Comments on: Front Porches

By: Front Doors & Entries « Walking Berkeley

Front Doors & Entries « Walking Berkeley — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:41:47 +0000

[...] In terms of architectural elements of houses in Berkeley, I’ve talked a little about front porches, windows and what can be see through them, and fences and gates. Lately, for some reason, I have [...]

By: Spidra Webster

Spidra Webster — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 00:49:13 +0000

I’ve been meaning to respond to this post for a while. I know that in my case the reason I don’t sit on my porch is because I wasn’t raised that way. I was raised in town that was incorporated in 1898 so it has a mix of Victorians, Craftsmans and others like Berkeley does. It has porches. But it was a sedate suburban town. People interacted with their neighbors, but it wasn’t considered polite to “conduct your business” in your front yard. Children would play in the front yard, people would garden, but you wouldn’t hang out in your front yard. You hung out in your back yard where you could get a little privacy as well as give your neighbors a little break from having to deal with your recreation if they didn’t want to.

That has meant a huge culture shock for me living in Southwest Berkeley as I have for the last 7 years. People hang out on their porches, hang out on the sidewalk, hang out on their small front lawns, hang out in front of their apartment blocks. I think of it as a big difference between cultures. I’m guessing that in the case of Latinos it comes from the zocalo/plaza culture and in the case of many African-Americans, it comes from Southern cultural traditions. It’s really different from my Irish-Italian suburban upbringing, though! I think there are some socio-economic as well as ethnic cultural differences at play here.

By: Odds & Ends « Walking Berkeley

Odds & Ends « Walking Berkeley — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:21:06 +0000

[...] response to my post about Front Porches, Georgia at Local Ecologist noted that she is a member of the Professional Porch Sitters Union, an [...]

By: Spike

Spike — Wed, 30 May 2007 04:24:17 +0000

As a loather of mobile phones, that is my favourite of all your photos.

By: Georgia

Georgia — Sat, 12 May 2007 00:58:52 +0000

Hello.

I am a member of the Professional Porch Sitters Union. It’s quite informal, but lots of fun. I have not held too many meetings, but I love sitting on my stoop, when I have time (and when it’s warm). (See my post on August 8, 2006.)

I am intrigued by the dead cell phones utility pole. Where is it located? My brother told me that bees and other animals are being negatively affected by cell phone technology. I have seen posters against the siting of new cell towers in South Berkeley. Last week I was chastised for using my phone in the laundry-mat last; the gentleman said I was killing bees and other creatures. It’s a very interesting topic and I hope you write more about it.

By: Eric Fischer

Eric Fischer — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:47:21 +0000

Not that it probably has much application to residential sections of Berkeley, but City Comforts recently had an item about a smoking ban having the unintended effect of making Seattle’s sidewalks more sociable: http://citycomfortsblog.typepad.com/cities/2007/04/this_phenomenon.html

My own theory is that what is missing is a critical mass of pedestrians: there have to be enough people on the sidewalks doing things to make it more interesting to look out at them than to read a book or watch TV or something else inside.