Welcome to Berzerkeley !
In 1987, I made the big move across the pond from San Francisco to Berkeley. My friend Paul Steinert was living there on his sailboat "Tres Equis" in the Berkeley yacht harbor on San Francisco Bay, and it was half way to Walnut Creek, where I worked. So by moving half way, I could shorten my commute without having to change my bohemian lifestyle.

Little did I know that ten years in Berkeley will change even the most idealistic youth into a jaded caricature of himself.

Living in  Berkeley, you either get more conservative or more liberal, if that's possible. After all, people like Wavy Gravy, Daniel Elsberg and Country Joe McDonald have all lived in Berkeley. Some are still there, complaining about how it's just not like the good old days back in 68, when the tear gas was more pungent, and the police were meaner than today.
Like my former home, Madison Wis, the political outcasts of the 60's became the status quo, and decided to permanently lodge themselves in the gears of the political machine, thereby thwarting the corruption (or 'subverting the dominant paradigm', as we like to say), and simultaneously overthowing  'evil corporate capitalism' worldwide in one big politically correct revolution. In other words, to collect a paycheck and at the same time have a job with sufficient slack to make it seem like they were "saving the world" without actually having to work. Nice work if you can get it! So, for the next 20 years, very little maintenance of the city took place, but many commissions on aging, poverty, and gentrification were created. Junkets were made to Cuba and sister cities were selected in Communist countries worldwide.

Both because of, and despite  the idealism of the 60's and 70's, Berkeley is still trying to find a way to balance idealism with realism. An example of this is the controversy over the homeless and panhandling situation in downtown Berkeley. Yet another example is the unoffical Annual Berkeley Riot and Finger pointing Festival.
Nonetheless, Berkeley does offer a high (almost ludicrous) degree of tolerance for eccentricy and oddball behavior.

Berkeley, in an effort to upstage Pasadena's "Doo-Dah" Parade, began a summer tradition of having a big parade called "How Berkeley Can You Be?". It's a good-natured event, since violence, tear-gas, looting, riots, and political hubris  are all too often the answer to this rhetorical question.

We enjoy living in Berkeley and even know some of our neighbors. Friends from San Francisco have discovered the relatively good weather, trees, parks and cheaper real estate on the east side of the bay.  And of course the sunset views from the Berkeley Hills,  make San Francisco jealous.

Also, Berkeley does have some interesting houses and lots of architectural history - especially if you like California Bungalow, Craftsman style, or Victorian.
New and Improved for the Millenium!
(It's deja vu all over again!)
The UCB Campanile
The Berkeley Pier at Sunset