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
October 23, 2013 by tomdalzell

Latest Postings

What Have you Done

It is a fair question.  What have I done for you lately? From most recent posts backwards, here are the latest posts:

2020

Ken Stein – Menorah and Lamps

Adding to Ken Stein’s super Quirky Berkeley resume are a Statue of Liberty menorah and Donato Creti lamps.  Beautiful!  Quirky!

bm164

Bulwinkle in the Desert

Mark Bulwinkle, ground zero of Quirky Berkeley, is slowly moving his work to Joshua Tree.  Here – a visit to the desert and his steel.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on December 18th, 2019.

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

Quirky Berkeley 4/12/2019

The Best of Quirky 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.

Magnets-L1330010

Themed Collections

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.

Quirky Berkeley-Wavy Gravy

Collections

As therapy for my desire to acquire, I compile photos of unthemed collections I have encountered – those of Wavy Gravy and eight others.

Ron-Sherman

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on November 23rd, 2019.

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on August 21st, 2019.

Al Geyer and his Annapurna

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-21-2019

1725 Eighth Street – Kitsch

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.

]]\

Quirky Berkeley 10-24-2019r

Murals

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on September 30th, 2019.

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.

Screen-Shot-2019-08-10-at-1.44.12-PM

More Print Mint

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.

Quirky Berkeley 9-25-19r

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.

Quirky Berkeley 9-25-19r

Gas Stations – Old and Former

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.

Quirky Berkeley 6-27-2019

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.

yellow

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

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on June 27th, 2019.

Private Mail Boxes

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.

Unknown-32

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on August 21st, 2019.

Jon Balderston Art Show

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.

IBEW-Bobo in San Juan Baptista

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on August 21st, 2019.

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.

thumbnail_Quirky-Berkeley-8-21-2019_0364

Alan Cohen Quirk Sale Part 2

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.

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Masks

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.

Quirky Berkeley 4/12/2019

Emmanuel Catarino Montoya

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,

Unknown-4

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

6a00d8341c464853ef01b7c7fdb575970b

Mysterious Medallions P.S.

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!

1308-Bancroft

Mysterious Medallions

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!

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on July 9th, 2019.

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.

1759-Madera-Colleen-Neff

Ancient Berkeley

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.

CRUMB-WITH-JANIS-FROM-BOOK-JANIS

R.Crumb and Berkeley

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.

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

Jon Balderston Sketchbooks

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.

Screen Shot 2019-07-04 at 4.25.45 PM

Mud Puddle, Boys, and Bikes

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!

Quirky Berkeley 5-14-2019

Ira Marlowe’s Monkey House

Ira Marlowe has a performance space in his home.  It is filled with monkey art and is called the Monkey House.  A Quirky Ten.

73_8

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.

The Store Red Square 2

Mini-Post: Liane Chu

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on March 22nd, 2019.

Tyler Hoare Update

A third post about Tyler Hoare, telling the story of  missing Snoopy submarine, a missing Red Baron triplane, and a missing UFO.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. is seen on December 27th, 2018.

Painted Ladies #3

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.

IMG_0814

The Feldman Elephants

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!

Quirky Berkeley visits Vallejo, Calif. on September 18th, 2018.

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.

Quirky Berkeley 4/12/2019

Susan Brooks’ Sketchbooks

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.

Quirky Berkeley 1-22-2019

Big Birds

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

March-12-1934-Oakland-Tribune-Photo

The Tunnel before the Tunnel

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.

Quirky Berkeley 3-22-19

Elephants 2

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!

Quirky Berkeley 4/12/2019

Ophelia and Drac on Virginia

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.

Thepress_freestone/occidental, Freeman Winery

Chronological Errors #2

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.

Dinosaurs-3

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-21-2019

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.

Quirky Berkeley-Delano

Delano in 2019

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.

Thepress_freestone/occidental, Freeman Winery

The Bars of San Pablo Avenue

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif.,  on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014.

Jeeps

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.

IR_ColorB

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.

