Not 5 stars because responses to emails sent to their general email box were lacking. Also,…read morebecause they place all risk on the racers - "In case of a disaster including, but not limited to flooding, tornadoes, terrorism, CitySolve Urban Race will decide whether or not to cancel the event based on the safety of participants and staff. In the event of a cancelation, refunds will NOT be issued; risk is assumed by all participants. However, participants will have the option to transfer registration to a different 2013 race." But the June 8th race in Boston did take place, despite a damp start. For a quicker registration, a packet pick up was scheduled the evening before the race, but alternatively the packets could be picked up the morning of the race - for our 11:30am scheduled start, registration was from 10am - 11am. Packets were pretty basic, and consisted of team numbers, a rules sheet, and a waiver that all team members had to sign. Several teams put in great effort for the costume contest; we did not. Then the race began, not with a shot, but with a multiple choice question to lead us to a nearby intersection where one of the CitySolve volunteers were waiting to hand out the clues sheets. Rules were simple - Transportation was limited to our feet and public transportation (for Boston, that meant the T). We were allowed to ask folks for help and to use technology, such as our phones (whether to phone a friend, or as a smartphone to research online). Teams were required to stay together with a requisite photograph of the entire team at each checkpoint. We were allowed (in fact encouraged) to solve 9 out of the 10 clues, and were provided with the opportunity to take 4 photos worth -5 minutes apiece. Penalties were significant; 30 minutes for each wrong checkpoint and each photo that did not include the entire team. With the awards ceremony scheduled for 3pm we basically had 3.5 hours to make it to the finish line with all checkpoints accounted for. We made it! And with time to spare! As we weren't being particularly competitive, we hit all 10 clues and then some (aka all 4 bonuses plus; not that we could get additional credit for the pluses). Sure, the winning team finished in about 1.5 hours (how in the world did they do that??? It took us nearly half an hour just to figure out the clues!), but we still beat out over half the competition. After reaching the finish line, with our time marked, we were given questionaires to complete and to hand back in trade for a T-shirt, and our photos were checked, and we were done. Ah... PS - register early for a discount. PPS - as a gift from one of the sponsors, my team had the pleasure of racing for free. PPPs - If we can race, you can too!

I had a wonderful time at CitySolve Urban Race Boston yesterday…read more My team of 3 had a great time solving the 10 scavenger hunt clues, then running all over the city to take pictures and do the required activities. Smart phones are allowed in the race, but the cool thing is the clues are written so the answers aren't immediately googleable. For example the 1st clue for the Boston race involved translating English to French, and then using the numbers on the spaces under your translation answer, to write the corresponding letters in other spaces to come up with the name of the location you needed to go to. There are bonus photos you can take to have time taken off your final finishing time, however you need to keep in mind that if taking those photos take longer than the time you're earning, you're not earning anything. It was a great day, and it corresponded with Pride weekend in Boston, so some teams, including my own, ended up running across the street through the Pride parade to get to our next location. Winners of the race usually finish within 1 1/2 hours and everyone must be back by 4 1/2 hours after the race starts. My team didn't win, but we felt competitive anyway. (Edit: The race results were posted the Tuesday after the race, and my team came in 8th out of 69 teams! Pretty sweet!) There are also prizes given out for best tweet & best costume. I loved getting to see Boston in a new way through this race, and my husband has already agreed to sign up again when CitySolve comes back to Boston. Thank you to Yelp for waving the registration fees for our team, as part of a contest for the Yelp Elite program! The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Boston volunteered at the event to check us in at the start & finish, and managing activities on the route. They were wonderfully helpful & friendly!

First off, I'm not a runner. I do not run for recreation or fitness, I prefer other cardio with…read morechoreography. Having set that premise, this was my FIRST half marathon and I finished sub 2 hours! I ran it with my ultramarathoner friends and it was a wonderful experience. Great support from the locals throughout the route. Weather was overcast and cool. We came early for parking which is free on Sunday. Gear check had the most amazing volunteers and even when the organization system failed, they still had smiles on their faces. Please come and create your own adventure.

