Great intimate music venue, with a variety of different styles of music…read more Bring your own drinks and food, nothing is available.

In all my years of growing up in the Bay and hanging out in Berkeley I never knew about this place…read more It's an intimate venue to hear live music. My dearly departed partner's cousin, Tony Saunders, was playing live there. (Bass player, his dad played with Jerry Garcia). you can Google him. Its a located one a small culd-a-sac off University so parking can be and issue, if you are look for free, but there is a lot across the street. There is no food served there and I believe you can BYOB, but there are plenty of place to eat along University, if you make this a date night or night out. There are some tables, and chairs toward the back, otherwise it is couches and other odd and ends furniture to sit on. It was great and the history of the place is great as well. I will check out some other shows there too. If you are a fan of Yoshis, it like that minus food and more intimate.

It was disappointing that their college and cabaret performance space closed, but they still have…read moreperformances across the street in a pleasant hall.

I've been taking classes (playing in bands) here for four years. Gotten me back on track in terms…read moreof my playing. It's also becoming a good place to hear concerts, hard to find any creative music venues these days.

There is no bad seat at The Freight but this time I got front row , it's always general admission…read moreseating. This show was for Dave Alvin and Jimmy Dale Gilmore... two legends playing without their band for this show. Last time I saw them with their full band much closer to home at Felton Music Hall... also a great venue. Opening artist was guitarist Lenny Kaye from The Smiths and he was great too. Awesome audience as usual for The Freight. Get out and see live music, it's always a great time.

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.

Wonderful, amazing pizza with top-notch ingredients you can see how to use fresh mozzarella cheese,…read morethe way that it just pulls. The crust is absolutely just marvelous. The cheesy thin, crusty burnt ends gives it an appeal that most pizzas don't have .Thats what distinguishes this place from (ALL ) others ..Jupiter and Rose to name a few. This place absolutely distinguish itself from all the other pizza places here in Berkeley .near campus. The service was amazing very hospitable very warm and accommodating . Wonderful service.and the ambience is wonderful low-key music real college feel to the building with people just coming in and out, but at the same time, pleasing and welcoming. 5 /STARS for this place. !!!!! just keep in mind at the other location. on Shattuck (doesn't do slices like they do here. They only do slices for the special of the day. Other than that you have to order your pizza hole, but the telegraph location there's two slices anywhere you want them this place is a mess if you're at Berkeley a student or just family visit out of town.!!!

Half corn & Half potatoes: It was pretty darn good. We got another whole pizza after finishing the…read morefirst one. Never had corn or potatoes pizza. It was pretty good. The place used to be known for their vegetarian pizza when my friends went to school in Berkeley. Serivce was great! There were only 2 people working today when we got there and pizza came out pretty fast. They were accommodating with us also which we really appreciated. 5/5: because of the service. The pizza is pretty pricey. It came out to little over $40 with tips. The space is huge.

Once known for good beer selection and entertainment, it is still all that but also with solid pub…read morefood. The entertainment and community feel of the place is the #1 highlight. Open mic night gives young people a voice. Older musicians act as unofficial mentors - the best advice from one was to 'make me feel something!!' I love the art scene - and to me there is a special intersection of utility (maybe articulating an important message - or building a useful couch) --- and the beauty of that piece. How you put it together, how it looks and most importantly how it makes you feel when you sink into the couch or words. I have a lot of opinions and a lot to say. These days you really can't complain much - in the world you are a nag and in church you are labeled a legalist. The secret is if you say those things in a beautiful way or tip toe around a subject asking questions and letting the audience come up with their own conclusions. The young people today I have lots of sympathy for. The 50 year olds could get away with earning $50k/yr - the 40 year olds could get away with earning $100k/yr but the 20 and 30 year olds in the bay area with 2 kids need to earn $200k in their household to make ends meet. Gentrification is the enemy - those who are 'rich.' Lets blame the boomers. Maybe there are some other 'enemies' of the unaffordable nature of the bay area. A witch hunt aiming at tech workers or the unhoused or maybe today AI robots. My brother pays $4000/month for babysitting. I think his house tax is another $1000/month and we aren't even talking about the mortgage yet.... In San Francisco a family of 4 can qualify for free babysitting if they earn $178,300 or less per year. Maybe you can't call this the poverty level - but you qualify for everything including housing assistance. I'm sorry no beautiful poetry for you today. No lit slam. No soup for you!! I will continue building my couches - you take the stage!!

