Culture

People are talking about … the fact that people don’t like talking anymore. Multiple studies bemoan the death of conversation. But Paul Spinrad doesn’t buy it. He believes people are eager for face-to-face conversation, especially if prompted...

In some places in Berkeley, it’s April Fool’s Day every day. This is because an unknown someone—or someones—has been placing plaques honoring nonexistent events in sites around the city for years. Most people have seen historical plaques on...

Nomadic Bookshop, a new, community-empowered bookstore in Oakland’s vibrant Uptown area, is making a significant splash. At the three-hour Jan. 17 official opening, store owners/founders J. K. Fowler and Uriel Landa welcomed nearly 400 guests. “There was a...

Millions of people in the United States and around the world find the voice of former ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton speaking on matters of health to be a sanctuary. As the co-host of Good...

Online dating didn't yet exist in the early 1990s. What did, though, were classified ads and "telepersonals" that allowed users to call 900 numbers and listen to recorded voice personals or leave their own. In July 1992...

Celebrating what would have been the 100th birthday of Bay Area icon Neal Cassady on Jan. 17 at the Berkeley Art House is going to be a psychedelically tinged evening of creatives, musicians, deadheads and seekers. For the...

With its 49th year, the Solano Avenue Stroll celebrates an event that has proved enduringly popular and resilient. The Stroll, organized in 1974 as a “thank-you party for customers by the Thousand Oaks Business and Professional Association,”...