I was born in Berkeley at Alta Bates Hospital. I was raised in Vallejo, CA only 30 minutes away (with no traffic). Vallejo is the home of E-40 (rapper), Mac Dre (rapper), Jeff Gordon (car racer), C.C Sabathia (baseball player), Natalie Coughlin (olympic medalist), Six Flags Marine World, the Carquinez Bridge, Marine Island Naval Base, was twice California's state capitol, and was where the first Zodiac killings happened in the '70s. Well it's a pretty nice place to live because it's far enough away from the city, but it's not too far into farm country! Vallejo is pretty much directly inbetween San Francisco and Sacramento. It does have it's bad areas, but it does have it's really expensive ones as well. There is a lot of expansion and housing development going on right now. It's CRAZY!! Vallejo has a large Filipino community, I think it ranks 2nd after Daly City!!! Although my hometown wasn't far away I never really came to Berkeley. After many years, I am back in Berkely and it is so much FUN!