Simply put, I can't recommend Spruce Canyon more highly. My family lives in the Bay Area and I visit, on average, every four or five months. Over the years, I've stayed in many of the B&B-type accommodations in Berkeley, and have been favorably impressed with most of them. Then, in the summer of 2005, I found Spruce Canyon. Now, I never stay anywhere else. In fact, I'd guess that over the past couple of years I've spent a total of some fifty days or more in what I now affectionately refer to as my home-away-from-home.

Let me say that in some ways, it's surprising how much I adore this place. When it comes to my own surroundings, I'm something of a minimalist. Ana, the main proprietor of Spruce Canyon, on the other hand, is an avid collector - and the apartment is chock-full of her extraordinary finds. Still, the space manages to feel open and serene: what might have been a crowded jumble in other hands here has been expertly rendered a completely comfortable... more