Lothlorien
14 Singles - 15 Doubles - 2 Triples - 2 Quads
58 Residents
2415 Prospect Street
Berkeley, CA 94704
All meals cooked for the house are vegetarian. Personal meat is allowed but meat cannot be purchased with house funds.
We uplift BIPOC, queer, and trans members of the community and focus on fostering a safe place for individuals to self-express, learn, and grow in a world where systems of oppression have otherwise hindered this opportunity.
Founded in the 1970s, Lothlorien has long-standing traditions of activism and art. It's a house where one can practice advocacy and resistance, learn to cook, find peer support, foster creativity, watch the sunset over the Bay, and build friendships - all on the same day! Our veggie-centric kitchen is great for making late-night snacks with friends or playing your favorite music while washing pots. All food purchased with house funds must be meat-free. Housemates are welcome to have personal meat products in the house if stored properly.
Two old Victorian homes connected by a courtyard make up the Lothlorien co-op. We boast the largest library and smallest per capita utility bills in the BSC. We also have a roaring fireplace, a sundeck, a sauna, a treehouse, and a beautiful front garden.
Our splendid north house living room hosts social events big and small, movie nights, and weekly councils. All elves old and new are encouraged to attend councils and engage within the community. We try to create the society we want to see daily and practice participatory democracy, consent, and anti-oppression. As many individuals from many different backgrounds, it’s our responsibility to learn how to live cooperatively and in community with one another.
We work to create a safer space by:
- Making informed decisions by house consensus
- Holding conversations about privilege, power dynamics, and oppression and their relation to living in a cooperative environment
- Not tolerating racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia, etc, and asking those with wealth or class privilege to be cognizant of it while living in a low-income BIPOC-centered space.
- Upholding consent as mandatory and taking sexual assault seriously. Consent workshops are required for our members and are held before every party.
We aim to provide equal access to nutritious food by:
- Making and providing healthy, ready-to-eat vegetarian and vegan food every day.
- Accommodating food allergies with equivalent alternatives at meals, such as gluten-free pizza or nut-free dinners.
- Allowing housemates to put up requests for food, spices, and more from CFS.
- Making an effort to provide a variety of ingredients to be more inclusive to a diversity of house cultures.
We fight for a more environmentally and socially just food system by:
- Hosting discussions on the global food system and its impacts on not only the environment but historically marginalized peoples.
- Minimizing purchases that exploit people or animals, while recognizing that consumer choices alone will not solve structural problems in the capitalist food system.