David and Paula Stetler live in Wilmington, North Carolina, as does their son Tom Stetler. David and Paula lived in Berkeley in the early 1960s. David earned his Phd. in botany from the University of California in 1967. Paula graduated from Mills College in 1963 and worked in a laboratory at the university. Their gifted-amateur photographs, currently being unearthed by son Tom, show the ridiculous and sublime of their Berkeley days.

The photo above is a goldmine for students of Telegraph Avenue— traffic flowing both ways, Joe’s Ranch Burgers, the Sather Gate Book Shop, the Bank of America with windows, Layton’s, Larry Blake’s, Robbie’s Hoffbrau, King Pin Donuts on the corner of Channing, and the Berkeley Inn.

Their time in Berkeley coincided with Ludwig’s time in his fountain, and they have three photos showing Ludwig.

In addition to Ludwig, the Stetlers made photos of two other local celebrities.

Their photos include several of demonstrations — the Free Speech Movement, civil rights, and early protests against the Vietnam War.

Steve Finacom knows his architectural history and comments on this photo: “It’s on Bancroft, just west of Dana. The vine covered wall is the old wall of the swimming pools next to Harmon Gym (now Haas Pavilion). There’s a newer wall in that same location now. Has to be 1965 or later, because in the extreme upper right you can see the top floor of Eshleman Hall, along Bancroft. Eshleman wasn’t completed until 1965 (dedicated Sept. of that year, almost exactly 50 years ago now).”

The march continued down Bancroft:

The sign for Gordon’s Typewriters is of special interest to those who find signs especially interesting. A few more protest photos:

From the sublime to the ridiculous — two everyday life photos:

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The Stetlers left Berkeley in 1967, before things got really messy. They were academic nomads for a few years — Minnesota and then Dartmouth, before settling in at Virginia Tech. Here they are as they looked in their Berkeley days:

Berkeley has changed considerably since the Stetlers’ days here. Their home photos are gifts from a time capsule: Kodachrome glimpses of a time long gone.

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 8,600 photographs of quirky objects around town as well as posts where the 30-year resident muses on what it all means.

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