The year is almost over, and the world has hunkered down to wait the pandemic out. I’m still recuperating from my sudden move from the Bay Area to rural Washington State. The new year will bring new things, and I’m thankful for so much. This blog may yet survive. Perhaps as a rambling collection of…
Farewell For Now, Fair City
The Corona virus has forced this native Bay Area daughter of the early settlers in San Francisco to move out of state. I was interviewed for the San Francisco Chronicle about leaving, and the photo at the top of this post shows a bit of that. I left Oakland in April, and moved to my…
Night and the City, and Oh! what a City!
There was a party last night in the old Hibernia Bank. It was a night of mystery and glamour. As with any event like this in San Francisco, the contrast between what was going on inside, and what life is like outside the bank, was sharp and bittersweet. The occasion was the 20th anniversary of…
San Francisco Retains a Little Magic, a Lot of Changes, and Loads of History
This summer has gone by fast, and I’ve made the most of it in the evenings after work. Wandering by the railroad tracks, up Townsend Street, past the ball park, I’ve walked many different routes. Looking around and exploring, taking the streetcar along the Embarcadero, catching the transbay bus in the newly reopened Transbay Terminal….
The Salesforce Tower Bus-Powered Fountain
The fountain is activated by the buses moving along the roadway on the bus platform level below. The transit center was closed for almost a year, while they fixed the cracked steel beams and made it safe again for transit riders. The fountain is up on the roof, bordering the public park. I took a…
An Evening in Fairyland, or, She Takes Selfies in Le Grand Ballroom
Le Petit Trainon, or 3800 Washington Street in Presidio Heights, San Francisco was a visual and intellectual delight last night. It’s the 2019 San Francisco Design Showcase House, and a bunch of us went after work last night. I had to remember to interact with the group of co-workers I arrived with, as well as…
SOMA Photowalk
SOMA has changed, whole blocks are new, yet some of the flavor I like to find there survives. And some new life is changing this city once again. I suppose I should get used to that, but I would rather walk the streets looking for glimpses of my past there. Even if it wasn’t all…
A New Way of Looking at an Old Stomping Ground
SOMA, San Francisco, March 2019 A new job in a different part of San Francisco has me taking many photos on the way to work. And it has me remembering what this part of town looked like in my early twenties, circa 1989 to 1995ish. Things change, but the memory of what was there stays…
The Tragic Transit Palace
It’s closed down due to cracks in the support beams, but it was nice while it lasted. And that was only about a month or so after it opened in August. With a lovely lobby and a light show. And lots of great space with wide screen destination information display, and tile floors that depict…
Gumps is Closing Forever
It is with a sad heart (one can leave their heart in so many wonderful places in San Francisco) that I received the news that Gumps is closing, as in, they are going out of business. The store has been a Union Square destination shopping spot since the 1890s. I was thrilled to go in…
