So what the heck is a “bollard”? The first time I saw the
word, which was fairly recently (this year, in fact), I read it as “bollocks.” Y’know,
the English slang word for “nonsense,” or “useless.”
So where did I see the word? In the Atlas Obscura weekly
email newsletter of strange and almost unearthy occurrences and locations. An
April 8 article (“What Are Bollards, And Why Are They Beautiful?”) talked about photographer
Andrew Choate, a resident of California’s Canyon Country.
While photographing the backs of buildings, he noticed a
lot of pole barriers. Bollards. Originally metal posts used to moor a ship,
they now serve as barriers to separate cars from buildings, fixtures, and …
us.
The article opened my eyes and I started noticing
bollards wherever I went. Like Choate, I’ve started photographing them whenever
I remember to. To wit:
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| Oakland Airport Car Rental Center |
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| Costco Iwilei Honolulu In-Warehouse |
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Costco Iwilei Entrance
(These Serve a Double Duty as Trash Cans!) |
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| Costco Iwilei Food Court |
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| Oakland Airport Hertz Rental |
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| Kuakini Hospital Hale Pulama Mau Driveway |
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| Kuakini Hospital Hale Pulama Mau Entrance |
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| Makiki Post Office |
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| Safeway Beretania Down Escalator |
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| Safeway Beretania Cart Return |
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| Silliman Aquatic Center Entrance, Fremont, CA |
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| Target Entrance, Pacific Commons, Fremont, CA |
They’re actually quite unnoticeable because we're so used to them just going about their
daily work. But now that I’ve called your attention to bollards, I bet you’re
going to notice them all over the place.
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