Berkeley South Asian History Archive
  • Home
  • UC Berkeley
  • Crime
  • Immigration
  • Anti-Racist
  • Labor
  • Business
  • Arts/Literature
  • Women/Feminist
  • South Asia Solidarity
  • LGBT
  • Religious
  • Environmental
  • Dalit
  • Sources
  • Contact
  • Our Walking Tour!

South Asian Businesses

  • [1916 ★] Boor Singh applies to Berkeley City Council to erect a tent in downtown Berkeley for the business of fortune telling. Council unanimously denies the application. [Berkeley City Council Minutes for July 28 1916, item 12, and August 8, 1916, item 19]
  • [1960s-1970s? ★] Berkeley's University Avenue business district founded. See Sara Marcellino's 2003 thesis Connecting a heterolocal ethnic community: Berkeley's Asian Indian shopping district for history and details. The Berkeley Historical Society ran a walking tour of the district in 2000.
  • [~1970 ★] Bazaar of India opens in Berkeley, run by Neelam and Kirpal Khanna ["The Multi-million Dollar Indian Grocery Business", India West, Feb 16 1979, page 8]
  • [1975 ★] Lakireddy Bali Reddy and his family open the Berkeley branch of Pasand Restaurant. ["Pasand Bombay Curries - Unique South Indian Cuisine", India West, 15 July 1977, page 5]
  • [1978 ★] Shrimati's opens at 2011 University Ave, Berkeley, as a sari shop, run by Anil Dhupelia, whose family owned 3 sari shops in Durban. ["Two New Businesses Open In S.F. Bay Area", India West, Jan 15 1978, page 5]
  • [1981 ★] Anar-Kali restaurant, an Indian and pizza restaurant, opens at 2440 Bancroft Way. It was run by Pakistani American couple Shaukat Mohamadaly and Nargis. ["Two New Restaurants Open in East Bay with Informal Atmospheres", India West, Sep 25 1981, page 11]
The Berkeley South Asian History Archive is a companion website for the Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour, and contains research notes by Anirvan Chatterjee and Barnali Ghosh. This is very much a work in progress. Questions? Contact us.