Elephant-2375-Cedar1

Elephants

Three-dimensional and two-dimensional images of elephants in Berkeley.  Plus an explanation of why I don’t use the term pachyderm.

3027 Adeline

Berkeley’s Liquor Stores

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.

Quirky Berkeley 2-8-2019

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.

at the Freeman Winery in Sebastopol, Calif. on February 2nd, 2019.

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.

Quirky Berkeley 10-24-2018

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.

All-Wasserman

General Wastemoreland

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.

Quirky Berkeley 7-14-2017

Chronological Errors

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. is seen on December 27th, 2018.

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.

Record-City-1

Counterculture Stores 1968

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-28-2016

The Best of Quirky 2018

The 593rd Quirky Berkeley post!  Old school plus the new tendency – a little more history of unconventional Berkeley.

2018

Telly-riot-night

Berkeley in 1968

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.

Quirky Eureka 04-02-2016

Quirky Bathrooms – Supplement

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Calif. on November 27th, 2018.

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-27-2018

Laundromats of Berkeley

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-27-2018

Addison Antiques – Quirk 4 U

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Reno

Field Trip – Junkee in Reno

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.

Quirky Berkeley 10-24-2018

Harold Adler’s Art House 

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.

Quirky Berkeley 10-31-2018

Dinosaurs

We have no giant dinosaurs in Berkeley, but we have a respectable dose of medium and small dinosaurs.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on October 31st,  2018

Painted Ladies 2

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.

Acid-test

Counterculture Stores 1966

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!

Screen Shot 2018-10-17 at 6.25.54 AM

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.

IMG_0887-2

Ian Wood Garage Doors – #2

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.

Quirky Berkeley 9-28-2018

Our Painted Ladies

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.

Quirky Berkeley 9-28-2018

Berkeley’s Dark Satanic Mills

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.

Quirky Berkeley 05-11-2018

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-1969-1

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.

Chaldea Color Ann Arbor Sun copy 2

Counterculture Stores

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!

Plastic Water in Santa Cruz, Calif. is seen on May 4th, 2018.

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.

Quirky Berkeley 08-20-2018

Arnold Haller’s Masks

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.

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Bitchen Kitchen(s)

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-FSM-Photo-Tom-Kuykendal-FSM-archives

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.

Quirky Berkeley 6-19-2018

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.

Quirky Berkeley 08-20-2018

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!

Quirky Berkeley 08-20-2018

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.

Quirky Berkeley 05-11-2018

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.

.

Fairy Garden on Parker

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!

2217-Parker

Body Parts and Mannequins

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

Quirky Berkeley 6-19-2018

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?

IBEW Hold the Pull Safety Summit

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on April 24th, 2018.

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif.  on May 11th, 2018.

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!

2217 Parker

Odds and Ends

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 4-24-2018

Angel Jesus Perez

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-DayRon-Alexander-17B-copy

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.

George, Sam, Bruno.  Photo courtesy of Steve Pedone

Sam’s 58 Club – Part Two 

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.”

Fixiing-fights

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.

Quirky Berkeley visits Wavy Gravy in Berkeley, Calif. on January 17th, 2018.

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.

Ken-Kesey-City-Council

Wavy Gravy in Berkeley

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.

Quirky Berkeley 4-24-2018

Virginia Bakery

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.

1364949874074

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.

Quirky Berkeley  04-06-2018

Maybeck High School Murals

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!

Quirky Berkeley-Wavy Gravy

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-26-18

Alt.Albany at 714 B

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-26-18

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.

unnamed-641

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!

Fountain Walk

Quirky Steps and Risers

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-26-18

Small Word at 1711 Ada

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.

BERKELEY RIOTS NATIONAL GUARD

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-18-2018

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.

Quirky Berkeley 12-15-2017

Murals – First Quarter 2018

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.

Quirky Berkeley 01-29-2018

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!

Quirky Berkeley 12-15-2017

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 Berkeley 12-15-2017

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.

unnamed2

Random Acts of 1980s History

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?

Quirky Berkeley 08-16-2016

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.

