Traffic Circle

Like many places Berkeley will be much more interesting to you if you are on foot, or on bike, skateboard, scooter, or anything other than a car. You see more, you can build community, chat with others, and enjoy the amazing weather. For about 4 months now I have been keeping an eye on another fun Berkeley situation which gets more and more interesting as time goes along.
Back in December a group of teenage guerrilla girl artists, who call themselves SWAY, erected a large red painted tree made of driftwood. They hung the tree with beautiful portraits painted on CDs and hung on string from the branches. The effect was stark, beautiful, magical. It was, to me, the very essence of the season without all the shoddy commercialism. Some cretinous moron tore it down and stole all the CD portrait/​decorations, and thereby created an overwhelming feeling of Grinch-​i-​ness in me. I hope the perpetrator is long gone. Still, I was left with a profound sense of loss.
Then…MAGIC! In early February the tree came to life once more, hung with hearts, small red buckets (to collect love & Valentines??), heart-​shaped cookie cutters, and the garden itself began to show new life, as well. I discovered upon closer inspection that this particular iteration of seasonal delight was installed by a group calling themselves The University Terrace Ladies for the Preservation of Whimsy. Well, Hallelujah to you, Ladies! I don’t know what else you get up to, but I want to be one of you! Great job in restoring the tree, the garden, and my faith.
Here it is March, and, again, a little fantasy tableau awaits: the tree is now covered with pastel Easter eggs hung from string, there are small stuffed bunnies tucked into nooks of the branches, and a sign written by someone named «John». He describes what is in bloom: stalks of purple iris, CA poppies, yellow mallow, dusky blue flowers (I have forgotten the species), as well as 2 trees. One is a small buckeye, the other is a live oak, which grew from an acorn, planted by your friend & mine, the intrepid and bushy-​tailed squirrel! What could be better?
I urge you Unilocalers to check this out. It’s not flashy. It’s not a «destination“per se. There are no cocktails or food involved, but it sure is a 5 star spot. I anxiously await the next go-​round to see what someone comes up with next!