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February 7, 2015 by tomdalzell

495 Vincente – what the heck?

 

Vincente winds above The Alameda.  There is an installation of random objects at 495 Vincente, near where the Visalia Steps head west up the hill.

"Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley"Words are fairly useless here.  I have spent a lifetime making a living with words, one way or another.  But they aren’t helpful here.

"Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley""Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley" "Quirky Berkeley"Do you see what I mean?  I could string together words and create an image, but if there are these photos, why would I do that?  Why?

I walked these photos over to my friend for his take on them. He was on his way to see me.  He thrust this into my hand:

Popular Science May 1950

“PROOF!  Popular Science.  May 1950.  The bastards in the oil industry have suppressed this.  It could be done! I rest my case!”

Oh boy.  I said, “In a minute I’m happy to talk with you about this and the fact that this is not a peer-reveiwed scientific article in a scientific journal – it is an ad.  Thousands in use?  I don’t think so.  But, we can talk about it.  First – what about 495 Vincente?

IMG_3677

P.S.  My friend and I did a little research. It turns out that in 1949 Octa-Gane was working out of a Berkeley address!

Screen Shot 2015-02-07 at 7.57.17 AM

What is REALLY delicious is that 1478 University is part of the larger commercial building in front of Fox Court, part of Fox Court, the delightfully quirky Fox Brothers apartment court.

Screen Shot 2015-02-07 at 8.00.48 AM

Serendipity!  Scam meets fairytale architecture owned by Bruce Dodd of Giant Orange on Spruce Street fame! One more – !

 

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