How Quirky is Berkeley? Doors

You will see far more fancifully painted doors in Berkeley than in most cities. Here are just a few of them.

1231 Curtis Street. Photo: John Storey — 1231 Curtis St. Photo: John Storey

Doors are great for metaphors. They represent mystery, hope, opportunity, change, or closure — when you have one shut in your face. They are also great for painting or decoration, as shown here.

6 Vallejo Street. Photo: Colleen Neff — 6 Vallejo St. Photo: Colleen Neff

1320 Talbot Avenue. Photo: John Storey — 1320 Talbot Ave. Photo: John Storey

2216 Blake Street. Photo: John Storey — 2216 Blake St. Photo: John Storey

2732 Derby Street. Photo: John Storey — 2732 Derby St. Photo: Tom Dalzell

2530 San Pablo (painted by Stefen); photo: John Storey — 2530 San Pablo Ave. (painted by Stefen). Photo: John Storey

Kingman Hall, 1730 La Loma Avenue. Photo: John Storey — Kingman Hall, 1730 La Loma Ave. Photo: John Storey

These doors inspire. They are not uniquely of Berkeley, but you will see far more fancifully painted doors here than in most cities. And, as mentioned, they are great metaphors. For my favorite door metaphor of the moment, I would have to go with Steve Winwood’s Back in the High Life Again: “All the doors I closed one time will open up again.”

Opportunity, hope, the future.

Tom Dalzell, a labor lawyer, created a website, Quirky Berkeley, to share all the whimsical objects he has captured with his iPhone. The site now has more than 8,000 photographs of quirky objects around town as well as posts where the 30-plus-year resident muses on what it all means.

For a fuller version of this post, see Quirky Berkeley.