Review #3001 Cross…read morecountry meets are good---running for 30 minutes---1 hour etc Cross country is good..running with groups is good..because humans have to run This generation---YMCA 5k Turkey Chase! Berkeley was nice to visit---it's always a positive place--weather is good---fall is nice---campus is grand---fun to run and be out in a community

One good party from start to end, I'd love to take that ride…read moreagain... Again!

I was very impressed last year, and look forward to year #2! A relaxed friendly vibe, great…read morelocation right by BART, very good music, arts and crafts - and free admission. What's not to like? Many of the performers are so young that some of them never got to see Jerry Garcia play. Yet they really nailed the sound, even the vibe of the Grateful Dead and JGB music. Good enough to make the audience dance, and everyone had a lot of fun. I think anyone who loves this music will really enjoy this festival. See you there!

Love it! I've seen some amazing concerts here and been seated right by the musicians I joined the…read morefreight singers and really enjoy everything about this place!

We saw Keola Beamer and Henry Kapono recently. It was our first visit to the Freight since they…read moremoved ever so long ago. This is truly a nice venue to see music. The staff is friendly; parking is convenient next door in the garage; plenty of restaurants nearby. There were also a few snack items and drinks available for sale. I was bummed that perhaps customer service and management aren't completely in synch with their own policies. I had written and asked if photography would be allowed since this was a Hawaiian show. I wanted to bring in one camera with an attached lens, no flash to take photos for personal use only. I was told that the policy was no photography was allowed. On the night of the show, the last announcement before the show started, was that non-flash photography was welcome. Oh well.

I'd never been to a Berkeley Repertory show until this year. I'm surprised because I'm such a big…read moretheatre nerd. I was served an ad on Instagram for Arthur Miller's All My Sons in March 2026. It stars Jimmy Smits (of Star Wars and the West Wing fame! That's my President Santos and Bail Organa!) and his wife Wanda DeJesus. Such big names! I took my mom to a weekday matinee. It was a packed house and skewed older (hey, it was a weekday.) The theatre was clean and intimate. There was no bad seat in there! They did have a young person's discount if you're under 35 which was nice (if you're under 35.) Maybe if Berkeley built more housing, the city would be more welcoming and inclusive to young people and there wouldn't be that discount. Bathrooms were clean. After the show (which was a tearjerker), there was a Postshow Discussion with a docent (a UC Berkeley grad student.) It was fun discussing the show with other attendees who stayed. It was like a book club! Intimate and inclusive, and then there was a surprise--Jimmy Smits and Wanda DeJesus came to listen and contribute to the conversation! (And then do autographs and photographs.) Berkeley Repertory is a community hub. I appreciate their shows and the discussions they evoke (and the space they provide to have said discussions.) The SF Chronicle raved about All My Sons and I could not rave about it more either! Time to reread Arthur Miller and also support local theatre!

Saw How Shakespeare saved my Life on Saturday evening…read more Excellent one man performance. Atmosphere and staff were great! Wonderful experience and the actor was fantastic!!

They treat you like a fellow human instead of a wallet. They treat you like a member of their…read morecommunity- they're not simply about the bottom line.

Rockridge two wheels helped me immensley when I needed a simple service of redsizing my chain…read more Thanks to them immensley for also not charging. Great customer service and super nice bikes!

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is only on for 4 more performances- SEE…read moreIT! STREAM IT!! Marga Gomez is utterly astonishing in her talent performing this brilliant & iconic (Lily Tomlin) monologue of the 80s/90s (written by her wife Jane Wagner). It's a MUST SEE in the absolutely charming downtown Berkeley arts district theatre!

the SEARCH for SIGNS of INTELLIGENT LIFE in the UNIVERSE is fabulous. Marga Gomez does a fantastic…read morejob. It is on until August 10th. Don't miss it.