Quirky Berkeley 12-15-2017

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.

Quirky visits Sebastopol

Beds

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.

Quirky Berkeley 7-14-2017

The Best of Quirky 2017

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

unnamed-21

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Oakland 07-28-2017

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.

Quirky Berkeley 10-06-2017

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.

Codornices-Clubhouse-Town-and-Gown

The Codornices Club Clubhouse

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.

Quirky Berkeley

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.

Quirky Berkeley 10-06-2017

The 1100 Block of Hearst

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?

unnamed-11

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.

Quirky Berkley 09-03-2017

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-02-17

Kitsch on Colusa

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!

Quirky Berkeley 10-06-2017

The Berkeley Vacuum Center

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.

Charter Oak

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.

Quirky Berkeley 10-06-2017

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!

kael-bassarthouse.org_

The 2400 Block of Oregon

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.

"Quirky 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.

Quirky Berkeley 7-14-2017

Kitsch Combo

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., is seen on September 15th, 2017.

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.

Quirky Berkeley 07-02-2017

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!

Gumbo-onTribe-cover

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.

Screen-Shot-2017-09-09-at-5.47.32-PM

Ginsberg’s Cottage on Milvia

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!

Chu-at-Peoples-Park

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.

Quirky Berkeley-Reno-07-21-2017

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.

Quirky Berkeley 07-02-2017

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-27-2017

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.

Quirky Berkeley 6-15-17

La Escuelita on Colusa

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.

o

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.

Quirky Berkeley 05-11-2017

A Second Surprise on Vassar

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.

Quirky Berkeley 7-14-2017

Lasher’s Electronics

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

FitoAmber

Fito

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.

Quirky Berkeley 6-15-17

More Izzy Sher Art for Sale

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.

Fuji-Inn

The Fuji Inn – Photo Found!

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!

Quirky Berkeley-San Anselmo

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!

Quirky Berkeley 6-15-17

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.

Photo: Ian Woods

Ian Wood’s Garage Photos

A fellow traveler!  Quirky Berkeley evolving!  A glimpse at Ian Wood’s Instagram collection of photos of Berkeley garage doors.  We are a movement!

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on June 15th, 2017.

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.

Quirky Berkeley 05-29-2017

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.

Quirky Berkeley 05-04-2017

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.

Quirky Berkeley 04-11-2017

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.

Quirky-Chico_0200-X3

Field Trip: Chico

Murals, a yo-yo museum, Asian clutter, crazed memorabilia and oddities on a bar wall, and a fairytale park.  Who knew?

1431-Spruc

Words

Words as graphics.  Words as meaning. Words as material culture.  My favorite – Malvina Reynolds’ celebration of modest heroes.

Quirky Berkeley 05-11-2017

Weathervanes

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.

Telegraph-Taken-Over-2-April-14-940x734

Berkeley in 1967

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.

Quirky Berkeley 12-16-2016

Art at the Ed Roberts Campus

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.

Quirky Berkeley 04-11-2017

The Signs of Shattuck

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?

unnamed-41

Random Acts of 1970s History

From Ken Stein’s files – clippings mostly from Grassroots in the 1970s and early 1980s.  Architectural heritage, “Carpetgate,” disability rights, and more.

Quirky Berkeley 04-11-2017

Back to Helly Welly

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.

Quirky Berkeley 03-21-2017

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.

Quirky Berkeley 03-21-2017

Automatic Response

Steve Papai runs Automatic Response on Eastshore.  They shred paper and destroy hard drives.  He collects old office equipment – typewriters, comptometers, and check protectors.

Quirky Berkeley 03-21-2017

Jacquet Magique on Monterey

A rainbow fence with 13 colors not 7.  Bricks as books on a bookshelf.  A marble gate.  Magic!  Thanks to Tara and Gregoire Jacquet.

Richard Perlman and Pam Erenberg

Peace Poles

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…

unnamed-18

A New Crop of Bumper Stickers

Mykael Moss is at it again – unabated in her passion for Berkeley and fascination for the thoughts we express with bumper stickers.  We care!

