The intersection of University and San Pablo avenues, which tattered banners proclaim is named International Marketplace to recognize the area’s many multicultural businesses, was once the gateway to Berkeley and its university for those arriving by ferry.
More than 100 years later it continues to play that role for drivers coming off the nearby I-80 off-ramp. The intersection is also at the heart of Berkeley’s original neighborhood, Ocean View, which has gradually morphed from a landscape of wharfs, factories and lumber mills to a mixed-use area of commerce, light manufacturing and housing. At its heyday, two movie theaters served the area, and it was home to a melting pot of immigrant communities. It’s still in Berkeley’s most diverse district, a result in large part of redlining, but as housing costs rise, the area is becoming increasingly wealthy, white and Asian.
Today, the block of San Pablo south of the intersection is among the most vibrant in West Berkeley, a trendy corridor catering both to new arrivals and what remains of the neighborhood’s working class — with a Michelin-recognized tapas bar doors down from a light-filled laundromat; popular bars where Berkeley politicos grab drinks after council meetings; a low-cost donut shop sharing a wall with a cafe boasting weekly concerts in its redwood-shaded back patio; and well-stocked Latin American and Middle Eastern grocery stores selling lengua tacos, menudo by the liter, and hummus, dolmas and baklava alongside fresh produce and aisles of specialty goods. Nearby, to the east and north, are several Indian and Pakistani stores and restaurants, and two Halal groceries…