Whether you’re headed to Berkeley Rep, the Aurora Theater, Freight & Salvage or something else fun on the UC Berkeley campus, one thing’s for sure: Parking is a pain. Here’s how to finesse that drive.
Don’t drive
Take BART or AC Transit instead. The Downtown Berkeley BART station on Shattuck Avenue drops you right in the center of the Arts District, a block and a half from Berkeley Rep, Aurora, Freight & Salvage and the California Jazz Conservatory stage (the spot formerly known as the Jazzschool) — and a 10-minute walk from Cal’s Zellerbach Hall.
And a staggering 15 AC Transit bus routes stop here, too. Find schedules and details at transit.511.org.
Reserved parking
Fretting about curtain time and the parking search? Several parking apps — including Parking Panda and ParkMe — let you reserve a parking space via your smartphone or laptop. It’s a service that works splendidly for San Francisco’s big theaters, and somewhat less splendidly in Berkeley, although anything that reduces parking-induced stress is a good thing. Enter “Berkeley Rep” on the Parking Panda site and you’ll find three options that typically run $9 to $18 for a three-hour window of time. (There’s a fourth option, but it’s a Bank of America lot near Chez Panisse, 0.7 miles from the theater.) Doing dinner before the show? Five hours will run you $14 to $18.
Coming soon: Reservations at the newly re-built and extremely convenient Center Street Garage, which is across the street from Berkeley Rep. The 720-space garage, which opened in November, will be taking rezzies soon via www.lazparking.com.
Validated parking
The Allston Way Garage offers Berkeley Rep guests $5 parking for evening and weekend shows (albeit not on game days for Cal football). Get your parking ticket validated in the Berkeley Rep theater lobby before or after the show, then use it to exit the garage, which is between Milvia and Shattuck, with entrances on Center Street and Allston Way. (Note: It’s easy to confuse this parking garage with the Center Street Garage, which does not honor validated tickets.)
Other convenient parking lots
There are a variety of other parking lots near Berkeley Rep, some with metered parking, others with flat fees, some indoor and some outdoor. The most convenient one is the Center Street Garage ($3 per hour for the first four hours or $8 after 5 p.m.) between Shattuck and Milvia, with entrances on Center and Addison Streets. This garage has 720 parking spaces.
Other options include the small Berkeley Way Surface Lot (metered parking — $2.25 per hour, up to four hours) at 2016 Berkeley Way; and the Oxford Garage ($2 per hour up to four hours or $5 flat evening rate) at 2165 Kittredge St., which offers 99 spaces — which fill up fast — under the David Brower Center and Gather restaurant.
