Kamala Harris Lived In Berkeley

Berkeleyside had a long article in 2019 that they’ve reprinted about Kamala Harris’s early years in Berkeley to which I think I can add a small detail.

She lived on the south side of campus until she was about 12 years old, in an area called the Berkeley flatlands, as opposed to the hills, where wealthier and whiter people lived. The article describes the flatlands as  “an integrated community with families of various races, both middle class and poorer residents, and both renters and homeowners.” And, I would add, students. I lived in that area when I was a graduate student.

It was within easy walking distance of the campus, and the rents were reasonable. I lived in a pink house with palm trees in front, lemon trees in back around the smaller house in which the landlords lived. The pink house had been a one-family house, divided into four apartments, all occupied by graduate students.

I suspect that the couple across the hall on the ground floor were Harris’s parents. He was very tall and from the Caribbean. She was tiny. I am trying not to alter my memories too much and to recount what I actually remember, not a more expansive story of my interactions with them.

We were all graduate students, in the upper two apartments as well, and very focused on our work, as graduate students are. I don’t recall the names of any of the other renters. My husband and I would see the other couple on the ground floor when we were going in or out. We invited them to a New Year’s Eve party. A very modest party for serious graduate students.

There is a picture of Harris’s father holding baby Kamala while standing in front of a part of a pink house that looks like where my kitchen was. The photo at the top of the front of the pink house is mine.

The house was demolished years ago, and a park is now where it stood.

The Berkeleyside article describes some of Harris’s history in Berkeley after the time I’m describing. The whole thing is worth a read.

Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner