It is a fair question. What have I done for you lately? From most recent posts backwards, here are the latest posts:
2023
2020
Adding to Ken Stein’s super Quirky Berkeley resume are a Statue of Liberty menorah and Donato Creti lamps. Beautiful! Quirky!
Mark Bulwinkle, ground zero of Quirky Berkeley, is slowly moving his work to Joshua Tree. Here – a visit to the desert and his steel.
Tyler Hoare: Missing and Searching Quirk
Tyler Hoare, maker of Snoopy and Red Barons for decades, is looking for a missing submarine and a missing UFO. He is also looking for homes for Snoopy/Red Baron #36 and #37.
2019
For the 5th time I highlight the waning year’s posts – standard stuff, black and white excursions, trips down memory lane, and a mention of The Battle for People’s Park.
A companion post to last week’s on unthemed collections – here collections found on Quirky Berkeley travels of pigs, elephants, doxies, rhinos, rock concert leaflets, things Asian, things African, and more.
As therapy for my desire to acquire, I compile photos of unthemed collections I have encountered – those of Wavy Gravy and eight others.
Thanksgiving Post: Me and Arlo
For our notional holiday travel, we will time-travel back to 1967 and 1969 and hear about my three close encounters with Arlo Guthrie. Prepare to cringe a little along with me.
Will Squier’s Strange Things Again
A third with Squier – a new kitten, new work, and new strange things and assemblages of strange things in his home, emphasis on kitsch. Pure Quirky Berkeley.
For 50 years – I repeat, 50 years – Al Geyer has run Annapurna on Telegraph. It’s part head shop, part import emphasis on Nepal. He is a saint, angel, martyr and holy man. The store is quirky bliss.
To borrow from the words of a spiritual, in quirk there is no east or west, no rich or poor. It’s everywhere – here in the flats, home of our vanishing economic diversity.
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Five new murals – trippy, trompe-l’œil, graffiti-style and historical/glorification of Berkeley values. I love them all. They come, they go. These have come.
The Material Culture of Berkeley’s Mexican Restaurants
Kitsch. Historic photos. Folk art. Aztec and Mayan images. Bright colored tiles to die for. This is the material culture from five Berkeley Mexican restaurants. Added bonus – intermittent sound track.
Alice Schenker dug up more material from the Print Mint circa late 1960s when she had her late husband Don rocked Berkeley with posters, comics, and framing.
The fence that Doug Heine made for Rob Garross
Doug Heine made this great and quirky silhouette fence for his friend Rob Garross – both Quirky Berkeley royalty. Plus updates on Doug’s art.
We got out the black and white camera for a tour of Berkeley gas stations, old and former. Example – this almost-Googie Coast Gas station in the shadow of the Claremont. Going, going, gone.
Country Cheese – 50 years on San Pablo, Gone
After 50 years, Country Cheese on San Pablo closed in August. It was a glorious combination of cheese, coffee, tea, sandwiches, and kitsch. It is missed.
Mini Post – El Dumpo
Old Weird Berkeley at its best. A dining establishment of dignity and refinement, serving only the finest of foods to discriminating patrons. Great visuals
I anticipate some debate here, but I find private mail box centers to be quirky. I can’t put my finger on why – but I do. Here are five – two have great exteriors, others have busy signage. I declare: quirky.
Alan Cohen – Filling in the Pieces
In my first post about Alan Cohen, King of the Quirky Collectors, I included what I knew about his life. More pieces have fallen into place, and here I add to portrait of his life and family.
If I were giving out frequent flyer miles for appearances in this blog, Jon Balderston would be happily flying free. He has a show of his paintings in Alameda and Quirky Berkeley says – go check it out.
Labor Day Field Trip – San Juan Bautista
For Labor Day we visit Vicente A. “Bobo” Banuela Jr. and his astonishing collection of electric line equipment and models. Decades of a passionate pursuit by a passionate man.
The Signs of San Pablo Avenue – Emeryville
For my fifth post about San Pablo Avenue, I present photographs of the signs of San Pablo Avenue in Emeryville, part of a joinery from end to end of our funky Boulevard.
A few weeks ago I took you to the late Alan Cohen’s house to see what 50 years of collecting quirk looks like. Here – a preview of the quirk estate sale this weekend.
As the Fixx sang to us in 1983, one thing led to another. I have assembled in one place many photos of masks that I have come across in my Quirky Berkeley travels.
Montoya has been ours for 23 years, but in a sense he is of California. of Aztlán – an artist grounded in Chicano and Apache cultural traditions that have informed his art,
Mini-Post: Nightmare on Haskell Street
Part rant, part lament – a look at what replaced an undistinguished but affordable Craftsman bungalow on a perfect southwest Berkeley block. Three units well north of a million bucks each. OUCH
Jim Milstead commented on the Province of Cats medallion, going to Kipling’s “The Cat That Walked Itself.” I did a P.S. on that beautiful comment. Good add Jim!
These days, just everybody – tout le monde – is talking about the mysterious medallions that are appearing in Berkeley’s sidewalks – spoof historical markers. Send me more!
Alan Cohen – Rhinos and Oh So Much More
Alan Cohen collected for five decades – record albums, rhinoceros figures and prints, pop culture objects and more and more. He died in May – so, a look at his house before the first estate sale.
The loose thread that connects this post is the depiction (by image or name) of something ancient, which includes for the purposes of this post up to the 19th century, such as this Nike of Samothrace by Mark Olivier.
Underground comix deity R. Crumb is not ours, but he has had connections with Berkeley for 50 years. Here he smooches with Janis Joplin at a Berkeley gallery opening.
A second look at a Quirky Berkeley artist’s sketchbooks, this time Jon Balderston and his fascination with a new flat man character. Plus a look at new objects in his hodge podge lodge and home.
We used this Alan Copeland photo of a mud puddle in what was to become People’s Park. In this mini post, I introduce you to the boys in the photo. Big coincidence!
Ira Marlowe has a performance space in his home. It is filled with monkey art and is called the Monkey House. A Quirky Ten.
Big Bill Miller and the Berkeley Provos
The Berkeley Provo Movement was small, short-lived, and important completely disproportionately to its size or lifespan. Its leader, Big Bill Miller, was a figure in countercultural Berkeley for 5 years and then disappeared.
A trial run for a new feature – a simple, mid-week mini-post featuring one or two photos. Here it is a handbill for Liane Chu’s Red Square dress shop of the late 1960s.
A third post about Tyler Hoare, telling the story of missing Snoopy submarine, a missing Red Baron triplane, and a missing UFO.
Back to Old School Quirky Berkeley – the third and not final installment in photographs of houses with polychrome decoration that embellishes or enhances architectural details.
Ian Wood (king of garage door photos) took me to the home to Bruce and Carol Fedlman. They have a backyard elephant mural and hundreds of elephant figures inside. Wow!
Holiday Field Trip: Dorothy Herger in Vallejo
QB Superstar Doug Heine took me to Vallejo for our Memorial Day field trip to visit his high school art teacher, Dorothy Herger and see her world of art made, bought, given, and collected.
Last year I took you to the studio of Susan Brooks with her graphic work, jewelry and objects of mirth and desire. Today – her sketchbooks, a portal into her creative process.
My standards have changed since I published a post about big birds in October 2013. In this post I I omit birds that have gone away. I include birds that have newly arrived on our scene. And I freshen up some photos
A history lesson on the Inter-County Kennedy Tunnel, and then the world’s longest digression on the Suicide Club, Cacophony Society, and Carnival Cosmology.
A supplement to my original elephants post, here we have elephants in bas relief, porches, smoke shops, lighting shops, yards, collections, and pottery shops. No joke!
Linda Gallaher Brown and Steve Napoli have given passersby Opehlia and Drac for about ten years. Sometimes a cat is curled up on one of laps. Inside the house – quirk and beautiful things. A perfect 10.
Back by popular demand – more photos of objects that are no longer commonly used or in some cases even understood. From police call boxes to military surplus to corner stores – and more.
Eugene Tssui and the Flintstone Houae
A rule-breaking visit to Hillsborough to see what is new with the “Flintstone House.” Son of Berkeley Eugene Tssui has been hired to do work on a quirkier-by-the-day house in Hillsborough.
Reid’s Music – Where Gospel is King
Reid’s has given Berkeley joyful noise for 75 years, but October will be the end. Its success reflects a good, old Berkeley. Its closing reflects another victory for gentrification. Plus – a brief farewell to Mac McIlroy.
Today – March 31 – would have been the 92nd birthday of Cesar Chavez. On a work trip in late March, John Storey and I spent a few hours in Delano, which was for a few years the home of the United Farm Workers.
Once again John Storey got out his black and white camera and we visited six funky bars on San Pablo Avenue, bridging Berkeley, Albany,, and El Cerrito. Plus two that are gone.
This post is built upon a brilliant concept – depictions of Jeeps in Berkeley. There is chaff with the wheat, I know, in the end the post promises more than it delivers, which is why it asks for YOUR help.
Scott Page and his 3-D Scan Quirk
A visit with Scott Page and his three-D scans of large objects including the air raid siren at Indian Rock. Plus quirky things in his home.
Three-dimensional and two-dimensional images of elephants in Berkeley. Plus an explanation of why I don’t use the term pachyderm.
Another post of black and white photos – Berkeley’s liquor stores, from the bland to the hopelessly romantic funky cool. Plus a little rant on what is good for the oppressor.
Field Trip: Dragon House in Sacramento
For President’s Day, a notional trip to the Curtis Park neighborhood of Sacramento and the Dragon House – spectacular tile work and high-production-value small worlds.
Tyler Hoare Show at Compound Gallery
Tyler Hoare, most widely known for his Snoopy and Red Baron sculptures in the Bay, has a show at the Compound Gallery in Oakland, a gallery and workshop where creativity and quirk reign. GO SEE IT.
Harold Adler: Cultural Polymath
We’ve seen his Art House – now a bit about his life. Musician, photographer, producer of benefits, film work, talent agency, light show artist, brushes with fame – Carol Doda, Janis Joplin, and others.
The journey of Tom Dunphy, from Maryknoll seminarian to peace activist to one-man agitprop theater as General Wastemoreland, to a quiet later life doing good work. A long strange trip.
A mash-up of old technology, ghost signs, places known by their old names – objects or names that have no real place today but remain. A great mind game – send me any you can think of that I missed please.
Dark Satanic Mills – 2nd Verse
A return visit to the dying embers of industrial Berkeley, finishing our tour of Second Street north of University. More stunning John Storey black and white photos of a vanishing Berkeley.
Finishing up my 50-years-after-1968 business here with ads by counterculture stores in the 1968 Barb. Never mind that the funeral of the hippie was in late ’67, we still had it going on.
The 593rd Quirky Berkeley post! Old school plus the new tendency – a little more history of unconventional Berkeley.
2018
For the last post of 2018, a look at the events of 1968 in Berkeley as reported by the Berkeley Barb The forces of chaos and anarchy were loosed. Hope and rage and fate coexisted.
The Quirky Berkeley year is winding down. Here for your admiration and – I hope – emulation – is another batch of quirky bathrooms. Be inspired! What’s meant to be will always find a way.
Dorrit Geshuri – Midcentury Mod, Klezmer Cowgirl
She has done many things in many places. Her studio apartment rocks with color and 1950s stuff and accordions and cowgirls. A quirky ten.
The names, the signage, the looks, the room full of strangers washing clothes and the smells and noises. Another black and white photo essay on a quirky institution – the laundromat.
Geneva Addison’s store is a one-stop-shop for elegant quirk. There is nothing in the store that I wouldn’t like. The store is by me all that a quirky antique store can be.
For our notional Thanksgiving field trip, we visit Junkee in Midtown Reno. Antique clothing, kitschy antiques, and handmade crafts, all in a super heavy dose of quirk.
The Art House doesn’t just rock a Sixties vibe – it is a Sixties vibe. Gallery, cultural center, the living room of the Sixties, Harold Adler’s loving embrace of the 1960s.
We have no giant dinosaurs in Berkeley, but we have a respectable dose of medium and small dinosaurs.
A little respite from the midterm madness – a look at more of Berkeley’s Victorians, many with multi-colored paint schemes that embellish or enhance architectural details.
A more or less systematic look at Berkeley counterculture stores from 1966. Plus not one but two bonus sections – my world in 1966 and rhetoric/action parallels with today. Oh what a trip it could be!
Roger Carr’s Tubas at Burning Man
Recently I posted about Roger Carr, a Very Serious physicist who these days is having fun making things. Here we check out Roger’s Burning Man project, a robotic tuba orchestra.
Almost two years after I first posted photos that Ian Wood took of garage doors, I am back for seconds. He is walking and looking and finding and sharing his big love for quirk.
From last week’s black and white photos of our dark satanic mills to this weeks very colorful photos of polychrome decoration that embellishes or enhances architectural details.
Black and white photographs from a stroll on Second Street between Cedar and Gilman – the vanishing and decaying factories, forges, and foundries with thoughts on the meaning of their loss to Berkeley.
1613 Derby – Lovely and Simple Quirk
This is old-school Quirky Berkeley – a few photos and no background on the people behind the quirk. I try to make it a virtue, but confess that I have erred and strayed. Forget the no background – this is great quirk.
Michael Delacour – his life before the park
Delacour has been the face of People’s Park since 1969. Here – the 31 years of his life before People’s Park and a little family park-building history.
An unapologetic collection of ads and photos of some of Berkeley’s businesses of the 1960s and early 1970s that arose from or catered to the counterculture. Trippy!
Field Trip: Plastic World in Santa Cruz
An undersea environment created with plastic reclaimed from the ocean and beaches. Aerialists. Teaching the dangers of plastics in the ocean. Mark your calendar – October 5 in Santa Cruz.
Arnold describes himself as an artist by avocation. He is self-taught. He hasn’t sold or shown a piece. But he makes masks like nobody’s business and an occasional Mobius Strip, Cat Nemesis, or bust.
As part of an ongoing compilation of quirky homes and gardens, I present the quirkiest kitchens I have found in Berkeley and on field trips. I can’t resist a reduplication and so have gone with “bitchen” instead of “quirky.”
Barbara Garson’s Berkeley Years
Barbara Garson came to Berkeley from New York in 1962. Seven years later she left with fame in her pocket as a result of the success of her satirical play MacBird. This is the story of her seven years with us.
Roger Carr – Having Fun Making Things
After a career at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, a division of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Roger Carr started making things for the sake of making things – and having fun.
Playland Not at the Beach – GO SOON!
It’s at 10979 San Pablo in El Cerrito. It is magic. Pure magic. All things Playland, a miniature circus, vintage pinball machines to die for. It closes Labor Day, for good. The end of magic. GO SOON!
Bulwinkle – Making Big Art Look Easy
Three new works by Bulwinkle – a privacy door in Carmel, a huge gate with Bay Bridge steel in Joshua Tree, and Bulwinkle Dreams Oakland, a big masterpiece of a stand-out painting.
Metro Lighting and So Very Much More
This started as an innocent look at Metro Lighting on San Pablo. It became so much more – a story of a young, just-married couple from Ohio coming to Berkeley to live the life that they were meant to live. Lucky us.
Liz Schultz and her daughter have created this fairy garden in front of their Parker Street home. There are fairies and gnomes and mermaids and a lizard of unknown origin. Enchanted!
A compilation inspired by this photo and the suggestion of a reader. Body parts and mannequins from Berkeley and our holiday notional field trips. Ending with a popular culture quiz
Avenue of Giants – Bell Plastics, Hayward
Our 4th of July notional holiday field trip is to Bell Plastics in Hayward, where owner Bruce Kennedy has collected and restored several dozen fiberglass advertising giants. Ut vides credere. Do you believe in giants?
Clap in You Believe in Fairies – Return to Amador
More, lots more, from Amador Avenue with its front yard small world. Here – a club house and pirate cove and Fairyland and Fairy Bakery and miniature laboratory and Little Dog and the Urban Scouts.
The Best Signs on San Pablo Ave., Albany
I’ve expressed my love of San Pablo Avenue. I love it so much that I am willing to break QB rules and wander San Pablo Avenue in Albany photographing signs. I do not regret it.
Claire Ittner Writes about Sudhu Tewari
A guest post! About a Very Far Out front lawn on Mabel Street, featuring sound sculpture by tinkerer and gadgeteer Sudhu Tewari. Quirky Berkeley has eyes on the street!
Odds and ends, bits and pieces, remnants and scraps. The only unifying principle here is – Quirky Berkeley. One-offs and updates that have come my way. They are a variety pack of Quirky Berkeley. They made me happy.
Quirky Berkeley has a NEW HERO. Muralist, culture worker, community organizer, art warrior Angel Jesus Perez. A bright light working in the Adeline Corridor, round Zero of Berkeley gentrification.