Quirky Berkeley 01-30-2017

Tree Houses!

A sampling of Berkeley’s tree houses, markers of childhood and innocence.  They evoke.  They make me smile.

Quirky Berkeley 11-10-2015

DIY Quirk at Ohmega Salvage

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.

Quirky Berkeley 01-30-2017

Field Trip – Bulwinkle Plaza

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.

Quirky Berkeley 01-30-2017

Wish Trees / Wishing Trees

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.

Quirky Berkeley  01-20-2017

The Village

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?

Quirky Berkeley 01-30-2017

Games of Berkeley

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.

Quirky Berkeley 12-16-2016

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!

Quirky Berkeley 12-16-2016

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!

Quirky Nevada-Thunder Mountain Monument

Field Trip – Thunder Mountain

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-28-2016

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.

part3-04040607-02020604verizon-net_

A Young Bruce Duncan

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.

"Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley,  Calif., on Thursday, June 19th, 2014."

The Best of Quirky 2016

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

Quirky Berkeley 12-16-2016

Garage Doors

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!

Quirky Berkeley 10-02-2016

Field Trip – Clayton Bailey

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-28-2016

Bungalow Courts – Part 2

A second look at some of Berkeley’s bungalow courts.  Courtyard living!  Simpler life!  Night-scented brugmansia!

Quirky Berkeley 11-28-2016

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-28-2016

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

Recently Lost Murals

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.

screen-shot-2016-09-14-at-4-05-14-am

The Legacy of Martin Metal

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.

Quirky Eureka 04-02-2016

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.

cil-2

The Disappearing CIL Mural

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.

Quirky Berkeley 10-02-2016

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.

Quirky Berkeley 09-14-2016

Connie Bleul’s Non-Public Art

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.

Ken Stein’s Berkeley Buttons

Another casual departure from Quirky Berkeley norms – Ken Stein’s extraordinary collection of Berkeley political buttons of the 1960s and 1970s.  We had causes!

Quirky Berkeley 10-18-2016

Rogue Little Free Libraries

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.

Quirky Berkeley 09-14-2016

Ken Shapiro’s Airplane Joy

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.

Quirky Berkeley 08-16-2016

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.

Quirky Berkeley 09-14-2016

Murals – Coming and Going

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.

unnamed-4-copy

Berkeley Souvenir Spoons

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., is seen on Thursday,  June 20th, 2013.

Eni Green’s Doxies on Harper

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.

Quirky Eureka 04-02-2016

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.

Quirky Berkeley 08-05-2016Cloyne Court Murals – Part I

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.

Quirky Berkeley 08-05-2016

Doors

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!

13731911_992867130811477_3745971054478129785_o

Darwin the Retrieving Cat

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.

Quirky Berkeley 06-09-2016

Bungalow Courts

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.

722-Spruce

Outbuildings

An orange, mud hut, bale, shipping container, caboose, yurt, tree house, trailer, tiny house, Aistream, bunkie.  And more.  DIY!

Quirky Berkeley 05-12-16

The Faces of Mad Monk

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!

Quirky Berkeley 06-09-2016

The Loewy Two-Square Tower

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!

Quirky Berkeley 05-12-16

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.

3426-10th

And a half

The premise – signs with a half in the number.  The secondary premise – rock it old school using iPhone photos.  Just like the old days.

Quirky Eureka 04-02-2016

The Road to Eureka

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.

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

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!

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

DIY Quirk at Urban Ore

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!

Quirky Berkeley 06-09-2016

The Murals of Stefen

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

Berkeley Murals Before Stefen

A look at the conventional, highbrow-art murals of Berkeley before Stefen took brush to the Dutch Boy wall on Milvia in January 1974.

Quirky Berkeley 05-12-16

The Murals of Kingman Hall

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

UFO on Vine Street

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.

Quirky visits Sebastopol

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.

Screen-Shot-2016-05-20-at-4.37.10-AM-490x300

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!

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on April 7th, 2016.

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.

Quirky Berkeley 05-12-16

Bulwinkle Tiles

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.

