A fancy hat is the star of the show at Fountain celebration

October 17, 2011 7:00 am by Tracey Taylor

Former Mayor of Berkeley Shirley Dean wearing "the hat". Photos: Nancy Rubin

Many people turned out on Sunday for the 100th anniversary celebration of the Fountain at the Circle in north Berkeley. But, despite the beloved landmark being the center of attention, it was a hat which threatened to steal the show.

Shirley Dean, the former Mayor of Berkeley, was wearing the broad-brimmed velvet hat which is decorated with clusters of appliquéd flowers and leaves. Dean also wore the hat to the 1996 ceremony held to mark the fountain’s restoration. And — most remarkably — her husband Dan Dean’s grandmother, Margaret, wore the very same hat to the inauguration of the original fountain in 1911.

Children enjoy the water at the Fountain at the Circle's 100th birthday celebration

Cutting the birthday cake at the event, which was organized by Friends of the Fountain and Walk

The fountain at nightfall on the day of its 100th birthday

See more photos of the Fountain centennial celebrations in Berkeleyside’s Flickr pool.

Related:
One of Berkeley’s most beloved landmarks turns 100 [10.11.11]

7 Comments

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  • velo_rooster

    It was a great celebration and neighborhood event. And a good time to note that the traffic circle should have all “yield” signs instead of a couple yields (for Arlington and Marin) and the rest stop signs. It makes for an often dangerous and confusing situation, esp for a cyclist or driver entering from Los Angeles Ave. in the uphill direction. Don’t get me wrong, I love the circle and the fountain….just want to note that Berkeley should buck the American ambivalence with traffic circles which leads to these weird yield/stop combinations and just go yield all the way! Here’s to another 100 years!

  • Charles_Siegel

    When I use the circle, I tend to think it should have all Stop signs.  I agree that the combination of Stop and Yield is confusing.  But wouldn’t it be safer to have all Stops, rather than all Yields? 

  • https://launchpad.net/~stefanlasiewski Stefan Lasiewski

    Would this change anything? Drivers often treat stops as yields anyways.

  • velo_rooster

    People entering the circle from the arlington often fly around the (blind) curve and in b/c they have the confidence of a yield and know everyone else has a stop. they would be a lot more careful if they knew all had a yield. that is how it works everywhere else in the world and it works quite well. cars (or bikes) in the circle get right of way, others must yield to get in. much simpler and clearer for all involved…

  • Charles_Siegel

    In response to Stefan, drivers often treat stops as yields, but drivers often treat yields as “ignore this sign.”  I think we would get more cautious behavior with Stop signs.

    In  response to velo_rooster and Stefan, that problem of people entering entering from the Arlington is a perfect example of drivers treating yields as “ignore this sign.”  It would be solved if we converted that Yield into a stop sign.

    In response to velo_rooster’s statement that with yields, “cars (or bikes) in the circle get right of way”: I wish it were true, but a lot of the drivers seem to play chicken at that circle – particularly with bikes.  When I bike there, I don’t feel that the Yields make me safe at all. 

  • http://www.flickr.com/parksdh D. H. Parks
  • http://www.mishalov.net/photopage.html Neil Mishalov

    That is a wonderful picture of Mayor Shirley Dean.