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.
Harold Adler: Cultural Polymath
We’ve seen his Art House – now a little bit about his life. Musician, photographer, producer of benefits, film work, talent agency, light show artist, with brushes with fame – Carol Doda, Janis Joplin, and others.
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.
Clap in You Believe in Fairies – Return to Amador
More, lots more, from Amador Avenue with its front yard small world. Here – a club house and pirate cove and Fairyland and Fairy Bakery and miniature laboratory and Little Dog and the Urban Scouts.
The 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.
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.
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.
I confess: very odd on my part. I like the names of apartment houses. They speak of another time.
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.
The premise is simple, if tenuous. The nse 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.
Steve Papai runs Automatic Response on Eastshore. They shred paper and destroy hard drives. He collects old office equipment – typewriters, comptometers, and check protectors.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For the last post of 2018, a look at the events of 1968 in Berkeley as exported by the Berkeley Barb – the forces of chase and anarchy loosed – hope and rage and fate.
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 Business: Berkeley Typewriter
Another outstanding, upstanding, longstanding Berkeley business – Berkeley Typewriter on University, owned by Joe Banuelos whose life has been the repair, restoring, and selling of typewriters.
Another 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.
On the southwest corner of Gilman and Ordway, Avi Black has translated his lover of all things Balinese into a backyard Berkri-la, as in Shangrila. Very Bali cool.
A 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
Bowling balls as lawn art. I have three. Placed there by a neighbor. Plus one house using bowling pins!
Susan Brooks – A Magic Little World of Quirk
Susan Brooks in her studio in the Sawtooth Building. She paints, makes jewelry, carves small clay figurines, and collects quirky things – a life of quirk and art. Must go!
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.
(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.
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.
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!
Bumper Stickers by Mykael Moss
A guest post – Mykael Moss is fascinated by our bumper stickers. Lots and lots of photos of our bumper stickers. Right dab in the middle of the Quirky Berkeley ethos. You go Mykael!
Mykael Moss is at it again – unabated in her passion for Berkeley and fascination for the thoughts we express with bumper stickers. We care!
Another casual departure from Quirky Berkeley norms – Ken Stein’s extraordinary collection of Berkeley political buttons of the 1960s and 1970s. We had causes!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As therapy for my desire to acquire, I compile photos of unthemed collections I have encountered – those of Wavy Gravy and eight others.
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.
In which I start photographing columns, stop photographing columns, and then go gaga over these Camelia Street beauties.
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.
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!
A more or less systematic look at Berkeley counterculture stores from 1966. Plus two bonus sections – my world in 1966 and rhetoric/action parallels with today. Oh what a trip it could be!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Three-dimensional and two-dimensional images of elephants in Berkeley. Plus an explanation of why I don’t use the term pachyderm.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Fire Hydrants and Traffic Barriers
Painted fire hydrants, fire hydrants as lawn art, and traffic-calming barriers as art. What a combo!
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.
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.
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?
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.
Free speech rebooted. Little free libraries, wish trees, note posts, bulletin boards. 1964 plus a few decades.
Stuff hanging from trees. More than you would think.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
A fellow traveler! Quirky Berkeley evolving! A glimpse at Ian Wood’s Instagram collection of photos of Berkeley garage doors. We are a movement!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kitsch? Maybe. I like them. They’re in.
A debatable posting. An exercise in visual acuity. Look for grids. Collect them. Quirky!
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.
The premise – signs with a half in the number. The secondary premise – rock it old school using iPhone photos. Just like the old days.
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.
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?
As a Son of Pennsylvania, I was thrilled to find my first hex sign in Berkeley. I found seven so far.
A wonderful memoir from Berkeley’s last days of folk music and Bohemian innocence and the early days of the shit getting real.
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.
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.”
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I went to 374 Vassar to re-photograph a whale weathervane and got my second big surprise on that street – a quirky garden and a Best of Berkeley couple, Suzanne and Charles McCulloch.
A collection of measuring devices, displayed publicly and in many cases used as lawn art.
Artistic depictions of aquatic humanoids in our yards, sidewalks, and restaurants. And our livery collars.
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.
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.
Adding to Ken Stein’s super Quirky Berkeley resume are a Statue of Liberty menorah and Donato Creti lamps. Beautiful! Quirky!
