Visiting Memorial Stadium in November? Helpful suggestions

[chalcidbear]

Below are some suggestions for visitors (compiled by myself and other Cal fans) coming to Berkeley for a football game at Memorial Stadium (on Gayley Road, just east of the campus). Information comes from the collective knowledge/insight/experiences of the Cal fans who contribute to the BearInsider, and do not reflect the official authority of the University of California (so don’t bother trying to sue anybody!).

I. Flying In
Oakland International is the airport closest to Berkeley, and without traffic jams, it is about a 30 minute drive to campus. But give yourself 45 minutes to be on the safe side, or even longer if it is commute time. There is also a shuttle from the airport to the Coliseum/Airport BART Station (see below for a link to the BART website).
San Francisco International is actually 5 miles south of San Francisco, and has a greater number of airlines serving it, but driving time to Berkeley is an hour, MINIMUM, (unless you are coming in on a red-eye at 3am, in which case you can probably make it in 40 minutes), but at commute time figure 2 hours … but BART service extends to the airport! If you are staying overnight in San Francisco, this is the most convenient airport, and there are lots of options available for traveling from the airport to downtown SF. San Francisco is separated from Berkeley by the San Francisco Bay, which can be crossed by auto (Bay Bridge toll is $8.00 going west into SF, free going east towards Berkeley, and cars are charged using FasTrak: (San Francisco Oakland Bridge - FasTrak (bayareafastrak.org). To avoid the worry about traffic or parking, BART is a good alternative (see below) – there is also ferry service between the City and East Bay, but it is set up to handle commuters, and unlikely to provide decent service on a Saturday.
Your third alternative is San Jose International. San Jose is served by a wide variety of airlines, but is 40 miles south of Berkeley – a good hour usually, or 1.5-2 hours during commute times. However, Santa Clara Valley’s VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) provides a connection to the BART station at Berryessa Station (on the green and orange lines Routes | VTA).
A fourth alternative is to fly into Sacramento Airport (about 60-70 miles northeast of Berkeley). You’ll definitely need a car to get to Berkeley, and driving time will be 1.5-2 hours.

II. Ground transportation
Parking and traffic near the stadium are a [deleted] on gamedays, so the best way of getting here is via BART (http://www.bart.gov). Exit at the Main Berkeley Station (on Shattuck between Center & Allston), and walk east (towards the hills). You can walk through the campus to the stadium – a good landmark is the Campanile, Cal’s belltower, situated almost in the middle of the campus. But if you want to ride, you can pick up a shuttle to the stadium 1.5 blocks east of the BART station, on West Crescent (just east of Oxford Street), which goes through the campus. Other shuttles travel around the campus’ perimeter.
If you absolutely must drive, the City of Berkeley has a website with locations of parking garages (https://berkeleyca.gov/city-services/pa ... s-and-lots). Cal has some parking structures as well, which will probably set you back almost $50. If you are really frugal (that’s the nicer word), you may be able to park for free in residential areas which are a good 25-30 minute walk from the stadium (south of Ashby Avenue, west of Martin Luther Junior King, Jr. Way, or north of Cedar Street). By all means try to avoid driving on College Avenue and Ashby Avenue, before and after games. Some residents (typically frats/sororities) offer game day parking on their premises, but having to battle the pedestrians and traffic may make this a poor alternative; a few years back they’d charge $20, but we imagine the prices have increased since then.

III. Hotels
The Durant Hotel is only a few minutes’ walk from the Stadium, while three other nice hotels are in downtown Berkeley: the Shattuck Hotel, Residence Inn Berkeley, and the Berkeley City Club (the latter designed by Julia Morgan). On campus, the Faculty club is a picturesque place to stay, but you’ll probably need to make reservations WELL in advance. There are several moderately-priced motels and hotels along University Avenue (which runs from Highway 80 east towards campus), and some pricier places on the Berkeley Marina (go west along University Avenue instead of east). Some folks recommend staying in San Francisco, a virtual tourist’s mecca (travel from downtown SF to downtown Berkeley only takes about 25 minutes on BART). Emeryville may be a nice compromise location to stay – this city has little to offer by itself (except a couple of large shopping malls), but there are several hotels right off Highway 80 at the Powell Street exit – these have relatively easy access from airports, and are only a 10-20 minute drive to Berkeley (not BART accessible, but AC Transit should be able to get you to campus) – these include Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Four Points by Sheraton, and Sonesta Emeryville. Relatively cheaper motels are found in north Berkeley (on San Pablo Avenue), and further north (El Cerrito) or to the south (Oakland).

