The roots of Berkeley’s Hillside Club, founded in 1898, go back to an unpainted redwood house built in 1895 by Bernard Maybeck, then 33. The original club members vowed to support Maybeck’s commitment to architecture in tune with the rustic surroundings. Today the club is a thriving community center, hosting concerts, wine tastings, and lectures.

“Modern is not just what you live in, but how you live,” say the folks at Modern Home Tours, a nationwide firm for cutting-edge architecture, design, and lifestyle. Highlights from Modern Home’s fall tour of top-notch digs in Berkeley, Oakland, Moraga, and Lafayette are inspiration for remodelers, eye-candy for everyone.

With just a few details of a controversial seismic upgrade left to complete, U.C.’s Memorial Stadium will be back in business for the Cal football team’s season opener against the University of Nevada on Saturday, Sept. 1. Go Bears!

The venerable Berkeley Bowl recently opened a new outpost in West Berkeley, an airy, two-story structure wrapped in glass and metal. Many patrons can’t get enough of the large, light-filled new store with scads of parking space. Other Bowlies, though, still prefer the jam-packed original in Central Berkeley. Like it or not, the new Bowl is different than its ancestor, with more room to maneuver, more ready-to-eat items, and a cafe.