The Faculty Club Newsletter

December 2002

           I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and I want to wish you a joyous and safe holiday season. It’s hard to believe that our Centennial year is nearly over. We can look back on some fine events we put on for our members. Thank you for supporting the Club and our offerings. We have received many positive comments on our Early Bird dinners and we will continue to offer them during New Year. This is one case where your support and comments have guided us to provide a service that members appreciate. The dinners are Particularly popular before basketball games or events at Zellerbach Hall, so it’s a good idea to make a reservation. But we can always find a corner for drop-ins. Once again I want to express my personal thanks to our staff and managers. They have worked hard to provide good service throughout the year. Looking forward to seeing you at the Christmas parties and in the New Year.

        After the fall evening with Tom Bopp many members asked when he was coming back again. Events Chairman Jack Coons has prevailed on Tom to return on January 17th to Brighten our Berkeley midwinter. Tom’s nostalgic music makes a fine accomplishment to yet another Felix feast. For $45 a person (including tax and tip), you get cocktails at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m., and Tom, more or less constantly all evening. Yes, you could drive all the way to Yosemite and pay a high price at one of the great lodges to hear this internationally known entertainer. But it’s a lot easier (and much cheaper) to catch him at the club. Space will be limited, so get your reservation in now (540-5678, extension 224). Why not cheer up a few of your colleagues and invite them to this event? A great way to attract new members

        Not too soon start thinking about the one you are going to invite to this annual event. The elegant evening provides a four-course dinner, with music and dancing for the rest of the evening. On February 14th the reception will begin at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7. The cost, including tax and tip, is $60 a person. Mark your calender and get your reservation in to Mark at 540-5678, ext. 224

        The Club will be closed for meal service from December 20th through January 5th, reopening for lunch, dinner, and bar service on January 6th. During this period the hotel rooms will be available (with continental breakfast). If you have out-of-town guests, why not consider putting them up at the Club? We will also be able to cater private parties during this period. Call 642-2119 for help with such events.

        2002 is nearly over! Our Club Centennial Year has proved memorable in many ways. To begin with, members and friends of the Club contributed half a million dollars to the refurbishment and remodeling of the building, a process still going on. We are now completing the plans for a major remodeling of the last thirteen of our hotel rooms. This has been a daunting task, since many of them have no bathrooms at present. Careful design study means that the rooms will have such facilities when the project is complete some time in 2003. Generous private donors have undertaken the remodeling of the suite and tower rooms, and contributions are still coming in. Further donation will be welcomed. But our Centennial was not limited to the physical plant. It also involved celebration. A grand Centennial Party in March gave us the opportunity for the togetherness and social ease that is a natural part of Club life. At the same time, the symposium on the idea of a community of scholars challenged intellectually our compartmentalized view of University life.(See publication data later in this issue.) We go into our second century with confidence that in 2102 our members will be celebrating another hundred years of club life.

        At noon on Thursday, December 19th, members of the Club are invited to the annual Christmas meeting of the Bancroft Roundtable in the Lewis-Latimer Room. Following a long tradition, at this meeting Bancroft Library staff members will offer readings that they have selected from Bancroft manuscripts and publications on wide range of historical and literary topics. Pick up a sandwich from the cafeteria line and join the open group.

        No stranger to our gallery walls, Jane Vavra Jolly is back in December, exhibiting prints inspired by her husband's technical innovations in black-and-white photography. William Jolly (emeritus professor in the College of Chemistry) has devised a method of darkroom print development that produces a "silver mirror" or "false daguerreotype" effect in the lighter areas of images. Working in their home darkroom, Jane combines her photograms inspired by Man Ray to produce silver images of natural and man-made clutter.

        Arrive at the Club on any weeknight between 5 and 6:30 to enjoy a complete meal for the incredible price of $11.95! All meals include soup or salad, plus dessert. Add a couple of glasses of wine and still pay less for two meals than for a single meal, without wine, in a downtown restaurant. Reserve at 540-5678 extension 0.

       A generous donation in memory of the contributions of John Reynolds, former Club president, long-time Monk, and member of the Wine Committee, has provided for a new wineglass cabinet that has now been installed in the Club’s main hallway, opposite the Great Hall. This beautiful cabinet was designed by Bruce Bolt and Howard Mel, and built in craftsman style by David Smith of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science. It houses the special glasses that the Wine Committee recommended for purchase last year. These glasses are intended to enhance your enjoyment of particularly fine wines. The cabinet is built from fine grain redwood, now hard to find, a wood that will mellow and grow ever more beautiful as the years pass. A fitting memorial for great member.

       Many members were present at the symposium held in the Seaborg Room as a preface to our grand Centennial party in March of this year. Now the papers presented on that occasion have been published in a fine Centennial commemorative book, The Idea of a Community of Scholars. It can be bought at the front desk for $10 a copy. This beautiful produced book, with a preface by Jack Coons, is profusely illustrated with color photographs of the Club (along with a couple of black-and white ones). It also contains the reprint of an early account of the financing of Club construction and expansion by subscription from the members themselves. At a time when faculty clubs around the nation (including those at some prestigious private schools) are becoming little more than campus-run hotels and dining rooms, we can take pride in the fact that our Club is flourishing and maintains the tradition of being a true club, directed by its members. The edition is limited to 750 copies and will be available for purchase after December 4th. If you can’t get into the Club before the Christmas party, don’t worry. The books will be on sale those evenings. This publication is tangible proof of the involvement of the Faculty Club in the intellectual as well as the social life of the campus. Congratulations to all those responsible for this beautiful addition to Club lore.

        Unfortunately the December meeting had to be canceled at the last minute. But it has been researched: the first meeting of 2003 will be at lunchtime in the Howard Room on January 14th. For further information about this group, call Phyllis Books at 510-704-9951.

        As we celebrate the end of our Centennial year and rejoice in the vitality of our Club, why don’t you find the occasion to introduce some of your colleagues to the advantages of membership? In addition to their discounts on lunch and dinner costs, new members can take advantage of the special “ members only” events now being planned for the new year. The latest such event set is a dinner with Narsai David, in April.

 
 

 
 
 

The Faculty Club Newsletter is published monthly by:  The Faculty Club  University of California  Berkeley. CA 94720-6050  Contributions and comments may be mailed to the Editor, Phyllis Brooks, at the Club, or by e-mail to pbrooks@vdn.com  Board of Directors, 2002-2003:  Bruce Bolt, President  Dick White, Treasurer  Dan Melia, Recorder  Jack Coons Joyce Kallgren  Bill Oldham    Phyllis Brooks  Club Manager: Felix Solomon

Club numbers:  Telephone:  510-540-5678  Fax:  510-540-6204  Reservations:  Kerr Dining Room:  Extension 0  Parties:   Extension 5  E-mail: info@berkeleyfacultyclub.com  Website: www.berkeleyfacultyclub.com  Kerr Dining Room hours Breakfast 7:30-10:00; Lunch M-F 11:30 –1:30; Dinner M-F 5:00-8:30  Bar hours: M-F 11:30-1:30; Happy Hours 4-30-6 30; closes at 8:30 p.m.  Buffet lunch: 11:30-1:30 M-F  Guest accommodations available:  Reservations may be made at 540-5678, ext. 3 or through our website.  Membership: Call Felix, at ext.  9.