top of page
All Posts


May 2024 - History Corner
#178 in an ongoing series about the history of the Hillside Club
-
May 1, 20244 min read


Fireside Meeting - June 2024
June 3rd, 2024 at the Hillside Club - 7:30pm Off Broadway -- Way Off! The Long Tradition of Drama at the Hillside Club Carol Tomlinson, a former Club member, will be interviewed by our club historian David Mostardi. Carol was an actress, singer, and leading lady in many of the Club's theatrical productions in the 1960s and 70s. Carol's mother Lois was the pianist and composer for at least fifteen shows, and her father Tommy was a regular on stage, as well as Club President in
-
May 1, 20241 min read


Wine Tasting - April 2024
Our next tasting will be 7:30PM on Monday, April 8th. The plan is to identify six red wine varietals. Unlike our usual tasting format where we taste the wines and then reveal them, we will hand out the tasting list at the start of the event and everyone will try to match the numbered bottles to the six wines listed in thetasting notes. As usual, there will be no test at the end.The cost will be our usual $30 for members and $35 for non-members. Members get a preferential
-
Apr 10, 20241 min read
April 2024 - History Corner
#177 in an ongoing series about the history of the Hillside Club
-
Apr 1, 20244 min read


The Art of Eating: The Life of MFK Fisher
The Art of Eating: The Life of M.F.K. Fisher is a feature documentary about the dramatic life and lasting impact of the California food writer M.F.K. Fisher, who elevated cooking from a domestic chore to a critical study of what it means to be human. Described by W.H. Auden as “the best prose writer in America,” the intrepid but underrecognized Fisher helped introduce continental sensibilities to America’s burgeoning culinary world. Perhaps more importantly, she forever tran
-
Mar 1, 20241 min read
March 2024 - History Corner
#176 in an ongoing series about the history of the Hillside Club
-
Mar 1, 20245 min read


Last Friday Lunch - March 2024
The Last Friday Lunch, Friday, March 29 from noon to 1:30 p.m., features an interview with Mable Yee titled Detours and Opportunities…What a Third Grade Teacher Can Do. Born in Berkeley, a graduate of Berkeley High, Mable Yee started as a third-grade teacher, switched into high tech sales, then launched and ran a tech company, developed and hosted a leadership conference for young women in the Bay Area with speakers Gloria Steinem and Dolores Huerta, bought an apartment in Pa
-
Feb 8, 20241 min read
February 2024 - History Corner
#175 in an ongoing series about the history of the Hillside Club
-
Feb 1, 20243 min read


Cold Refuge
Cold Refuge , a documentary by Judy Irving ( Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill ), is about the physical, psychological, and spiritual effects of swimming in cold water filmed in the SF Bay and beyond. Irving and world-champion Ironman Triathlon swimmer Corvin Bazgum, who is blind, as well as Bruce Kaphan, film composer, will discuss the film with the audience after the screening. Films are $15 at the door and $10 for club members.
-
Feb 1, 20241 min read


Fireside Meeting - March 2024
Galen Cranz is a designer, a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, and Professor Emeritus of Architecture at UC Berkeley, where she taught social and cultural approaches to architecture and urban design, and established the field of Body Conscious Design. Her seminal book, The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design (W.W. Norton, 1998), received widespread media coverage including by Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air. She has lectured widely and taught her unique ap
-
Feb 1, 20241 min read


Magical Imperfection
The Hillside Club presents a screening of Magical Imperfection an examination of the life of architect, Raymond Moriyama. Magical Imperfection tells the inspirational story of world-renowned Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama. Imprisoned in his own country during the 1940s because of his race, Ray found the strength to combat injustice by devoting his career to social justice and equality. Director: Scott Calbeck Writer: David Hoffert
-
Jan 1, 20241 min read


Wine Tasting - January 2024
Our next tasting will be 7:30PM on Thursday January 11th. We will be tasting ports from around the world which will include vintage Porto from Portugal. As in years past we will include some well aged ports. We will also have a selection of chocolate to complement the port. The cost is $35 for members and $40 for non-members. Members get a preferential right to sign up for this tasting through Thursday December 13th. After that it will be opened to non-members. We do allow up
-
Jan 1, 20241 min read


January 2024 - History Corner
#174 in an ongoing series about the history of the Hillside Club
-
Dec 31, 20234 min read
History Corner - December 2023
Once Upon A Hillside: 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 years ago by David Mostardi December 1898 The Hillside Club was born on 5 October 1898. No newspaper articles about the young Hillside Club could be found this month. December 1923 [The Hillside Clubhouse was destroyed in the Berkeley Fire of 17 September 1923] Special Directors Meeting, Dec 3: It was the sense of the meeting that the Dirctors this evening ask authority from the Club so that in their discretion the directors migh
-
Dec 1, 20236 min read
History Corner - November 2023
Once Upon A Hillside: 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 years ago by David Mostardi November 1898 Hillside Club Meeting: The Hillside Club will meet tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 2 nd , at the resident of Mrs. Preble on Arch Street, near Cedar. The subject of the paper will be “Shall we fill in our Building Lots?” A number of new designs for houses by a San Francisco architect will be a fine addition to the “scrap book” of plans now on exhibition at the club. [Berkeley World Gazette, 1 No
-
Nov 30, 20235 min read


Wine Tasting - December 2023
Thursday December 7th, 2023 - 7:30PM - Tasting of Sparkling Wines Our next tasting will be at 7:30PM on Thursday December 7th. Following our December tradition we will be tasting a collection of sparkling wines from around the world. Some of these wines will come from California and the Champagne region of France. We hope that you will be able to join our merry group as get warmed up to celebrate the New Year. The cost will be $30 for members and $35 for non-members.Member
-
Nov 1, 20231 min read


October 2023 - History Corner
Once Upon A Hillside: 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125 years ago by David Mostardi October 1898 The First Meeting of the Hillside Club The Hillside Club sprang into existence October 5, 1898. No, let me qualify that: it did not “spring”—it was the result of earnest thought on the part of many ladies, who recognized the beauty of our hills and the awfulness of many of the houses. Its object was primarily to protect the hills of Berkeley from unsightly grading and the building of unsui
-
Oct 1, 20236 min read


Wine Tasting - November 2023
Thursday November 9th, 2022 - 7:30PM - GSM Wine Tasting As our October GSM wine tasting sold out in less than a day, we have decided to run it again at 7:30PM on Thursday November 9th. The twist is that we will repeat only one wine from October so will be adding five new wines in November. The tasting features "GSM" (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre) wines, one of the world's classic wine blends which is the basis of the Côte du Rhône (France). Grenache probably originated from Arag
-
Oct 1, 20231 min read


This Ain't No Mouse Music
The Hillside Club presents a screening of This Ain’t No Mouse Music! The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records This Ain’t No Mouse Music! The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records , a documentary film by Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling. In-Person: Maureen Gosling for a Q & A following the screening The 2013 film’s portrait of Strachwitz, who frequently attended the Hillside Club’s classical music concerts, follows his travels as a sonic sleuth and founder of
-
Oct 1, 20231 min read


Town Destroyer
The Hillside Club presents a screening of Town Destroyer the story of the Washington High School mural controversy. TOWN DESTROYER explores the ways we look at art and history at a time of racial reckoning. The story focuses on a dispute over historic murals depicting the life of George Washington: slaveowner, general, land speculator, President, and a man Seneca leaders called "Town Destroyer" after he ordered their villages destroyed during the Revolutionary War. The mura
-
Sep 1, 20231 min read
bottom of page
