Only few inches high by a couple of inches wide, constructed on scrap wood from old fences, and attached to the base of telephone poles and the occasional cafe window ledge, these hand painted dwarfish creatures are easy to overlook. Nonetheless, in early 2013 the gnomes were at the center of a roiling controversy between the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E ) and an entire community of magic Oakland residents.
When PG&E announced that the gnomes were slated for eviction due to their presence "compromising" utility equipment, the anonymous maker and adjacent community spearheaded a campaign to save the gnomes. A rarely seen lighthearted side of PG&E was revealed when the company announced that the gnomes were finally granted asylum. Miraculously PG&E spokesman Jason King declared, "We received a great deal of public feedback, so we're declaring the poles a gnome-man's land. We're not going to remove them."
And so the gnomes remain, continuing to enrich any mundane stroll around the block in a growing number of Lake Merritt neighborhoods. As of early 2013, the gnome population is said to number over 2,000. The maker continues to create anonymously and install the tiny art pieces clandestinely in the cover of night, as they wish for the gnomes to belong to the community instead of an individual. Rumor has it that if you investigate closely enough, geographic themes and a variety of unique gnome personalities have emerged; hill-dwellers typically wear plaid kilts, at least a couple sport tattoos, and a few red and yellow mushrooms (amanita muscaria) accompany a handful of gnomes in "key areas."
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