Quirky visits Sebastopol

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.

"Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on August 26th, 2015."

Post-It Art on Milvia

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!

Quirky Berkeley 02-10-2016

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.

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

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!

Avi-in-pagoda

Avi Black’s Berkri-La

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.

Quirky Berkeley

Berkeley Relief

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-15-16

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.

Quirky Berkeley 01-18-2016

Rainbows

No unicorns, but plenty of rainbows in Berkeley.  Painted and in names.  On walls and accessories.  And a tease for the rainbow flag.

Quirky_Berkeley_031214_00822-X3

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.

Quirky Berkeley 02-10-2016

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.

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016

Mermaids of Berkeley

Artistic depictions of aquatic humanoids in our yards, sidewalks, and restaurants.  And our livery collars.

Eagle

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!

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., is seen on Thursday,  June 20th, 2013.

Sisters Two on Walnut

Two sisters lilting in their childhood home, filling it and their yard with art – tiles, ceramic sculpture, ink wash paintings.

Quirky Berkeley 02-15-16

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!

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley Calif, on December 30th, 2015.

Leonard Pitt: Many Passions

Detroit and Paris and chocolate. Balinese dance and masks.  Theater.  And intricate “structures” that dance through the air in his Grant Street home.

Quirky Berkeley-Glen Ellen

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.

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Connected to Natural Forces

Mark Haggitt is a collagist who uses detritus of all sorts in his exploration of things connected to natural forces.  Not fancy. DIY.  Wonderful!

unnamed-12

Painted Bulwinkle Walls

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!

Skeleton1-940x940

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.

"Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2014."

Berkeley Rocks

Rocks in bowls and in circles and stacked and painted and drilled.  Rocks in our yards.

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

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.

L1360626

OMG!  2233 McKinley

A house with stuff outside and Berkeley cultural history cred. And Howie Gordon.  And two rooms inside that slay.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Bathrooms

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

unnamed-2

The Best of Quirky 2015

A look back at the stuff I found and people I met.  It was a hecka quirky year.

Photo: Criswell Davis

Mike Parayno’s Rustic Quirk

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.

Photo: Colleen Neff

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkely, Calif. on Tuesday, November 11th, 2015.

Dick and Beany Wezelman

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+

1007 Woolsey

Guanyin

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-11-2015

Jana Olson’s Lamps and Garden

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.

Quirky Berkeley 11-10-2015

Leslie Safarik’s Ceramic Joy

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.

Screen Shot 2015-11-02 at 5.18.04 AM

Folk Music at Julie’s Place

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.

2573 Buena Vista triskelion

Painted but Not Murals

Sometimes what we paint is less than a mural.  Here are many examples of less than a mural.

836-The-Alameda-2

Unexpected Statuary

The presence of conventional lawn statues in a largely unconventional Berkeley makes, I assert, the conventional unconventional.  Or, put another way, quirky.

Willard 2

Mosaics

Images created with small pieces of colored ceramic tile, colored glass, stone, or other materials.  From our front yards.  Sacred and profane.

1884 San Juan

Miscellaneous #3

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.

741 The Alameda (Photo: Colleen Neff)

(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.

1625 Prince

Sculpture – Modernish

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.

Quirky Berkeley

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.

Quirky Berkeley

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.

1608 MLK Way

Random on MLK

No rhyme or reason to the collection of stuff in front of 1608 MLK.  Kanji!  And a prayer for Wendy.

"Quirky Berkeley 09-26-2015"

The Butterfly House on Bancroft

Olivia Hunter’s violet and pink celebration of butterflies, dragonflies, owls, and peacocks.  And Dutchess III, dog royalty.

"Quirky Berkeley 07-17-15"

Columns

In which I start photographing columns, stop photographing columns, and then go gaga over these Camelia Street beauties.

1140 Bancroft

Pirates

Pirate images from our front yards and some lightweight musing on our fascination with imagined pirates.

More Bulwinkle!

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!

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

2526 Webster – Ceramics

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.

