My Trip to a Hippi Haven

Big day today, it was my first trip to a hippi haven. I’ve lost track of how many years I’ve lived in the Berkeley / Oakland area. However, I can say that I’ve driven by the Berkeley Bowl at least 50 or 60 times. I felt a bit embarrassed admitting to VSC that I thought the Berkeley Bowl was a local bowling ally. Honest mistake right?

So, my first impression is that hippies need to stay on their damn bicycles because they sure as hell don’t know how to drive (or for that matter park) cars. After nearly 10 minutes in the parking lot I was feeling no love, joy, or peace. I was aggravated and pissed off. We eventually got inside and decided to start by getting lunch at the cafeteria. Aggravated I ordered some Chinese food and grumbled over having to sit cafeteria style with a bunch of strangers. However, I very nice older man extended the first proverbial olive leaf and offered to move down a seat so that VSC and I could sit together. I’m telling you people, little acts of kindness can make all the difference in someone’s life. After sitting for a few minutes we struck up a conversation with an elderly Asian family across the table from us. They lived in San Francisco but had come to Berkeley so that the husband could get low cost acupuncture at the Acupuncture School and Clinic on Shattuck. We can’t wait to try the place out.

After lunch I was in a much better mood. We made a beeline for the soap isle where I got some inexpensive yet completely eco-friendly soap and face scrub. We also picked up some Soap Seeds to try in our washer. Supposedly I’ll get a minimum of 300 loads of laundry out of one bag of Soap Seeds (both cleans and softens clothing). The cost was about $22.00. I chose two types of soap. One cost $1.15 and the other $1.75.

VSC then showed me around the huge vegetable section and the bulk bins full of baking soda (.85 / lb.), every kind of flour imaginable, dried pasta, beans, fruits, candies, etc. She explained that the bulk bins and vegetable section were the real reason the Berkeley Bowl was so popular. We picked up some fresh greens for the tortoises and I’ll probably start buying baking soda in bulk.