Snapshot: Angus Powelson, Owner, Oceanworks

February 8, 2012 9:00 am by Pete Rosos

Angus Powelson. Photo: Pete Rosos

Born in Saranap the youngest of five children, Angus Powelson lived with his parents in the Walnut Creek area until he was 13, when, as he puts it, “sibs went to college, parents went crazy, I went into foster care.” Powelson lived in Richmond, where he attended Richmond High, and then in Berkeley. He dropped out of high school when he turned 18 and started working as a mechanic at his brother’s motorcycle shop, T T Motors. He attended UC Berkeley, briefly flirted with the corporate world, then decided “to do something crazy like start a small business.” Powelson runs Japanese car repair shop Oceanworks, and is active in promoting bicycles as a cleaner and healthier mode of transportation.

When did you arrive in Berkeley?
I made a number of forays in the early 1960s with my siblings, going to the old Cinema Guild on Telegraph, seeing The Seventh Seal, probably about 1962-63. I moved here in earnest in about 1965-66, somewhere in there. Left soon after for Richmond. Moved back for good in 1980.

What’s your hood?
The Southside.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I did think I would be a car designer in my life.

Where and when are you happiest?
It used to be true that the happiest thing was to be surrounded by mine and my brother’s kids. Now that they’ve all grown and gone, the high points are good food, good bike rides and putting together bikes.

Which living person do you most admire?
God, they’re all dead.

What drives you mad?
A lot less than it used to. There are certainly a lot of things to be concerned about, but not to the point of madness.

If you could change something about yourself, what would it be?
I’d have darker skin.

Who, or what, is the love of your life?
The natural world.

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
We don’t have enough time to cover the first ten.

What three things would you take to a desert island?
A littler Homer (in translation), a little scotch, and my wife… and waders for both of us:  the waters are rising.

What does Berkeley mean to you?
It is very much a small town. Everybody knows everybody. It’s pretty lovely that way. It’s got the best farmers’ market I’ve seen anywhere.

If you didn’t live in Berkeley, where would you live?
There is no other place. There’s no real likelihood of my moving.

Berkeleyside’s “Snapshot” column, inspired by the Proust Questionnaire, is an occasional series by Pete Rosos in which we take a moment to get to know some of Berkeley’s most interesting people. Rosos is a freelance photographer, husband, and father of two who lives in south Berkeley. Previous Snapshots: Urban Ore founder Dan Knapp; Jessica Williams, owner of Brushstrokes Studio; Doris Moskowitz, owner, Moe’s Books; songwriter and writer David Berkeley, and Heyday Books founder Malcolm Margolin. Let us know in the Comments who you would like to see featured here.

19 Comments

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  • Alice Kahn

    I HEART Berkeleyside and I HEART Angus!!!

  • Anonymous

    I wish Berkeleyside writers did not weight their choices about who to write about to favor males so much.  I keep expecting the world to be more gender equitable.

    Buried deep within this culture is an assumption that males are more interesting than women.

    I am not suggesting Berkeleyside has a policy of writing about more males than females. Berkeleyside is one of the good folks. And Berkeleyside has chick writers, I know that.

    My lament is about culture, not about Berkeleyside and not about Pete Rosos. Culture changes at a glacial pace.

    I note that, based on Berkeleyside’s anotation at the end of Mr. Rosos’ Snapshot this week, that there have been six Snapshots presented, four males and two females.  I am aware of the considerable culture debate around quotas.  I want to live in a world where there is a baseline, maybe unconscious assumption that women matters as much as men. I want to live in a world where the fact that women comprise fifty percent of the human race is reflected in everything. With six Snapshots, there should have been three females profiled.

    In the big scheme of things, six Snapshots about only two women but four men doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, but it is in such microscopic details that human culture emerges.

  • Anonymous

    I really appreciate this one – glad that this is a ‘normal’ person who isn’t (as far as I know) famous (beyond Berkeley at least).

  • Anonymous

    I think it’s fair to raise, and good to keep in mind, but also I’d say that 6 people is a small sample… it’s really just a question of one person difference.

  • guest

     What’s stopping you from going out there and interviewing some females yourself?

  • http://berkeleyside.com Tracey Taylor

    I don’t know about having “chick” writers, but you’ll be pleased to know we certainly don’t have a policy of writing more about anyone over anyone, and that our next Snapshot subject happens to be female!

  • http://berkeleyside.com Tracey Taylor

    We HEART you back Alice! Thank you

  • Wendy

    Speaking of one person — only one of the 4 people who work at Berkeleyside is a man. Two of the women are outstanding, highly respected journalists. Calling them ‘chick writers’ is way off the mark, and if the comment came from a man, I have no doubt that Tizzilish would be very offended!

  • http://www.flickr.com/parksdh D. H. Parks

    Assuming a 50/50 split in the population between male and female, there is a 47% chance that a random sample of 6 individuals will be divided 4 to 2. 

    I wonder if next week you’ll get upset that the split is 4 to 3 instead of a more equitable 3.5 to 3.5?

