Vibrant Fourth Street in West Berkeley enjoying a diverse, pedestrian-friendly expansion.
West Berkeley lures hip retailers to expanded development.
West Berkeley’s vibrant Fourth Street retail district, which sits amid an industrial zone, has long been known for its original and locally owned specialty boutiques, making up the only true shopping nexus the famed college town has. It’s a place where you can scoop up a sumptuous jacket from Berkeley designer Erica Tanov or a cashmere sweater from San Francisco designer Margaret O’Leary, stuff your face with buttermilk pancakes at Bette’s Oceanview Diner or get the perfect ceramic pot from the Gardener.
Over the years, big-name brands like Apple, Restoration Hardware and the London clothing chain Jigsaw have wormed their way in, but the half-mile corridor, which runs from Hearst Avenue north to Virginia, has managed to retain its distinctive, non-urban ethos with a range of eclectic stores in a walkable, small-scale setting, blessed with leafy landscaping and ample benches on which to rest your aching feet and wallet.
Those feet and wallet have further to go now as an expanded retail area on the south end of Fourth Street at Hearst Avenue comes online with a full complement of upscale stores in an alfresco setting. The 24,000-square-foot expansion project, developed by Jamestown LP of Atlanta, consists of three new buildings and wraps around the existing one-story structures housing Anthropologie, Paper Source and the historic Spenger’s Fish Grotto restaurant, which has been in operation since 1933.
The shopping center includes small pop-up market stalls under a large trellis that Jamestown president and Bay Area native Michael Phillips says he fought hard for, as a site where local talent can be incubated.
The expansion features big-name as well as local merchants in the fashion, beauty, fitness and health arenas. Lululemon, maker of high-end athletic wear for men and women, opened April 25 in the premium corner storefront space at Fourth and Hearst. Madewell, a J Crewowned brand, opened next door on the same day. Cult favorite SoulCycle opened its ninth Northern California location on May 21. Eyewear cool kids Warby Parker arrived on June 26, and Marine Layer, a San Francisco company that makes cozycasual basics, opened on June 28, both roughly at 1,200 square feet. Berkeley designer Stella Carakasi just opened her store selling her collection of stylish, comfortable clothing for women of all sizes. Still to come: Project Juice (later this month); Marlowe, a nail salon (around Labor Day); and Los Angeles-based Lemonade, a chain that serves health-minded fast food in a cafeteria style (in October).
“I came of age on Fourth Street as a real estate person,” says Phillips, who grew up in Palo Alto with parents who attended Stanford University and UC Berkeley. “I spent a lot of time there, and it was a big influence on me. I was inspired by Denny Abrams and Richard Millikan, who started the Fourth Street conversion of old industrial warehouses into cooperative arts community in the ’70s and ’80s.”
Berkeley architect-developers Abrams/Millikan started buying up properties on Fourth Street in 1979 on land the Berkeley Redevelopment Agency had slated for an industrial park. They thought unique, quirky shops devoted to home design would fit in nicely with the neighborhood’s many warehouses and factories. Rather than tear down structures, Abrams and Millikan restored buildings or added new ones, and in a short time artisanal shops dealing in stained glass, lighting, furniture and textiles moved in. The architects’ development project continued slowly and in stages. By the early 1990s, Fourth Street had moved beyond crafts and services into specialty independent and chain stores devoted to high-quality fashion, food and home products.
“I went to the Gardener,” Phillips says, “and saw the conversions of all these buildings into retail and I thought it was really interesting. So when I had the opportunity to do something there with the Spenger’s blocks, I wanted to do something sensitive, scaled to the neighborhood, unlike some of the other things that are happening right now, (such as) lots of density and multifamily building. We wanted to do something that was in keeping with the ethos of the neighborhood.”
Getting Abrams and his partners to work on the expansion was a good way of doing that. Abrams’ firm designed the
new retail expansion with Berkeley’s Studio KDA executing the project.
“I think part of our success is actually the fact that it (Fourth Street) has grown up in many phases of construction,” Abrams says. “We’ve been working on this for close to 40 years, but what you’re actually seeing is that as things changed over the years, our tastes changed and we were able to respond in each stage of construction. And there is an authenticity to that that can’t be done in a large development. My hat’s off to Jamestown for not over-utilizing the site. Part of the enjoyment of Fourth Street is the open sky and the sense that the neighborhood is to a human scale.”
The pedestrian-friendly retail center, set around a paved paseo, is intimate and inviting. Jamestown has kept each building to two floors, maximizing views of sky and sun, and continued Fourth Street’s tradition of a wall of small storefronts with parking in back. They have put in wide sidewalks and created all storefronts with zero vertical mullions — just clear, uninterrupted glass.
“Fourth Street has a fun, bustling energy with lots of restaurants and coffee shops and design, and is actually more accessible for people to come to from Oakland, from other places, (because) parking is better,” says Lindsay Jensen-Evans, northwest area community manager for Lululemon, which closed its emporium on the corner of Ashby and College in Berkeley to move into the new retail development. The 2,500-squarefoot space with a floor made of reclaimed wood, has high ceilings, special tiling from Sausalito’s Heath Ceramics and a white rope sculpture by San Francisco fiber artist Windy Chien.
