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May 28, 2016 by tomdalzell

Lanesplitter Family Action Figures (Dolls Can Be Quirky AF)

 

Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016

My daughter Charlotte is a freshman at Berkeley High.  When the mood strikes her, she will pass on slang that she hears at school. If I should use that slang, however, it is a different story.  Not cool!

AF

Thus it was with “AF.”  She told me.  I use it once in a while, ironically.  She cringes. What the heck – it’s a good intensifier.

Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016

Let’s start at Lanesplitter Pizza, 2033 San Pablo, just south of University. I’ve been there a few times.  I like it.

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As is the case with any self-respecting pizza joint, Lanesplitter has dolls.  I really love the dolls.

Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016

Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016 Quirky Berkeley 04-07-2016

There is a one-page explanation of the dolls towards the back of the restaurant, signed by Soctt and Madeline, Vince and Erica, dated May 2007.

The owners were struck by the people they hired to work there.  “Soon we were imagining everybody at Lanesplitter as a doll, as ‘action figures’ with accessories and clothes and packing – the works.”  Priding themselves on being “the kind of people who can talk each other into doing just about anything,” they decided to actually make them.

The first dolls were in 1998.  They continued making them, “more cool people and more dolls,”  at least until 2007, “quirky, silly dolls to honor Lanesplitter.”

So there it is!  Dolls to honor individuality. Dolls to honor community. Dolls and the adjective “quirky.”  What more could a flaneur want?  Never mind the “rules and decisions about who gets a doll and when.”  They are cool.

Tangent: A little south of Berkeley – at 4801 Hollis in Emeryville – is Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe.  There are Barbie-like dolls in a case, along the western wall.

Quirky Berkeley 08-05-2016

 

Quirky Berkeley 08-05-2016 Quirky Berkeley 08-05-2016 Quirky Berkeley 08-05-2016

Cool, no?

Lanesplitter’s Barbies (or are they Barbie-like?) invite – no, they demand a visit with other dolls shown in past and future Quirky Berkeley posts.

Quirky Berkeley 05-12-16

This photo is from Richmond, not Berkeley, but you can see Berkeley from where the sign stands.

The point being – dolls can be quirky, very quirky, and – sorry Charlotte – quirky AF.

Dolls can stir strange and unsettling feelings, and not just because of dolls in horror movies. Dolls invoke the “uncanny valley” described in robotics by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970.  The uncanny valley is the notional home of the response of revulsion many of us experience when we see human-like features on something other than a human. The eyes!  While in that valley, I am told that Facebook uses the term “uncanny valley” when Facebook-produced content takes on a tone that is too “human.”

There is no better example of creepy dolls than The Island Of The Dolls (Isla de las Muñecas), located in the network of canals to the south of Mexico City, near Xochimilco is one of the creepiest tourist attraction in Mexico. Here, among the branches and dead trees hang hundreds of old, mutilated dolls.  Check out Amusing Planet’s 2011 piece and photos.

Enough words – BRING ON THE DOLLS!  I will  illustrate the Quirky AF thesis with a few Berkeley homes and shops.

Will Squier’s Berkeley apartment is Kitsch Ground Zero, including some dolls.  The dolls range from quirky to creepy, and then throw in his dismemberment and placement – Very Quirky.

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on March 26th, 2016

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016

Uncanny!

There is a spectacularly quirky house at 1720 Talbot.  I don’t know the story on it yet.

1720 Talbot-5

I may not know the story, but this collection of dolls/figures in the front yard may very well be my very favorite juxtaposition of icons in All Of Berkeley.

Jana Olson does wonderful things. She builds lamps and candlesticks that astound.  Her garden in the hills astounds. In that garden, sort of, is what she calls the Grotto of Santa Basura, relics she has found in the ravine behind her house.  Among the trash (basura) are a few dolls.

Quirky Berkeley 11-11-2015

Marcia Donahue’s daughter Sara Tool does cool things with dolls.  Quirky things in fact.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015" "Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

The bottom installation is called “Barbie Flash Mob.”  Quirky!

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

This doll supervises Donahue’s clay workshop.  Just like a doll to sit there on the shelf and second-guess things.

