Author Archive
September 15, 2017 by tomdalzell
Ginsberg’s Milvia Street Cottage
Allen Ginsberg lived in Berkeley from September 1955 until August 1956. I have written about his time here, but until Labor Day weekend I had not seen photographs of the cottage he rented behind 1624 Milvia. I now have five photos of the cottage, thanks to Dennis Starleaf, who rented the cottage a few years after Ginsberg. […]
September 9, 2017 by tomdalzell
Liane Chu – Five Amazing Years in Berkeley
This story is about Liane Chu. Chu is on the right in this photo, Wendy Schelisinger on the left. Nacio Jan Brown made the photo early on the first work day at People’s Park in 1969. Between 1964 and 1972, Chu: 1) Matriculated at Cal and was arrested for trespass in Sproul Hall during the […]
September 4, 2017 by tomdalzell
Field Trip – Generator in Reno
Here we are – Labor Day itself, day three of the three-day holiday weekend and post three of a three-post field trip weekend. It’s been hot in Berkeley. Playa hot. Three days, three posts. Work takes me to Reno a few times a year. When there in 2016, I took a drive east to Imlay […]
September 3, 2017 by tomdalzell
Field Trip – NIMBY in summer
Continuing with a Labor Day Weekend Notional Field Trip Extravaganza, it’s back to NIMBY. Yesterday, I published a post about a winter visit to NIMBY in East Oakland. Although NIMBY has got it going on every moment of the year, NIMBY king Michael Snook suggested that we come back closer to Burning Man We went back in August. […]
September 2, 2017 by tomdalzell
Field Trip – NIMBY in Winter
In previous posts, I have mentioned Burning Man. In my post on the field trip to visit Duane Flatmo in Eureka I showed photos of his flame-throwing pulpo mecanico, a Burning Man sensation for several years. In my post on Murray Street, I touched on Burning Man via Jim Mason’s Shipyard (a Burning Man maker’s space), and Burning Man […]
August 19, 2017 by tomdalzell
Bob Fischer’s Inspirational Hodgepodge of Extraordinary Things
When photographer/painter/collector/world traveler/event-stager Bob Fischer and his husband Ed Proffitt decided to move north from Palm Springs, Fischer told his realtor that he would only consider houses in Berkeley. Oakland – too dangerous, too many drive-by shootings. So Berkeley it had to be. That was in 2009. Proffitt died in 2012. Fischer soldiers on making photographs […]
August 12, 2017 by tomdalzell
Print Mint
When Don and Alice Schenker opened the Print Mint inside Moe’s Books on Telegraph in 1965, they weren’t the best at what they were doing. They were the only ones doing what they were doing. Along with espresso or Galoises or out-of-town newspapers or used books and records or croissants, you could now buy posters […]
August 12, 2017 by tomdalzell
Alice and Don drive to Mexico 1957 – Alice’s Account
Some years ago, Alice Schenker wrote a six-page account of the trip that she and Don took from New York to Mexico and San Francisco in a 1941 Buick in 1957. Kerouac and Cassady and Ginsberg had all driven to and lived in Mexico. Kerouac writes beautifully about Mexico in On the Road, but the Schenkers would […]
August 5, 2017 by tomdalzell
The Second Surprise on Vassar – McCulloch Quirk
This is how what happened happened. I originally walked Vassar Avenue in May, 2013. I was not optimistic. The quirk factor was Very Low. All that I had found as I approached the Kensington town line was the whale weathervane shown above. I took a scouting photo with my phone and kept walking, enjoying the day but […]
July 29, 2017 by tomdalzell