“What I’m excited about is that it allows us to have an updated, more modern store where guests will have more space to interact with product more easily,” says JensenEvans. “We have a dedicated community area where guests can plug in, recharge their batteries, relax. Community interaction is what we’ve always been about.”
Jensen-Evans believes that large chains can benefit the surrounding stores. “What we like to do is partner with local artists and entrepreneurs and leaders in the community. We’re looking to come in and add value to the area and support one another.”
“I’ve always wanted to be on Fourth Street because it’s the premier shopping location in Berkeley,” says Greek designer Stella Carakasi, who was raised in Germany. “It’s a nice place to linger on the weekend.” Carakasi, whose clothes retail for between $150 and $180, had a store on College Avenue but closed it due to lack of foot traffic. Her new store is 850 square feet and fronts Fourth Street.
“About a year and a half ago, I drove along Fourth Street and saw construction starting,” Carakasi says. “We contacted the builder, and at that moment there was nothing. I thought, ‘Here we go again.’ I was very persistent, though, and slowly a space opened up. But it wasn’t facing Fourth. Then we met with the team again. They’ve been incredibly supportive. When a group of them came to our headquarters, there was a woman on the team and she said, ‘This is what we want to do — promote local flavor so that what we create doesn’t look like every other corner in the U.S.’ ”
More local flavor comes from Rebecca Sawhney, who grew up in Bolinas and practiced law in New York and Boston, but always wanted to do something more entrepreneurial. The result is Marlowe, which she bills as a “nontoxic” nail salon.
“It grew up out of my own personal necessity,” says Sawhney, who moved to Oakland two years ago. “In New York City, I couldn’t find a halfway decent clean and modern place to get a mani/pedi. Most places were not hygienic, the air wasn’t clean, the whole experience was substandard. I came in with an idea on how I wanted to improve that experience to offer highquality care in a beautiful and nontoxic environment.”
Sawhney plans to install state-of-the-art ventilation systems that keep fumes out of the space, use gentler, more natural products, and forgo toxic treatments like acrylic nails. Portable fiberglass sinks that can be quickly sanitized will be used for pedicures, and although her space, which faces Fourth
Street, is just 866 square feet, she will have a dedicated room in which tools will go through hospital-grade sanitation processes. Those that don’t, like emery boards, will be sent home with clients.
Marine Layer founder Michael Natenshon says it does not bother him to do business alongside national brands.
“Fourth Street has a nice mix of national and local stores that fits Marine Layer,” he says. “We don’t want to go into malls. Our customer cares about where they buy their stuff and the quality of the product, and they can get that at some national stores and at some local boutiques.”
Many Fourth Street merchants are cautiously optimistic about the expanded retail on the street.
“I’m excited and optimistic to have an influx of new stores here, whether they’re independents or bigger,” says designer Tanov, who has been selling her ethereal designs in fine fabrics out of the store for 20 years.
“There’s a certain charm that’s been maintained throughout the years that makes it feel like a special destination not only for shopping but for coffee and for families to come, and hopefully, it will be more of that.”
Some neighborhood retailers are not so sanguine. “I hope it will be small, entrepreneurial businesses,” says George Kiskaddon, co-owner of Builders Booksource, a specialty bookstore devoted to construction, design and architecture, which has been on the street since 1982. “We don’t need the big chains. We’ve got enough of them. The street needs to continue to distinguish itself as it has always done.”
And although some shoppers polled feel
the same way, others seem to like the idea of the new retail. “In a way it makes sense that these stores would move here based on the kind of people who shop here,” says Ella Sevareid, 24, who lives in Oakland and came to buy some Lululemon Wunder Under pants. “Lots of stores on Fourth Street are pretty pricey now.”
Rebekah Stuber, 26, of Oakland, and Jane Sheehan, 29, of Albany, were planning to defray some of that cost by being among the first 25 shoppers lining up for Madewell’s opening. Each ended up getting a $50 gift certificate.
“I love Madewell’s clothing,” Stuber says. “I’m a jeans and T-shirt kind of person, and they do that style really well.” Stuber said she doesn’t worry about chain stores being on Fourth Street. “As long as they’re picky about what kind of store they choose, it’s fine,” she says. “Madewell always has small stores that feel boutique-y, and that’s one of the reasons I love it.”
Big-name stores won’t hurt the independents, says, Angela Fei, 19, a student at UC Berkeley. “If anything, they help highlight the uniqueness of the smaller stores,” she says.
Jamestown’s Phillips says Fourth Street has long had chain stores: “I would say it’s the carriage-trade nationals. And there’s a great interplay,” he says.
“We have Stella Carakasi, a great local designer, and Marine Layer and Project Juice. Fourth Street is a really rare part of California history, and it’s become a community. We’re fortunate to be part of it, and it’s a dream fulfilled for me.”