Michael Christian is an artist who does big things.  Really big.  In his studio, this scary doll:

1037 Murray

1037 Murray

Helen Holt runs Helly Well Lamp Shop on Dwight.  She builds lamps from bric-a-brac.  Her shop is filled with bric-a-brac, mostly porcelain.  There is the occasional doll, as in here:

Quirky_Berkeley_121714_0468-X3

Quirky Berkeley 04-11-2017

Quirky Berkeley 04-11-2017 Quirky Berkeley 04-11-2017

Quirky Berkeley 04-11-2017

And a photo bordering on a photo that would offend pious eyes:

L1360659

Photo: Colleen Neff

Howie Gordon has thousands of figures in his house, including dolls.  He likes to embellish them and pair them in unexpected ways – as in this little scene.

At his Vine Street house (the “Berkeley or Bust” UFO house, a future post), George McNeil has dolls from the uncanny valley through the house and garden.  Some are leftovers from daughter Lily, and some are picked up at the Alameda Point Antiques Faire (flea market).

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neef

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neef

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neef

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neef

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

Doll at 2155 Vine. Photo: Colleen Neff

A final doll stop in Berkeley – ttepping inside the California Theater on Kittredge:

2113 Kittredge

2113 Kittredge

Upstairs there is a quirkily dressed display case with movie reels and film, a couple of puppets, and a creepy doll.  Creepy AF!

Tyler Hoare dolls

 

Berkeley artist Tyler Hoare made this piece 50 years ago and gave it myy college English professor Robert Regan, who was working on his doctorate at Cal in the late 1960s.

Heading out of town, only to prove the point:

Quirky Berkeley-Glen Ellen

Susan Alexander’s Glen Ellen house is filled with folk art.  And a few dolls.  Happy, quirky dolls with many friends.

The final doll photos edge from quirky to, well, maybe creepy.  Let’s get out my friend’s fbutcher cover of “Yesterday and Today” for inspiration.  It is a first-state version.  He is proud of it.

Yesterday_WEB_Today_ThirdState_HA_89275

My friend being my friend, a couple other items were slipped in on his shelf with the butcher cover:

June 11, 1966

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Oh dear.  We’ve taken a turn to the creepy, haven’t we?

Inspired?  Ready?

On a field trip to Eureka I visited Duane Flatmo’s kinetic sculpture workshop (future post).  On a shelf, watching over all:

Quirky Eureka 04-02-2016

The second stop in Eureka was in Arcata.  Ha!  The home of Laurel Skye (future post) has many things, including a few dolls:

Quirky Eureka 04-02-2016

Creepy, no?  Uncanny valley and all that.  Let’s turn the amp up to 11:

Quirky Eureka 04-02-2016

The late Brian Sproul created this most dark piece.  Sproul was all about reality distortion.

The Thunder Mountain Monument is 100+ miles east of Reno, in Imlay.

Quirky Nevada-Thunder Mountain Monument

The Thunder Mountain Monument in Imlay, NV is seen on July 22nd, 2016.

This doll in a tree at Thunder Mountain Monument is fairly tame compared to the rest of what is there.  That gives you an idea of how quirky the rest is.

There were once many more dolls.

unnamed

This photo is from Thunder Mountain’s website.  Quirky!  Scary!

These next photos are from a field trip to Sebastapol with Susan Alexander. What dolls have we here?

Quirky visits Sebastopol

Quirky visits Sebastopol

Quirky visits Sebastopol

Quirky visits SebastopolFeeling uncanny yet?  Art Moura (future post – come back on Memorial Day) makes fetish dolls and has fun with plastic dolls.

Before leaving, a mention of Altered Barbie.  San Francisco has seen Altered Barbie shows since 2003. They tell us: “The Altered Barbie Exhibition is a creative reuse art show where people transform these icons into not-so-everyday ART reflecting our current society.”

2014_banner_final2

The Altered Barbie tableaux show us a seldom-seen side of Barbie (Barbara Millicent Roberts) and Ken (Ken Carson) and their friends.

SFGate 2008

This is kind of the tame end.  Huge fun, but definitely NSFW.

Screen Shot 2016-05-30 at 9.59.07 AM

Tamer and consistently amusing is Barbie Savior on Instagram.

I took the photos to my friend.  I was careful.  He is a little sensitive about doll things.  A Very Good Friend of Quirky Berkeley referred to him as a “creepy little hippie doll” before she met him. He has forgiven her, but, still, the whole doll thing is thin ice for him.

He was in good spirits and not defensive.  His verdict?

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

 

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