University Garage, 2566 Telegraph Ave. Photo: courtesy Anthony Bruce C.J.’s Old Garage was a doubly quirky joint on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, between Blake and Parker streets. To be known by the name of the former business is a good start for quirk. That, and the fact that C.J.’s Old Garage was for several years […]
Tom Dalzell
Freelancer Tom Dalzell has lived in Berkeley since 1984. After working for Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers for 10 years as a legal worker and then lawyer, he went to work for another labor union in 1981 and has been there since, first as an attorney, and, since 2006, as its elected leader. In his free time he walks the streets of Berkeley, street by street and block by block, recording and photographing the quirky material culture that he finds. Dalzell, who is an expert on slang, writes the Quirky Berkeley blog and contributes to Berkeleyside about his finds, both in the present tense and with an occasional foray into Berkeley’s non-conformist past.
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How Quirky is Berkeley? Animal mailboxes
Pig mailbox at 1198 Keeler St. Photo: Tom Dalzell The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” is not as old as you might think — early 20th century, born of the advertising industry’s grasp of the importance of visualization. Thus it is with the quirky animal mailboxes of Berkeley. There isn’t a lot […]
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How Quirky is Berkeley? Mark Bulwinkle’s steel artworks
Mark Bulwinkle on Hannah Street, Oakland. Photo: John Storey For more than 40 years, Mark Bulwinkle has lived life on his own terms, doing what he wants to do every day with a unique artistic vision, a welder’s torch, and a Yankee work ethic. His art, especially his cut-steel sculptures, add a genius quirkiness to […]
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How Quirky is Berkeley? Mark Olivier’s Colusa Avenue beach trash sculpture garden
Third Buddha and other sculpture at 1118 Colusa Ave. Photo: Catherine MacNeal Colusa Avenue between Marin and Hopkins is not well traveled, but people who have heard about Mark Olivier’s incredible — as in unbelievable — front yard at 1118 Colusa often make a point to go there. Olivier, a carpenter who found himself as […]
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How quirky is Berkeley? Mailboxes that resemble houses
A mailbox house at 1273 Hearst Ave. Photo: Tom Dalzell The 2010 Census reports that there were 46,029 households in Berkeley. Some households, to be sure, get their mail in banks of mailboxes that do not permit innovation in design, but there are many thousands that do. To an extent not seen in most cities, […]
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How quirky is Berkeley? The art of Conny Bleul-Gohlke
1748 Marin. Photo: John Storey Coming up Marin Avenue, just before Colusa Avenue on the south side of the street, you will have seen the collection of folk art: the garage door, the bench, the pigs in the ivy and the mailbox. They were designed and created by Conny Bleul-Gohlke, an autodidactic artist who came to […]
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How Quirky is Berkeley? Marion Fredman’s Tunnel Rd art
Marion Fredman;. Photo: Tom Dalzell Marion Fredman;. Photo: Tom Dalzell It is only natural that Marion Fredman would infuse her home and garden with whimsical art, given her long association with MOCHA, the Museum of Children’s Arts in Oakland. For years, Fredman worked at MOCHA; she still serves on the board. Over the years she has collaborated […]
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How quirky is Berkeley? Jane Norling’s Nicaraguan mural
Mural at 2742 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Berkeley. Photo: John Storey. In a back yard off of Martin Luther King sits a mural that has long outlived its life expectancy. It was painted by Berkeley resident Jane Norling in 1984 as part of the Balmy Alley Mural Project in San Francisco’s Mission District. Artists painted murals […]
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How quirky is Berkeley? Topiary art
Topiary sundial at University House. Photo: National Register of Historic Places We tend to think of topiary as an art form of the Establishment rather than as a manifestation of oppositional values. For example, the sundial topiary above from University House on the UC Berkeley campus screams out “Dominant Paradigm!” The classical revival/neo-classical house was designed […]
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How quirky is Berkeley? The Giant Orange of Spruce St.
The Giant Orange at 722 Spruce St. Photo: Colleen Neff. Of the thousands of examples of quirky material culture that I have seen in Berkeley, my favorite is a giant orange on Spruce Street. It has nothing to do with Roald Dahl, but everything to do with old, weird America, a brilliant phrase coined by Berkeley’s […]
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How quirky is Berkeley? Painted garage doors
Painted garage doors at 1331 Bonita St. Photo: Tom Dalzell For the last few years, Tom Dalzell has been wandering the streets of Berkeley, camera in hand, to document all the strange, fascinating, and unusual items he can spot in yards and gardens. They range from animal-themed birdhouses to Hansel and Gretel cottages to wild […]
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How quirky is Berkeley? Check out these dinosaurs
Dinosaur at house at 1024 Keith St. Photo: Tom Dalzell For the last few years, Tom Dalzell has been wandering the streets of Berkeley, camera in hand, to document all the strange, fascinating, and unusual items he can spot in yards and gardens. They range from animal-themed birdhouses to Hansel and Gretel cottages to wild […]