Chahrshanbeh Souri @ The Persian Center in Berkeley…read more NARRATIVE A few years ago before sleepover with Houman, Michelle and I pestered him about No Rooz and all the festivities that went along with the celebration of the Persian New Year. As members of a multi-culti friendship tribe we begin the New Years season on December 31st and then continue on through March until New Years has exhausted itself into Springtime. Houman mentioned fire jumping. I was intrigued and since I hadn't been to Burning Man in a few years, I was called to the fires! CONTACT INFORMATION The Persian Center 2029 Durant Avenue Berkeley, CA 94704 http://www.persiancenter.org/ Phone: (510) 848-0264 HOURS Tuesday before Vernal Equinox, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. PRICE RANGE Inexpensive. Traditional Persian cuisine is sold to support the event and the center. SUMMARY This Zorastrian custom dates back to 1300 B.C. It celebrates one of the last evenings of the year and is symbolized by fire so that people can see their way into the new year. Bonfires are lit because they are purifying and can light our way into the new year. In Berkeley Durant is lined with people of all ages talking, laughing, dancing, wishing greetings upon each other, doing the traditional Persian double-cheeked kisses hello and good-bye. Downtown Berkeley is a great venue for the event. Behind Barnes and Noble what is normally a quiet side-street is blocked off and filled with Persian music and flooded with lights. Two sets of bonfires are lit to keep the celebration moving. The DJ and MC are pounding out Persian favourites and new remixes. Parents jump with their young ones who look wary of going near the flames. Sweethearts jump in tandem. Frat boys try to outleap one another in side-by-side races. As the spring crisp air fills your lungs, you look up past the buildings into the deep blue night sky. The moon is lit and the stars begin to speckle the sky. All the while you're bundled in your coat, talking with your friends, and rehearsing the Persian phrase while waiting your turn to jump the bonfires: (Sorkhi-e to az man) Give me your beautiful red colour (Zardi-e man az to) And take back my sickly pallor! Houman wrote it down for us the first year we went. Last year he sent us a reminder and the group of us split between pronouncing it in English and pronouncing it in Persian. Afterwards we all met up at a Chinese restaurant to finish out the evening's festivities. More laughter, more stories. More good times. Don't let the year slip without celebrating another new beginning. Jump the fires on Tuesday night to ring in No Rooz! SERVICE Volunteers are very helpful with guiding newbies to the fire-jumping lines. The atmosphere is FESTIVE! Party down, Persian-stylie! REST ROOMS Port-o-potties by the fire-jumping area or local eateries and bars if you plan ahead. SUGGESTION? Pronunciation guides for the Persian-challenged.

Although I can do a mean Shakira, "Ojos Asi," impersonation, I am no Persian expert. However, DD &…read moreI enjoyed our time at this festival. They closed off a block and the street was lightly lined with vendors selling Persian foods and goods. I say lightly because there weren't a lot of food vendors; I expected a larger presence. There was live music, and the band that was playing when we were there was really good and energetic. They knew how to move a crowd! There was a lovely lady doing henna for a reasonable price. There were activities for the children. There was no charge to enter this street festival, which was a plus. The parking situation was a minus, but we were lucky and found street parking a few feet away. I'm not sure that I'd go out of my way to visit again, but if I happened to be in the area, I'd certainly return.

I love seeing concerts at the Greek. Such an intimate space without a bad seat in the place. I…read morelove watching the sun set as the opening act warms up the crowd and gets us ready for the main act. It's a whole vibe. The only issue I have is since the seats are on elongated stone steps, so the person sitting behind me at one show was tapping their foot on my jeans. It's not enough to stop me from attending shows there though.

Recently attended a concert here at the Greek Theatre and had a blast. We saw a band called Royel…read moreOtis and while I don't know a ton of their music, they put on a pretty good show. Going to the Greek is always a good time. The vibes, ambiance, and sound system are so dialed in, I can't imagine a bad concert here. I've seen all types of shows (EDM, Indie, R&B, Reggae) and it truly never disappoints. On this last visit, we got there after the opener so it was already pretty packed. As I get older, dealing with the crowds and being in the pit isn't for me anymore. Luckily we were able to grab a seat at their viewing deck located on the top left of the stage. It had a few levels with seats and a bar type thing to put food and drinks on. It was honestly the most comfortable I've been at a concert. Nobody in front or behind us, and so much room! Although I ate a hefty snack before the event, I still ended up with some tater tots, nachos, and couple of beers. I think for 2 drinks and the nachos it was close to $60 with tip, so definitely normal for concert venue prices. The nacho cheese was cold but oh well I still enjoyed them. Definitely looking forward to returning in October to see Jungle!