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October 22, 2016 by tomdalzell

Rogue Little Libraries

If you hadn’t seen a Little Free Library a year ago, you probably have by now.

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Little Free Library is an international organization that started in 2009.  The deal is – you buy a little structure, pre-made or to be assembled, to serve as a free book exchange.  By the summer of 2016, there were 40,000 official Little Free Libraries around the world.  The organization’s map of Berkeley shows 34, but there are almost certainly more than that.  Colleen Neff has led a Berkeley Path Wanderers walking tour of Little Free Libraries, and she is getting weekly reports of new installations.

Free book exchanges tap into our cultural heritage.

Quirky Berkeley

The now-dismantled mural at the northeast corner of Telegraph and Dwight celebrated a Free Box, the poor man’s approach to the Diggers’ Free Store.   Free boxes are in our DNA.

1709 Allston

1709 Channing

There’s a free box still in People’s Park,  And there is this one community free box.  Are there more?  I need a better photo of this to be sure.

unnamed

 

And – brief digression – consider this photograph.  A group trying to divert direct donations to homeless panhandlers set up this box to institutionalize the charity.  But we are Berkeley!  We leave our money ON TOP of the box where the homeless can take it themselves.  We are Berkeley!

Back to books and free book exchanges –

Berkeley being Berkeley, we also have free book exchanges that are not officially sanctioned Little Free Libraries.  The one shown above is a side-by-side example of a rogue free book exchange, one not purchased from or registered with the official Little Free Library organization.

Other Berkeley rogues include:

1609 Curtis

1609 Curtis

1874 Capistrano

1874 Capistrano

1629 Jaynes

1629 Jaynes

1418 Spruce

1418 Spruce

1509 McGee

1509 McGee

2001 Del Norte

2001 Del Norte

2001 Del Norte

2001 Del Norte

2001 Del Norte

2001 Del Norte

2001 Del Norte

2001 Del Norte

It wasn’t until I went by this one again with Asia Colombo and her mother visiting from Italy in late October 2017 that I paid attention to the four sort-of-nozzles on the end.

Quirky Berkeley 11-02-17

 

What the heck?

PEEPHOLES!   Really?  Yes.  Really.

Photo: Asia Colombo

Photo: Asia Colombo

Photo: Asia Colombo

Photo: Asia Colombo

Photo: Asia Colombo

Photo: Asia Colombo

Photo: Asia Colombo

Photo: Asia Colombo

This is hard to beat.

2415 Prospect

2415 Prospect

1114 Oxford

1114 Oxford

1114 Oxford

1733 Sacramento

1733 Sacramento

1062 Spruce

1062 Spruce

1062 Spruce

1062 Spruce

976 Oxford

976 Oxford

1401 Berkeley Way

1401 Berkeley Way

1401 Berkeley Way

1401 Berkeley Way

This Rogue at the northeast corner of Acton and Berkeley Way is a design and color replicate of its mothership house.  A first such find for me.

1314 Harmon

1314 Harmon

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley on October 17th, 2016.

1314 Harmon

While at 1314, let’s take a moment and admire some of the other quirk.  It doesn’t quite make the grade of a major manifestation of quirk, but there is real joy in the yard and windows.

1314 Harmon

1314 Harmon

1314 Harmon

1314 Harmon

1314 Harmon

1314 Harmon

1314 Harmon

1314 Harmon

A final example of a rogue free book exchange is along Oakridge Path, behind 22 Tunnel Road, in the midst of Marion Fredman’s found-object art.

22 Tunnel

22 Tunnel

There are many communities where there are not Little Free Libraries, no free book exchanges.  In Berkeley, we are gifted not only with a gaggle of official Little Free Libraries, registered and indexed and Official in All Ways, but with these rogues, did-it-themselves, we-don’t-need-no-piece-of-paper or charter or listing, unofficial exchanges.  The rogues don’t have a monopoly on quirk – check these two out:

1035 Shattuck

1035 Shattuck

Quirky Berkeley 10-18-2016

2200 Sixth (at Allston)

They might be “official,” but boy do they rock quirky.  Still, there is something, maybe subtle, about doing it ourselves, of going unofficial with our book exchanges.

I asked my friend for his take on the rogue book exchanges.   “I’m all about rogue anything.  Giving and taking books – this is real.  It’s good, old Berkeley, the old weird Berkeley, the disappearing Berkeley turning into the pave-paradise tear-down-Holy-Hill Berkeley.”   Okay, there’s a wistful/righteous sentiment – but about the post in general?

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3 Responses to Rogue Little Libraries

  1. doug heine says:
    October 22, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    I agree with your little friend, Rogue anything, “WE don’t need no stinking badges”….Thanks Tom, a neat little bit of “Quirk.”

    Reply
  2. Nancy Smith says:
    October 29, 2016 at 3:44 am

    How about quirky gardens?

    Reply
    • tomdalzell says:
      October 29, 2016 at 12:19 pm

      I have done one post on quirky gardens. See http://quirkyberkeley.com/quirky-gardens/ Did you have any particular gardens in mind? Tom

      Reply

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