In the 1970s, Goldberg relocated to Southern California before settling in Berkeley, where she worked various odd jobs, including as a bank teller, a mortuary cosmetologist, and a bricklayer. There, she also joined the avant-garde theater troupe, the Blake Street Hawkeyes, and taught comedy and acting classes; Courtney Love was one of her acting students. Goldberg also worked in a number of theater productions. In 1978, she witnessed a midair collision of two planes in San Diego, causing her to develop a fear of flying and post-traumatic stress disorder.