Art Deco – Berkeley Blog Cast – Berkeley Living in Photos, Blog & Podcasts

365 Things To Do In Berkeley #19 – Join us in a Downtown Berkeley Photo Walk!

Ira Serkes — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 23:24:29 +0000

Downtown Berkeley Photo Walk

Arts, Poetry, Giant Fish, Lizards, Music, Organic Produce, Neon, Restaurants, Cafes, Deco, Planets and more

Click on the map to go to the interactive google map page
Select Street View – see what we’ll be seeing!

Downtown Berkeley Photo Walking Tour Route

Join Keoki Seu and me on Saturday 13 Nov 2010 morning for a Downtown Berkeley Photo Walk

We’ll gather at Amanda’s 2122 Shattuck at Center (northernmost coffee cup on the map) at 11:00 am, then start walking about 15 – 20 minutes later. Amanda West was honored with the designation “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in Berkeley”

The Town part of the tour will end by the southernmost coffee cup – near Gather Restaurant in the Brower Center at 2200 Oxford Street. Berkeleyside.com wrote about Ari Derfel and Eric Fenster and the chef Sean Baker named 2010 Chef of The Year. Gather is across the street from Saturn Cafe at 2175 Allston Way.

At the end of the Town tour, Keoki Seu may lead the Gown part of the tour to UC Berkeley and Telegraph Avenue

Set up flickr and youtube accounts and you’ll be able to upload your work for all to see – consider adding them to the BerkeleySide Flickr Pool

What you’ll see

Farmers market, deco, terracotta, restaurants, cafes, book stores, musicians, Berkeley’s planetary troika of – Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Neon, art, theaters, poetry, iron work, and metal/stone/stucco/ceramic lizards, sea horses, rams, spider webs cougars and more!

Terrain

Level, flat, stroller and wheelchair friendly

Distance & Time

The Town portion of the Town & Gown Berkeley Photo Walk is about 1.5 – 2.0 miles, and probably will take around two hours. Keoki may be leading the Gown portion through UC Berkeley and Telegraph Avenue after we finish the town part

Kid Friendly – For Sure

Kids will love the giant fish, lizard climbing a building, poetry on the sidewalk, music and colorful fruits & vegetables at the Saturday Farmer’s Market

Transportation

Berkeley Bike Station

Downtown Berkeley BART

AC Transit Bus

Parking – Berkeley Center Street Garage at 2025 Center Street

Preparations

Recharge your camera batteries and make plenty of room on your memory cards

Create a flickr and youtube account to upload your photos and video, and a twitter account to tweet using the #Berkeley and #BPW hashtags

Architectural Resources

Builder’s Booksource at 1817 4th Street in the Fourth Street neighborhood and William Stout Architectural Books at 1605 Solano Avenue in Thousand Oaks. I found out about William Stout Book from the berkeleyside.com article

Questions?

Call Ira Serkes 510-526-6668 or cell 510-684-3334 or email ira@berkeleyhomes.com

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Berkeleyside
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Photo Laboratory
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Keoki Seu
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iLove iRa iPad – there, I’ve said it!

Ira Serkes — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:27:07 +0000

Been using computers since IBM Punchcard Machine on the 4th Floor of Cooper Union’s Engineering Building in the East Village of Manhattan. Some people think of me as a “techy”. I’m actually at “toolie” and always inspired to find the right tool for the job.

Brian Copeland, an amazing Realtor in Nashville Tennessee invited me to teach Realtors attending the 10th Annual Certified Residential Specialist Conference in Las Vegas Nevada last week what makes the iPad so special. Only 4% of the Realtors in the United States have been Certified as Residential Specialists (both Carol and I have been) so it was a particular honor to be asked to speak.

Thinking of getting an iPad and wondering how you can use it for photography, maps, travel, email, project management, satellite views … and more? Just click on the image below and view a PDF file of my “iLove my iRa iPad” presentation.

One great thing about visiting Las Vegas is that it really makes you appreciate living in Berkeley in the summer. It was 99º at midnight one night, and 57º when I returned home to foggy Berkeley. BerkeleySide.com has some great posts “in praise of fog” today.

