Author Archive
June 24, 2014 by tomdalzell
Cabinets of Curiosities
I find cabinets of curiosities intrinsically fascinating. And – they serve as a metaphor for the Quirky Berkeley mission/quest. Open a drawer and see a wonder! The cabinets were originally encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined in Renaissance Europe. Today would categorize the objects included as belonging natural history, geology, […]
June 23, 2014 by tomdalzell
Major Quirky #23: The Art of Conny Bleul-Gohlke
You have seen it driving up Marin, just before Colusa, the cluster of folk art. Conny Bleul-Gohlke lives in the house and made this art. She is an autodidact, which I like more than the simpler and clearer “self-taught.” And she has done many other things very well. She and her husband and first […]
June 19, 2014 by tomdalzell
Dressed Dogs and Cats Trading Cards
I am aware that I might be creating an inaccurate impression of my friend Gabby. Two facets of Gabby appear on these pages – excerpts of his memoirs from his time with the United Farm Workers and his collections. The collections part is what concerns me. He is not as crazy as the collecting of […]
June 17, 2014 by tomdalzell
Flight
Dayton had the Wright Brothers, Seattle has Boeing (sort of), Houston has Mission Control, Florida has Cape Canaveral, and Roswell, New Mexico has whatever it is that Roswell has. In Berkeley, we have a lovely sampler of quirky material culture celebrating flight, be it airplane, rocket ship, or space ship. Truth be known, Berkeley did have […]
June 16, 2014 by tomdalzell
Flight Music
Gabby didn’t think that his collection of flight album covers was anything special. Why judge? Sure, his Christian album covers are spectacular. But this collection isn’t shabby. Not a bit. My friend had retrieved two slim stamp collections, his Sputnik stamps and his Amelia Earhart stamps. He was lost in them. I brought him back […]
June 16, 2014 by tomdalzell
Amelia Earhart Postage Stamps
A few years ago, my friend immersed himself into solving the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. The fact that many of her flights originated in Oakland caught his attention. Plus – he is always looking for mysteries to research and solve. Let me be clear – he intended to do this from the safety of his […]
June 16, 2014 by tomdalzell
Space Postage Stamps Race
My friend said, “Everybody talks about the space race.” “But nobody talks about the space postage stamps race. If you look at them side by side, it’s about crystal clear why we don’t talk about it. They kicked our ass is why. Here, check out an American attempt at cool: “Not terrible. Not bad at […]
June 15, 2014 by tomdalzell
Architecture – Just Not Right
When I began this quest, I believed that I would find a good number of geodesic domes. This is Berkeley after all. Was not Bucky Fuller one of our main guides? Were we not on the cutting edge of radical structures in the sixties? He was. We were. But I haven’t found the domes I thought […]
June 15, 2014 by tomdalzell
Dangerous Curves
I have mentioned that our friend Gabby is a collector. During his last years with the United Farm Workers, starting in say 1976, he started collecting postcards depicting farm workers at work. He was living in San Juan Bautista with Young Emily, and twice a year he’d drive to Burlingame for antique postcard shows. […]
June 9, 2014 by tomdalzell