Our Venues

Accepted into the National Register of Historic Places, The Berkeley City Club is a historic hotel, event space, fine dining restaurant, and private social club. Opened in 1930 to honor the need for a women’s activity center, The Club, also known as the “Little Castle,” was designed by Julia Morgan. As a center for social, cultural, recreational, and family activities in the East Bay, the Berkeley Women’s City Club gained over 4,000 female members.

Berkeley High School is home to two theaters: the 3500 seat BERKELEY COMMUNITY THEATER and the 575 seat FLORENCE SCHWIMLEY LITTLE THEATER. The theaters are maintained and operated by the Berkeley Unified School District and host many  events for Berkeley High School and other schools around the District. Construction on the Berkeley Community Theater began in  the 1940s, but was suspended for several years during World War II. After a 9 year hiatus , construction resumed and the theater was dedicated  June 5th, 1950.

During its heyday in  the 1960s and 70s, BCT hosted some of the biggest names in Rock & Roll, Jazz and R&B, as well as many  singer/songwriters of the day. Among  the  notable performers to grace its stage were  the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Little Richard, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Joan Baez, The Who, Johnny Otis, Lou Reed, James Taylor, Carol King, Ike & Tina Turner, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Peter, Paul & Mary, The Byrds, Bette Midler, Simon & Garfunkel, Joan Armatrading, and Jimi Hendrix in his last U.S. appearance. The list is extensive and reads like a who’s who of music royalty.  

The theater also saw significant use through the 1980s  and 90s with performers like Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis, Elton John, Styx, Laurie Anderson, Dave Matthews Band, Santana, Lenny Kravitz, Cheech & Chong, Foo Fighters & Jewell making stops here. The reputation of the Berkeley Community Theater as a world class music venue was well known. The theater also houses the second largest Wurlitzer pipe organ in the U.S.  For more info on the mighty Wurlitzer, please visit the NorCal Theater Organ Society website,  www.norcaltos.org. 

Musicians are not, by any means, the only  groups to grace our stage. Authors, activists, counter-culturists & beat poets like Allen Ginsberg, Paul Krassner, Ed Sanders, Timothy Leary and Lawrence Ferlinghetti also made appearances during the tumultuous 60s, contributing to the storied past of the venue. The Berkeley Community Theater has even hosted His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. 

Many original details and features of this World War II era building still exist, and some have been upgraded. More upgrades and modernizations are in store for both spaces, but  bringing  the theaters’ aging systems up to today’s technological and user standards presents many unique and complex challenges. 

Several improvements have taken place over the past few years including upgrades to the lighting and sound systems in both spaces. New lighting fixtures, new lighting and sound consoles and a modern speaker array are among the highlights of the more recent renovations in the Community Theater, while the Little Theater has seen its theatrical dimming system completely overhauled.

Still, the theaters are showing their age, both functionally and aesthetically. But the generosity and spirit of the residents of Berkeley,  along with some notable alumni, has provided some much needed funding to help usher these beautiful spaces into the 21^st century, and back into the lexicon of Berkeley’s premier public performance spaces.

The story of First Pres began on March 31, 1878—one day before the city of Berkeley was incorporated. Twenty-seven individuals founded this church to serve the nearby university and community. We are a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and have been on the corner of Dana and Channing since 1902.

The Piedmont Center for the Arts is dedicated to coalescing the arts communities of Piedmont and around the Bay Area. The Center offers an affordable rental venue where artists from the musical, performing, visual and literary arts have a physical space to perform and display their works of art, and where members of the Piedmont community can gather to experience these creations.

Zellerbach Hall is a multi venue performance facility on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It was designed by architect and professor Vernon DeMars and completed in 1968. The facility consists of two primary performance spaces: the 2,015 seat Zellerbach Auditorium, and the 500 seat Zellerbach Playhouse. Zellerbach Hall is located on the south side of the UC Berkeley campus at 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, near the intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way. Zellerbach Cafe offers food and drink before concerts and during intermissions.