<p>I literally lived around the block from that apartment complex on Shattuck. IMO, that was easily the best neighborhood I lived in at Cal, especially for the walking type. Getting to Southside is rather inconvenient (especially if you have a lot of friends in that area), but I usually saved those trips for when I’m already on campus. Northside-Gourmet Ghetto is pretty awesome, safe, and convenient. To the middle of campus is a 15-minute walk, to BART is 7-8 minutes, to Andronico’s is 5 minutes, Safeway is 8 minutes. Great eateries in the area for the student, including Oscar’s, Barney’s, Cheeseboard, Gregoire’s, etc; plus all the restaurants and shops in Downtown Berkeley are more accessible from here than if you were coming from Southside (especially walking through the poorly-lit section around Fulton). To add, if you need to get to the southeast corner of campus for morning classes (like the Business and Law Schools, Wurster, etc.), it can be a pretty long walk (25 minutes). The best part, though, is having a nice downhill walk towards the setting the sun when you walk home, certainly lifts your spirits after a long day.</p>