by a police officer at about 7 a.m. today when he fled out of a home on Chestnut Court in Hercules through a back window and appeared to be reaching for a weapon, said Michelle Harrington, a spokeswoman for the city.

Carroll was hit in the abdomen and is expected to survive, authorities said.

A gun was found outside the home, Harrington said. The shooting is under investigation by police and the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office.

The Hercules home was one of seven locations that were searched as part of an investigation by Berkeley and Oakland police into the gang violence.

Twelve guns, including assault rifles, and an undisclosed amount of drugs were recovered during the raids, said Oakland homicide Lt. Brian Medeiros.

Issues

The International Alliance of Iranian Students is holding an evening of remembrance tomorrow from 6 to 9pm at Telegraph and Bancroft. The protest marks the 10th anniversary of attacks on 18 Tir by the Persian calendar that killed and injured students at Tehran University.

The announcement from the IAIS states:

Then, just as now, protesters faced grave consequences in their quest for freedom. We dedicate the evening to all those who have lost their lives for freedom, and we remember…
Ezzat Ibrahim Nejad
Akbar Mohammadi
Kianoush Asa
Neda Agha Soltan

Issues, UC Berkeley

Scientists at UC Berkeley have detected a spike in underground rumblings on a section of California’s San Andreas Fault [pictured above] that produced a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in 1857.

What these mysterious vibrations say about future earthquakes is far from certain. But some think the deep tremors suggest underground stress may be building up faster than expected and may indicate an increased risk of a major temblor.

Results of the research appear in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

For the full story, as reported by ABC7, click here

[Photo credit: www.zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk]

Emergencies, Environment, Nature, Science, UC Berkeley Emergencies, Environment, Science, UC Berkeley

A live fashion show and food & wine tasting under the stars in the Gourmet Ghetto featuring clothing and accessories from local boutiques takes place this Saturday evening on Shattuck Ave. at Vine St. A $4 ticket lets you taste foods from Chez Panisse, Corso, Mint Leaf, Crepevine, Trattoria Corso, Cioccolata & Vino, Saul’s Deli and Virginia Bakery, among others. Wine from Vintage Berkeley, Behrens Family Winery and Medlock Ames will also be there. For more information, visit the Gourmet Ghetto web site.

General

According to a survey by Alameda County’s EveryOne Home program, the number of homeless in Berkeley has fallen dramatically since 2003. The number of chronically homeless people in Berkeley fell 48 per cent, from 529 to 276. People living on the streets, in shelters or in transitional housing programs fell 17 per cent, from 821 to 680.

Berkeley city officials credit a number of programs for the drop. There has been increased access to housing, more support services for the homeless and increased funding for programs that help people access income and benefits.

Issues

Moe’s Books is celebrating its 50th birthday on July 11. There will be a DJ, cake, balloons, Hula dancers and more.

Moe’s (seen above in the 1960s) was founded in 1959 by Moe Moskowitz and his then-wife Barbara. The original storefront was a small shop on Shattuck, north of University Avenue. A few years later Moe’s moved to Telegraph Avenue — just in time for the Free Speech Movement.

Visit Moe’s website nearer the time for details on the celebration.

Arts, Events, Issues

Smith & Hawken, which was a pioneering green retailer, is closing all its stores, including Berkeley’s at 1330 10th Street. Founders Dave Smith and Paul Hawken are long gone from the store they founded. Hawken has become a leading figure in the environmental movement and a best-selling author.

Smith & Hawken was acquired in 2004 by Scotts Miracle-Gro. The connection between the carefully curated store and catalog group and the mass-market Scotts was never clear. As an occasional visitor to the Berkeley store in recent years, the retail group seemed to have lost any sense of what once made it special.

Photo by Andreas Balzer from Flickr

Business, Retail

In what the Daily Planet describes as a “first for West Berkeley’s zoning history,” the Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board voted to approve permits to construct a four-story, 92,000-square-foot development at the Aquatic Park Campus to house a new bioscience laboratory, including a variance from the 45-foot limit for the height of the new structure.  According to the article, Wareham Development currently has 15 buildings on the Aquatic Park Complex related to the life and physical sciences. No word on when construction will begin.

The final design can be viewed here.  (Thanks to Matt for the pointer.)

General

Wired reports on the gradual dismantling of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Bevatron (above), which was once the world’s biggest atom smasher. It was built by the Atomic Energy Commission for $9 million in the early 1950s.

At the time, Popular Science called the Bevatron a “10,000-Ton Cracker for Invisible Nuts”

Read the full story here.

[Photo: Lawrence Berkeley Lab.]

Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Science Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Science

Chipotle, the Mexican grill chain, whose two Berkeley outposts are on Gilman Street and Telegraph Avenue, is sponsoring free screenings of the recently released  Food Inc, Robert Kenner’s movie which promises to “lift the veil on our nation’s food industry”.

Chipotle founder and CEO Steve Ells says: “I hope that all our customers see this film. The more they know about where their food comes from, the more they will appreciate what we do.”

A Berkeley screening is set for  July 15 at 7.30pm at the Elmwood Rialto.

Full info can be found on Chipotle’s website here. (Now I want a burrito.)

[Hat-tip: @amandasberkeley/Twitter.]

Arts, Events, Food, Movies, The Elmwood Events, Food, Movies, The Arts