I was in the hood, so I decided to go back to the first stomping ground I can remember, Berkeley.

Here's where I used to almost drown, routinely.

Here are a few houses I lived in before moving east.

We didn't live here, but Donny Brooks did. See that gate, see that garage? Well Donny's grandmom had a car parked on the grade in front of both. We used that car to knock down the gate and the garage door. Even at 5 we knew how to use an emergency brake release.

Here's the house on Presley Way.

Here's the first school where I ever got sent to the principal. I stopped by the office and introduced myself as a former student. I asked if I could take a few pictures. They said, anything for a graduate. I admitted that I only made it through second grade. They let me walk around and take pictures anyway.


Concrete slides used to be really popular around Berkeley. The elementary school had one. Some of the public parks in the area had some huge ones. Pretty quickly, kids figured out that, if you sat on wax paper, or a Frisbee, you went way, way faster than the designers intended. Some of the slides had banked curves kind of like a bobsled run. On wax paper, you could sail off the apex. That's why they eventually put signs up indicating "Absolutely NO WAX PAPER!" That's how the idea of using a Frisbee came about - you don't want to break the rules!


I was told that Chabot's slide will soon be torn down. That's too bad.