Oscar’s in 2010; Photo Courtesy of Google

Berkeley residents mourn as the old-Berkeley classic Oscar’s has closed. Oscar’s was a no-frills burger joint that stood as a pillar of what the downtown neighborhood used to be.

Oscar’s is the latest casualty of the high rents in the Shattuck neighborhood. Many Berkeley natives see this closure as a sign that the small-town atmosphere in Berkeley is drying up. Over the past decade, Shattuck has been changing rapidly, with hipster café chains and pricey bars popping up where neighborhood restaurants used to stand. This change is especially apparent in the area around the U.C. Berkeley campus, including the closure of the Top Dog on Hearst.

This site included Oscar’s in our list of Affordable Eats in Berkeley. The staff at Greetings From Berkeley will miss Oscar’s, and we hope you were able to visit the site when it was open.