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October 12, 2013 by tomdalzell

Grids

1632 Francisco

1632 Francisco

I know that almost nobody thinks that grids are quirky.  Probably nobody at all.  Will you hear me out?  Will you keep an open mind?

When I was a boy, I loved the grids that I could make with Kenner’s Girder and Panel, a building set toy.

Unknown-1imagesUnknown

The little dovetail pieces of the orange horizontal girders tended to snap off when you locked them into the notches of the vertical girders, but you could play all day with this.  Making mid-century modern (who knew?) grids with glass curtain exteriors.  Seagram Building!  I am Mies Van Der Rohe!

Seagram

My thought as I observed and photographed and inventoried Berkeley grids was – train the eye, see things that you usually miss, and take photos that when presented as a whole will be a quirky quilt of Berkeley grids.

First, photos of big building grids –

2825 Stuart

2825 Stuart 

2650 Haste

2650 Haste

2650 Haste

2650 Haste

3000 Hearst

3000 Hearst

And then the not quite as big, but still griddy grids:

1509 Hearst

1509 Hearst

1726 Lincoln

1726 Lincoln

2113 Virginia

2113 Virginia

2459 Ashby

2459 Ashby

2533 Hilllegass

2533 Hilllegass

2150 Channing

2150 Channing

2330 Blake

2330 Blake

2412 Milvia

2412 Milvia

2627 California

2627 California

637 Cedar

637 Cedar

1613 7th

1613 7th

1738 7th

1738 7th

1836 Hearst

1836 Hearst

1951 Sacramento

1951 Sacramento

1300 Delaware

1300 Delaware

30 Domingo

30 Domingo

942 Page

942 Page

50 Arden

50 Arden

1147 Camelia

1147 Camelia

1601 Virginia

1601 Virginia

1772 Cedar

1772 Cedar

2212 Blake

2212 Blake

2525 Benvenue

2525 Benvenue

2735 Regent

2735 Regent

1231 Santa Fe

1231 Santa Fe

1798 University, on Grant

1798 University, on Grant

2028 Dwight

2028 Dwight

2409 5th

2409 5th

2428 McGee

2428 McGee

1612 Parker

1612 Parker

1730 Stuart

1730 Stuart

2314 Parker

2314 Parker

2614 Waring

2614 Waring

2416  Roosevelt

2416 Roosevelt

1710 Walnut

1710 Walnut

I have more grid photos – fence grids and grids-with-circles – but I think that I will wait until the demand rises for them.

As for these photos, well, in closing – how about those grids?  Aren’t they fun?  Aren’t they quirky?  Or not?

I have commissioned some sophisticated polling about the grids-as-quirky notion.  Pretty much this is what the polling told me:

Thumbs Down

Dang!

I stood up and made the speech of my lifetime.

Mr. Smith

I turned in desperation to my friend.  He might be the only one who will think these grids are quirky.  “These squares are far out,” he said.   I asked for further explanation.  He said:

IMG_3677

P.S.  My friend blurts out musical lyrics if they arguably fit the situation.  After looking at this page, he stroked his beard and said to me, “Dude, confusion has its cost.”  I asked what he was talking about.  “Girders and Panels. Grids.  Girder.  Grid.  Not the same word, bro!”  I know.  I made grids with the girders.  That’s all.  But I thanked him for his thought.  And was a little surprised that he even picked up the -ir- -ri- thing.  And then i threw a musical lyric of my own back at him – “Once in a while you get shown the light / in the strangest of places if you look at the right.”  He smiled.

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