December 8, 2018 by tomdalzell

Laundromats of Berkeley – Suds, Bubbles, New Economy and ‘Lectric

I freely and happily concede that there is nothing unique or particularly Berkeleyesque about Berkeley’s laundromats.  They are, though, artifacts of a Berkeley that is slipping away, and for that reason I went out on a perfect gray, overcast, gloomy and drizzly day with John Storey and we made a photographic inventory of our laundromats. Laundromats are […]

December 1, 2018 by tomdalzell

Addison Antiques – Elegant Quirk For You – 2917 Telegraph

I have written about the Addison mother-daughter team and their antique sales in Berkeleyside, two articles about Eli Leon (his quilt and other collections), one about Ron Morgan’s Christmas ornaments, and one about an anonymous collector’s vintage toys.  Here is the blog for their studio sales. Julie Addison is the mother of the pair.  She has a […]

November 24, 2018 by tomdalzell

Field Trip: Junkee in Midtown Reno

For our holiday notional field trip we are going to visit Junkee at 960 South Virginia, the heart of Midtown Reno. David Fenimore, who is my Best Reno Friend, wasn’t in town to take us around, but he recommended Junkee. Good recommendation! Midtown Reno is a fusion of existing funky and emerging hip. If you remember my […]

November 3, 2018 by tomdalzell

Painted Ladies 2

I enjoyed my recent first post on Berkeley’s Painted Ladies, as did my vast (ha!) reading public. Refresher: “painted ladies” refers to multi-colored decoration that embellishes or enhances architectural details on Victorian (a loose term) houses. This week I again feature some great polychrome decoration, but I also include a number of Berkeley houses that lack elaborate […]

October 28, 2018 by tomdalzell

Counterculture Stores 1966 – Oh What a Trip it Could Be

The Big Changes started in Berkeley in 1966. Early in the year, a dispute arose on Telegraph when the owners of the Espresso Forum (located at Haste in the old Lucky supermarket that is now Amoeba Records) barred men with long hair or beards.  For three days, a few neatly dressed pickets with neatly lettered signs […]

October 21, 2018 by tomdalzell

Roger Carr – Burning Man 2018

  I left off in my first post about Roger Carr with Burning Man 2018. The theme this year is “I, Robot.” The Burning Man website explains: “This year we invite participants to use their native genius to create expressive robots of all kinds. We also welcome art that examines how it feels to live […]

October 13, 2018 by tomdalzell

Ian Wood’s Garage Door Quest – #2

SOCCER!     What a day it was! My final post of 2016 was about painted garage doors. Early in 2017, I posted photographs of painted garage doors taken by Ian Wood. Ian’s interest in Berkeley’s garage doors started in 2016 when he was walking his dog Milky. He wanted to turn the routine into less of a chore and […]

October 7, 2018 by tomdalzell

Our Painted Ladies

  Last week, I posted black and white photos of the last gasps of industrial Berkeley. This week, we’ll reverse course and admire colorfully painted houses, especially Victorians. This is not a scholarly examination of architecture.  The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association sponsored a tour of Berkeley Victorians in 2004.  Several years later, Daniella Thompson gave […]

September 29, 2018 by tomdalzell

Berkeley’s Dark Satanic Mills

The plan was simple – walk 2nd Street from Cedar north to Gilman, through the grit and chaos and decay of Berkeley’s dark satanic mills, humming to myself Blake’s Jersusalem.  The music was written by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916.  Blake wrote the words in 1804 or 1808. The poem was inspired by the apocryphal story that a young Jesus, […]