For a long time, rooftops have been a favorite place of mine. Unlike New York or many other cities, most rooftops in San Francisco and the East Bay are off limits. They're seen as mere caps to buildings, with no real style or public access.

Especially in urban areas, I've seen rooftops as the best way to get away from the sense of crowding. When I used to live in Manville Hall (which isn't a dorm anymore, and isn't even called Manville), I used to go to the roof every day. It was unusual in that it's one of the only buildings on the UC campus that had ready roof access. The key to our dorm room was the key to the roof entry.

A while ago my frined Gary and I, who had both attended Berkeley for many years, would occasionally make a habit of exploring a building we'd rarely or never been in before. This was the way I explored Wurster Hall, the architecture building which was literally six floors of student shantytown with cots, space divisions, showers, and architecture projects in all stages of completion.

Recently another friend showed me how to get onto the roof of Wheeler Hall. (notice to any responsible entites: this entry may be a complete work of fiction) Getting on top of these buildings, especially at night, when you can feel the wind blow and see the people below, always gives me a sense of power and connectedness with the environment.

One of these days I'd like to do some informal research, going to each and every building on campus and seeing if there's roof access. After they gutted the contents but before they began the complete structural rebuilding of the Hearst Minig Building, I had the chance to go in there and visit every single room, finding dry cells from the 1930s and granite core samples and hige discarded drill bits to the remnants of what seemed to be an electron microscope and boxes of 8" floppy disks. Most importantly, I found access to the attics and the roof, and was able to explore an absolutely fantastic building before the opportunity disappeared, possibly forever.

It's amazing that UC Berkeley doesn't come with a users guide. you can attend the college for years and not ever find or notice some of the most amazing places.

I'll try to make a point in my remaining months to document some of the more interesting spots I've found in Berkeley (that still exist, that is. It wouldn't do you much good to learn about the fabulous Doe Library stacks that were demolished 4 years ago but, before their destruction, resembled nothing so much as the interior of a Borg cube, complete with translucent floors, steel girders and low ceilings). Ay any rate, I'll let you know what I find, and maybe it'll help some others find the hidden gems the tours don't tell you about.