I rented the extra room in Jon's house for one week when I was visiting labs in Berkeley. The house is in North Oakland, 12minutes waling from the Ashby BART station, reaching UCB campus is easily done in 30 minutes.
Jon's house is great, there is a garden with a vegetable patch, the eco friendly atmosphere suited me really well and I felt completely at home. The bed is comfortable and the room is facing west so it has plenty of sun in the afternoon.