Author Archive
December 6, 2014 by tomdalzell
Murals – Gone (or Gone – Murals)
From 1974 until 1977, this mural was on the long wall (25′ by 100′) at the southeast corner of Milvia and University, then a Dutchboy Paint store, now Au Coquelet. The design and execution were by Stefen. Gary Graham painted the Dutch Boy figure, a portrait of Steen. Stefen said: “I wished to assist in […]
December 6, 2014 by tomdalzell
Barrington Hall Murals – Screen Shots
Youtube give sue “The Walls of Barrington Hall,” a “film” by Clark Morris. It was made in 1988. The production values are crude. But – it gives an undeniable sense of the chaos that was Barrington. These are screen shots from the movie: My friend was fascinated with these photos. He went to his […]
December 5, 2014 by tomdalzell
Maidenform “I Dreamed” Bra Advertisements
What Gabby had sent my friend was an envelope filled with magazine advertisements from the 1950s and the 1960s, examples of Maidenform’s 21-year “I dreamed….” campaign. Goodness me – these are weird advertisements. They would seem to appeal to men more than women, no? We see underwear that we don’t usually see and from this […]
December 5, 2014 by tomdalzell
Art Frahm
The “I Dreamed” Maindenform advertisements relied on a formulation which in today’s sensibility would be seen as fetishistic – the normally unseen underwear now seen, suggesting the normally unseen body beneath the underwear. Art Frahm (1907-1981) did much the same thing in the 1950s. Frahm was a successful, conventional calendar and advertising artist. He was […]
December 3, 2014 by tomdalzell
Moon Motels
When I drove my friend to Albany to see the Hotsy Totsy’s neon sign at night, he suggested that we stop for “dinner and a brew.” In that order. Meaning not starting at Hotsy Totsy, where my friend may or may not have been welcome on account of some ugliness in the past. He likes […]
December 2, 2014 by tomdalzell
Bakersfield Neon
Gabby and Sandy and I lived in Bakersfield for three months in the late summer and early fall of 1973. We – the United Farm Workers – had just gone through a summer like no other summer. Many thousands of grape workers went on strike from Coachella north to Modesto as their employers signed contracts […]
December 2, 2014 by tomdalzell
Movie Theaters – Gone but Remembered
There was a time, not all that long ago, when Berkeley had many more movie theaters than we do today. There are many that closed so many years ago we don’t remember them, but – there are some that we remember, gone now. Just east of Act One and Act Two was King’s Baseball Cards, […]
December 1, 2014 by tomdalzell
The Rivoli – WOW!
How many times have I driven by, first not knowing but then knowing what was inside, and not stopped? In late November, 2014, I finally stopped and went inside. It. Blew. My. Mind. The former Rivoli Theatre, 1941 San Pablo, was built in 1924-1925. It seated 1,402. Big! It closed as a movie theater in […]
December 1, 2014 by tomdalzell
Bulwinkle at Malcolm X
In October, 1963, Malcolm X spoke at Cal. This was an important chapter in the history of speaker bans at Cal. But that is not what this post is about. This is nothing more and nothing less than 19 photos of steel sculptures that were a collaboration between Mark Bulwinkle and the students of […]
November 29, 2014 by tomdalzell