SF Winter Solstice Union Square (1469)

San Francisco local

Folder: California
The parts of San Francisco that have been an integral part of my life. The areas where much of who I am, developed. My first visit to San Francisco was in 1967, when I was in the military. I've been in and out of the city ever since, having lived there from 1983 to 1996 and continuing to have personal and professional contacts there that facilitate regular visits. The city was very important…  (read more)
SF Rincon Hill Sailors Union (0487)

SF Rincon Hill Sailors Union (0487)

26 Jul 2014 265
A very rough shot of the interior, through a plate glass door, of the lobby of the Sailors Union of the Pacific building. The union, found in 1891, still represents workers on merchant and passenger ships. www.sailors.org
SF Rincon Hill Sailors Union (0485)

SF Rincon Hill Sailors Union (0485)

26 Jul 2014 1 270
"You can put me in jail. But you cannot give me narrower quarters than as a seaman I have always had. You cannot give me coarser food than I have always eaten. You cannot make me lonelier than I have always been." Furuseth's credo, on the memorial to Andrew Furuseth, a Norwegian who became an American labor leader in the very contentious seafarer labor battles of the 20th century. He formed and led for many years the Sailors Union of the Pacific.
SF Rincon Hill Sailors Union (0484)

SF Rincon Hill Sailors Union (0484)

26 Jul 2014 1 1 241
Sailors' Union of the Pacific building. I could find very little information on the building itself other than that it was built in 1950 and is considered to be of the Moderne style. (see nearby pictures)
SF Rincon Hill Sailors Union (0482)

SF Rincon Hill Sailors Union (0482)

26 Jul 2014 1 267
A very striking older building that I had driven by many times without paying much attention, the Sailors' Union of the Pacific building. Built in 1950 in the Moderne style (see link at end), it is rapidly being surrounded by very modern skyscrapers. (see adjacent pictures) www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=2907#sailors_union_of_the_pacific
SF Rincon Hill mixed signals (0482)

SF Rincon Hill mixed signals (0482)

26 Jul 2014 1 2 209
There are just too many mixed signals in this photograph.... 1) the building is on Rincon Hill where buildings of this size are being torn down and replaced with complexes of luxury apartments/condos, 2) open windows??? in an area of gigantic high rises with complete ventilation systems?, 3) a sign for a fashion shoe store that is right in the middle of the Haight, an area that was once druggies and dropouts where no respectable downtown businessman would go, and 4) shoes pictured as if they were dangling from a utility wire, which is widely recognized to be an indicator of an area to buy drugs?
SF Rincon Hill (0480)

SF Rincon Hill (0480)

26 Jul 2014 1 2 241
The towers of One Rincon Hill, "in a class by itself." Units range from 613 sq ft to 3200 sq ft, rents are surprisingly cheap with the lower end starting at only $3300/month for a one bedroom (of 613 sq ft?). Links: sf.curbed.com/places/one-rincon-hill onerinconhill.com (and see the video at: vimeo.com/82430744 )
SF South Park (0478)

SF South Park (0478)

26 Jul 2014 209
In the ciy block that surrounds South Park, an example of the changes in the neighborhood. Classic older SF Victorian apartments, with retail on the first floor. And the retail runs the gamut from a classic corner store, to "GARAJE" ("Brilliant beers on tap and awesome Mexican bites." per one Google review), to what has become classic and dated Vietnamese, to La Briciola Ristorante Italino. Of course, considering the development nearby (see adjacent picture), this might all be torn down and replaced with a 40 story condo complex.
SF South Park (0477)

SF South Park (0477)

26 Jul 2014 1 195
Just a block away from the block that contains South park, high rise apartment complexes (One Rincon Hill) built right over the freeway.
SF South Park (0476)

SF South Park (0476)

