Painting the Town Blue and Gold

Little Big Bear, bedecked in glorious Blue and Gold, 6th Arr.

For reasons I have not figured out, there seem to be more than a few allusions to Berkeley and its iconography around France. So far I have found two restaurants in Paris named "Berkeley;" another in Lyon was painted Blue and Gold, as is the Little Big Bear Pub in Paris' 6th Arrondissement. One wall of honor in Harry's New York Bar--operating in the 2nd Arr. since the 1920s--rightly places a vintage Oski pennant above hundreds of others. 

Oski glowers from atop a wall in Harry's New York Bar, 2nd Arr.

A trio of Berkeley establishments in Lyon, and in the 8th and 7th Arrs.

The restaurant names probably refer to either Berkeley Square in London--which sits on land originally owned by the third Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1663-1697)--or to the Irish philosopher George Berkeley (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne. From what I can recall from my undergraduate philosophy courses (not much), Bishop Berkeley (pronounced "Bark-Lee" by pedants, but also by Irish people, I suppose) rejected the view that we can know the reality of the world from our senses, and instead must rely on pure logic. He extended his premise that "all things are ideas" to prove God's existence, since ideas can't generate themselves and since people don't have control over the content of ideas once they present themselves (ascribing to ideas an agency which, logically, they cannot have). So although people can learn new ideas and combine those they know in creative ways, ideas basically must come from God.

That seems like the kind of mental legerdemain that would tickle French intellectualism enough to name a few bistrots after a guy (I'm also aware of a restaurant called Le Descartes in Paris; for non-obvious reasons, it's a pizzeria). By contrast, the Barony of Berkeley has fought for England in many of its wars against France going back to the 13th century. So unless there is a Bistrot le Duc de Wellington somewhere I don't know about, we can safely scratch Berkeley Square off the list of inspirations.

So the Bishop of Cloyne is most likely the Berkeley in question. Though it is probably a coincidence that the Little Big Bear's website rhapsodizes about the "legendary bears of the Irish forests," the town of Berkeley, California that lends its name to the University of California's flagship campus is also named for George Berkeley. Perhaps Paris' Berkeleyana stems from a sort of logrolling, where the philosopher inspires the town, which birthed a powerhouse institution world-renowned for its intellectual achievements and campus revolutions that reverberated with student bodies around the globe, and a few crafty restaurateurs try to reflect some of that high-falutin and rebellious aura in their business names.

UC Berkeley: Too many Nobel laureates, not enough parking.

But again, the blue and gold motif seen around Paris on official buildings precedes Cal athletes' use of the colors. And outside of swimming, diving and rowing, we could safely rule out sports as the origin of any admiration for Berkeley. (Although France is fairly rugby-mad and just hosted the World Cup, they are probably not aware that Cal's rugby team has won the college national championship 33 times since 1980. In defense of French rugby fans, most Berkeley students probably don't know that, either).

Blue and Gold adorns the Musée de l'Armée, 7th Arr.

Even the supercar meatheads of Paris have fallen in love with our colors.

Our last game at historic-state-of-the-art California Memorial stadium, December 2021. A great 24-14 victory over USC, but definitely not inspirational to the French.

So what have we learned? Not much, and nothing of practical value. But that's okay, as long as playing "find the Berkeleys" in Europe helps to keep me in practice of looking around and paying attention.

I am certain of one thing, though: over here it is bleu et or, and never bleu et maïs.