Big Bill Miller and the Berkeley Provos
The Berkeley Provo Movement was small, short-lived, and important disproportionately to its size or lifespan. Its leader, Big Bill Miller, was a figure in countercultural Berkeley for 5 years and then disappeared.
No theme. No category. No grouping. No rhyme. No reason. No unifying theory. Just miscellaneous. A mix.
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!
There are two ways of looking at this. !) Healthy surrender of need to categorize and group. 2) Lack of vision. I’ll go with #1.
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!
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,
Images created with small pieces of colored ceramic tile, colored glass, stone, or other materials. From our front yards. Sacred and profane.
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.
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.
hese days, just everybody – tout le monde – is talking about the mysterious medallions that are appearing in Berkeley’s sidewalks – spoof historical markers. Here are the ones I know of. Send me more!
Mark Haggitt is a collagist who uses detritus of all sorts in his exploration of things connected to natural forces. Not fancy. DIY. Wonderful!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An orange, mud hut, bale, shipping container, caboose, yurt, tree house, trailer, tiny house, Aistream, bunkie. And more. DIY!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Pirate images from our front yards and some lightweight musing on our fascination with imagined pirates.
Detroit and Paris and chocolate. Balinese dance and masks. Theater. And intricate “structures” that dance through the air in his Grant Street home.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
Seen through glass – lots of blue bottles, art, junk.
No unicorns, but plenty of rainbows in Berkeley. Painted and in names. On walls and accessories. And a tease for the rainbow flag.
No rhyme or reason to the collection of stuff in front of 1608 MLK. Kanji! And a prayer for Wendy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Religious Iconography: Pre-Christian
Images from Egypt, Greece Rome, the American southwest. Pre-Christian.
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!
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.
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.
Rocks in bowls and in circles and stacked and painted and drilled. Rocks in our yards.
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.
I don’t pretend to know what modern sculpture is. But that doesn’t stop me from making this page – modernish sculpture in our front yards.
The former home of Magic Gardens Nursery is an impromptu sculpture garden with works from the Artworks Foundry. Still magic.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
From Ken Stein’s files – clippings mostly from Grassroots in the 1970s and early 1980s. Architectural heritage, “Carpetgate,” disability rights, and more.
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?
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.
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.
The presence of conventional lawn statues in a largely unconventional Berkeley makes, I assert, the conventional unconventional. Or, put another way, quirky.
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.
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.
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.”
An exercise in visual acuity – patterns made by shingles. Not a lot to say about it, just photos of shingles.
Two sisters lilting in their childhood home, filling it and their yard with art – tiles, ceramic sculpture, ink wash paintings.
Sit Down Young Stranger / Rest Easy
We put benches in front of our homes for strangers to sit upon. Only in Berkeley.
A bold post – two photographs depicting perfect quirk. Lovely depictions of Snoopy and the Red Baron on Hillcrest in the Uplands.
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.
Stoney Burke – Guest Post by Ted Friedman
Ted Friedman, the leading authority on All Things Telegraph, writes about Stoney Burke, a street performer / satirist for whom the world, especially Sproul Plaza, is a stage.
Happy sun faces on walls and in gardens.
Images of the Creator and First Created. And a digression on tiki culture in the East Bay.
Saws, spades, rakes, pitchforks, hoes, and picks as decorative accessories. No kidding. Tools as lawn art!
A car, bunny, squirrel, giraffe, horse, and panda. Not to mention our sundial.
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.
Wavy Gravy: The Road to Berkeley
This is the first of 3 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.
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.
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.
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.
We love our view of the Bay in Berkeley, and to grab a view where the house doesn’t provide one we build decks – up on the roof. And occasional green houses. Up where the air is fresh and sweet.
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!
My past! Berkeley supported the UFW like nobody’s business. A little bit is left – more so in Berkeley than in the fields.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A real stretch. Horseshoes, log cabins, hitching posts, and bleached skulls. A real stretch.
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.
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.
Words as graphics. Words as meaning. Words as material culture. My favorite – Malvina Reynolds’ celebration of modest heroes.
can i add photos.such a great gift to us
If you email me photos with addresses – sure – I can add them.
Tom