Another great thing about Las Vegas is that it gave me a chance to revisit some of my favorite places. Hoover Dam’s amazing Art Deco Sculptures by Oskar Hansen “Winged Figures of the Republic” and Downtown Las Vegas’ installation from the Neon Museum of Las Vegas.

Want to see the rest of my photo sets? Simply click on each image and you’ll go directly to my flickr.com/serkes photo sets for Hoover Dam or Fremont Street Neon.

Flickr is a superb place to post my Art Deco Photos

Ira Serkes — Sun, 23 May 2010 02:42:18 +0000

I just learned about a plug-in for my WordPress Blog, so decided to take it for a test drive with this post!

Oakland CA Art Deco Architecture – Oakland Fox Theater

I love taking photographs of Art Deco Architecture

Ira Serkes — Mon, 10 May 2010 03:11:14 +0000

I love taking photographs of Art Deco architecture, and I’m trying out some different ways to present the photos

Uploading and geocoding to Flickr is one way, setting up a web page with all the photos is another, and a javascript page is a third.

Here’s sample of the first two types of presentation – which do you prefer?

Click on the photo mosaic to go to the Flickr Site, the web page link is below it.

Art Deco Architecture - Florida - Fort Myers

And here’s the link to my photo page

The photos were taken in Fort Myers, Florida, and most of them are of the Edison Theater on 1533 Hendry Street. It’s now offices, but I’m delighted that they preserved the facade.

Builders Booksource in Berkeley’s 4th Street Neighborhood is a favorite of mine

Ira Serkes — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:23:09 +0000

I receive lots of magazines every month, but when I want to relax, I generally read a book on design, architecture, mapping, or art deco. Whenever a book interests me, I get it for my library, and often months (or years) pass before I read them.

Most of these books came from Builders Booksource – 1817 4th Street in Berkeley or the late lamented Cody’s. Stop by and browse when you’re in Berkeley’s 4th Street Shopping Neighborhood. And while there, browse the other shops, and bring back some flowers.

4th Street Berkeley Flowers

Oh.. and the books I’ve read in the past few months?

“The Map As Art – Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography” Katharine Harmon

“How to Lie with Maps” Mark Monmonier

“Designing Modernity – The Arts of Reform and Persuasion 1885-1945” Wendy Kaplan. This features work from my favorite design museum – The Wolfsonian in South Beach Miami. I love the museum, though this book wasn’t a favorite

“The Presentation Secrets Of Steve Jobs” Carmine Gallo

“Gaudi x Gaudi” (in Español, English & Deutsch) I read it in Spanish, then compared it to the English Translation. Can’t wait to visit Barcelona!

“Art Deco Ironwork and Sculpture” S.F. “Jerry” Cook III and Tina Skinner (also not a favorite)

“The Art Deco House – Avante-Garde Houses of the 1920s and 1930s” Adrian Tinniswood

And some of the superb reference materials I used when Carol and I visited South Beach Miami for my 60th Birthday….

“South Beach Deco – Step By Step” Iris Chase

“Deco Delights – Preserving the Beauty and Joy of Miami Beach Architecture” Barbara Baer Capitman”

“The Making of Miami Beach: 1933-1941” Jean-François Lejeune and Allan T. Shulman

“Art Deco Architecture” Patricia Bayer – This is a superb book!

Enjoy!

The Film Center Building in NYC Lobby Ranks 12 on a scale of 1 to 10

Ira Serkes — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:42:33 +0000

It makes the Chrysler Building Elevator Doors look almost sedate.

Deco Connections

Ira Serkes — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 03:52:00 +0000

I’m a big fan of Art Deco architecture. As I travel the world, I try to photograph my favorite buildings.

And soon I started seeing connections.

A sculpture at Hoover Dam and one in the Rand Tower in Minneapolis. I took one look at the sculpture in the Rand Town and instantly knew it was by the same sculptor. A quick google search and I learned it was Oskar Hansen

The Bas Relief at Berkeley High School… and a mosaic at Rockefeller Center.

The Daily News Building in New York City… and the Newspaper Building in Melbourne, Australia.

This blog is dedicated to Deco Connections.

Thanks for visiting!

Ira Serkes