These photos come from the Collection of Steve C, who has been photographing People's Park Activism and Activity since 1969. These photos have been displayed in Galleries, and unfortunately putting them on the net does not do the photos or photographer, justice. Steve has an exciting wide angle style that brings in all sorts of detail about the event. Hopefully they will be displayed again in a REAL LIVE GALLERY, soon....

HOW TO BUILD A PEOPLE'S PARK:1969
April 1969:

The desire to build a People's Park involved a lot of People, as these photographs show. The first step in building any People's Park, would be to remove the Asphalt that had make it a parking lot. Men and women joined up in "fire brigade" style lines, to break up and remove the Asphalt that covered the land. Notice the metal fence posts used as grounds breaking tools. If you were there, it might seem that people were tearing out the Asphalt with their bare hands. This "ground breaking" activity was performed more than once, as the struggle for People's Park continued, and was covered in Asphalt more than once. This photo looks to the south western side of the People's Park. Steve C. kept coming back to photograph the changes that occured here over the next few days.








Of course, this "grounds breaking" activity took place under the watchful eye of the National Guard, in 1969.

Here is another shot of "fire brigade style" asphalt removal. This shot happened later in the afternoon, and piles of asphalt were set up on the side of the park, becoming the center for the photographers' eye. Steve C's wide angle lense, emphasizes the importance of the laborers' work. The laborers being a crowd of mixed students, street people, and Berkeley citizens, as always. Given the amount of people working on the project, the park was cleared of Asphalt and ready for gardening by the end of the day. People's Park has always been a symbol of what ordinary people can do together, if they put their minds --and bodies, to it.




This shot was taken from the Eastern side of People's Park, looking West. Sunset will be in a couple of hours, and the laborers are soon to become gardeners --the very next day. Notice the grounds are almost completely cleared of Asphalt; some people are picking up stray bits and pieces of it, and the ground (still using fence poles as tools) is being marked for gardening. Notice the activity, and the fact that an amazing amount of people are still in People's Park, working.

Next... Setting up the traditional "gardens" of People's Park...
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