Solano Avenue

Solano Avenue is a two mile (3.2 km) long east-west street in Berkeley and Albany, California. Solano Avenue is one of the larger shopping districts in the Berkeley area. Businesses along Solano Avenue cover a wide range, including grocery stores, coffee shops, drugstores, bookstores, clothing boutiques, ethnic restaurants, movie theaters, and more.

Route

Solano Avenue begins, at its western end, on the southern slope of Albany Hill, next to the I-80/I-580 interchange and Union Pacific railroad tracks. The Albany Hill segment of the street is primarily residential and somewhat steep, climbing 86 feet in the first three blocks.

At San Pablo Avenue, Solano bends slightly to the south; this is the start of the shopping district. Solano Avenue serves as the de-facto Main Street of Albany, and initially, this was in fact its name within the city of Albany. Solano passes under the elevated BART tracks at Masonic Avenue. For four and a half blocks, starting half a block after Curtis Street, the northern side of Solano is in Berkeley, while the southern side and the street itself are in Albany. Between the Albany city limits and The Alameda, Solano Avenue is the main shopping area of Berkeley's Thousand Oaks neighborhood. Landmarks along this segment of the street include the Oaks Theater, a movie palace built in 1925, and the first Andronico's grocery store, formerly known as "Andronico's Park and Shop" (for a time, simply "Park and Shop").

After crossing The Alameda, Solano Avenue enters a former electric railroad right-of-way, originally constructed by the Southern Pacific for its suburban trains, and after 1941, used by the Key System for its F-line trains. The Key trains ran here until 1958, when the system was dismantled and the right-of-way was converted to automobile use in 1963. Solano Avenue passes through the curving "Northbrae Tunnel" (constructed in 1910 by the Southern Pacific, opened to auto traffic in 1963 [http://www.caltrans.ca.gov/ser/downloads/cultural/aindex.doc] ), in recent years, also referred to as the "Solano Tunnel", which curves southward. Solano ends at its intersection with Del Norte and El Dorado Streets just beyond the south portal of the tunnel.

olano Stroll

Every year on the second Sunday of September, businesses along Solano Avenue host a street festival called the Solano Stroll. The event began on the Berkeley end of Solano Avenue in 1974 as an "open house" of Solano Avenue shops. It has grown to include the entire shopping district between San Pablo Avenue and The Alameda. During the Stroll, Solano Avenue and all its cross streets are closed to traffic. Local businesses and other vendors set up booths along either side of the street. There are also various performers spread along the street. The event begins with a parade down Solano. As the end of the parade moves downhill, the street is gradually opened to pedestrians only, and stays that way until late in the afternoon. According to a press report [http://journalism.berkeley.edu/ngno/stories/016820.html] , the 2005 event attracted between 120,000 and 150,000 attendees.

Public transportation

Solano Avenue has in the past doubled as a right-of-way for two interurban rail lines, the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Key System, and was intersected by the Santa Fe Railroad. The Key trains, however, never ran below The Alameda. It also intersected streetcar lines at San Pablo Avenue and The Alameda. When BART was built alongside the Santa Fe's right-of-way, a station at Solano Avenue wasn't included. However, it is only about a 15-20 minute walk to both the El Cerrito Plaza and North Berkeley BART stations.

AC Transit currently operates bus service on Solano Avenue, and four local bus lines connect Solano to Downtown Berkeley. Line 18 runs along the entire length of Solano. Line 9 stops at Solano/Sutter and Hopkins Street. Line 7 goes through the Northbrae/Solano Tunnel and stops at The Alameda before turning. Line 79 makes two stops, at The Alameda and Colusa Avenue. In addition, the 72 line crosses Solano at San Pablo Avenue.

Several AC Transit transbay buses connect Solano Avenue to San Francisco. The G line runs along Solano between Colusa and San Pablo, while the FS line covers the part of Solano east of Colusa. Line L crosses the western end at Pierce Street; while Line H crosses the eastern end, running over the top of the Northbrae/Solano Tunnel.

Historical items

*Solano Avenue was named for Solano County. Many other streets in the vicinity of Solano are likewise named for California counties. This was done as part of a campaign in the early 1900s to have the state capital moved from Sacramento to Berkeley. The legislature agreed to put this on the 1908 ballot, but the voters rejected the measure roundly, with only three bay area counties (Alameda, San Francisco and Santa Clara) supporting the measure.
*The portion of Solano Avenue within the city of Albany was originally named "Main Street" but this was soon changed to conform to the name "Solano" used within the city of Berkeley.
*Upper Solano Avenue was an important hub of the Southern Pacific's East Bay Electric Lines (later called the "Interurban Electric Railway" after the Bay Bridge was constructed). Three lines intersected at Solano and Colusa, the "Colusa Wye": the Shattuck Avenue line, the California Street line, and the Ninth Street line. The station here was called "Thousand Oaks". The Southern Pacific also maintained an electric substation on the north side of the intersection which supplied power to the entire northern section of the East Bay Electric Lines. A small cul de sac behind the building that now occupies the site of the old substation is still called "Station Place".

*A watchman's tower, the Masonic Tower, used to sit at the intersection of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific tracks, on Solano between Masonic Avenue and Key Route Blvd. Today, a dry cleaning establishment occupies the site.

*After the Key System acquired the use of the Southern Pacific's tracks on upper Solano for its F-line, its trains terminated on the east side of The Alameda. The Key trains never ran below The Alameda as the SP trains had.

External links

* [http://www.bayarearailfan.org/gallery/v/keyroute/F_tunnel_MDO.jpg.html?g2_GALLERYSID=088088909bddf2cf2ccd0e5a2b748a18 Photo: Key System F Train Exiting Northbrae Tunnel]
* [http://www.bayarearailfan.org/gallery/v/keyroute/Key175_F.jpg.html Photo: F Train at Solano and The Alameda]
* [http://www.solanoavenueassn.org/ Solano Avenue Association]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/eastbay/neighborhoods/albany.shtml SFGate.com guide to Solano Avenue]
* [http://www.berkeleyhomes.com/neighborhoods/berkeley/thousand_oaks.html Berkeley's Thousand Oaks Neighborhood]
* [http://www.berkeleyhomes.com/neighborhoods/albany/albany.html Albany California]