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
June 13, 2013 by tomdalzell

Shutter Ma #1 – Trees

The first glimmer in my eye for Quirky Berkeley was the sign on the rib joint on San Pablo, “Open Till Closed, Closed Till Open.”  I saw that sign in 1984.  It stuck with me.

The second and bigger glimmer was an idea that Cathy had of photographing cool shutters.  She had a pun to name the project – “I Shutter to Think….”

A few iterations and later and I was walking every block of every street in Berkeley, but the shutter idea stuck.  I have seen a lot of cool shutters, and photographed them.

Ma

 

I call this shutter ma, using the Japanese word for space.  I admit that I am perhaps using it incorrectly.  Oscar Wilde told us to never let the truth stand in the way of a good story  Ditto with understanding something correctly.  It sounds good.

Here, installment #1 on shutter ma, are shutters with negative space that defines a tree.  Dig these trees!

1620 San Pablo

1620 San Pablo, Golden Bear Motel

These palm tree shutter ma are probably the best in show.

Golden Bear without ShutteresFrom this postcard showing the Golden Bear Motel a few decades ago, you can see that the palm tree ma shutters were not always there.  Good addition!

1122 Arch

1122 Arch

1637 Franklin

1637 Franklin

1440 8th

1124 Arch

1620 Stuart

1620 Stuart

2918 Regent

2918 Regent

1558 Acton
1020 Channing
1449 Kains
1440 8th

Still to come in the world of shutter ma – suns and moons and stars, flowers, shapes, a few odd others.  Ma!IMG_3677

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 © 2025 by Quirky Berkeley. Base WordPress Theme by Graph Paper Press