Memorial Day – Time Travel to 1969
For our holiday field trip today, Memorial Day, we will travel time, not space. We will visit Berkeley on Memorial Day 1969, when 30,000 people marched in support of People’s Park and against state violence.
For its last decades, Sam’s 58 Club on Heinz evolved into a blue-collar, working class bar with a vibrant culture. Sam is shown here standing between George and Bruno, the bartenders known as “The Bookends.”
Sam’s 58 Club – The Black and White Years
Trusting a crazy idea took Quirky Berkeley to Sam’s 58 Club at 1035 Heinz. It’s been long closed, but the past permeates. This is Part One of two or three -unknown now – about Sam and Sam’s.
Wavy Gravy – Some of his Stuff
Wavy Gravy is not all about stuff, but he is not a person without stuff. In this third in my Wavy Gravy series I show you some of his stuff, mostly gloriously in his work room / prayer room. It is cool stuff.
Part 2 of 3 or 4 (TBD) posts on Wavy Gravy, Clown Prince of Berkeley, Hippy Icon, Flower Geezer & Temple of Accumulated Error. Here – highlights of Wavy’s years in Berkeley, visits and then, since 1975, residing.
Robert Frost wrote that nothing gold can stay. Virginia Bakery was gold. It transcended being a bakery. It was here a long time, but it was gold and so can’t stay. It closes today after years. Goodbye Erdmans. Thanks.
Pal Joey – Sinatra in Berkeley!
Pal Joey (Sinatra) is given a one-way ticket out of Gold City, which gives us two technicolor views of Berkeley in the 1950s. Plus Oakland. And San Francisco. And a reflection on old weird glory.
Dozens of most quirky murals painted by students of the proudly alternative Maybeck High School from the former Trinity Church campus and the current St. John’s Campus. High school quirk!
Wavy Gravy: The Road to Berkeley
This is the first of three pieces about Wavy Gravy, the king of our dear old quirky Berkeley. We follow the man we know as Wavy from the Gas Light in New York across the country a few times, to Europe, and then the overland trail to India.
Folk art and tiki and turtles fill the corner front yard at Ashbury and B. This is a reminder that quirk has no borders. Next week is back to Berkeley, but this week a peek at Albany.
1624 Virginia: Multi-facted Quirk
On a quiet and gentle block – BAM – this. intricate glorious path and a painted sun to die for and kids art and – inexplicable figures on either side of the driveway. This is Berkeley.
Time Travel/ Time Capsule Bulletin Board
A friend of Quirky Berkeley loosened flyer after flyer from a bulletin board, giving a glimpse of the culture of Berkeley in the 1980s and 1990s. It was a crazy idea and took lots of work. And boy did it pay off!
The more I repeat those three words the happier I am with my naming. One doesn’t think of steps and risers as potential canvases for quirk. One is wrong. They are.
It’s been a while since I posted about a small world. Theresa Lipton’s front yard on Ada reminds just how clever and fun these micro-universes are. And bonus – nearby zebra action.
Frank Bardacke – He Stood Tall in Berkeley
Frank Bardacke was in Berkeley from 1961 until 1970, at Cal and in the streets. There wasn’t much in Berkeley in the 1960s that he wasn’t part of. His story reminds us of an older, prouder, principled Berkeley.
Allen Sawyer – So Clever! Such collections!
Our notional holiday field trip to see Allen Sawyer’s collections – Disney, plaster fish, mermen, paint-by-number swans, male ballet dancers, gay and queer book titles and oh so much more.
A look around town at murals that are new since we last looked. Spoiler alert: The murals by the Youth Spirit Artworks in the Alcatraz Alley Mural Park take best of quirky show.
Susan Brooks – A Magic Little World of Quirk
Susan Brooks in her studio in the Sawtooth Building. It is must-go. She paints, makes jewelry, carves small clay figurines, and collects quirky things. She lives a life of quirk and art. Must go!
The Inspired Madness of a Plaster Palace
An extraordinarily whimsical house in the hills with ornate plaster work and carved doors and skylights and columns, with a history of artistic and political nonconformity to match.
Quirky Business: Berkeley Typewriter
Another outstanding, upstanding, longstanding Berkeley business – Berkeley Typewriter on University, owned by Joe Banuelos whose life has been the repair, restoring, and selling of typewriters.
Another stroll through Ken Stein’s collection of clippings from Grass Roots, these from the 1980s. There’s a touch of plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose here, and then some how far have we fallen?
Holiday Field Trip: The Art of John Abduljaami
For Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we find the wood carvings of the late John Abduljaami, focal point being an eco-industrial park in West Oakland.
2819 Prince Street – Second Act Quirk
In 2016, a family had to move out of their rented home on Russell Street, dismantling as they left a great quirky curb strip and front yard. They moved to Prince Street and have made great new quirk.
I have posted on quirky doors, garage doors, outbuildings, gardens, and bathrooms. Today – quirky beds. This post breaks almost every Quirky Berkeley rule. I will not hide behind rules. I will show you the beds.
The greatest hits of ’17, a year in which in addition to traditional quirky material culture, I started looking at old businesses, our cultural and political elders, and the de-beautification of Berkeley.
2017
The Safety Pin at 812 Page Street
For the last post of 2017, we visit the development across the street from Doug Heine’s studio on Page Street to see the safety pin that Heine was commissioned to make, a reminder to protect the vulnerable in our midst.
Holiday Field Trip – Dave Seabury in East Berkeley
Continuing with our All-Seabury holiday weekend, a field trip to Orinda and the home of Dave Seabury and his life of music, art, found treasures, and 4 cats, 3 of whom are shown here.
John Seabury – Son of Berkeley -Quirky to the Core
Born and raised in Berkeley, Seabury has lived a life of music and art. From the start, and going strong.
In 1916, neighbors with help from the City built Codornices Park and at the top of the hill behind the slide a clubhouse for the Codornices Club. Maybeck played some role in the building, which was demolished in 1960.
The Glory that was 7 Virginia Gardens
I never learned the story behind the great excess of quirk in front of 7 Virginia Gardens. I tried but failed. And then it went away this year. Sold. Dismantled. Presented here are photos from its glory days.
A charming, affordable block just east of San Pablo. But – a proposal to destroy a charming little bungalow court and go high-price ‘contemporary infill village’ butt-ugly imitation-Emeryville-or-is-it-Pleasanton? Really?
Ralph Shaffer – The Start of Change at Cal
In 1957, Ralph Shaffer introduced a resolution banning racial discrimination in fraternities to ASUC. It did not pass. But then came TASC,and then came SLATE, the HUAC demonstrations, the FSM. Etc. Starting here.
Field Trip – Alameda Point Antique Faire
It’s Thanksgiving, and this holiday notional field trip is to the-once-a-month faire at Alameda Point. Marcia Donahue and Jon Balderston were my guides. Lucky! An incredible experience.
I continue my embrace of Kitsch with a look at the über kitsch in the front yard at 1106 Colusa. What a manifestations of our creativity and individuality that function as gifts to the street!
Another old business – Chris and Gerald Seegmiller, sons of Berkeley and their store. It was Sam the Vacuum Man, then Berkeley Hardware Vacuum, and since the early 1980s the Seegmillers. 10 out of 10.
The Antique Center on Telegraph
Another in a series of occasional suggested spots for your acquisition of quirky material culture, the Antique Center at 6519 Telegraph. At least 60 years in business, son and mother, a cat that bites, and tons of quirk.
Happy Halloween – From OAKLAND
This is a two-fer, two rules broken. My rules exclude seasonal – here I present seasonal. My rules require Berkeley – here I present Oakland. Break the rules Tom!
Between 1950 and 1970, one block on Oregon Street was home to Chiura Obata, Pauline Kael, and Max Scherr, three striking examples of the creativity and values that define Berkeley.
Berkeley (Ellis) Stamp Company
The third chapter in my exploration of old Berkeley businesses – the fourth generation running a small Berkeley business, an element of what makes Berkeley Berkeley.
For years I have avoided kitsch in Berkeley’s yards. Reverse course! I embrace it. Here I present kitsch from half a dozen yards, plus an End War sculpture, plus a stunning array of bonsho, Buddhist bells.
A Tale of the 1300 Block of Haskell Street
It is a charming working class, economically diverse block just east of San Pablo Avenue. It’s about the change. This is the tale of how it is and where it is headed.