  • EBGuy

    I want to live in a world where the fact that women comprise fifty
    percent of the human race is reflected in everything.
    Meanwhile, in the real world, females greatly outnumber males in college enrollment.  Also, males have a higher high school dropout rate.  BS, thank you for an inspiring interview with a man who dropped out of high school, attended college and then went on to start a successful local business.

  • Pete Rosos

    With much regret, I’m going to break a promise I’ve made to myself about commenting on my own posts (a habit that, in my opinion, can be truly hazardous to one’s reputation), but in this circumstance I feel it necessary for clarification. 

    First, the selection process for this series is dependent upon multiple people. Some are suggested by other berkeleyside editors and contributors, some are of my own choosing, and still others come from people who aren’t even remotely involved in the making or publishing of this series. I gladly welcome suggestions from anyone, but I can’t promise that every suggestion will be included in the series. If someone was suggested and not chosen (which has yet to happen), it would have everything to do with that individual’s choice to participate, and absolutely nothing to do with the individual’s gender, age, ethnicity, religious belief, or any other attribute that can generally be seen as divisive. When I think of a possible participant, the first and foremost question that enters my mind is, ”What makes this individual interesting?”  This is immediately followed up with, ”What has this individual accomplished?” These are my main criteria. After that it’s all about logistics (i.e. participant’s interest, scheduling, can I even contact the individual), and while I wouldn’t presume to speak on behalf of everyone at berkeleyside, I’d be willing to guess that their interest in who gets chosen is not far off that mark.

    To those who might still perceive certain biases in terms of those chosen for the series, I would simply offer the advice, correlation does not equal causation. Or, to put it another way, the decrease in the number of sea-fairing pirates coinciding with the increase in global temperatures does not mean an increase in the number of sea-fairing pirates is the solution to global warming.

    Now that that’s out of the way, what do you think about Angus?

  • Integrity Works

    Oceanworks is a small business that truly operates like it is in a small town, serving its community in a Golden Rule fashion.  Angus consistently advises customers to do what is best for car and driver, not what generates the most work for Oceanworks.  Imagine, an auto repair shop that acts like a fiduciary!

  • Deluk

    TizziList, it’s women like you that make Berkeley the world’s worst dating capital. Unless, your albino eskimo lesbian..

  • leilah

    In your opening sentence, you used the term, “gender equitable”, but the balance of your post suggests that you meant, “gender equal”.  There is everything right with pursuing, no, demanding equality — but that’s in the “broad strokes” — institutional, political, societal, educational, procedural, etc.; on a functional basis, it *should* be gender equitable — considering the importance of both, and proceeding on the merits of each.  Were the lives of 100 Berkeleyans featured as a Snapshot, and only 33 of those were women (or 16 or 17 out of 50), something would truly be askew, but to go off about 2 of 6?  Sister, please…

    My trouble with Berkeley of the past 20 years, is that Berkeleyans have gotten in the way of the beauty that was Berkeley….

  • leilah

    Angus sat near me in my Homeroom at Williard Jr. High, and made a major impact upon me; I considered him one of the coolest, most irreverent kids I’d ever met (and quite gorgeous — no, no crush — wearing an amazing button every day).  When I moved to West Berkeley 22 years ago, I came across Oceanworks and was a little thrilled thinking back.  I called him and, though he was polite, it was clear that he didn’t hold his adolescent times as fondly as did I.  So I’m really glad to  hear about how he’s doing now — and stunned that we both went into foster care at virtually the same time — without intruding into his life with some, to him, best-forgotten memories.

  • Cwmorse

    I bought a folding bike from him last year. very cool guy (and great bike too!)

  • deirdre

    Waiting in the Oceanworks office for a moment with Angus makes me think of sitting outside the emergency neurosurgery unit, waiting for the chief surgeon to sweep in with his prognosis.  You know whatever you’ll hear — whether it’s about your car or someone else’s — will be an eloquent depiction of some poor vehicle’s inner anatomy.  He’s as brilliant, witty, and fascinating as they come.  

  • Ana

    Angus is my Dad, 
    Taking me to yosemite as a small child, he instilled his love of the natural world in me.
    As an early teenager, I saw him “run like a mad dog” (as he would say); I now do the same.
    The meals he prepares, always in cast iron, out of vegetables he’s grown in his backyard garden, are the best I have ever eaten. In short, his subtle guidance by example has lead me to the most fundamental pillars of my ‘self’; a deep love of nature, REAL food, and running.Ultimately, his influence has determined my purpose in life- I’m going to be an organic farmer.

    Love you Dad, 
    Ana Powelson

  • Ana

    Angus is my Dad, 
    Taking me to yosemite as a small child, he instilled his love of the natural world in me.
    As an early teenager, I saw him “run like a mad dog” (as he would say); I now do the same.
    The meals he prepares, always in cast iron, out of vegetables he’s grown in his backyard garden, are the best I have ever eaten. In short, his subtle guidance by example has lead me to the most fundamental pillars of my ‘self’; a deep love of nature, REAL food, and running.Ultimately, his influence has determined my purpose in life- I’m going to be an organic farmer.

    Love you Dad, 
    Ana Powelson