Chapter 1 

Before restaurants were famous in Berkeley there were great restaurants as least for those who wanted to hang out, do a little writing, and observe the passing show. I would meet Fid up at the Buttercup on College Avenue. Rumor had it that it was owned by the Unification Church of the infamous Reverend Moon but we didn't know and didn't care at that point. I figured if the cults got too big they would fight among themselves and kind of mute the danger of it. Fid and I wanted the free and open road without all this absoute loyalty palavar.

The restaurant was a noisy place, a place to think in the middle of chaos as people came and went with their muffins and coffee. They had small tables and small cups for the coffee. Fid and I were large but we managed ok and talked like gossiping women about people we knew.

A street was a good thing. But streets dominated by cars was simply a thing and meant little unless you walked those streets or had good expriences on those streets. I walked everywhere because I didn't have a car but soon realized that when you walk, in defiance of a car even, you were swallowing the effects of the car, its size and noise, smoke, even the personality of the driver, many drivers it was a forever stream of metal and glass hunched above the concrete making a mess of everything.

College Avenue was a good street though. It took one into Oakland and onto the main thoroughfare Broadway. It connected with BART and the University. There was always a good soccer game up on the field behind the high fence. It ran parallel with Telegraph but was a more modest street, a friendly street with good shops and happy people swinging their bags and listening to their music.

David Eide
January 24, 2014