Photo du Jour 516
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Jay Nelson-designed "Mighty Acorn" treehouse belonging to museum director Lawrence Rinder in Ukiah, Calif. (Triple Base Gallery, San Francisco)
by Lisa Hix
Like many people, Cari Zinter is looking for a place, a nice flat in the East Bay — except she would prefer that flat to be a platform in a tree. And she's willing to pay rent for a good solid oak in a backyard.
She'd been riding her bike across the country and decided she would like to build her own permanent residence in Oakland. In the name of finding "alternative ways of using space to live," her home among the birds would be rather simple — built on a 10-by-10 platform, with a wash basin for laundry and bathing, and a system for collecting rain water and using her urine for compost. In the future, she would even consider installing solar panels for electricity and a zip line to bring her bike up and down. She says she's hoping to inspire a new way of living, maybe even a whole community of people living in treehouses.
But perhaps Zinter, originally from Ohio, is unaware of how unpopular tree-sitters have become after a dozen or so poo-flinging activists — including our favorite Dumpster Muffin — spent 21 months altogether sleeping in the oak grove in front of UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium. Failing to prevent the university from chopping down the trees to erect a athletic training center, the last four were neatly plucked out of their perches on September 9 when construction workers built a scaffolding for the Berkeley cops to reach them.
Of course, the Bay Area has a long tradition of tree-sitting. It's been almost ten years since Julia "Butterfly" Hill descended victorious from an ancient coastal redwood tree in Humboldt County, where she lived in a 738-day stand-off with Pacific Lumber Company. She had been camping on two six-by-six-foot platforms, with volunteers below using a pulley system to remove her human waste and bring her fan mail, to make a statement.
"Indoor Treehouse" by Jay Nelson at Mollusk Surf Shop in Venice Beach
This time, though, 21-year-old Zinter isn't protesting anything. Maybe she can get some help from San Francisco artist Jay Nelson, who made several charming indoor treehouses at galleries like the Lobot in Oakland and Needles&Pens in San Francisco, before he helped BAM/PFA director Lawrence Rinder build a real acorn-shaped treehouse in the woods near Ukiah.
So far, Zinter says, her biggest hurdle has been finding property owner willing to rent her a tree. Partially because sleeping outside in Oakland is considered a fairly dangerous thing to do. She's hoping to pay $1,000 for the whole year.
Contact her at cephalopodada@yahoo.com if you have any leads, or branches, for her.
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And I would like to build a home in Marisa Tomei's armpit, but that's not going to happen.
I think the readers and writers of SFist should pool our money to make Fizzandpop's dream come true.
Is that the Vinny armpit or Wrestler armpit?
I prefer the Seinfeld armpit.
The Slums of Beverly Hills armpit.
I was a little too close to Berkeley for too long for my axillism fetish to fully develop.
Awesome story. I'd let her sleep on my back porch. It's falling apart, so kind of feels like a tree.