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October 20, 2013 by tomdalzell

Mail Boxes #4 – Little Houses

Well, if there is one pattern in Berkeley mailboxes it would seem to be this: if we are going to get quirky with our mail box, many of us just can’t resist turning our mail box into a little house, pink and otherwise.  I learned the word “ubiquitous” in an urban archaeology class I took at Penn in the fall of 1971, my final semester there.  I don’t remember the name of our professor.  Peter and Carol took the class too.  Maybe they remember?  But the mail-box-as-little-house is damn-near ubiquitous in Berkeley.

Let’s start with one that I missed when I walked the block.  Visual acuity is part of the Quirky Berkeley job description, but I just plain missed it.  This is the house:

1909 Francisco

1909 Francisco

And this is the mailbox:

1909 Francisco

1909 Francisco

Isn’t that something!  And here is another mailbox-imitating-house that a Berkeleyside reader steered me to.  The house:

1004 Middlefield 1

1004 Middlefield

And the mailbox:

1004 Middlefield 2It has seen better days but- still – it is really something.

Here are some of the fancier ones:

55 Northampton

55 Northampton

1629 5th

1629 5th

2124 Eunice

2124 Eunice

754 Spruce

754 Spruce

1273 Hearst

1273 Hearst

1273 Hearst

1273 Hearst

584 The Alameda

584 The Alameda

497 Boynton

497 Boynton

597 Santa Clara

597 Santa Clara

615 Woodmount

615 Woodmount

314 Panoramic

314 Panoramic

1110 Chaucer

1110 Chaucer

2955 Shasta

2955 Shasta

1322 Peralta

1322 Peralta

650 Hilldale

650 Hilldale

 

And the not-so-fancy:

2664-2666 Shasta

2664-2666 Shasta

1160 Keith

1160 Keith

 

1125 Keith

1321 Bay View 1321 Bay View

1161 Oxford

1161 Oxford

2377 Virginia

2377 Virginia

958 Hilldale

958 Hilldale

2202 Summer

2202 Summer

1385  Curtis

1385 Curtis

717 Spruce

717 Spruce

1627 Cornell

1627 Cornell

1725 9th

1725 9th

1340 Ordway

1340 Ordway

1413 Nielson

1413 Nielson

1019 Sierra

1019 Sierra

1735 Rose

1735 Rose

1326 Bonita

1326 Bonita

2235 6th

2235 6th

911 Channing

911 Channing

1019 Sierra

1019 Sierra

981 Tulare

981 Tulare

1127 Chaucer

1127 Chaucer

1101 Laurel

1101 Laurel

1199 Laurel

1199 Laurel

 

1232-1234 Channing

1232-1234 Channing

1135 Oxford

1135 Oxford

1411 Ward

1411 Ward

2017 Essex

2017 Essex

2810 Mathews

2810 Mathews

855 The Alameda

855 The Alameda

2953 Hillegass

2953 Hillegass

1136 Parker

1136 Parker

1309 Harmon

1309 Harmon

1321 Harmon

1321 Harmon

2754 Webster

2754 Webster

30 Tunnel

30 Tunnel

171 Vicente

171 Vicente

612 The Alameda

612 The Alameda

1315 Henry

1315 Henry

2119 Eunice

2119 Eunice

538 Arlington

538 Arlington

783 Contra Costa

783 Contra Costa

1994 San Antonio

1994 San Antonio

When he saw all of these, my friend gave serious consideration to moving out from his place in my library and “crashing” (his word, not mine) at one of these “cool pads” (again, his words).  In the end, he decided to stay here with me, but he was impressed with the  mail-box-as-house phenomenon:

IMG_3677

 

 

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