'Cal' is one of the country's top universities and home to 35,000 diverse, politically conscious students. The Visitor Services Center has info and leads free campus tours (reservations required). Cal's landmark is the 1914 Sather Tower (also called the Campanile), with elevator rides ($2) to the top. The Bancroft Library displays the small gold nugget that started the California gold rush in 1848.
Leading to the campus's south gate, Tele-graph Avenue is as youthful and gritty as San Francisco's Haight St, packed with cafes, cheap eats, record stores and bookstores.