Starry Plough....Oh wow! This is really a cool scene…read more There's a different event seven nights a week. Today the day after July 4 celebration is sort of an Irish music session in the place is packed at 5:45 PM! Great musicians and a fun atmosphere, but it seems like the same continuous song plays between breaks with a slight adjustment of the melody. Sort of a hypnotic repetitive groove, not so unlike "ON THE CORNER" by Miles Davis but not really, ha ha! OK kids, please plug that into your little machine and have a listen. Feel that groove in "BLACK SATIN" The Starry Plough is a full service restaurant, pub and nightclub that has been a staple of the East Bay scene since 1973. With deep roots as an Irish Revolutionary watering hole, the history of protest runs as deep today as it did when they opened five decades ago. And they have really good food and a great tap beer list. Also, the very best bartenders and staff throughout! I just had a half order of the handcut french fries and they really are top-notch man, they're served with different condiments that you can help yourself to. I chose the Sriracha sauce and ketchup. I couldn't find the horseradish tonight. I've been coming in here for several years and I really dig it. Very special people hang out here, kind of a hippie Berkeley vibe. I've had great long conversations and met very groovy folks. It's a great watering hole.

A musician's dream!…read more Per the recommendation of our wedding planner, we worked with Hella Fitzgerald for our wedding in Big Sur, CA in August 2023. One of the best decisions we made for our wedding. I am a musician myself and had a lot of specifications for what I wanted throughout our ceremony, first dance, and dancing portions of the evening. And I mean a LOT of specifications! Music is something I am very particular about. Lilan worked closely with me on everything from which 2nd singer to hire to match the feel we wanted (the band works with various singers) to learning new songs that we had requested to adjusting songs to specific BPMs!!! She never seemed to lose her patience with me and would text me randomly with ideas or singer leads. One time she even texted me a couple vocal riffs she sang into her phone to see what I would prefer. We wanted a fun, sexy, big band feel and a talented group of musicians who could perform soul, Latin, swing, R&B, and everything in between. That is exactly what we got. We never left the dance floor. Thank you HF!

Hella Fitzgerald was a huge hit at our son's Bar Mitzvah. We wanted live music as opposed to a DJ…read moreand we couldn't have been happier with their performance! Every musician in the band was outstanding. They accommodated all of our requests, including an extra long hora. :) All of our guests loved them and it was so refreshing to have 'real' music at our daytime event. Their price was extremely reasonable to boot! We highly recommend Hella Fitzgerald - they were fantastic!

We hired Daniel to play for my late Father's Celebration of Life. He was extremely kind,…read moreresponsive, helpful and professional throughout the booking process. He arrived on time, setup quickly, and did a fantastic job. We worked together closely to figure out the appropriate set list given the sensitivity of the event. Daniel was flexible, and I asked him to play original songs he was familiar with and to read the room if we needed to adjust. We even ended up doing an impromptu song and guitar performance from some of my guests! . I would hire Daniel and his team again in a heartbeat! Thank you Daniel for making this important moment in our family's life one to remember.

Daniel is an excellent musician and was a wonderful person to work with! He responds in a timely…read moremanner and was a joy to have at the party. Also he is very talented.

D-e-a-a-o, Daylight come and me want go home...at 80, Belafonte is tireless in his humanitarian…read moreefforts as an activist and was the recipient of the first Berkeley Jazz Icon award. And yes, the man graced us with a verse of the song he will eternally be equated with. This tribute was a real treat in the midst of a concert that brought out many artists that we have scarcely seen since the seventies. It was as if time stood still as Randy Crawford belted out 'Street Life', accompanied by Joe Sample. A wave of nostalgia washed over me as Roy Ayers, Jean Carne, Lonnie Liston Smith, Wayne Hendersen and one of my favorite singers, Jon Lucien performed, and still has an amazing rich and deep voice. It seems like yesterday, when we would bring the rice balls, chicken, potato salad, and fruit salad, feasting while we drank in the rich sounds of Grover, Donald Byrd, Pieces of a Dream, Miles, Stanley Clarke, and countless other jazz greats over a 3 day lineup sitting high up on the hill overlooking the tower, the San Francisco bay in the background and feelin' the 420 buzz...yes, those were the days...excuse me while I get out my vinyl and reminisce. update: we lost another great artist...Jon Lucien passed just a few days after this concert...bless you for your gift to us all...RIP

I volunteered here briefly as a teenager in the late 70's. I'm so delighted that La Peña is still…read morearound. They host a variety of community events, mostly musical performances but political presentations, dance, poetry and more. They also host, art shows, classes, fundraisers and more. They have a chorus that since primarily South and other Latin American sings almost exclusively in Spanish. The chorus has performed widely including in Latin America and supports many causes. It's a no frills space - it can be chilly or hot, sometimes it's hard to see the stage or sometimes the sound quality leaves something to be desired but it is always a pleasure to be there for a heartfelt event with likeminded people.

Was attending a A Film Festival at La Peña Cultural center. We saw "We Love here" and "Black Joy"…read moreand several other short films. The venue was sold out.