The Bone Room - East bay Express - One of a kind Businesses 2010 <title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../styles/category.css"/> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <script type="text/javascript">  </script> </head> <body onLoad="MM_preloadImages('../index_images/brlogo_index_desat.jpg','../index_images/toadskele_index_desat.jpg','../index_images/bug_desat.jpg','../index_images/ammonite_desat.jpg','../index_images/gator_desat.jpg','../index_images/cast_desat.jpg','../index_images/onyx_box_desat.jpg','../index_images/anteater_index_desat.jpg','../index_images/baboon_index_desat.gif')">  <div id="navbar"> <p class="navbar"> <table width="1053" cellpadding="0"> <tr valign="middle"> <td align="left" width="485"><a href="../index.html"><img src="../set1/Export Assistant-1.gif" alt="banner" width="350" height="50"></a></td> <td width="1" bgcolor="#000000"></td> <td width="64" align="center"><a href="http://www.boneroom.com/index.html" rel="nofollow"><b>Home</b></a></td> <td width="1" bgcolor="#000000"></td> <td width="62" align="center"><a href="http://www.boneroom.com/order/order1.html" rel="nofollow"><b>Order</b></a></td> <td width="1" bgcolor="#000000"></td> <td width="51" align="center"><a href="../faqs/faqintro.html" title="FAQ" rel="nofollow"><b>FAQ</b></a></td> <td width="1" bgcolor="#000000"></td> <td width="101" align="center"><a href="http://www.boneroom.com/contact1.html" rel="nofollow"><b>Contact Us</b></a></td> <td width="1" bgcolor="#000000"></td> <td width="245" align="right">  <form action="http://www.boneroom.com/searchresults.html" id="cse-search-box"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="012433563065650268949:jjfcrpqhfiq" /> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:11" /> <input type="text" name="q" size="25" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> </form> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en"></script>  </td> <br> </tr> </table> <table width="1053" border="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td height="1" width="1050" bgcolor="#000000"> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="1053" height="43" border="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="760" height="39"></td> </tr> </table> </div>  <table id="table1" border="0" cellspacing="0" width="1053"> <tr> <td width="50" height="1048" bgcolor="#F2F2F2" id="leftcolumn"> </td>  <td width="883" id="centercolumn"> <table width="775" align="center"> <tr> <td width="757" height="34"> <h1>Press Room</h1> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="878"> <tr> <td width="870" height="25">------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ </td> </tr> </table> <br> <table width="600" align="center" border="5" bordercolor="#000000"> <tr> <td> <h7>One-Of-A-Kind Businesses And This Month's Retail News</h7><br> <b>By Bernice Yeung </b><span class="description"><br> <b><br> May 26, 2010</b><br> <br></span> <p>So then how and why, exactly, does someone open up a store to sell human skulls and drilled dog teeth?</p> <p>Ron Cauble, owner of The Bone Room (1569 Solano Ave., Albany; boneroom.com) was, in fact, a rocket scientist before he went into natural history retail. "I started the business because I wanted to learn things," he explained. "I wanted to study paleontology and etymology and a bunch of 'ologies,' and nothing beats having these things in your hands."</p> <p>Now he runs a store where glass cases are filled with bird craniums and drawers are lined with goliath beetles. A Victorian-era taxidermy dog is available for purchase, as is a freeze-dried turtle and the skeleton of the top third of a camel. The Bone Room also is one of the few purveyors of insect collecting equipment in California. Human bones and skulls, however, make up the bulk of his business, which is frequented by teachers, collectors, artists, and film studios.</p> <p>"Some people only think of death and they leave right away," he said of his inventory. "It scares them. But what I hope people take away from the store is a different way of looking at things. Like, How were the bones dug up? What kind of chemicals are in the teeth and skull? What can the teeth tell you about what it ate? There are tons of way to look at a skull."</p> <p>Last year, Cauble opened up The Bone Room Presents next door to the store (1573 Solano Ave., Albany; boneroompresents.com), a salon that features natural history-related art exhibits, lectures, and book readings every Thursday night. He also holds classes on bone cleaning and insect mounting in the space. And though he sold it years ago, the reptile specialty store, East Bay Vivarium (1827 5th St., Berkeley; eastbayvivarium.com), is another Ron Cauble production.<br> <br> <span class="description">©2010 New Times</span><br> <br> <em><a href="press.html">Return to the Bone Room Press Room</a></em></p></td> </tr> </table> <table height="292" align="center"> <tr> <td height="286"> </td> </tr> </table> <p class="footer">© Copyright 2010 The Bone Room (Berkeley, CA)<br> For questions and comments regarding this site, e-mail <a href="mailto:webmaster@boneroom.com"> webmaster@boneroom.com</a><br> For all other inquiries, e-mail <a href="mailto:evolve@boneroom.com"> evolve@boneroom.com</a></p> </td>   <td width="114" id="rightcolumn" border="5" bordercolor="#000000"> <table id="table2" valign="top" border="10" bordercolor="#000000" cellspacing="5"> <tr> <td align="center"><img src="../icons/wmark_hskull.gif" width="80" height="125" alt="Human Skulls"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="90" height="66" align="center" bgcolor="#000000"> <a href="http://www.boneroom.com" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image17','','../index_images/brlogo_index_desat.jpg',1)"> <img src="../index_images/brlogo_index.jpg" name="Image17" width="80" height="20" border="0">HOME</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><a href="../bone/bone.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image16','','../index_images/toadskele_index_desat.jpg',1)"><img src="../index_images/toadskele_index.jpg" name="Image16" width="80" height="60" border="0"></a><a href="../bone/bone.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image16','','../index_images/toadskele_index_desat.jpg',1)">Bones</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><a href="http://www.boneroom.com/insects/insects1.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image18','','../index_images/bug_desat.jpg',1)"><img src="../index_images/bug.jpg" name="Image18" width="80" height="60" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.boneroom.com/insects/insects1.html">Insects Etc.</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><a href="../fossils/fossils1.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image19','','../index_images/ammonite_desat.jpg',1)"><img src="../index_images/ammonite.jpg" name="Image19" width="80" height="60" border="0">Fossils</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><a href="../misc/bits.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image20','','../index_images/gator_desat.jpg',1)"><img src="../index_images/gator.jpg" name="Image20" width="80" height="60" border="0">Odds & Ends</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><a href="../casts/bclones1.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image21','','../index_images/cast_desat.jpg',1)"><img src="../index_images/cast.jpg" name="Image21" width="80" height="62" border="0">Casts</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><a href="../misc/gifts1.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image22','','../index_images/onyx_box_desat.jpg',1)"><img src="../index_images/onyx_box_index.jpg" name="Image22" width="79" height="60" border="0">Unique Gifts</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><a href="../jewelry/jewelry.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image23','','../index_images/anteater_index_desat.jpg',1)"><img src="../index_images/anteater_index.jpg" name="Image23" width="80" height="60" border="0">Jewelry</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><a href="../newmerchand.html" onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore()" onMouseOver="MM_swapImage('Image24','','../index_images/baboon_index_desat.gif',1)"><img src="../index_images/baboon_index.gif" name="Image24" width="80" height="60" border="0">New</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="84" align="center"><img src="../icons/wmark_hskull.gif" width="80" height="125" alt="Human Skulls"></td> </tr> </table> </td> </table> </body> </html>