Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. This building is on a piece of land that was ‘iffy’ for most of the time I lived in SF. For a number of years there was a gas station here, but that gas station closed and was demolished, leaving the lot empty and a spot often used for selling Christmas trees. While this might be considered to be a positive improvement over the previous use, its overall mass ends up dominating the remaining historic structures nearby. The link below, again Google Street View from July, 2009, may be from when the lot was being prepared for the construction of the new building that is this picture. I vaguely recall stories that building on this lot was difficult because of problems associated with the gas station that had been here. goo.gl/maps/2Z1ahVBSdLTty2iL6

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. This is a new building just to the right of Beck’s Motel (adjacent picture 0559). What was here before was a building that was most often a restaurant when I lived in SF, though it seemed to often have tenants that had trouble staying in business. The one exception that I remember was a good Thai restaurant that lasted a number of years. Below is a link to the Google Street View of the same section, taken in July, 2009. goo.gl/maps/piWJtrG8Hf8w57w78

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. When this era of redevelopment started in around 2010, it didn’t seem particularly objectionable since often it was replacing an old and unused or underused building, and seemed to be providing some interesting new design. Ten years later, though, I can definitely understand why my local friends see it as the destruction of the neighborhood, of wiping out much of its culture. By being typically 5 or 6 stories (3 or more stories taller than previous), filling the entire piece of land right up to the sidewalk with a vertical box, and following a consistent angular architectural design, the style overpowers what was the defining uniqueness of the area. In this picture, I’m surprised that Beck’s hasn’t succumbed to the redevelopment demands – it’s one of the few old fashioned motels still in existence relatively close to downtown SF. What was next to it, and is being replaced, was a funeral parlor. Below is a link to the Google Street View of the same section, taken in July, 2009. goo.gl/maps/rQF1tyVsxq4g3LQd7

One of the oldest and most durable gay bars in the Castro, “Twin Peaks”. I think it’s a statewide Coronavirus standard that bars have to limit capacity, that patrons have to sit at tables, and that they must serve food. Here’s Twin Peaks before the Pandemic – they’re at a very busy intersection, so they don’t have a lot of room to expand outside.

The Castro theater, closed for many months by the pandemic. The sign looks much more worn than I’ve seen it in recent years and I doubt that wear is due to the closure from the pandemic. Here’s a photo from 11 years ago.

Just a few parking spaces downhill from the adjacent picture, another string of parking-space outdoor eating areas, in front of a modern building with a “Stop Killing Black People” banner.

Another view of the street-side and parking-space dining shown in the first Castro picture (# 0547) – with the prerequisite number of young men checking their smartphones…..

The basic foundations of Castro culture are all the restaurants, bars, and other shops that provide some opportunity to have a sense of gay community. Given that the Coronavirus health restrictions meant that bars and restaurants had to strongly limit their indoor service, I wondered how the Castro was adapting. Though I was there midweek at lunch time, it looked like they were doing fairly well. The scene here with the long area of enclosed parking spaces as dining area is the same as what is seen in this older picture . From the older picture you can see that there are multiple restaurants in this string of buildings, so I’m curious as to how they worked out having a common sidewalk structure for multiple businesses.

Two big changes today -- a clear path towards ending Trump's reign of division, and first signs of the possible end of a severe drought!

Find a Safer Place to Sleep The signs, courtesy of the City, have instructions for defining a safer place to put up a tent or sleep on the sidewalk: 3 feet between tents; 6 feet from doorways, transit stops, etc.; 5 feet from fire hydrants; 4 feet from sidewalk paths; clear from driveways and roadways.

Find a Safer Place to Sleep First time I’d seen this – 3 covid/sleeping signs in front of apartment buildings in the Castro. Why I saw these signs here but not in other places might be because the green-tile faced building here, and the building much further down, all had level enclosed spaces adjacent to the sidewalk which would be easy for sleeping. See the adjacent picture for the text of the signs.

One of the trails on the bluff at Lands End, with the Golden Gate bridge in the distance. There’s lots of stairs and elevation change on the trails at Lands End and, even in those sometimes strenuous situations, people were pulling their masks up as soon as they got near other people. Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

Families on the beach at Lands End. There’s a reason why the city has the virus under control – people were very conscientious about wearing masks and maintaining social distance. Even though these people were outside in an area with a good breeze, everyone in this picture, including the small children, is wearing a mask (my friend and I had been down there and seen them.)

I was very lucky in terms of weather in San Francisco. The week before the skies had been filled with smoke from large fires north of the city (across the Golden Gate in this picture) and the temperatures were unusually warm for October. Though the weather was very pleasant for a tourist, that meant there wasn’t much of the fog that keeps the city green! This is Lands End, a large open space on the northwest edge of San Francisco -- a wonderful place for hiking, though often windy and cold. On the upper right in this picture is a graded flat area that I’ve always assumed was a site for cannons that once defended the entrance to the bay, but I’ve never seen an explanation for the area and unlike other nearby areas there’s no remnants of fortifications, so that might not be reason that area is level. On the left side of the picture is the beach at Lands End which was very popular as a nude beach for many years until the National Park Service took over responsibility for the area.

Why do men have so much trouble with masks? This couple had been on the wharf and wearing masks, but as soon as they got off the wharf, the man had to take his mask down, but the woman didn’t bother to do that. I saw that gender difference on the trip and see it often at home – couples where the woman is wearing the mask and the man either isn’t or puts it on at the last minute and takes it down as quickly as they can.

What? No mask on the man with the iron face! What kind of modeling is that???? ***** Actually all three of the standing humans are wearing masks – I wasn’t going to check the infant :)

Though this may look like I was going to need to walk through fairly close crowds, it turned out fairly easy to keep about 6’ from others when walking out on the wharf – people seemed to be fairly conscientious about keeping open space. AND, with the exception of the woman on her phone on the left, just about everyone walking was wearing a mask and there weren’t any under-the-nose cheaters. I didn’t want to be too intrusive with the camera, so I didn’t take photos of diners, but what I saw was impressive – diners who were prompt at pulling their mask up when a wait person came up, and even those having a post (or pre-) food chat had their masks up. None of what I see in the tourists sections of home where everyone seems to take their masks down once they’re anywhere near a restaurant.

Though some would describe it as a tacky tourist trap, my first introduction to Fisherman’s Wharf was when I was stationed in Monterey in 1967, and I’ve enjoyed it ever since – as long as I can visit when it isn’t jammed with crowds. That, ‘jammed with crowds,’ was going to be my first test of Monterey’s response to the pandemic – I was expecting it to be overcrowded of tourists who were paying no heed to virus safety precautions. I was surprised, thought, parking when I got there was easy and the city was were very clear about their expectations. So, what about the actual tourists?