October 27, 2020 by tomdalzell

Jane Fonda

Lincoln Cushing is the fountain of all wisdom when it comes to political posters. He recently posted about five posters related to Jane Fonda’s time in Berkeley. So – this is his fault. All his fault. Jane Fonda and her daughter Vanessa, child of director Roger Vadim, moved to Berkeley in 1971. Fonda married Vadim […]

October 19, 2020 by tomdalzell

Sam’s 58 McNevin Singing

These were tough times.  Sam was robbed twice in the 1960s, once in 1964 on the way back to the club from the bank, and in 1966 in the parking lot.  He was shot in the parking lot heist. When Michael McNevin heard that there were traces of the bar intact, he communicated a strong […]

September 20, 2020 by tomdalzell

The Signs of San Pablo Avenue – El Cerrito South

I have posted about the signs of San Pablo Avenue – signs in Berkeley and Albany and Emeryville and neon signs and a post about the bars on San Pablo in Berkeley. When I did my first post about San Pablo Avenue in 2014 (before Trump, before the pandemic, and before the fires), I wrote: […]

September 14, 2020 by tomdalzell

Fito – Ten Years Since his Transition

Newspapers reported that in the early morning  of September 12, 2010, Adolfo “Fito” Celedon Bravo died shortly after being shot on this spot at Emerson and Adeline during an armed robbery as he walked home with his fiancée Amber Daniela Nelson after a night of dancing at Ashkenaz on his birthday eve.  Nelson uses a different verb […]

September 9, 2020 by tomdalzell

The Home and Art of Peter Neufeld

This is about Peter Neufeld’s  cat, his house, and his art.  One could not make up a more daring, creative, against-the-current life than that which Neufeld has led.   This is Peter. He is a most young 80-something.  He has lived an extraordinary life, pure and true.  I asked him about his secret for longevity and […]

May 9, 2020 by tomdalzell

Susan Brooks …. again

Susan Brooks has her studio in the Sawtooth Building on Eighth Street between Dwight and Parker. It is also known as the Kawneer Building; it is a West Berkeley industrial building that is home to a variety of small buinesses – including artisans, craftspeople, tradespeople, engineers, consultants, designers, fine artists, small industries, performance groups, theathers […]

April 5, 2020 by tomdalzell

Who is that masked man?

He is roaming the streets of Berkeley. Our data points on him suggest that he has confined his roaming to North Berkeley. These two photos show what he is doing. What a rose that is in bloom on the trellis in the background of the lower photo, no? Rosa banksiae, common names Lady Banks’ rose, […]

March 30, 2020 by tomdalzell

The Enclave Apartments – Ken Sarachan’s “Moorish Tudor fever dream”

The corner for decades, the northeast corner of Telegraph and Haste was home to the Berkeley Inn, which I glorified in this post. It started life as an almost-elegant apartment house. It was advertised as having “100 rooms equipped in the most complete modern manner, beautifully furnished.” By the time fires ripped through it in […]

March 23, 2020 by tomdalzell

Our Dark, Satanic Mills, Tertiam Partem

These are times that try our souls. I am keeping up my Quirky Berkeley project in the belief that anything distracting or positive is more important and helpful now than ever. I was convinced of this when I got an email from Lenny Pitt. He sent a link to a 7-minute film he made using […]