Pettingell’s Bookbindery – 91 Years a Treasure
For 91 years, we have gone to Pettingell’s for our book binding needs, the last 23 of which Klaus Rötzscher has been the owner and binder. Beautiful things, beautiful tools and machines, beautiful materials. A treasure!
Judy Gumbo – Yippie Girl – Still
Judy Gumbo, our most famous female Yippie, lives in a Berkeley co-housing community with material reminders of the 1960s and 1970s on every wall of her house. Her politics have not changed.
FINALLY – photographs of Allen Ginsberg’s cottage behind 1624 Milvia, where he lived in 1955 and 1956. Dennis Starleaf lived in the cottage two years later and sent five GREAT photos. History! Berkeley!
Liane Chu – Five Amazing Years in Berkeley
From 1964 until 1969 – the Free Speech Movement, the Red Square Dress Shop, People’s Park, and the crown of Miss Chinatown SF 1965. Only here. Only then.
Holiday Field Trip – Quirky Reno
Day three of a three-day weekend – a third post. A first taste of Quirky Reno – the Flintstones, a big VW Bug/Spider, and the Generator DIY workspace. Shown here, Maya’s Mind by Mischell Riley.
Holiday Field Trip -NIMBY in Summer
Snook suggested in the winter that we come back in the summer as NIMBY gets Burning Man real. We did. It was hot and dusty and sizzled – and on its way to Burning Man Real.
Holiday Field Trip – NIMBY in Winter
The first of three Labor Day weekend field trip posts. Michael Snook is the creative genius and owner at NIMBY in East Oakland, a DIY/makers space with strong connections to Burning Man.
This post represents an open-arms embrace of what others might call kitsch. Bright, gaudy, sentimental art in front of stucco day care on Colusa. A gift to the street and quirky.
Bob Fischer’s Extraordinary Things
Folk art, collected art, kitsch, and Bob Fischer’s photography and paintings fill his house. An inspiring hodgepodge of extraordinary things.
The Print Mint – Alice and Don Schenker
The magic journey of Alice and Don Schenker, from the Beat movement to 20 years on Telegraph with the Print/Reprint Mint, selling art prints, posters, and underground comics.
I went to 374 Vassar to re-photograph a whale weathervane and got my second big surprise on that street – a quirky garden and a Best of Berkeley couple, Suzanne and Charles McCulloch.
A QB friend suggested that I look at some of Berkeley’s older businesses. Good idea! Here is a look at Lasher’s Electronics, 57 years now on University
In 2010, Adolfo “Fito” Celedon Bravo died shortly after being shot at Emerson and Adeline during an armed robbery. The post is about love, death, and a public sacred place. Hint: the story has not ended.
Zalman Sher is selling more of his father Izzy’s metal art. Izzy’s work is stunning, and he was a leading figure of Bohemian Berkeley before the Big Changes of the late 1960s.
For four years, I searched without success for a photograph of the Fuji Inn on Telegraph – Jack Kerouac used to eat there. In late June, my obsessive search paid off – two photos in one night! Rapture!
Field Trip: Susan’s Store Room
For the 4th of July – field trip to San Anselmo. A toy store – sort of – where idea leads to idea leads to idea. Fanciful. Whimsical. Brilliant. The best of the best. Yes!
Julia Vinograd & her visual creativity
Paintings and pillows and photographs and beads and skulls and dolls – anything but a boring space. Julia Vinograd lives in the California Apartments – adding visual prankster to her career as street poet and bubble lady.
A fellow traveler! Quirky Berkeley evolving! A glimpse at Ian Wood’s Instagram collection of photos of Berkeley garage doors. We are a movement!
Eli Leon’s Collectons for Sale
Beginning this weekend, Eli Leon’s non-textile collections will be sold at his Dover Street house. A great chance for the greatest quirk.
Eli Leon’s Art and Collections
For 55 years, Eli Leon made art and collected. Traditional quilts, Afro-traditional quilts, and kitcheniana were the main categories. Here – a view of his collections and a brief biographical portrait.
Debbie Vinograd / Magical Doors of Berkeley
Debbie Vinograd came to Berkeley in 1974. Her sister Julia opened the magical doors of Berkeley for her. She stayed, and has painted since. A story of bright colors and surreal and love and collages.
Shattuck Avenue Relief & Facades
Join the flaneur as he walks six blocks south from University on Shattuck, documenting relief sculpture and facades, beauty for the sake of beauty.
Murals, a yo-yo museum, Asian clutter, crazed memorabilia and oddities on a bar wall, and a fairytale park. Who knew?
Words as graphics. Words as meaning. Words as material culture. My favorite – Malvina Reynolds’ celebration of modest heroes.
You don’t need a weathervane to know which way the wind blows, but they help. Mostly decorative these days, I find them staid but quirky. These photos – mostly not roosters.
So – 50 years since the Summer of Love. It was more of a San Francisco thing that a Berkeley thing, but here – history lite of our town in that year, mostly courtesy of the Barb.
While mourning the loss of the mural at the old CIL on Telegraph, I celebrate here the public art at the Ed Roberts Campus – photographs and hand-painted tiles.
This is my sixth post on business signage, which I find quirky. If nothing else, it is of some historical interest. Paul’s Shoes rocks quirky, no?
From Ken Stein’s files – clippings mostly from Grassroots in the 1970s and early 1980s. Architectural heritage, “Carpetgate,” disability rights, and more.
Two and half years after my first visit to Helen Holt’s Helly Welly shop on Dwight I went back. The creativity and quirk rock strong. Lots of new, quirky work.
Murray Street – The Spirit of Makers
Urban Ore, Hygenic Dog Food, All Power Labs, and Michael Christian’s art. Quirky. Young and struggling and creative. An infusion of good maker DNA into Berkeley.
Steve Papai runs Automatic Response on Eastshore. They shred paper and destroy hard drives. He collects old office equipment – typewriters, comptometers, and check protectors.
A rainbow fence with 13 colors not 7. Bricks as books on a bookshelf. A marble gate. Magic! Thanks to Tara and Gregoire Jacquet.
In Berkeley, we rock with the peace vibe. Here – photos of poles proclaiming the hope that peace prevail on earth. Peace train take this country…
Mykael Moss is at it again – unabated in her passion for Berkeley and fascination for the thoughts we express with bumper stickers. We care!
A sampling of Berkeley’s tree houses, markers of childhood and innocence. They evoke. They make me smile.
The industrial and vintage oddities at Ohmega Salvage on San Pablo are PERFECT for DIY Quirk. Or just wandering and imagining. A great Berkeley hippie waste-not vibe.
It’s President’s Day – let’s conserve on gas and just go to Emeryville. At the Home Depot/Target shopping center we’ll find tons (literally!) of Bulwinkle steel sculpture.
I have found two in Berkeley – your write a wish on a tag and hang it from the tree. Wish comes true! I wish that there were more of them.
The early 1970s indoor mall at Telegraph and Blake is a magical time capsule, encapsulating a Berkeley that is slipping away. It’s facing the wrecking ball. Can’t we do better?
One can’t talk about the quirky in Berkeley without a visit to Games of Berkeley. Here, a look back at the old site on Shattuck and a look forward at the new site on Durant.
Cloyne Court Doors – 2nd and 3rd Floors
In our return visit to Cloyne Court, we got enough shots of painted doors to justify a post just on the doors. Clever, bright, creative. Long live Cloyne Court doors!
Cloyne Court Murals – 2nd and 3rd Floors
A return visit to Cloyne Court and a look at the murals on the second and third floors. Inspiring!
We continue our holiday tradition this MLK day with a field trip to Thunder Mountain, Frank Van Zant’s folk art environment in Imlay, Nevada, east of Reno. Dusty, windy, hot in summer. And intensely genius.
New Murals – Early 2017 Edition
A few weeks ago, we said goodbye to murals that we lost in 2016. Here we greet new murals that celebrate life and love, manifestations of Berkeley Big Love.
Bruce Duncan was an outsider’s outsider in Berkeley until his death in 2009. Here – a small glimpse at Duncan during his years at Oxford School and Garfield Junior High.
A look back at 2016 and the most popular and significant posts from the 50+ I published. Plus – a little philosophy on how Quirky Berkeley is evolving.
2016
Photos of 14 painted garage doors. What a way to express yourself. Plus – a call to arms by my friend for spray-painted graffiti-style garage doors. Good idea!
For our Christmas holiday field trip, we visit Clayton Bailey’s museum in Crockett and his home on the road to Port Costa. Ceramics. Robots. Phantasmagorical. And we are introduced to my friend’s friend Erskine.