26 Jul 2014 2 213
Less than half a block from South Park, HRD, "Good EATS, Nice Peeps, Grab A Seat". The smells as I walked by (without seeing the awning) were of a classic, old, cheap, San Francisco cafe -- the sort of place that would have been in the neighborhood for decades. The name and the descriptions on the awning suggest something quite different, and a websearch indicates it is known for its "innovative fusion cuisine". Not the sort of place for what South Park was in the past.
SF South Park (0472)

SF South Park (0472)

26 Jul 2014 204
Less than half a block from South Park, the 21st Amendment Brewery/Pub.
SF South Park (0470)

SF South Park (0470)

26 Jul 2014 1 244
South Park itself. I worked nearby for a short period in the mid 1980's. At that time the park was fairly rundown with lots of homeless, you could get great burritos nearby and come enjoy the park during lunch. The park was founded in the 1850's with wealthy people living nearby, it began to decline after the '06 earthquake and the wealthy moving elsewhere. It declined for many years until the 90's and 00's when the buildings around the park were occupied by early Internet startup's, some of which are still there. While there is debate about the character of South Park (see the link below), the complete rebuilding of all of the surrounding area into generic high rise condos and office towers does not bode well for the future of South Park. Considering the restaurants in the area, it looks like a hipster invasion is imminent. sf.curbed.com/archives/2012/07/27/then_now_south_park_used_to_be_home_to_san_franciscos_elite.php
SF South Park (0469)

SF South Park (0469)

26 Jul 2014 178
Looking to South Park, from in front of the Filipino Masonic Temple. (see descriptions with nearby pictures)
SF South Park (0467)

SF South Park (0467)

26 Jul 2014 2 247
Half a block from the Filipino Masonic Temple, new condos going up, plus in the distance, another crane for more construction. Off to the lower right are the lights for AT&T Park (baseball stadium).
SF South Park (0466)

SF South Park (0466)

26 Jul 2014 1 1 225
On the edge of South Park in SF, the "Gran Oriente Filipino Masonic Temple." The immediate neighborhood had once been wealthy, but after the '06 earthquake it went down hill and became a neighborhood for many ethnic minorities. (see descriptions with nearby pictures)
SF Castro AIDS sign (1552)

SF Castro AIDS sign (1552)

25 Mar 2014 173
Interesting HIV/AIDS message on a poster in the Castro neighborhood of SF. "People with HIV who take their medication regularly reduce the risk of transmitting the virus by as much as 96 percent." I found the message to be somewhat surprising. While it clearly is a message to "take your meds", it seems to also be conveying that if you take your meds you don't have to worry about infecting others.
SF Portola district Avenue theater (1109)

SF Portola district Avenue theater (1109)

13 Jan 2014 176
Former Avenue theater in the Portola district of San Francisco. The theater opened in 1927, I found no record of when it was closed or converted to a church. The Portola district is on the southeast side of San Francisco. The Portola district is one of the few areas where gentrification seems to have had little effect; the district was largely working-class white for many years but has since become very ethnically mixed The district, in 1978, was served by Dan White who killed SF Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk.
SF Muni bus ad (1107)

SF Muni bus ad (1107)

13 Jan 2014 143
Ad on the back of a MUNI bus in San Francisco. If you've spent any time in SF you'd know that the couple pictured in the ad have almost zilch in common with the sentiments of most residents of SF.
SF "tech bus" (1106)

SF "tech bus" (1106)

13 Jan 2014 1 3 211
An SF "tech bus", popularly referred to as a "Google bus", following an SF Muni electric bus. The large, and largely unmarked, buses have become quite common in the residential portions of the city. The buses are chartered by companies such as Google, Apple, Twitter, and Facebook. They glide almost silently into neighborhoods, picking up tech workers to chauffeur them away to the company sites on the peninsula. They have become a symbol of the tensions that arise as the influx of high-tech workers are forcing up rents in SF neighborhoods, while those same workers are not dealing with the exigencies of public transit, parking, and all of the other facts of life traditionally encountered by neighborhood residents. As symbols of a form of elitism, the buses have become a site of protest (see weblink): www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Google-bus-backlash-S-F-to-impose-fees-on-tech-5163759.php
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