"Tall Paul" Brown has died

May 29, 2018 12:56 PM

Bay Area man built bikes for kids with good grades. "Tall Paul" Brown was a West Oakland icon who lived and worked out of his RV and recently died of stage 4 lung cancer. He was passionate about bicycles and would build choppers, double stacks, and otherwise pimp out bikes for kids who could show him at least 3 As on their report cards. A bit more info here from NBC Bay Area. And a more in-depth piece on him and his work from the Bold Italic (2015, linked in top post as well).
posted by stillmoving (17 comments total)

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posted by Gelatin at 1:11 PM on May 29, 2018 [10 favorites]

What a great thing Paul did for the community. I sure hope his funeral features a procession of bikes he's built and repaired.

PS: Trunk Boiz' Scraper Bike song still holds up.
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 1:17 PM on May 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

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posted by supermedusa at 1:31 PM on May 29, 2018

Oh, no! I used to see him all the time and had a few brief conversations with him. He was a sweetheart!

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posted by brundlefly at 2:10 PM on May 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

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posted by pjmoy at 2:54 PM on May 29, 2018

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posted by mistersquid at 5:48 PM on May 29, 2018

Aw, man; I saw this posted online last night by some Cyclecide people. Sorry to hear the news, but it's nice to see people recognizing a kind soul like Tall Paul.

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posted by queensissy at 5:56 PM on May 29, 2018

That’s sad to hear. Chatted with him while I was waiting in line to see Mortified at the New Parish and donated to the cause. He was really passionate about building crazy bikes for kids
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 6:33 PM on May 29, 2018

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posted by third word on a random page at 7:55 PM on May 29, 2018

More Tall Pauls please
posted by GallonOfAlan at 11:44 PM on May 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

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posted by dogstoevski at 12:14 AM on May 30, 2018

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posted by narancia at 7:25 AM on May 30, 2018

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posted by allthinky at 9:39 AM on May 30, 2018

. And it really stinks that we don't learn of many of these quiet heroes until they are gone.
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 10:03 AM on May 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

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I'd seen him around a few times, but didn't know about the good work he was doing.
RIP
posted by bashos_frog at 1:09 PM on May 30, 2018

Clear skies and smooth roads, Paul.

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posted by Halloween Jack at 8:23 PM on May 30, 2018

. I like to think of him riding an ethereal double-stack through the cosmos. Thanks for being a good human, Paul.
posted by GrammarMoses at 6:35 AM on June 2, 2018