Berkeley police clear chess club furniture off Telegraph Avenue, member says
Chess players play at the corner of Haste Street and Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 18, 2023. Though the chess club only has a few dozen regular patrons, some weeks more than 100 people can be observed playing chess. (Grace Marion/Bay Cit
BERKELEY, Calif. - Berkeley residents were surprised on Friday to see the furniture some of them normally play chess on at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street was gone for the third time in five weeks.
Trash collectors supervised by a Berkeley police officer allegedly took the furniture placed by Telegraph Avenue's unofficial chess club earlier that morning, according to chess club chairman Jesse Sheehan, who witnessed the incident.
Sheehan says that although the core patrons of the chess club generally continue to show up after furniture confiscations, he expects workers at nearby stores will stop coming by to relax before their shifts without the extra tables and chairs.
"They just wanted to sit at a table and have morning time themselves," Sheehan said. "They would play a game of chess... if I don't have that extra table out, they would never stop to do that."
The three furniture confiscations in the last five weeks have resulted in at least $600 in replacement costs, according to an interview with chess club chairman Jesse Sheehan on Friday.
Sheehan buys replacement furniture at Berkeley's Urban Ore, a reclaim store. He says he spends an average of $5 on each chair and $25 on each card table but spent about $75 on the larger table that retired animator Roosevelt Stevens normally sits to draw at.
City of Berkeley representatives were not available for comment.