In our new "Back Then" feature in the revamped Sather Gate section of the magazine (see page 89), we celebrate Berkeley's illustrious past -- everything from once-famous but now-forgotten personalities to the bygone wonders of yesteryear. We kicked things off with Idora Park, which wasn't in Berkeley proper but just a short ride from campus on the streetcar line.
Idora, which attracted performers like Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle boasted an assortment of spectacles, including captive grizzlies, an opera house and what was at that time the world's largest skating rink. The park was razed in 1929. Driving through present-day Temescal neighborhood of North Oakland, you'd never know it existed.
Click here to see images of Idora as it was ... back then.
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