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June 16, 2013 by tomdalzell

Apartment House Names

My father’s mother lived in an apartment on Montgomery Avenue in Haverford, Pennsylvania.  It was called Concord Arms. There was a doorman, an elevator, smells of cooking and mothballs and wool carpeting, comfortable lobbies.  I was fascinated.  I still have an occasional dream that takes place in the upstairs lobbies.

In my original conceptualization of Quirky Berkeley I  had no thought of collecting photos of signs with apartment names.  But then I saw my first few – Tamarin, Luxor, Garden – and I was hooked.

1438 Bonita

1438 Bonita

1406 Henry

1406 Henry

1741 King

1741 King

Rick protests.  He says that the idea of apartment names is West Hollywood, not Berkeley.  Okay.  Too bad he’s not the final judge.  I am.  What would Mel Brooks say? My ruling is: they stay.  Only liquor stores come anywhere near apartment houses for poetic and creative naming.  And they usually don’t come close.  The Tip Top on San Pablo is great.  We will have to see how they develope.

I read somewhere that Dickens wandered through cemeteries and harvested names for characters in his novel.  Ditto here – you can wander through the names of the real-life Berkeley apartments and use almost any of them for the noir novel or screenplay that you are writing.  The list of names is musical – The Americana, Andres Castro Arms, Ashby Apartments, Berkeley Court Apartments, Berkeley Park, Berkshire Arms, Bishop Berkeley, California, Cambridge Apartments, Carlotta Manor, Chandler Apartments, Channing Poolside Apartments, Campanille Court, Crest Royal, Danbert, Delaware Arms, Durant Place, Dwight Way Court, the Elsmere , Eucridge Apts., Evans Manor, Garden Apartments, Garden Court, Grace Gardens, Heywood Apartments, Howard Hall Apartments, Indra Vhavan, Karen Apartments, Lamond Court, Lavera, Live Oak Apts., Loretta, Luxor, Mabelcrest, Manor Wincres,Manville, Marianne, Nichols Apts., Norgren, Nortonville, Palazzo, Pamela Apartments, Parker House, Parkway, Peterson, Picardo Arms, Prospect Manor, Rapa-Nui, The Redfern, Regent Manor, Riviera Apartments, Rosevia, RRB Apts., The Rubicon, Rumi Apartments, Sharon Manor, Sunny Gables, Tamarin, The Benvenue, The Collegiate, The Euclid, The Four Cedars, Treehaven, Vanguard, Walnut, Winecrest, and York.  Poetry!

Are names material culture?  Well, debate that all you want because there are the signs and they are.  So –  from Ashby to York, here they are, at the least the ones with photogenic signs.  Every impulse in my body screams out for completionist approach and every photo of every sign. Not gonna do it.  Just the better signs, Ashby to York.  Which, I admit, is almost all of them.   Let’s listen to Paul Simon sing about apartment house rules and apartment house fools and check out Berkeley apartment names/signs:

The Americana 2324 Dwight

The Americana
2324 Dwight

2310 Prospect

2310 Prospect

Ashby Apartments 2110 1/2 Ashby

Ashby Apartments
2110 1/2 Ashby

The Benvenue 2525 Benvenue

The Benvenue
2525 Benvenue

Berkeley Court 1315 Dwight

Berkeley Court
1315 Dwight

Berkeley Park 2025 Durant

Berkeley Park
2025 Durant

Berkshire Arms  2120 Delaware

Berkshire Arms
2120 Delaware

Bishop Berkeley 2709 Telegraph

Bishop Berkeley 2709 Dwight

Bishop Berkeley
2709 Dwight

Bishop who?

4, George BerkeleyAccording to the Centennial Record of the University of California, we got our name when one very educated College of California man mused was he watched two ships sailing out the Golden Gate upon Bishop George Berkeley’s (1685-1753) line “westward the course of empire takes its way.”  Very literary!  And then we ignored the way he pronounced his name (bark-lee) and called ourselves berk-lee.  Very independent!

1631 University

1631 University

Cambridge Apts. 2500 Durant

Cambridge Apts.
2500 Durant

Campanille Court

Campanille Court
1122 University

Carlotta Manor 1299 Carlotta

Carlotta Manor
1299 Carlotta

Chandler 2449 Dwight

Chandler Apartments
2449 Dwight

Channing Poolside Apartments 1930 Channing

Channing Poolside Apartments
1930 Channing

The Collegiate 2828 College

The Collegiate
2828 College

Crest Royal 2477

Crest Royal
2477 Virginia

Danbert Apartments 2704 Derby

Danbert Apartments
2704 Derby

2087 Delaware

Delaware Arms
2087 Delaware

2605 Durant

Durant Place
2605 Durant

Dwight Way Court 1114-1116 Dwight Way

Dwight Way Court
1114-1116 Dwight Way

Elsmere

Elsmere
2321 Dwight

The Euclid 1865 Euclid

The Euclid
1865 Euclid

 