"Quirky Berkeley 07-17-15"

Murals 11

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?

Photo: Colleen Neff

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.

81 Hillcrest

Snoopy and the Red Baron

A bold post – two photographs depicting perfect quirk.  Lovely depictions of Snoopy and the Red Baron on Hillcrest in the Uplands.

Quirky Berkeley

The Caboose on Fifth Street

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.

Quirky Hillegass – Mystery!

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!

"Quirky Berkeley 05--07-2015"

Tad Dellinger’s Art Wall

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.

"Quirky Berkeley "

Fairy Mural on Chaucer

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.

1137 Stannage

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.

Quirky_Berkeley_020513*00692-X2

Giant Ceramic Freaks!

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.

360 Vassar

Double V on Vassar

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.

"Quirky Berkeley 05--07-2015"

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.

Screen Shot 2015-05-06 at 5.23.35 AM

#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.

2024 Parker

(Mostly) Plastic Flamingo Statues

The iconic lawn statue of a pink flamingo is used almost entirely ironically in Berkeley.  Here are a bunch.  Iconic!

1733 6th

Artificial Flowers

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.

2339 Curtis

The Sun

Happy sun faces on walls and in gardens.

1014 Colusa

Frogs

In the Old Testament, frogs rain from the sky.  In Berkeley, they grace our front yards and gardens.

2232-McGee

Shipping Containers

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.

"Quirky Berkeley April 3, 2015"

Doug Heine’s Gate 13 Art

A major redo of an earlier post – a look outside and inside the studio with the airplane crashing into the roof near Picante.

"Quirky Berkeley April 3, 2015"

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.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

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.

"Quirky Berkeley-03/19/2015"

Marcia Donahue’s Jungle Art on Wheeler Street

A master gardener and a sculptor.  What a combination!  Exotic.  Lush. Whimsical.  Magical.  Quirky.  Inspiring.

IMG_4630

By which we measure….

A collection of measuring devices, displayed publicly and in many cases used as lawn art.

998 Keeler

Cows (and pigs)

Mail boxes, weathervanes, and lawn art.  Cows and pigs. That about says it all.

"Quirky Berkeley" Palms

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.

IMG_4475

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

Neon Signs of Telegraph Avenue

Neon at night – Telegraph Avenue, Bancroft, and Durant.  That’s it.  Simple, calming, urban, quirky.

2019 Carleton

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

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?

"Quirky Berkeley"

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!

1436 Curtis

Tools

Saws, spades, rakes, pitchforks, hoes, and picks as decorative accessories.  No kidding.  Tools as lawn art!

Photo: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association files

Photo: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association files

Castles in Berkeley

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

2499 Telegraph

More Murals Still

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

7 Virginia Garden

Of the Sea

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.

Quirky_Berkeley_110613*00071-X2

Art at Scenic and Cedar

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.

"Inside Quirky Berkeley"

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

Berkeley High School Anti-Smoking Mural. Oakland Tribune, August 5, 1978

Murals – Gone / Gone – Murals

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.

Screen Shot 2014-12-05 at 2.00.52 PM

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

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

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.

Lorin-ext-CTMovie Theaters We Didn’t Know

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

The Rivoli Theater

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

3102 Shattuck

Fences and Walls

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.

181 Brookside

Miscellaneous #2

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

Benvenue and Russell

Quirky Religious

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.

Lutheran 2

Hidden Murals

Murals hidden by construction, neglect, remodeling.  Indoor murals at the post office, BCC, the teen center, and a Pakistani restaurant.  Amazing hidden murals.

Time 1966

Gone: Sexual Freedom League

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.

Quirky BerkeleyMusic (Artistic Depictions)

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.

1302 Bancroft

Representational Sculpture

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

Signs of University Avenue

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.

1201 7th

Windmills (and Water Towers)

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.

824  University

The Signs of Little India

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.

4-Old-CJ

Gone: C.J.’s Old Garage

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.

18Allen-in-Berkeley

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.

