Southside

Lively living south of campus

Just south of the UC Berkeley campus, Southside is a bustling, student-oriented area, and wins our vote for the most colorful and vibrant neighborhood in the East Bay. Students, homeowners and curious tourists happily meander through endless cafes, eclectic bookstores, record shops, and very diverse restaurants on busy Telegraph Avenue, the hub of activities south of campus.

Southside is proudly home to the work of Berkeley’s first planners and architects. Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck, and other virtuoso architects designed many of the buildings, and Frederick Law Olmsted (designer of Central Park and Golden Gate Park) had a hand in planning the leafy residential streets southeast of campus. Their influences can be seen on the dense, tree-lined side streets where homes include restored Victorians, Neo-Colonial boxes, vernacular-style bungalows, and shingled cottages. Many of these homes feature separate, self-contained “in-law” units, which can provide additional income for homeowners who wish to rent them to students.

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