Berkeley One and Only

by Jon Sullivan, Contee Seely (Contributor)

Berkeley One and Only is a coffee table book that vividly exhibits the personality of an extraordinary town. Longtime residents lead stunning photographic tour of this storied, beloved and irresistible city. Visiting the vibrant cultural life, the rich architectural history, the flourishing art community and its stunning natural beauty, they take the reader into the heart and soul of the Berkeley experience.

206 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Ed Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of nice pictures, and a little history, of this lovely and interesting town. Originally intended to be just photos, they eventually decided to add short texts, and I'm glad they did.

I'd always thought it odd that the college football stadium is built directly on top of an active earthquake fault. Here I learned that the architect also thought that was odd. So they fired him and built it anyway! It is still standing, but the east and west sides are continuing to move in opposite directions at 1cm per year.

One sad note, they included many pictures and story of the "How Berkeley Can You Be" parade which was nice, but that ended just one or two years after this was published. (Mounting fees and safety restrictions from city. Apparently flame throwers can be dangerous. Who knew?)

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this for my dad, as I saw him admiring it once. It's a nice coffee table book about Berkeley, skewed toward art and the university and has a very nineties-ish feel in both style and outlook (despite being published in 2006).