February 12, 2007

Berkeley: The Nuts and Bolts of It

If you are trawling Berkeley’s Elmwood neighborhood for a new home you will have already grown to love the wonderful selection of largely independent shops on the Elmwood slice of College Avenue.

Some my favorites include Shen Hua for the best Chinese food I have ever tasted; The Beanery, where I have spent many happy an hour with a laptop and a cappuccino; the fancy-pants Ici ice-cream parlor; Tail of the Yak for its whimsical collection of objets; the Sweet Dreams toy and candy stores; and Boss Robot Hobby, a miniscule temple to all things cool and Japanese.

But by far the most useful store is Bolfing’s, or Elmwood Hardware as it is most commonly known. If you appreciate a good, old-fashioned service and a store where they invariably have everything you need at a good price, you will be as concerned as me to hear that Bolfing’s is threatened with closure.

Tad, the owner wants to build an addition and his proposal has been denied, so he doesn’t know if he can keep the store open. It’s not as simple as that (when is anything to do with zoning applications simple?). You can read all sides of the story and cast your vote if you live locally at Kitchen Democracy. (I feel more like an activist in the People’s Republic of Berkeley every day.)

And if you want to live as close as you can possibly get to those fabulous Elmwood shops, you might want to look at this $1.7 million, 5-bedroom house on Russell Street.

It used to be pink and shabby. It’s been totally renovated inside and out and is now the color of wet plaster. If you lived there, you could practically reach out of your front window and grab a milkshake off the counter at Ozzie’s, the local slap-dash but lovable soda fountain — it’s that close. The downside is that it also has prime views of a turning circle and car park.