UC Berkeley student union opened 50 years ago

Berkeley history: UC Berkeley student union opened 50 years ago

Fifty years ago the new (and present day) student union on the UC Berkeley campus opened.

The Parthenon-like structure was officially dedicated March 17, 1961, with ceremonies that included a speech by California's Gov. Brown. (That's "Pat" Brown, not Jerry Brown, his son, now and again a California governor.) The new structure featured Pauley Ballroom, meeting rooms, student lounges (including sex-segregated "quiet rooms" where tired students could take a break), the Bear's Lair pub, art studio, and a bowling alley in the basement.

Some of that is now gone--the textbook store occupies the basement--but much of the stately building remains the same, particularly on the outside. The building is now called the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.

The old student union was in Stephens Hall, near the center of campus. The new union -- part of a four-building California Student Center that wouldn't be fully completed until Zellerbach Hall opened in 1968 -- brought the center of student activities right to the edge of the campus and adjacent to Telegraph Avenue.

One side effect of the student center construction, atop two city blocks that had formerly been occupied with private homes and businesses, was the closing of the northern block of Telegraph Avenue and creation of Sproul Plaza.

The new plaza spread in front of the Administration Building (now Sproul Hall) that had been completed in 1941, facing shops on the other side of Telegraph. Read Whole Story....