Looking for the ultimate mix of globally diverse eats, vibrant street art, and rich history? We recently explored Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and put together a self-guided food and history tour; complete with fun photo challenges the whole family loved. If you’re searching for unique, family-friendly things to do in Berkeley, this itinerary hits every mark. Read on to see exactly where we went, what we ate, and how you can download our exact Telegraph Avenue itinerary for your next adventure!
*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that allows me to earn a small commission at no cost to you. I only link to products I would or have used myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. You can read the full disclaimer here.
The Idea
It’s Father’s Day. My husband loves food and he loves photography. We wanted to do something unique for Father’s Day, but something we could do at our own pace. We love food tours but appreciate when there is enough walking in-between to help food digest. We thought it would be fun if we could do an activity to keep us stimulated. I did research on areas, food, street art, and other points of interest around Telegraph Avenue and made a totally unique Food/Photography Tour of the Berkeley Area to keep us entertained for hours, that everyone loved in the end.
Telegraph Area
We started our tour in the Telegraph Area of Berkeley. This area is full of fun, eclectic shops, but also some of the most amazing street art. From large murals on the walls, mosaic garbage cans, and more, we took some time to walk around and learn about the history around us and take unique pictures of them in-between food stops.
UC Berkeley
Telegraph butts right up to UC Berkeley, which in and of itself is full of history. UC Berkeley was the first University of California and the only one that is allowed to call itself Cal. Founded in 1868, UC Berkeley was known in the 60s as the center of the Free Speech Movement. We walked around Sproul Plaza and discussed the protests in the ’60s, walked through Sather Gate, and checked out the campus to learn more about its history.
The Food
We ended up in Berkeley because the kids wanted a Global Food Tour. Telegraph was the perfect place for it because its proximity to an internationally renown campus means it had a plethora of international options. We ended up eating:
- Tacos at Tacos Sinaloa
- Dumplings at MoMo House
- Bratwurst at Top Dog
- Sweets from Sheng Kee Bakery
We all seemed to agree that the Tacos were our favorite of the bunch, closely followed by the beef-filled steamed Momos. But we didn’t have a bad thing to eat all day. Each stop was just enough food to fill us up enough to move on to the next stop without feeling like we had eaten too much or too little.
The Photograph Challenges
This was the fun and unique part of the day. We didn’t tell my husband to bring his big camera; we all did this with our cell phones. But in between each food stop, after learning a little history, we did unique photo challenges. This was not “Take a picture of this mural”. We asked everyone who could get the best shot interacting with the mural? Who could make the mosaic on the trash can look like it belonged in a museum? Who could get a shot of Sather Gate that best looked like it belonged in a 1960s newspaper? Each challenge was a little bit different and required the kids to think and interact. It required everyone to be creative and see what they could do best.
Why This Works With Kids & Teenagers
As my teenagers get older, if they aren’t engaged, they immediately turn to their phones for entertainment. They start to zone out and are not as interested anymore. But once I started to work with it instead of against it, I realized I could get them engaged. At first they were a little embarrassed having to interact with a mural. But by the end they were embracing it, trying to see if they could get the perfect symmetrical shot of the words in Sather Gate. Everyone got into it and was engaged.
But even if your kids are not on their phones yet, this is still a fun activity. You can make teams, and the kids can either use your phone or camera to take pictures of be the subjects pretending to be Mario Savio giving a great speech at Sproul Plaza.
After picking up sweets from Sheng Kee Bakery, we went back to Sproul Plaza, found a table, and sat and ate our treats while we each shared our favorite pictures from each category to our family group chat, and voted using hearts (you couldn’t vote for yourself, that would be cheating). Not surprisingly my husband won, but that wasn’t the point. The point was the fun seeing what everyone did when they were forced to try something new with the pictures and to spend Father’s Day together as a family, having an adventure, but you can do this any weekend!
Want the Step-By-Step Itinerary we did, including all the history facts, a Google Saved List, and the photo challenges? Sign up for my newsletter below and you will be emailed a copy of this itinerary!
Edited by: SKS
* Starred Photos taken by Atma Photography
Leave a Reply