A second look at some of Berkeley’s bungalow courts. Courtyard living! Simpler life! Night-scented brugmansia!
Sheri Tharp’s Carved Picket Fence
The carved redwood picket fence at 3102 Shattuck has a story that goes back to 1942. Here is that story, and the story of a Berkeley that drew young and struggling artists.
The Quirkiest Commercial Block in Berkeley
Mark Bulwinkle nominated the Star Grocery block on Claremont as the quirkiest block in Berkeley. Motion second, concur. A definite peaceful vibe. Four bookstores too.
Murals may come and murals may go and so it is in Berkeley. Development and change of use and corporate crackdown on deviant art have all taken these murals from us this year.
Metal lived and made art in Berkeley from the early 1950s until his death in 2007. Here – a look at his work, his life, his family. He epitomized the freedom of Berkeley before the Big Changes.
Field Trip – Laurel Skye’s Mosaic World
Our Thanksgiving holiday field trip is to the mosaic home of Laurel Skye in Arcata. Sensory overload! Go slowly. Click on the photos to get full screen. This is really something.
On Telegraph south of Dwight, the former offices of the Center for Independent Living and a 1977 mural depicting pioneers of the disability rights movement await the wrecking ball. Go see it now.
Small World at 1422 Fifth Street
Dozens of stacked rocks and a trapezoid-ish gravel box with rocks and little animals – a wonderful addition to the Quirky Berkeley collection of small worlds. Plus a peek at how rocks want to fall up.
We have seen Connie Bleul’s public art, in front of her home on Marin and down at the Marina. Here – a look at her paintings and painted furniture – quirky as heck.
Another casual departure from Quirky Berkeley norms – Ken Stein’s extraordinary collection of Berkeley political buttons of the 1960s and 1970s. We had causes!
We have a good number of free book exchanges in Berkeley. These are some of the rogues, those not sanctioned by the Little Free Library organization.
Take a peek inside Precision People’s Auto Repair on San Pablo at Camelia. Suspended from the ceiling, and scattered throughout, dozens of large remote control airplanes. Suspended and quirky do da max.
Tyler Hoare: The Bay as Gallery
A look at 40+ years of Tyler Hoare’s art – in the bay, in his studio, and in his Berkeley home. Best known for Snoopy and the Red Baron, Hoare’s sculpture and collages are so much more.
Noting a few murals that we lost, here is a fresh batch. Some are very new, some are just shown here for the first time. We aren’t the Mission District, but – our murals rock.
Ken Stein’s collection of sterling silver Berkeley souvenir spoons, most from between 1890 and 1910. A deviation from Quirky Berkeley rules of engagement – but brilliant and worth breaking the rules.
A re-do of an early QB post – better photos, inside the house, meeting Eni. A house and yard filled with art, much of which is dachshund-themed.
Duane Flatmo’s Kinetic Sculpture
It’s Labor Day, so it’s time for a field trip. We visit Duane Flatmo, creator of El Pulpo Mecanico and other kinetic sculpture at his Eureka workshop.
A few months after visiting Kingman, we went to Cloyne and got blown away by the murals there. Shown here are photos of murals on the first floor. Many more to follow.
A fresh look at Berkeley doors – better photos and more photos and looser rules than the first-generation post I did on doors. Inspiration! A grand metaphor!
Found objects – trash from the streets of North Berkeley. Assembled. Photographed. The genius – retrieved and brought him by Darwin. A cat. Through the window at night.
I find bungalow courts to be inherently quirky. I realize that not all would agree. Here are some – not all – some of Berkeley’s fine class of bungalow courts.
An orange, mud hut, bale, shipping container, caboose, yurt, tree house, trailer, tiny house, Aistream, bunkie. And more. DIY!
Old Cody’s is the new Mad Monk Center. In it are nine sculptures by Mark Bulwinkle, honoring cultural and political and academic heroes of Berkeley – including Moe at Cody’s!
Raymond Loew – a great industrial designer – created the tower design for Lucky’s. This two-square Loew tower is at the Shattuck and Rose CVS, a former Lucky’s. Squares to the sky!
DIY Quirky Art @ NIAD, Richmond
Art by artists with developmental challenges. Creativity and independence through art and the human spirit and – instant quirk for the home, yard, or workplace.
The premise – signs with a half in the number. The secondary premise – rock it old school using iPhone photos. Just like the old days.
Our Fourth of July field trip – to Eureka! Getting there is a significant fraction of the fun, and here are four major manifestations of Old Weird America along the way.
Art and a Love of Dogs – BADRAP
In the hills of Oakland with several nexus to Berkeley – Donna Reynolds and Tim Racer and their art and pit bulls. What a deal!
Urban Ore’s mission is to end the age of waste. It is a gold mine of DIY quirk. Be brave. Take a chance. Go quirky!
In 1974, the artist known as Stefen painted the Dutch Boy mural on Milvia at University. It only lasted three years, but it launched street murals in Berkeley, and it gave us Stefen, who 42 years later is still making murals for us.
A look at the conventional, highbrow-art murals of Berkeley before Stefen took brush to the Dutch Boy wall on Milvia in January 1974.
Kingman Hall, a Student Housing Co-op on La Loma, is home to many, many murals. The spirit of youth! Some of the many shown here.
The true story of the UFO landing on Vine Street. A look at the world of George McNeil and Joanna Salska McNeil, art, hidey holes, and tree house. An obvious choice for the alien to land.
Field Trip: Art Moura’s Unusual/Outsider Art
It’s Memorial Day, a holiday, so a field trip. Second stop with Susan Alexander in Sebastopol, Art Moura and his raw, crude, intuitive, outsider – unusual – art.
Bumper Stickers by Mykael Moss
A guest post – Mykael Moss is fascinated by our bumper stickers. Lots of photos . Right dab in the middle of the Quirky Berkeley ethos. You go Mykael!
Lanesplitter’s Action Figures / Quirky Dolls
The quirky action figure tableaux at Lanesplitter Pizza on San Pablo, plus a bonus look at quirky dolls I have encountered.
More Bulwinkle! His quirky tiles – how he makes them, where you can see them. Where you can buy them. The very True North of Quirky.
Field Trip: Amiot and Laurent / Sebastopol
Another holiday – Berkeley and private – and another virtual field trip, to the home of Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent in Sebastopol, ground zero for Amiot’s junk art sculpture.
On Milvia just south of University, post-it artists at Customer Lobby, Magoosh, and Everlaw have gifted the street with post-it art in the windows. Totoro. Khtulu. The Galaga starship shooter. More. Youth!
Field Trip – Cevan Forristt in San Jose
A holiday field trip! Part Two of Marcia Donahue takes me to San Jose, here to landscape designer genius Cevan Forristt’s Asian-inspired yard, guest house, and house.
Love Letter to Berkeley Ace Hardware
Soon it will move. Before it does – I honor the building and trains and Homies and models and the Chuckles for sale. All hail Berkeley Ace Hardware! Be not forgotten!
On the southwest corner of Gilman and Ordway, Avi Black has translated his lover of all things Balinese into a backyard Berkri-la, as in Shangrila. Very Bali cool.
A posting on relief sculpture in Berkeley. Some of it is on its face quirky. All of it is an intrinsically quirky part of our fabric.
Art Ratner’s Miniature Buildings
A big old mission creep here – but – who could resist? A man with great passion and a great collection of miniature souvenir buildings.
No unicorns, but plenty of rainbows in Berkeley. Painted and in names. On walls and accessories. And a tease for the rainbow flag.
Muffler Men Almost in Berkeley
Ron doesn’t run Ron’s Mufflers anymore. Ron’s Berkeley Mufflers isn’t in Berkeley. But the muffler men out front – really special.
Field Trip – Ted Fullwood in San Jose
Our new holiday tradition – field trip! For Easter I take you to San Jose to see the tile work, ceramic sculpture, and weaving of Ted Fullwood. A big wow.
Artistic depictions of aquatic humanoids in our yards, sidewalks, and restaurants. And our livery collars.
Melissa Mork’s Sheet Metal Origami
Melissa Mork, the 4th generation at Mork Sheet Metal, takes HVAC fabrication skills and makes sheet metal creatures. Check out the grotesques on the roof!
Two sisters lilting in their childhood home, filling it and their yard with art – tiles, ceramic sculpture, ink wash paintings.
