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October 20, 2014 by tomdalzell

Windmills (and Water Towers)

In Berkeley, we are often accused of tilting at windmills, a phrase taken, as every schoolboy knows, from Cervantes and his Don Quixote.  The literary meaning is not particularly kind – to fight imagined enemies.  A kinder and gentler sense exists, of engaging in impractical, idealistic ventures.  The image of a 16th century Spanish knight engaging in battle with windmills is, whatever the meaning, a powerful and enduring one.

We see images of a windmill at many corner grocery stores:

1468 6th

1468 6th

2707 College

2707 College

Farms in Berkeley?  Windmills in Berkeley?

Novato

Yes, at least to the windmills.  The Berkeley Farms restaurant pictured above was in Novato.  As for our windmills, most are slightly kitschy models, but a few are functioning.

Photo: BAHA Archives

Photo: BAHA Archives

This photo on Derby Street was taken in 1912. Not there any more.  But these are:

1622 Fairview

1622 Fairview

2924 Derby

2924 Derby

1471 Blake

1471 Blake

31 Bret Harte

31 Bret Harte

2634 McGee

2634 McGee

1808 Bancroft

1808 Bancroft

1311 Poe

1311 Poe

2234 Browning

2234 Browning

1725 9th

1725 9th

1802 Curtis

1802 Curtis

1735 McGee

1735 McGee

425 Michigan

425 Michigan

Malcolm X School, Garden

Malcolm X School, Garden

As for those that function – my across-the-street neighbor had two windmills in his backyard.  He was a resourceful and clever man, who used the windmills to draw water from the ground to water his lawn and garden.

1156 Oxford

1156 Oxford

My neighbor died last year and the windmills have been neglected.  One still works.  One doesn’t.

t think that this beauty on Idaho generates power.

3230 Idaho

3230 Idaho

When you are near it and the wind is blowing, you can hear and feel the throbbing vibrations.

And now – a photographic segue from windmills to water towers.

1201 7th

1201 7th

That is now.

d975cabf5248a335b80bf8518396225d

This is then.   Same place.

When we think of water towers, we think of rural California.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We think of New York City.

Photo: Michael Kirby Smith, New York Times

Photo: Michael Kirby Smith, New York Times

Or we think of steam locomotives and towers along railroad tracks.

Train

But we don’t think of Berkeley.

Water Tower Berkeley New JerseyPsych!  This is in New Jersey.

If we think of one, it is just north of Asbhy, near Orchard Supply Hardware:

9th and Heinz

9th and Heinz

The OSH water tower is visible in a previous incarnation.

07_bigHere it is, World War II, in the middle of Camp  Ashby, home to the 779th Military Police Battalion, an African-American unit.

There are a few more.

2634 McGee

2634 McGee

Admitted – this is a model, not what you probably expected.  Well, how about this: the tower at 1805 Delaware has been in-built:

1805 Delaware

1805 Delaware

1805 Delaware 2

1805 Delaware

As has one on California, only here the tower is gone and the in-built remains.

3342 California

My friend likes wind mills but is really crazy about water towers.  He has a small collection of photos of water towers as sculpture, sent to him over the years by friends.

Seneca, South Carolina

Seneca, South Carolina

Collinsville, Illinois

Collinsville, Illinois

Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Plant City, Florida

Plant City, Florida

Rochester, Minnestota

Rochester, Minnestota

Clanton, Alabama

Clanton, Alabama

Pretty cool.  He wishes that we had something like that in Berkeley.  Don’t we all?  But this is beside the point.  What about our run-of-the-mill water towers and wind mills?

IMG_3677

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