Eucridge Apts. 1808-1810 Euclid

Eucridge Apts.
1808-1810 Euclidm

2776 Dwight

Florentine Apts.
2776 Dwight

Four Cedars 1550 Walnut

Four Cedars
1550 Walnut

Garden Court 1799 Euclid

Garden Court
1799 Euclid

Grace Garden 2283 Hearast

Grace Garden
2283 Hearast

Heywood Apartments 2119 Addison

Heywood Apartments
2119 Addison

2320 Waring

2320 Waring

Indra Bhavan 2241 Durant

Indra Bhavan
2241 Durant

Karen Apts. 1260 Hopkins

Karen Apts.
1260 Hopkins

Lamond Court 2632 Hillegas

Lamond Court
2632 Hillegas

Lavera Apartments 1440 Walnut

Lavera Apartments
1440 Walnut

Live Oak Apts. 1318-1320 Shattuck

Live Oak Apts.
1318-1320 Shattuck

The Mabelcrest 2924 Mabel

The Mabelcrest
2924 Mabel

Manor Wineres 929 Delaware

Manor Wincres
929 Delaware

Manville Apartments 2100 Channing

Manville Apartments
2100 Channing

Marianne Apts. 1120 Hearst

Marianne Apts.
1120 Hearst

Nichols Apts. 1700 Leroy

Nichols Apts.
1700 Leroy

Norgren Apts. 2313 9th

Norgren Apts.
2313 9th

Nortonville 2309 Woolsey

Nortonville
2309 Woolsey

Palazzo

Palazzo

Pamela Apts. 1260 Hopkins

Pamela Apts.
1260 Hopkins

Parker House 2111-2115 Parker

Parker House
2111-2115 Parker

The Parkway 1401 Stuart

The Parkway
1401 Stuart

Picardo Arms 2491 Ellsworth

Picardo Arms
2491 Ellsworth

2340 Prospect

2340 Prospect

Peterson Apartments 1919 Curtis

Peterson Apartments
1919 Curtis

The Rapa Nui (Easter Island) 2150 Channing

The Rapa Nui
2150 Channing 

Rapa Nui is the Polynesian word for Easter Island, or the people of Easter Island.  Brief journey off the path:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABack on the path:

The Redfern 1709 University

The Redfern
1709 University

Regent 2637 Regent

Regent
2637 Regent

Regent Manor 2521 Regent

Regent Manor
2521 Regent

Riviera Apts. 2501 Benvenue

Riviera Apts.
2501 Benvenue

Rosevia 1947-1953 Rose

Rosevia
1947-1953 Rose

I don’t know what “RRB” stands for.  I’d like to know.  Tell me if you know.

RRB Apts. 2322 9th

RRB Apts.
2322 9th

The Rubicon 2740 Blake

The Rubicon
2740 Blake

The Rubicon, you say?  Who can resist?  I can’t:

caesarcrossingrubicon

Back to R’s:

Rumi Apartments 2525 Stuart

Rumi Apartments
2525 Stuart

One suspects that the Rumi Apartments are named in honor of Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, a 13th century Persian Sufi mystic (hierarchy of adjectives at play!).  This is a nice image of Rumi:

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī

But I digress.  Back to apartments.

Sunny Gables  1631-1633 Walnut

Sunny Gables
1631-1633 Walnut

Treehaven 2523 Ridge

Treehaven
2523 Ridge

Treehaven 2523 Ridge

Vanguard Apartments 2573 Piedmont

Vanguard Apartments
2573 Piedmont

Not just one vanguard, but two:

images

Vanguard 2609 Ellsworth

Vanguard
2609 Ellsworth

Walnut 1440 Walnut

Walnut
1440 Walnut

The Walnut is paired with the Lavera, shown above.  The Lavera and the Walnut.  On Walnut Street.  La vera is the side.  The side / Walnut.

And to warm the heart of a son of Pennsylvania:

Wm. Penn Apts. 2172 Blake

Wm. Penn Apts.
2172 Blake

Wincrest Manor 1735 9th

Wincrest Manor
1735 9th

York Apt. 2514 College

York Apt.
2514 College

Rick might have been right, I know.  But I do love these names and signs.  My friend remembered how much he loved Raymond Chandler and these photos – the names really – got him buried in The Long Goodbye.  Knowing him as I know him, he’ll plow through every Chandler he can find.  I had to push him on the photos.  They are quirky enough for me and my friend:

IMG_3677

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you will find photos of the oddball, whimsical, eccentric, and the near-rhyme quirky material culture of Berkeley.
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