Curtis Street – Wounded Healer’s Home
Performance artist/shaman Frank Moore lived here until his death in 2013. Linda Mac and Mikee LaBash, longtime collaborators with Moore, live here. The wounded healer’s spirit lives on!
Detroit and Paris and chocolate. Balinese dance and masks. Theater. And intricate “structures” that dance through the air in his Grant Street home.
Susan Alexander / Tom Tollefsen / Glen Ellen
A new feature – a field trip each holiday. Here, magic house and magic garden in Glen Ellen. Really something.
Mark Haggitt is a collagist who uses detritus of all sorts in his exploration of things connected to natural forces. Not fancy. DIY. Wonderful!
A collection of walls painted by Mark Bulwinkle. Not the medium for which he is most famous, but a technicolor version of his vision. Big wow!
Mike Nagamoto: Steel this Art!
What a pun! You know the sax-playing skeleton and the fish on Marin. Meet the maker, see his back yard. Dig the fish.
Rocks in bowls and in circles and stacked and painted and drilled. Rocks in our yards.
Will Squier – Sufficiently Strange Kitsch
New rule – go inside if I want to. Here – Will Squier’s alarmingly amazing collection of what he calls sufficiently strange kitsch.
A house with stuff outside and Berkeley cultural history cred. And Howie Gordon. And two rooms inside that slay.
For the first post of 2016, I ignore the cardinal rule of Quirky Berkeley and go inside houses. Inspirational bathrooms for the DIY crowd.
2015
A look back at the stuff I found and people I met. It was a hecka quirky year.
After years of celebrating Mike Parayno’s rustic birdhouses, I finally met him. I got more photos. I got more stories. I got a birdhouse! And a brand new post.
The art of Arlene Mayerson & Allan Tinker
Art made and collected. Lawyer for the disabled, poet for the incarcerated. Art and social justice. A Really Berkeley couple with tremendous art.
The Wezelman home on Shattuck – African art, an African mud hut, Jana Olson art, Mark Bulwinkle art, Mark Olivier art, Marcia Donahue art. A brilliant couple. Wow! A+
A Thanksgiving post on Guanyin in our front yards. She is the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Her name means “Perceiving the Cries of the World.” There are cries of the world today.
Lamps. Unorthodox Taxidermy. Chicken plates, Marcia Donahue art, Mark Bulwinkle art, John Abduljaami art,the Grotto of Santa Basura. 350 tons of stones and granite.
Our search for Leslie Safarik’s joyful giant ceramic women starts at Ohmega Salvage on San Pablo. What a gift! So glorious we bend a few rules.
From 1980 until 1994, Barry Smiler and Julie Bidou gave us Julie’s Place, a moveable feast of acoustic and folk music. The idea lives on in Julie’s living room at Strawberry Lodge.
Sometimes what we paint is less than a mural. Here are many examples of less than a mural.
The presence of conventional lawn statues in a largely unconventional Berkeley makes, I assert, the conventional unconventional. Or, put another way, quirky.
Images created with small pieces of colored ceramic tile, colored glass, stone, or other materials. From our front yards. Sacred and profane.
There are two ways of looking at this. 1) Healthy surrender of need to categorize and group. 2) Lack of vision. I’ll go with #1.
(Some of) Berkeley’s Best Buddhas
We love us our Buddhist iconography in our yards. And no, I am not saying that Buddhism is quirky. The iconography is part of the quirky fabric, that’s all.
I don’t pretend to know what modern sculpture is. But that doesn’t stop me from making this page – modernish sculpture in our front yards.
The Bird House – 6th and Allston
Stop and park. Find the birds. It is a bright orange stucco house so it should be easier. There are more than you think.
Car Part Bugs in a Kiosk on Cedar
Several dozen car-part bugs sit in a kiosk at Peter’s Automotive on Cedar. They wait. A bug’s life.
No rhyme or reason to the collection of stuff in front of 1608 MLK. Kanji! And a prayer for Wendy.
The Butterfly House on Bancroft
Olivia Hunter’s violet and pink celebration of butterflies, dragonflies, owls, and peacocks. And Dutchess III, dog royalty.
In which I start photographing columns, stop photographing columns, and then go gaga over these Camelia Street beauties.
Pirate images from our front yards and some lightweight musing on our fascination with imagined pirates.
As the old Cody’s rises from the ashes, a bumper crop of new Mark Bulwinkle work is blooming. Outside, inside, steel, sheet metal, tile. Oh Happy Day!
In the shadow of Alta Bates, a quiet neat street. And lots of ceramic animals. Dogs and cats and turtles and most of all, penguins.
More murals! My 11th post on murals. Who knew? Great new murals and – best of all – three photos sent by Quirky Berkeley readers. Who knew?
Amador Village: Gone. Come Back.
I contemplate the beauty of something ephemeral, a small quirky world on Amador. It went away. And then came back.
A bold post – two photographs depicting perfect quirk. Lovely depictions of Snoopy and the Red Baron on Hillcrest in the Uplands.
In 1998, Rob Garross bought and moved a Southern Pacific caboose to his driveway on Fifth Street. A caboose! Ultimately American. Ultimately romantic. Ultimately quirky.
A fantastic mishmash of sculpture and colors and signs and lights on Hillegass. With a fantastic backstory that I know nothing about. Quirky Berkeley Nation – rise to the challenge! Tell me the story!
For two years, Tad Dellinger gathered the detritus of university life and created a stunning Art Wall on a chain link fence in an alley behind Euclid. It was here but now is gone, remembered here.
An intricate mural that winds around the front and side of a house, celebrating fairies and California native plants. A joint venture by Stefen and home owner Riley.
Keeyla Meadows – Garden and Art
Her house at 1137 Stannage is almost in Berkeley, but it is all the way quirky. Bright bright flowers. Architectural features. Bronze and ceramic sculpture. Exceptional.
Buldan Seka’s bright, giant ceramic freaks on Spruce puzzle and amuse. Her vivid imagination plus 50 years of work = a huge collection of over-sized ceramic pieces. A redo of an early post.
With guidance from Keeyla Meadows and sculpture by Patrick Amiot, Randi Hermann has created a gorgeous, quirky front yard on Vassar – double V’s, a big wolf, a mutt mailbox, and a chicken, all in exotic plantings.
2910 Ashby: Fence/Doors/Sculpture
Michael O’Malley knows a lot about text-speech conversion technology. And publishing a newspaper. And making a wonderfully quirky fence of doors showcasing his ceramic sculpture.
#Berkeley: Quirky Berkeley Tour #2
Siciliana Trevino and #Lisa take us by video to Eni Greene’s doxie-art house on Harper and the fish/tardigrade house on Mathews.
(Mostly) Plastic Flamingo Statues
The iconic lawn statue of a pink flamingo is used almost entirely ironically in Berkeley. Here are a bunch. Iconic!
The premise is simple, if tenuous. The use of artificial flowers in a natural-inclined place like Berkeley is quirky in a world upside down sort of way. Here I salute those who use artificial flowers outside their homes.
Happy sun faces on walls and in gardens.
In the Old Testament, frogs rain from the sky. In Berkeley, they grace our front yards and gardens.
After an explanation of the calculations that go into the total quirk rating, an exploration of the use of shipping containers in Berkeley’s yards – thanks to a tip about one on 5th street that made enough to post.
A major redo of an earlier post – a look outside and inside the studio with the airplane crashing into the roof near Picante.
Izzy Sher & His Art: 1950s Berkeley Quirk
Izzy Sher’s sculpture is the work of an autodidact genius. Rust constantly modifies the sculpture – just as Izzy intended.
Webster and College: The Quirky Art Installations of Julie Partos Clark
The woman behind those quirky installations on Webster. Her installations, and her studio and her quirky collage art.
Marcia Donahue’s Jungle Art on Wheeler Street
A master gardener and a sculptor. What a combination! Exotic. Lush. Whimsical. Magical. Quirky. Inspiring.
A collection of measuring devices, displayed publicly and in many cases used as lawn art.
Mail boxes, weathervanes, and lawn art. Cows and pigs. That about says it all.
I built a post about artistic depictions of palms around several palms on a cinder block wall at the Webster Poolside Apartments. It’s a reach, but I love the Poolside palms.
Seventh Grade at TBS Goes Quirky
In January, 2015, the seventh grade at The Berkeley School went for a Quirky Berkeley exploration of the neighborhood just south of the school. They took the photos and created this post about their walk.
Neon Signs of Telegraph Avenue
Neon at night – Telegraph Avenue, Bancroft, and Durant. That’s it. Simple, calming, urban, quirky.
