This photo was taken during the Axe Rally held Monday, November 22, 1982, two days after “The Play”. Mariet Ford (most left) was one of the players who lateraled their way to the endzone. Go Bears! Photo courtesy of Ken Raust.

The photograph shows University of California President Benjamin Ide Wheeler and 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, at the Greek Theatre in September 1919. Wheeler, then emeritus, had invited Wilson to visit during a tour he was making on behalf of the newly formed League of Nations. Read more »

As one of the crown jewels of the Cal Alumni Association, The Lair of the Golden Bear has enjoyed an incredibly long and rich history and is the oldest and the largest of any alumni association camp in North America. Read more »

The photograph above was taken at the 1946 Charter Banquet, also held at the Palace. That night the poet Robert Frost was awarded an honorary degree by the University and then-Governor and future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren ‘12 was honored as Alumnus of the Year.

Here in the offices of California magazine, we have file cabinets filled with all manner of old photos from campus, even pre-dating the move to Berkeley. Many of the images are somewhat random and lacking anything much in the way of identifying information. Still, it’s fascinating stuff to look through (a bit like rummaging around in your grandparents’ attic), and we thought it only right to share some of it with readers. So here’s the first installment: The baseball team in 1879.

Here’s another photo from our files. This one shows what appears to be the old news booth at what was then called Radio KAL. Back in the day (this photo is marked 1967) the station was broadcasting at a mere 10 watts—barely enough to carry across Bancroft. Today, it’s known as KALX and the signal is a more respectable 500 watts. Read more »

Of his namesake Hall, William Wurster, dean the School of Architecture (now the College of Environmental Design) said, “I wanted it to look like a ruin that no regent would like. … It’s absolutely unfinished, uncouth, and brilliantly strong.”  Wurster, who died in 1973, got his wish. The regents were not pleased with the ponderous concrete structure and its drab looming tower. But while critics scoffed, Wurster maintained the design was in fact decades ahead of its time. “Our building,” he said, “will take 20 years to arrive.”

As we reported in our May/June 2009 issue, the “Great UC Panty Raid” occurred on the sweltering evening of May 16, 1956. What began as good-natured lingerie looting soon turned into a melee involving hundreds of male students. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, doors were broken down, beds were overturned, and coeds were “manhandled” in the course of the wild spree. Afterward, reported the Oakland Tribune, “The streets surrounding the area took on the appearance of a bargain basement after a women’s lingerie sale.” The cost in property damage and lost underthings was later estimated at $12,000.

The lurid incident made headlines around the world, and then-Chancellor Clark Kerr later recalled that he approached Walter Haas, Class of 1910 to “ask him whether the answer to a warm night in spring might better be a cold dip in a supervised swimming pool.” Kerr told the story in his memoir of UC, The Gold and the Blue. Read more »

Throughout the year, we will celebrate the 140th anniversary of the founding of the Cal Alumni Association, and with it, 140 years of alumni excellence and service to our alma mater and our global community.

The Alumni Association was chartered in 1872 by members of the University’s first graduating class with the purpose of “the promotion of good fellowship and kindly feelings among its members and the fostering of liberal and scientific culture on the Pacific Coast.” Read more »