Path features a beloved mosaic and community acoustic-music venue

Paul and Mari Litsky live on Regal Road across the street from Pinnacle Path, a 35-step path connecting Regal Road and Poppy Lane, with a view of the path out their front window. Longtime members and supporters of Berkeley Path Wanderers Association, they are adopting the path and plan to regularly sweep up.

Paul Litsky sweeps up leaves on Pinnacle Path.

“There are times, especially in the fall, when the path can get slippery with leaves and a good sweeping would help,” the Litskys wrote to Janet Byron, Path Wanderers president. “And since we use this path a lot we would know when further maintenance was needed.”

Pinnacle Path generates a lot of foot traffic from people using Cragmont and Remillard parks nearby, as well as coming up the hill from Euclid and Spruce streets on Easter Way. It is also home to a beloved mosaic created by the community and “1 Pinnacle Path,” a homegrown music venue with open-air acoustic concerts and movie nights in the spring and summer.

Mari Litsky, 73, is a retired teacher who worked at Mills College Children's School and Paul Litsky, 71, is a retired data analyst who worked at Kaiser Permanente. They have lived on Regal Road for 28 years, and their daughter, Elisa, lives in Berkeley with her husband and their two grandchildren.

The Litskys learned about adopting paths at the Path Wanderers annual meeting at Live Oak Park in October. “If we hadn't attended it wouldn't have occurred to us that we could do this,” Paul said. “We encourage other members to adopt paths that are near their homes or that they visit often.”

“Adopting paths is easy. There’s no paperwork interviews,” Byron said. “Just let us know about your interest and we’ll connect you with Mary Lynch, paths maintenance leader.

“I am so pleased that the Litskys have adopted this path,” said Lynch, who offered the Litskys green-waste bags and help with requesting pickups from the Berkeley Public Works Department. “A new fence was installed here a while ago and there are a lot of trees, so leaf sweeping would be a great help in the fall.” (The city recently removed Himalayan blackberry that was growing along the fence line on the north side.)

Irene’s Birthday Wall

Over the years many path wanderers have wondered about the genesis of the mosaic titled “Irene’s Birthday Wall” on the north-side retaining wall, and now we know how it came to be! Paul Litsky explained:

“Steve and Irene Juniper lived in the house at 979 Regal Road. Steve was a handyman who could fix just about anything. Irene was an accomplished pianist. She was so good that on warm nights we opened our windows to listen to her practice. We were (and still are) a close knit community and the Junipers hosted our safety meetings and neighborhood potlucks.

“Steve built the retaining wall on Pinnacle Path about 25 years ago to prevent erosion. Irene had the idea of making a mosaic on the wall. Over the course of a few months we in the neighborhood gathered our broken pottery and other bits. Irene sorted them and came up with the design for the mosaic. We had a big block party and Steve applied cement to the retaining wall. It was mostly the neighborhood kids who stuck in the pieces of broken pottery under Irene's supervision.

“Irene passed away some years ago. Steve dedicated the mosaic to her memory and extended it to the end of the wall. Steve died a few years ago. They both loved their house on Regal Road.”

1 Pinnacle Path

Jason Durie now lives with his two children, Theodora and Costin, in the Juniper house and has converted the backyard into “1 Pinnacle Path,” a small performance space with its entrance at the middle of Pinnacle Path.

1 Pinnacle Path was created out of Durie's love of music and building community. He started showing kids’ movies in his backyard during the first pandemic summer of 2020 and soon started adding monthly live music. The sign above the gate was created with help from his neighbor, Phil Miller, who lives two doors down.

Each summer Jason hosts seven city-permitted, family- and pet-friendly, acoustic music events on the first Sunday of each month from April to October, at 5 pm. Past styles have included classical, contemporary jazz, Spanish rumba, gypsy jazz, bluegrass, and funk. The guests have mostly discovered the venue by walking past the gate and reading the sign.

1 Pinnacle Path hosts acoustic music monthly from April to October.

"I have been playing and enjoying live music all my life, and when I had kids I wanted to still attend concerts but found it difficult to do with toddlers,” Durie said. “So I landscaped my backyard to include an amphitheater-like setting with a kids play area to bring the music to me in a parent-friendly setting."

For more information, reservations, and event schedule go to: https://www.facebook.com/1pinnaclepath.