Testudines and the Order Crocodilia
I got fancy on the turtle/tortoise and crocodile/alligator distinctions. I didn’t have many photos so stalled. But we want quality quirk, not quantity. And these are quality.
495 Vincente – what the heck???
Even in the loose-goosey world of Quirky Berkeley categorization, this one does not lend itself to categorization. Too random to be a small world, so, what? It’s fun. How about that?
2634 McGee: Small World and Kitsch
This is the first time that I have used the K-word, and I do so carefully. Lovely, classy kitsch and a lovely, perfect, not too-big small world. nice job!
Saws, spades, rakes, pitchforks, hoes, and picks as decorative accessories. No kidding. Tools as lawn art!
Photo: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association files
After a discussion of Coleridge’s willful suspension of disbelief, I present three castles from our Berkeley, as well as two from other Berkeleys. With disbelief suspended, these are splendid, quirky Berkeley castles.
2499 Telegraph
Acknowledging that murals are not a perfect fit with the parameters of Quirky Berkeley, I continue to find them, photograph them,and post them. Seven more here, with a slight focus on Lou Silva’s work.
7 Virginia Garden
I draw no conclusions about this collection of photos of mermaids, fish, whales, octopi, lobsters, sea horses, and seals from our yards and houses. Just a lot of creatures of the sea.
The art at the northeast corner of Scenic and Cedar is profoundly quirky. Some is the work of owners Dan Werthimer and Mary Kate Morris, while some is made by others. It is a work in progress. It is great.
Helly Welly: Quirky Berkeley Personified
Helen Holt’s lamp shop / gallery / home on Dwight is magical. Plain and simple. Maximally quirky. Creative. Fun. Overwhelming. The best. The most. The all.
Berkeley High School Anti-Smoking Mural. Oakland Tribune, August 5, 1978
My love of Berkeley’s murals has taken me into the past. Here are photos – mostly black and white and grainy – of murals that once informed us but now are gone. RIP old murals.
Barrington Hall Murals – Screen Shots
While posting on lost murals, I found a 1988 home movie of the walls of Barrington Hall. I made screen shots and present them here. Too many to include with the other lost murals.
1728 University
Neon 1 – University and San Pablo Avenues
Neon – the light of night-time urban America. Come hither light. Magic light. Quirky light. And a disappearing form of light. Here – an evening on University Avenue and San Pablo avenue – a date with neon.
Daily Planet, April 1, 2003
Gone – Movie Theaters We Remember
These are the theaters that are gone (or in limbo) that the older among us remember. They were open at least into the early 1960s, some into the new century. We were better when they were with us.
Berkeley was once a city with many, many movie theaters. Here are images and names of many that were gone before any of us were here to remember them.
Garish/gaudy/hyperactive consumerism meets early 19th century movie theater/palace grandeur. The 99 cent Store on San Pablo just north of University – great bargains and incredible, well-preserved movie theater flourishes. Wow!
3102 Shattuck
We don’t just have fences and we don’t just have walls. We sometimes have quirky fences and we sometimes have quirky walls. Robert Frost sets the tone, and then we admire the quirky creativity of our fences and walls.
It took some psychological heavy lifting, but I worked my way past my need to categorize everything and present here a couple dozen wonderfully quirky things. That don’t fit into categories. There – I said it! I did it!
Benvenue and Russell
Buddhas on art car, nun in birdbath, Virgin Mary and gnomes, Virgin Mary and Snow White and Cinderella and Barbie. Undeniably (I think) quirky use of religious iconography. No offense to any religion intended.
Murals hidden by construction, neglect, remodeling. Indoor murals at the post office, BCC, the teen center, and a Pakistani restaurant. Amazing hidden murals.
The Sexual Freedom league we had with us from 1966 until 1967. Shock! Outrage! And other manifestations of the political sexual revolution and body freedom.
Front yards, front porches, signs, graffiti and murals – all depict music. A theme-based collection here, some of which you have seen elsewhere, some of which not.
These 20-something photos are of front-yard sculpture, gifted to passers-by (passerby’s?), all looking like what they purport to be – hence representational. The first of several posts on sculpture.
From East to West, Oxford to 4th, the signs that line University Avenue serve as cultural markers and thus rise in my estimation to quirky. I don’t include the signs of Indian businesses, which are posted separately.
Berkeley is not a natural habitat for windmills or water towers. We are not rural, and we are not a big city like New York with its water towers. We are we are, and we have what we have.
The outward and physical manifestations of an inward and spiritual quirk – signs from the Indian spice shops, groceries, music and video stores, and clothing stores that add to the mix of Berkeley.
When C.J.’s Motors on Telegraph in the late 1960s, it was reborn as C.J.’s Old Garage, an indoor space for hippie businesses – crafts and food. To a few, even now 2566 Telegraph is known as C.J.’s Old Garage.
Gone: Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac
We weren’t Greenwich Village and we weren’t North Beach, but we had both Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac here in the mid 1950s. A look here at Ginsberg’s time on Milvia and Jack’s time on Berkeley Way.
In Sproul Plaza there is a fountain that the Regents named after a German Shorthair Pointer who spent his days between 1959 and 1965 the fountain. The Regents as quirky – what an idea!
2315 Carleton
Marc Bulwinkle is an artist best known for cut steel sculpture. He is a genius. He works very hard. This is a long post about him, focus ultimately on his work that can be found in Berkeley.
Here – 19 photos of rusting steel sculptures on fence posts, a collaboration between Bulwinkle and the students of Malcolm X Elementary School in the 1990s. The kids are adults now. Their art lives.
A hidden Osha Newman mural off University, the Willard Pool, Thousand Oaks School, Welcome to the Lorin District, Rose Garden Inn, and a few more.
1800 Marin
Chimneys are Tier Two quirk. They may not be quirky material culture in and of themselves, but they add to the quirky feel of Berkeley. I only ask that you spend two minute with chimneys.
In reverse alphabetical order – zebra’s first, elephants last. All beasts of the jungle. Lions appear elsewhere.
We started a year before Newport Beach. From 1958 until 1970 – a world-class folk music festival.
When the folk music revival hit in 1958, we were there with The Steppenwolf and the Blind Lemon. Then there was the Cabale, the Questing Beast, Babylon, Freight and Salvage, and maybe the crown jewel – the Jabberwok on Telegraph. All but Freight and Salvage – gone.
2727 Dwight
An exercise in visual acuity – patterns made by shingles. Not a lot to say about it, just photos of shingles.
I confess – I don’t have a clear definition of what is quirky when it comes to gardens. These are though – vertical gardens, green roofs, and eccentric containers.
Fire Hydrants and Traffic Barriers
Painted fire hydrants, fire hydrants as lawn art, and traffic-calming barriers as art. What a combo!
McCallum’s, Brennan’s, Celia’s, Edy’s, Ozzie’s, Home Cafe, Buttercup, Caffe Espresso, Espresso Forum, and Robbie’s Hofbrau. We ate there when we were young.
From the Oakland line to the Albany line, the sign art of San Pablo Avenue, our Boulevard of Funk.
Deer, foxes, moose, owls, rabbits and raccoons – artistic renderings thereof in Berkeley front yards. And a big dose of digressions about the woods.
Here – artistic depictions of cats and dogs found in Berkeley yards and on Berkeley walls and gates. Many are kitschy but that is not a bad thing in the universe of Quirky Berkeley. Some are outrageous. And I am sure that there are more.
Major Quirky #23: The Art of Conny Bleul-Gohlke
An import from Berlin, her art at her home on Marin and on the sides of buildings and containers at the Berkeley Marina, Conny’art. Her work does not heed pigeonholes. She is original.
The theme here – flight. As in airplanes, as in rockets, as in space ships. And in the case of the Vine Street beauty shown to the left, men from outer space. We have them all.
When I started walking Berkeley, I assumed that I would find a number of geodesic domes. I haven’t. But instead I have collected photos of buildings that avoid in whole or in part the right angles that we expect.
Not to be confused with art cars – we use cars and trucks and car parts as the basis for art. From this traffic circle planter to cars on roofs to truck fenders as garden fixtures. Our version of car culture – quirky!
1240 Parker
Here there be dragons – dragons as lawn art, porch art, lamp art. Friendly dragons and fierce dragons. A clan (yes, that is the collective word for dragons!) of Berkeley dragons.
1828 San Pablo
Here I present more murals that celebrate art but not ethnic pride and not struggle. From the conventional to the unconventional, as epitomized by the doorway reception area depicted at the left.
