Quirky Berkeley

The Quirky Material Culture of Berkeley

Quirky Berkeley
  • Walkers
  • Help us!
  • Links
  • Blogs/Albums
  • Contact us
  • Latest Posts
  • Quirky Berkeley in the Media
December 24, 2016 by tomdalzell

Bungalow Courts – Again! More! Encore!

 

 

pccalosangelesbungalowcourtmidwinter645-8892-a

I have previously posted on some of Berkeley’s bungalow courts.

I waxed eloquent on my fantasies of a simpler life.  These fantasies remain, and my fascination for bungalow courts remains.  As I walk (and, um, drive) Berkeley I spot more. Readers write and tell me about more.  I present you more, in the spirit that bungalow courts are undeniably incontrovertibly inexorably, and intrinsically quirky.

The 1100 block of Addison, between San Pablo and Byron, is rich – filthy rich – with bungalow courts.

1115 Addison

1115 Addison

1115 Addison

1115 Addison

1117 Addison

1117 Addison

1117 Addison

1117 Addison

1118 Addison

1118 Addison

1135 Addison

1135 Addison

1135 Addison

1135 Addison

1135 Addison

1135 Addison

From the backyard of San Pablo Avenue up to almost the hills, on Virginia between Euclid and Scenic is this gem.

2444 Virginia

2444 Virginia

2444 Virginia

2444 Virginia

2444 Virginia

2444 Virginia

2444 Virginia

2444 Virginia

Good one!

This next one, on 10th Street, is a bit severe, a bit stark.

1731 10th

1731 10th

Quirky Berkeley goes to Crockett, Calif. on November 2nd, 2016.

1731 10th

Maybe its the battleship gray paint.  Or the concrete.  Still, though, it rocks the bungalow vibe, no?  Just north of a feral cat colony of some renown.

Stil in the kinda-severe mode, there is this on Delaware:

1278 Delaware

1278 Delaware

A Quirky Berkeley reader spotted this next bungalow court on the way to dinner, they said, driving up Dwight between Fulton and Telegraph.

2226-2228 Dwight

2226-2228 Dwight

2226-2228 Dwight

2226-2228 Dwight

It is not a quiet and peaceful location, but there is a definite serenity otherwise lacking on the block.

Another reader spotted this one on the south side wandering home, they said, after an Ethiopian dinner.

2219 Blake

2219 Blake

2219 Blake

2219 Blake

Here’s a really big one:

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

California and Berkeley Way

It wraps around the corner of California Street and Berkeley Way.  The addresses are 1540-1544 Berkeley Way and 1924-1940 California.  Looking at the units from along the street leaves you without a great sense of this being a bungalow court.  When you peek into the courtyard though, you see the beauty.   The units aren’t detached, making it not technically a bungalow court.  But – close enough for me!

Photographing a tree house on Jefferson, John and I came across this lovely court on Jefferson:

2431-2435 Jefferson

2431-2435 Jefferson

2431-2435 Jefferson

2431-2435 Jefferson

2431-2435 Jefferson

2431-2435 Jefferson

And, a sweet bucolic one on Lincoln above Sacramento.

1707 Lincoln

1707 Lincoln

1707 Lincoln

1707 Lincoln

1707 Lincoln

1707 Lincoln

Just west of the North Berkeley BART station is this court:

1757-1775 Franklin

1757-1775 Franklin

1757-1775 Franklin

1757-1775 Franklin

The final two in this batch are special – they have names. And signs with the names on them.  How perfect???  A simpler life.  And a name of the court.  What more could a person want?

First, on Dwight:

1757 Dwight

1114-1116 Dwight

1114-1116 Dwight

1114-1116 Dwight

1114-1116 Dwight

1114-1116 Dwight

Sweet!  Love the brugmansia, aka Angel’s Trumpet.  Night-scented.  Good knowledge Tom! Knows his flowers! What say you about that?

A second named court:

2116 Oregon

2116 Oregon

What a sign!!!  What a perfect name!

2116 Oregon

2116 Oregon

2116 Oregon

2116 Oregon

In 2010, Emil Ems wrote this about Revalon Court: “Ever since our first stay in Berkeley, back in 1976/77, a permanent fixture in my Californian Universe has been Revalon Court, two bungalow-like structures with apartments for rent on Stuart Street, just east of Shattuck Avenue. The owners, Masami and Nobuko Fujimoto, had become good friends and I was staying there again in 2010, as well as this year. Interestingly, a small Japanese Community has established itself on this small stretch of Stuart Street just east of Shattuck, with extension towards Oregon Street on the south. There was, before the war, a much larger, concentrated and vivid Japan Town and Community in Oakland, but that enclave had been dispersed, due to the war-time internment of all citizens of Japanese descent. After the war, resettlement took place in smaller patches distributed all over the East Bay.”

There are more courtyards, I am sure.  More good ones.  I’ll keep my eyes open and if you know of one you think I should check out, write me.  And I’ll keep my simpler life fantasy going.

The courts here have strikingly different characters.  We may think of Pasadena when we think of bungalow court heaven, but let me suggest that we not ignore Fresno – check this out – 128 bungalow courts in Fresno and a good history of courtyard housing.  It is sometimes called middle housing.  I love it.  And if Fresno and Pasadena can document theirs, why can’t we Berkeley?  And I don’t mean this and me.

My friend was distracted as he started looking through the photos.  I asked what he was thinking about.  “Skitt’s Law.”  I had not heard of it.  “People who correct spelling or grammar online are likely to commit spelling or grammatical errors themselves in doing so”

We kicked the idea around a little.  I then asked him about the bungalow courts shown here.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., is seen on May 12th, 2016.

Posted in Uncategorized. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Barry Wagner
Field Trip: Clayton Bailey’s Museum in Crockett »

4 Responses to Bungalow Courts – Again! More! Encore!

  1. Chia says:
    December 26, 2016 at 12:50 am

    The Fresno link doesn’t work
    Hope you can fix it
    Thanks

    Reply
    • tomdalzell says:
      December 26, 2016 at 2:16 pm

      You’re right. I spent a while trying to get a good link to the report but haven’t succeeded. The City apparently disabled the link sometime in the last week. Still working on it. Tom

      Reply
  2. Jim Milstead says:
    January 6, 2017 at 7:37 am

    There is also a delightful little bungalow court on that abuts the Southeast corner of Oxford and Cedar streets that looks like it was probably built right after the 1923 fire.
    A friend of mine once lived in a cozy studio bungalow in that court.

    Reply
  3. Helen Hamilton Rivas says:
    December 23, 2017 at 6:06 am

    Our family lived at 1435 Walnut for eight years, till 1951. Houses look pretty much the same. Lots of kids on the block and more behind on Oxford. Businesses down on Shattuck stocked most of what we needed. we walked to Whittier and Live Oak Park and had great mass transit–I remember taking the F Train, then two buses to my Grandmother’s home near Park Blvd in Oakland for Sunday dinner. Now a resident of Birmingham, Alabama, I really miss that convenience. Here one in seven people has no car and transit runs from around 6 a.m. to 8-9 p.m. and no Sunday/holiday service.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Here you will find photos of the oddball, whimsical, eccentric, and the near-rhyme quirky material culture of Berkeley.
Read More

Subscribe

Categories

  • Animals
  • Architecture
  • Cars, Trains and Planes
  • Food
  • Gone
  • Graffiti
  • Ma
  • Mailboxes
  • Major Quirky
  • Miscellaneous
  • Murals
  • Painted
  • Peace
  • Signs
  • Walks

All content © 2023 by Quirky Berkeley. Base WordPress Theme by Graph Paper Press