I moved to Berkeley from New York almost thirty years ago, and lived with two friends in a one-bedroom flat on Derby and Telegraph. There was an Andronico’s where the CVS is now, and two blocks up was Bing Wong, where we did laundry while we shot pool across Parker Street at the Bison Brewery, and all the books and records you could imagine lay just a little further up the Avenue, at Moe’s, Cody’s, Shakespeare & Co., Rasputin, and Amoeba. We didn’t have a lot of extra cash, so for entertainment, we’d roll a joint, buy a five dollar bottle of Cook’s California Champagne, and bike up Derby Street to the Tanglewood Path.

We’d lock our bikes at the foot, and follow the path to the head of the fire trail at the hairpin in Stonewall Road, continuing past the Mountain Lion warning sign, into the towering, redolent Eucalyptus trees. A short walk up this dirt road lands you on a promontory with a breathtaking view of the entire bay area: Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, majestic bridges and winding lines of cars moving, end to end, like so many silent ants. Here we’d sit, and smoke, and sip, and feel like kings surveying our holdings, which we held in our minds and hearts, while this tall-treed corner held us back in a spell of beauty and wonder.

I’ve been returning to the Claremont Canyon fire trail this winter, when the rain lets up, with my dear Julia and our odd little dog - at midday, or sunrise, or sunset - and climbing higher than we once did, to form a loop with a winding path through the trees. My connection to this hillside has deepened with time and familiarity, and it is a place where I feel I can see enough of the world to know where I am, but the noise and chaos of it all is muffled by distance, and it never fails to provide me with a new and better perspective.

2022 has begun with a hesitant whimper. Weary of distance but still frightened by closeness, we are anxious, bored, and full of FOMO for high-risk gatherings and imaginary events. I encourage you all to get out if you can - out of your heads and homes - and find a better perspective in the beauty of the world around you. Drive to the beach, head to the mountains, or just hop on your bike and ride to the Tanglewood Path. Sometimes the antidote is as simple as a shared bottle of bubbles in a safe, special, happy place.

Cheers,
Max