1118 Colusa
We can’t resist. We see a tree, and we envision what it would look like with weird stuff hanging from it. And then we hung the weird stuff from it. And from a tree hanging is quirkiness – in spades.
While I wish that there was more, there is a modest collection of Googie architecture in Berkeley, Googie being the catchy name for Coffee Shop Moderne, the showy commercial architecure that flourished in the 1950s. Collected here are what I could find.
Gone # 4: Old Weird Telegraph Part Five – Church and State
On the Church team: Holy Hubert and Richard “The Hippie Priest” York. On the State team: Robert Scheer, Big Bill Miller, Jerry Rubin, and Stew Albert. What a mix!
Alcatraz and Sacramento
Murals #3 – Not Struggle, Not Pride
As we work our way through Berkeley’s murals, we have passed from the realm of struggle and ethnic pride to creativity for the sake of creativity. Murals come and murals go, lending quirk when they are here. So it is with these.
We have no giant dinosaurs – alas – but we have a good team of medium-sized dinosaurs and a decent representation of tiny dinosaur dioramas. They may have disappeared from the earth 65,000,000 years ago, but they capture our imagination and provide quirk fodder yet.
Major Quirky #21: 22 Tunnel Road and Oakridge Path
Marion Fredman and her children and grandchildren have created absolute magic with objects that we would throw away. It is mostly visible from Oakridge Path, a quirky bonus. Very high quirk factor.
A collection here of old, faded signs, mostly painted, mostly advertising businesses or institutions that are long-gone. Sic transit gloria.
Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 1255 Allston Way
A close cousin to the murals of struggle, these murals celebrate culture of the Ohlone people, the Maya, Chicanos, African-Americans, Brazilians, and Indians. They are really something. Or in the case of the mural shown on the left, they were really something.
This a great concept – the reality and mythology of the wild west as seen in the material culture of Berkeley. The supporting evidence is not as strong as I would hope – hitching posts, log cabins, horseshoes, and bleached skulls. But – a great concept.
Gone #4: Old Weird Telegraph Part Four – Word on the Street
Underground newspapers. Underground comics. Old weird material from after the Golden Age of Telegraph. It sounds simple, but there is a lot of it. Old and weird printed word.
Gone #4 – Old Weird Telegraph Part Three: Hotels/Flophouses
The Alta Vista – wrecking ball. The Berkeley Inn – fire and then the wrecking ball. The Sequoia Building – fire and then the wrecking ball. Three of the seven grand buildings of Telegraph gone.
Gone #4 – Old Weird Telegraph Part Two: Bookstores
Bookstores were a big part of what made Telegraph Telegraph. The big four (Sather Gate, Creed’s, Cody’s and Old Moe’s) gone bookstores are shown here, as are another group of lesser gone gods.
819 Ensenada
Mail Boxes #6 – Structural Quirk
After a long wait, a new classification of quirky mail boxes. Their quirk lies in their structure, not their design. They stand on weird things. They feature quirky drops. Etc.
1722 Beverly
I establish that bowling is quirky. I digress. I bemoan the absence of bowling alleys in Berkeley. I then get to the point of the post which is – bowling balls and bowling pins as decorative features. Why not?
Gone # 4 – Old Weird Telegraph Part One: The Lost Block
I will get to Telegraph Avenue of the present soon, but here start looking at Telegraph Avenue of the past. A little general history, and then a focus on the long-ago-demolisted block north of Bancroft.
Free box! (I only know of one that still exists)
Of the dozens of murals in Berkeley, I am starting with those that celebrate struggle, the continued effort to resist force or free oneself from constraint. Some are naive, some are refined. All honor those who engaged in struggle in Berkeley.
The old train stations still among us, memories of the FDC protests, miniature trains in Tilden, model trains in store windows, a train-themed front yard, and a caboose in a backyard as office. The quirk of the rail.
3090 Claremont
Signs #1 – Just Quirky, No Theme
A collection of signs, united only in quirkiness. Stores. Windows. Fonts. Names. Design. Not boring. Even the path name sign. Really.
1545 Dwight
Gone #3: Collective Communes, Communal Collectives, and Counterculture Icons
See it now and imagine it then – the places where Ginsberg and Kerouac lived, the collectives, the Barb, Leary, Owsley, Ralph Gleason, County Joe, Malvina Reynolds, Cosmo’s Factory, and Beserkeley Records.
Food #1: Dogs, Donuts and 2 Dives/Diners
Here we go, a first tentative step into food as material culture, with Berkeley’s donut shops, hot dog stands, and two dives/diners. Many more to come.
1357 Addison
I am not talking about the predictable fussy Victorians, of which we have our share. I am talked about bold, unexpected, quirky combinations of several colors. Bright! Bold! Quirky!
We take the human impulse to paint flowers to a quirky extreme, decorating our houses, gates, and businesses with painted flowers.
1114 Colusa
Pictures of about a dozen Tiki images from around Berkeley, the humanoid depiction of Tiki the creator and first-created. Also a detour of East Bay Tiki culture, the bars and lounges, past and present, with South Pacific design and themes.
2350 Bowditch
Architecture: Hansel and Gretel Cottages
In the 1920s, Berkeley and others fells fell in love with architecture variously called Storybook, Fairytale, and Hansel and Gretel – my favorite. There are little Hansel and Gretel cottages scattered throughout Berkeley.
1003 Merced
Moving beyond flowers and birds, these painted mail boxes range from solid color, to abstract, to representational.
Major Quirky #20- Normandy Village
Berkeley, late 1920’s at it magical, quirkiest best. One block north of campus, a cluster of fanciful quirkiness. Best on a foggy, misty night.
2033 Berryman
Topiary is an art form of the establishment, but here are five examples of quirky topiary in Berkeley. They make me smile.
1385 Curtis
Big chickens. A quirky thought. And an even quirkier reality – sculptures, statues of, yes, big chickens.
2459 Ashby
This is a controversial post, I know. I find these photos of architectural grids to be quirky. Almost nobody else agrees with me. It is possible that nobody at all agrees with me. It will only take a minute – check them out.
Major Quirky #19 – 2310 9th Street – Baseball!
A shrine to baseball in the East Bay, the Oakland A’s. A hand-crafted bas relief of great moments in A’s history, and a panel honoring radio voice Bill King, 9 players, 9 innings, 9th Street. Put me in coach!
Derby
Berkeley is not an old-car safe harbor with fathers and sons tinkering on a V-8 in the driveway, but the old and cool cars scattered around the city add a certain je ne sais quoi to our material culture. I call them cars that Neal Cassady drove, or could/would have driven.
3017 Wheeler
Even the step, the mundane riser and the mundane tread, the lowly step, can be quirky. Images, colors, words. Sacred and profane. Cool steps.
1413 Allston
I grew up not far from Pennsylvania Dutch country. Hex signs were around me. I was happy to find a few of these folk-art talismans in Berkeley. So happy that I lost track of where the first one is. Any help on this?
We tried stencil graf and survived. Now things are gonna get real. Down along the railroad tracks, at Addison and at Gilman, real-thing hardcore graffiti. Great images. Dangerous place. Don’t go there.
1428 Santa Fe
Shutter Ma #2 – Flowers and heavenly bodies
Back to shutter ma, art expressed through negative space. Or, more simply put, shutters with cut-outs. An idea that was a common ancestor of the Quirky Berkeley project. Flowers, moon, stars.
That’s it. Gecko images. All around Berkeley. Sculpted. Painted. Dragons and dinosaurs and gargoyles will follow, but start here – with gecko images.
587 Santa Clara
We see something – most commonly a wall – and we paint a bird or birds on it. Some fancy, some simple. Some single, some multiple. Birds on walls.
Major Quirky #18 – Small World #2 – 2828 Russell
Another small world, toys and figures and little buildings out on the street. They invite and attain pedestrian participation. They change every day.
776 Spruce
Berkeley might be the home of the bears but there sure are a lot of lions. Kind of schlocky, but I find them quirky. Lots of lions here.
Major Quirky #17 – 1320 Talbot – Colours and More
In the flats, ensconced in a decidedly unquirky block, is the most amazing collection of colors and small objects. Some are out for street play, some arranged on the porch. Barbie meets Snow White meets Virgin Mary. Wow!
55 Northampton
In the ongoing saga of mail boxes as quirky material culture, we turn now to mail boxes designed to look like little houses. There are tons of them, from the simple to the deluxe.