Normalcy and Berkeley go together like morals and Bill Clinton. Or elegance and Roseanne Barr. Let’s face it. Berkeley is wackier than Paul Rubens at an adult movie theater. But there is something strangely normal about Brennan’s, a popular Berkeley hangout for over 40 years at the foot of University Avenue.

Brennan’s is located in the Berkeley that few can identify. This is not the “burn your bra or draft card,” “give peace a chance,” “make love not war,” “F*** the pigs” kind of place that you would expect of Berkeley. Due south of the University of California toward the bay, Brennan’s is more blue-collar than Cal Blue. Heck, even the cops are welcome here and can drink coffee for free.

Run by the third generation of the Brennan family, little has changed since the bar and restaurant was born in 1959. Including some of the characters that drink there.

West Berkeley is the neighborhood where popular, longtime bartender Jimmy “The Float” Agrusa grew up. Where Billy Martin used to get into fights after ballgames. Where tips are exchanged by those in the know heading over to Golden Gate Fields in Albany, located about a mile and an eighth away.

An updating inside Brennan’s a couple of years ago brought some life into a look that had become a bit listless. However, some things did not change. The large rectangular shaped island bar in the middle of the dining room. The “slide your tray” hof brau style counter that serves up delicious carved sandwiches like turkey, ham, roast beef and corned beef. And the picture on the wall of old man Brennan posing with a prized steer out in front of the Cow Palace in Daly City.

Draft beer and Irish Coffees are the staples of Brennan’s. St. Patrick’s Day is easily the busiest day of the year.

Brennan’s is a reliable, convenient, almost normal place frequented by folks that earn an honest living. Except for those that may have just hit Beetlebaum in the sixth at Golden Gate Fields. – D.M.