IV. Game day details
There is a map of campus available through the UC Berkeley site at: (http://www.berkeley.edu/map/).
Berkeley is blessed with a rather clement climate – it almost never rains on Saturdays from August through November. But during the summer and fall, it is not unusual to have a morning fog cover that burns off by 10am to noon. Occasionally the fog comes back about 4 pm, or doesn’t burn off at all. So be prepared for weather that ranges from quite warm to chilly (ie. wear layers). You may wish to check out this website (http://lawrencehallofscience.org/play/view/) which shows the current weather at the Lawrence Hall of Science (just above the stadium). BUT, what you see at 9 am ain’t necessarily what you’ll get at noon. Also, the visitor’s section at Memorial Stadium faces west, so if you don’t like the idea of the sun in your eyes later in the afternoon, bring a hat or darkglasses.
Info about tickets can be found here: https://calbears.com/sports/2014/1/3/209358296.aspx When walking to the stadium you might encounter a few pre-game tailgate parties, but THERE IS NO SINGLE DESIGNATED TAILGATING AREA – you’ll need to find your own. The one exception is for the Big Game (against Stanford), when the campus becomes literally overrun with tailgaters. Just don’t expect to be able to drive in and park at the last moment (in this case, “last moment” may be defined as 4 hours pre-kickoff).
The Fun Zone opens to the public 2.5 hours before game time on Maxwell Family Field, just north of Memorial Stadium. It is free and caters to kids and adults alike. There is a March to Victory 2 hours and 20 minutes before kickoff time, when the fans have a chance to greet the home team as they enter through the north entrance of the Stadium. There is a rally featuring the Marching Band at Sproul Plaza, 1.5 hours prior to kickoff, and one can follow the band afterward as it marches up to the stadium.
Here’s a link (https://www.playca.com/2914180/cal-gold ... fan-guide/) to the Game Day Information and Memorial Stadium Guide, listing all the dos and donts. Some of the key points:

- See-through bags are allowed, but no larger than 12”x12”x6”, and will be searched. You can check items at the Bag Check area, by the north entrance at Gate 1.
- The Will Call booth is also at the north entrance to the stadium.
- Reentry to the stadium is not allowed.

We think Memorial Stadium is located in one of the more scenic venues around (Strawberry Canyon in the Berkeley foothills). Built in 1923, it was recently renovated, but please note that on the east side of the stadium, the restroom facilities are a series of port-a-potties along the road outside the uppermost level of seats. If you are attending a “major game” (Stanford or a highly ranked school), it may take you AT LEAST 20 minutes to get to your seat once you hand in your ticket. Plan your arrival time accordingly.
And if you get to the game without a ticket in hand, don’t despair – you can watch it from a point just to the east off Stadium Rim Way: “Tightwad Hill”. It’s rather a steep climb, but offers a free view of most of the playing field, as well as a nice vista of San Francisco Bay.
Radio game coverage is provided by two local stations: U.C. Berkeley’s own KALX, 90.7 FM, and KGO 810 AM, as well as on Sirius XM radio, and via TuneIn on CalBears.com.
The area just to the south of Memorial Stadium (bounded by the stadium, College Avenue, Dwight Way and Warring Street), is the heart of Berkeley’s Greek community. On game day, this area tends to get rather, er “boisterous”, especially around those who wear red. If you visibly support the visiting team and wish to enjoy a serene walk before and after the game, we gently suggest you instead approach the stadium from the west, via the campus or Bancroft Avenue.
Finally, the numbers on Cal’s uniforms are very wide, making it difficult to tell a “5” from a “6” from an “8”, so you should bring binoculars if you want to figure out who made what play.

V. Places to wine and dine
Berkeley has a wide variety of great restaurants, too many to list here … except for Top Dog (2534 Durant Avenue), Flint’s Bar-B-Q (6609 Shattuck Avenue), Fat Apple’s (1346 Martin Luther King Jr. Way), and Fenton’s Creamery (4226 Piedmont Avenue, Piedmont [not Berkeley] – referenced in the Pixar movie “Up”), which are all local classic spots (as opposed to classy spots). For additional restaurants, check out this webpage: https://sf.eater.com/maps/best-restaurants-berkeley.