Photo: Roger Riordan

Ludwig’s Fountain

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

2315 Carleton

Bulwinkle in Berkeley

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

Bulwinkle at Malcolm X

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.

"Quirky Berkeley "

Still More Murals

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

1800 Marin

Chimneys

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.

Elephat-1841-Addison-11

Jungle Animals

In reverse alphabetical order – zebra’s first, elephants last.  All beasts of the jungle.  Lions appear elsewhere.

Berkeley Folk 1960-1

Berkeley Folk Music Festival

We started a year before Newport Beach.  From 1958 until 1970 – a world-class folk music festival.

jabberwock sign

Folk Music Clubs – Gone

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

2727 Dwight

Shingles

An exercise in visual acuity – patterns made by shingles.  Not a lot to say about it, just photos of shingles.

Quirky Berkeley

Gardens

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.

IMG_5137

Fire Hydrants and Traffic Barriers

Painted fire hydrants, fire hydrants as lawn art, and traffic-calming barriers as art.  What a combo!

McCallum's_famous_highland_Ice_Cream_1825_Solano_Berkeley_California_SC14231

Food – Gone

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.

2611 San Pablo

The Signs of San Pablo Avenue

From the Oakland line to the Albany line, the sign art of San Pablo Avenue, our Boulevard of Funk.

Moose-34-Panoramic

Animals from the Woods

Deer, foxes, moose, owls, rabbits and raccoons – artistic renderings thereof in Berkeley front yards.  And a big dose of digressions about the woods.

Cat 2275 Marin

Dogs and Cats

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.

"Quirky Berkeley"

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.

2125 Vine

Flight

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.

2600 block San Pablo

Architecture – Just Not Right

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.

IMG_5235

Car Art

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

1240 Parker

Dragons

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

1828 San Pablo

More Miscellaneous Murals

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

1118 Colusa

From a Tree Hanging

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.

Oscar's 2

Architecture – Googie!!!

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.

Miller for Mayor PosterGone # 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

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.

1647 9th

Dinosaurs

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.

Buddha in water heater

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.

Iceland 2727 Milvia

Signs: Reminders of the Past

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

Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 1255 Allston Way

Murals #2 – Ethnic Pride

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.

Western  Fantasy Program 1954

The Wild West

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.

Berkeley_barb_v5_n9_cover

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.

Berkeley Inn Sign Man shouting

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.

Cody's Billboard

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

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

1722 Beverly

Bowling

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?

Obata Dusk at Sather Gate 1939

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)

Free box! (I only know of one that still exists)

Murals #1 – Struggle

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.

1406 5th

Trains

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

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

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.

Oscar's 1

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

1357 Addison

Painted Quirkily – 8 Houses

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!

Parker FlowerFlowers Painted on Houses

We take the human impulse to paint flowers to a quirky extreme, decorating our houses, gates, and businesses with painted flowers.

1114 olusa

1114 Colusa

Tiki

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

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

1003 Merced

Mail Boxes – Painted

Moving beyond flowers and birds, these painted mail boxes range from solid color, to abstract, to representational.

Quirky_092013_0316-XL

 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

2033 Berryman

Topiary

Topiary is an art form of the establishment, but here are five examples of quirky topiary in Berkeley.  They make me smile.

1385 Curtis

1385 Curtis

Birds #1 – Big Chickens

Big chickens.  A quirky thought.  And an even quirkier reality – sculptures, statues of, yes, big chickens.

2459 Ashby

2459 Ashby

Grids

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.

9th 7Major 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

Derby

 Cars That Neal Cassady Drove*

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

3017 Wheeler

Steps

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

1413 Allston

Hex Signs in Berkeley?

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?

5Graf #2 – Railroad Tracks

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

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.  

Browning 1Geckos

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

587 Santa Clara

Birds # 2: Painted Birds

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.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., is seen on Thursday,  June 20th, 2013.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

776 Spruce

Lions of Berkeley

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.

Talbot 5Major 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

55 Northampton

Mail Boxes #4 – Little Houses

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.

Posted in Uncategorized. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Mail Boxes #4 – Little Houses
Tiki »

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