Berkeley s beloved spenger s fish grotto restaurant has closed after opening 128 years ago. Spengers, which opened in 1890, is a berkeley historic landmark. Johann spenger emigrated to california from bavaria and settled in west berkeley in the 1860s. Our facultys research covers almost the entirety of recorded history and spans most of the globe. Isabel richter department of history berkeley history university. Enjoy your lunch, dinner or happy hour while browsing century old salvaged maritime artifacts that adorn the reconstituted teak walls. Johann spenger worked as a hook and line fisherman on lake merritt in the early days. It came from berkeley how berkeley changed the world dave weinstein on. The library has more than 400 books from the 15th century, including classical, historical, literary, and scientific works.
Rare books and literary manuscripts uc berkeley library. Spengers fish grotto abruptly closes after 128 years in. After 128 years, spengers fish grotto in berkeley closes. Florian cajori called this treatise the most spectacular event of the century in the history of british mathematics. Spengers fresh fish grotto berkeley, ca on opentable. For more information about the berkeley history collection at the. Spenger s fresh fish grotto, berkeley s oldest restaurant, in a building thats a city historical landmark, was originally the home of bavarian immigrant and fisherman johann spenger. The book is very rich in details, and explains all the contradictions that formed berkeleys history. They concern class, race, ideology, economics, war time, disasters, architecture, university policy etc this is a book for every berkeley aficionado. One of the bay areas oldest restaurants, spengers fish grotto, has abruptly closed in berkeley. He started selling clams and beer from the front of the building in the 1890s. George berkeley known as bishop berkeley bishop of cloyne was an irish philosopher.
Customers were alerted to the abrupt closure by a white piece of paper taped between the handles of. The berkeley historical society is a nonprofit allvolunteer organization dedicated to researching, preserving and sharing berkeleys history. He also respected berkeley history and the history of the land where he spent most of his life. This book handily covers a lot of the history of berkeley. In 2000, when spengers considered building a new parking structure, manning asked that he first determine if the lot was above a shell mound, the traditional burial plot for the ohlone indians of the region. Berkeleys oldest restaurant, spengers fresh fish grotto. My previous two books traced the afterlives of enlightenment concepts and social practices sociability, cosmopolitanism in the long nineteenth century and their. The original building housed spengers business and family residence. Uc berkeleys department of history is one of the topranked history departments in the. A historic landmark since opening our doors in 1890, spengers fresh fish grotto features antique stained glass and porthole windows to give you the nautical dining experience. This concise book, the only uptodate history of berkeley, is a rich chronicle connecting the people, trends, and events that made the city to much larger themes. Uc berkeley s department of history is one of the topranked history departments in the nation. Those many with a personal tie to berkeley will devour this book with delight. In this book, berkeleys views were represented by philonous greek.