August 23, 2019 by tomdalzell

Alan Cohen & his collections – a second sale of quirk!

In late July, I posted about the first three days of the sale that Geneva and Julie Addison conducted of the estate of the late Alan Cohen, a Berkeley psychologist who for almost 50 years collected things. The second half of the estate sale is this weekend, Saturday the 24th through Monday the 26th, from […]

August 22, 2019 by tomdalzell

Alan Cohen – Filling in the Pieces

  The second estate sale of the late Alan Cohen’s quirky estate was a smash hit.  When it was done James Cross of the Telegraph Antique Center came and hauled away things that didn’t sell. I told Geneva Addison that her photo of James and his load made me think of the Joads in the […]

August 17, 2019 by tomdalzell

Masks

You see, what happened was this.  Emmanuel Montoya sent me this photo with a note – “Halloween in Corpus, 1960 – mama would dress us all up.  She’s my creative source.” It got me to thinking about masks. And then came my first post on Alan Cohen and his collections.  This mask was on the wall in […]

August 7, 2019 by tomdalzell

Mini-Post: Nightmare on Haskell Street

  In the fall of 2017, I published a post about the 1300 block of Haskell Street.  It was a typical modest block in southwest Berkeley – unpretentious  homes, a little bit of quirk, a few spectacular gardens, and a gray cat who briefly wanted to be my friend. At 1310 Haskell was A Craftsman bungalow […]

August 4, 2019 by tomdalzell

Mysterious Medallions

These days, just everybody – tout le monde – is talking about the mysterious medallions that are appearing in Berkeley’s sidewalks.  You read about them in Berkeleyside, you see them on Twitter, your hip friends are talking about them.  “Plaque” might be a better word for what these are, but medallion gives us alliteration with mysterious. Colleen Neff […]

July 23, 2019 by tomdalzell

Alan Cohen – Rhinos and oh so much more

I have rarely been overcome by a quirky scene. I confess that I was overcome when I first visited the home of the late Alan Cohen, a clinical psychotherapist who died in May, 2019. I rest my case. Cohen collected for decades, buying from flea markets and garage sales and antique stores and junk stores. […]

July 21, 2019 by tomdalzell

Ancient Berkeley & Wonders of the World

I have struggled with the central organizing theme of this post.  I started with the wonders of the world, in large part because it gave me an excuse to link to the song Venus in Blue Jeans with “They say there’re seven wonders in the world/ But what they say is out of date / There’s more […]

July 14, 2019 by tomdalzell

R. Crumb and Berkeley

  The other evening, I was talking with Doris Moskowtiz of Moe’s about Quirky Berkeley.  She reached for her phone and showed me photos of Robert Crumb’s Mr. Natuaral painted on a City trash can at Bancroft and Telegraph.  She told me of getting Crumb’s permission to use Mr. Natural. And with that – it […]

July 7, 2019 by tomdalzell

Jon Balderston’s Sketch Books

In the fall of 2016 I posted about Jon Balderston, whom I called “Quirky Berkelety Royalty.” In the fall of 2017, I posted about a visit to the Alameda Point Flea Market Maracia Donahue and Jon Balderston walked me around.  Those, my dear friend, are two absolute quirky powerhouses. Jon has been through the wringer with […]