Of greater potential interest to football fans are sports bars/pubs, som¬e of which are:
On campus:
- Faculty Club (east of Faculty Glade)

South of campus:
- Henry’s Publick House & Grille (in Durant Hotel, 2600 Durant Avenue)
- Raleigh’s (2438 Telegraph Avenue)
- Cali’s Sports Bar & Kitchen (2367 Telegraph Avenue)
- Caffe Strada (2300 College – really a coffee house … that has good beer)

West of campus:
- Cornerstone (2367 Shattuck Avenue)
- Jupiter (2181 Shattuck Avenue)
- Triple Rock (1920 Shattuck Avenue)

North of campus:
- LaVal’s Pizza (1834 Euclid Avenue)


VI. Other attractions

Campus sites include:
- Click on (http://www.berkeley.edu/visitors/) for more information about physical and virtual tours.
- Though in an urban setting, Cal has many rustic corners on campus, including Faculty Glade (a nice place to have a pre-game picnic), the Eucalyptus Grove and several sites along Strawberry Creek.
- If you are on campus Monday-Friday, you can ride to the top of the Campanile from 10am to 4pm ($5 general admission) and get a great view of the area (http://visit.berkeley.edu/campus-attractions/campanile).
- Architecturally, some of the more interesting sites include the lobby of the Hearst Mining Building (in the NE quadrant of the campus), the passageway through Stephens Hall (west of Faculty Glade), the Greek Theater (east of Gayley Road), Hearst Gym, and the Doe and Biosciences Libraries.
- The Free Speech movement got its start in (Upper) Sproul Plaza, and now you can get a latte in the FSM café, located in the Moffit Library.
- Campus museums open to the public include the Berkeley Art Museum (http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu), and several Natural History Museums (http://bnhm.berkeley.edu/about).
- There are upwards of 40 separate libraries on campus (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/AboutLibrar ... tions.html), but the biggest are the Doe, Moffit and Biosciences Libraries.

Local attractions near the stadium include:
- Telegraph Avenue, between Dwight Way and Bancroft Way: a never-ending street fair. However, it would behoove you to have a modicum of care when on the street. Panhandlers abound, and non-violent crime seems to be on the rise. And if you are the adventurous sort …
- Just east of Telegraph is the “semi-historic” People’s Park, in the quadrangle formed by Telegraph, Dwight Way, Bowditch Street & Haste Street. After years of conflict, the University is getting serious about turning it into student residences. Currently, the area is cordoned off by double stacked shipping containers, and construction is supposed to start soon. The chances of student protest over this is possible, but unlikely on Saturdays. And if you’ve gone that far, check out the interesting architecture of the First Church of Christ Scientist (across the street from People’s Park at the corner of Dwight at Bowditch) designed by Bernard Maybeck.

If you have a car, you may wish to explore the Berkeley hills, which can offer you a great view of the Bay. From the east side of Memorial Stadium, drive east up the canyon on Centennial Drive (closed to traffic on or near game time). About 0.5 mile up on the right is the University’s Botanical Gardens (http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu).
A little further on is the Lawrence Hall of Science (http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org) a great place to take kids, or just enjoy the vista. Drive a little further still, and you hit Grizzly Peak Blvd. If you cross Grizzly Peak, you’ll enter Tilden Park, the crown jewel of the East Bay Regional Park District (http://www.ebparks.org), and if you turn right and go south along Grizzly Park Blvd, you’ll get some more great vistas, and come across several more EBRPD parks: Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, Huckleberry Botanic Regional Reserve, Redwood Regional Park and Anthony Chabot Regional Park.

If you want to catch professional sporting events, the San Francisco 49ers play at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara (about 40 miles south of Berkeley), the “Oakland” A’s play at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, the San Francisco Giants play at Pacific Bell Park in downtown San Francisco (accessible via any of BART’s downtown San Francisco stations with a transfer to San Francisco Muni’s N train), and the Golden State Warriors play at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Some of the more popular local shopping districts are:

South Berkeley
- Elmwood District (College Avenue near Ashby Avenue)
- Rockridge area (actually in Oakland: College Avenue between Alcatraz Avenue and Broadway)

Central Berkeley
- Downtown Berkeley, around Shattuck Avenue and University Avenue

West Berkeley
- 4th Street (between University Avenue and Cedar Street)

North Berkeley
- Walnut Square (Walnut Street at Rose Street)
- Solano Avenue (running from Berkeley west through Albany)

[Drum Major]

Interesting reading. Thank you!