Author: Jeff Diehl

The Best Thing About ‘Up in the Air’ Was San Francisco in the Title Sequence

The Best Thing About 'Up in the Air' was San Francisco in the Title Sequenc

An effective title sequence can give a film a lot of good will in the mind of the viewer while the filmmaker tries to establish what’s necessary to draw folks in. If there was an Oscar category for Best Title Sequence (it has been suggested, and was rejected in 1999), “Up in the Air” would have gotten a vote from me, were I a voting member.

And not just because it features San Francisco very prominently. (You may recall that there are a total of 3 shots of San Francisco from the air in this sequence – watch it here.) More after the jump…
Continue reading The Best Thing About ‘Up in the Air’ Was San Francisco in the Title Sequence

Possibly the Best Use of San Francisco in a Film, Ever

Possibly the Best Use of San Francisco in a Film, Ever

Sure, we’ve got Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Streets of San Francisco, and Trauma. But hot damn, if this isn’t the awesomest use of a San Francisco setting for a film sequence I’ve seen yet…

It’s from the 1958 noir, The Lineup, and I challenge you to watch to the end of this 9-minute collection of clips. I promise you, if you haven’t seen it before, the reward is tremendous.

Not only do you get to see the outside and inside of the Sutro Baths just 8 years before they burned down during demolition, but what’s happening in these shots is downright fascinating. I won’t spoil it except to say it involves one terribly sketchy Eli Wallach, a mysterious dude in a wheelchair, a cop, a blimp, and nuns.

Oh, and a climactic act of violence that has to be seen to be believed.

Part of me now wants to see the whole movie, but part of me just wants to hold in my memory the jarring assembly of clips below as a unified and complete work in itself. Check it out:

Sutro Baths Fire, 1966, San Francisco
Sutro Baths fire, 1966. Photo Copyright Brad Schram

(Video Spotted @)

Snow on Mission Street!

Snow on Mission Street, San Francisco!

This stuff fell from the sky just a few minutes ago and I’m calling it snow.

You think I’m wrong, but try walking up the stairs from 16th/Mission BART while water is cascading back down, stepping carefully over a whitened sidewalk, and checking the wonder on kids’ faces – and then pay heed to this “distinction”:

Hail and snow are formed by different processes and thus look quite
different, although both are composed of ice.

Snowflakes are composed of single or conglomerated ice
crystals, whereas hail is a ball of ice.

Snowflakes form when an ice crystal grows in very cold air
at the expense of surrounding water vapor.
By the way, there are many other shapes of ice crystals
(platelets, columns, etc.) that can form in a similar way,
but under different atmospheric conditions.

Hail usually starts as a frozen drop of water on a soil or
pollutant particle. The frozen drop is repeatedly carried aloft
and dropped by strong updrafts and down-drafts in a thunderstorm.
As the hailstone rises and falls, super-cooled water droplets
freeze to its surface, enlarging it.

Both snowflakes and hail drop from the clouds where they formed
when they become too heavy for the upward atmospheric motions
in the clouds to support them.

Did I mentioned it snowed on Mission Street just now?

Albion Brewery & Castle

Albion Brewery & Castle, San Francisco

In 1870, an enterprising English immigrant to San Francisco built a castle home on top of a secret cavern spring and used its cold, pure water to brew beer.

Albion Porter & Ale Brewery lasted until 1919 when Prohibition forced it to close. It was resurrected in 1928 as Albion Water Company, selling bottled water, which it did until 1947.

It was almost destroyed to make room for a freeway in 1961, but survived. It stands today on its original spot in Hunter’s Point. The caverns still exist as well, and the spring generates 10,000 gallons of fresh water every day, which empties into the Bay. (The castle once served as the office for Laughing Squid‘s web hosting tech support crew.)

It went up for sale in September 2009 as a private residence for $2.9 million. Does anyone know its current status?

Here are some brand new photos of the caverns, posted to the Oakland Museum of California‘s Facebook page.

Info links: 1, 2, 3, 4

Albion Brewery & Castle, San Francisco

Pony Express Turns 150

Pony Express Turns 150; photo by bikingantoine

Amidst all the furor over the impending USPS apocalypse, we might take a moment to remember that April 3rd is the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express.

It delivered mail between St. Joseph, Missouri and San Francisco in about 10 days – half the time claimed by stagecoach (it promised 23 days, but was almost always much, much longer). But the Express operated for only 18 months until the telegraph’s westward expansion obsoleted it.

During its short life, it embodied and perpetuated cultural motifs such as “cowboy vs. Indian,” “man vs. technology,” and the gold/silver rush.

It has remained highly romanticized to this day, with both Wells Fargo and the USPS appropriating the “Pony Express” mark for subsequent branding efforts.

Some fun facts:

  • 600 “horses” (some were mules!) and 75 riders were in the fleet, each galloping about 60 miles until reaching the next relay station.
  • The riders were usually teenaged boys.
  • Horse and rider rode a riverboat from Sacramento to San Francisco for the final relay of the trip.
  • Stories exist of ads saying, ““Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 a week.” The stories have never been corroborated.

Links: 1, 2, 3

Curbside Brick-Oven Pizza

Curbside Brick-Oven Pizza, San Francisco

Our group was already a little ashamed as we were walking to Flour + Water, a pizza joint we’d previously decided was over-rated, with its soggy crust and limited menu (only two kinds of beer? please).

But then, not two blocks from my house, outside Homestead, appears a couple of folks cooking wood-fired pizzas on the street!

It smelled so good, and the ingredients looked ultra-fresh, but alas, we had a gift card for F+W. So, pushing through our regret that we’d never seen these guys here before, despite the fact they’ve been doing this every Thursday night for the last 6 weeks, we sulked off to our lesser destiny.

We will definitely see you next week, Pizza Politana!

Here’s their menu:

Curbside Brick-Oven Pizza, San Francisco

“Playland at the Beach” Documentary Premier

Playland at the Beach

This now-extinct amusement park at Ocean Beach was established in the 1880s and dismantled in 1972. It has a rich, weird history. Rick Prelinger unveiled some great amateur footage in his latest Lost Landscapes screening in December.

On March 16th, the Balboa Theater will premier a full-length documentary about the park by Tom Wyrsch.

Gone now for more than 3 decades, it remains one of the city’s lost treasures. Go back in time to see Laffing Sal, the Fun House, the Carousel, the Big Dipper, the Diving Bell, Dark Mystery, Limbo, Fun-tier Town, and much, much more, all through the eyes of the people that were there. The first and only documentary ever made about Playland.

Playland Documentary, San Francisco

(Spotted @SF_Explorers)

Google Teases SF With Promise of Fiber Internet Roll-out

Google Laying Fiber in San Francisco?

The SF Examiner reports that Google will make its initial presentation to the Committee on Information Technology (COIT) regarding its desire to bring ultra high-speed internet access to the city as part of a nationwide trial program. According to Google Project Manager James Kelly:

“We plan to provide fiber to the home service with speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second for at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people. In selected locations we’ll offer Internet connections up to 100 times faster than many Americans have access to today – and at competitive prices.”

Google will speak to COIT on Thursday morning.

I want to believe. Having said that, some of us remember the whole free city-wide wi-fi debacle, and even past promises of fiber.

(spotted @)

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-13

SFDPH Warns About Pillow-Fight Eye Injuries

2008 San Francisco Pillow Fight from the Flickr stream of 37 °C

Pillow Fight Eye Injury

We loves us a good pillow fight as much as the next guy, but this press release just sent out by the Department of Public Health suggests they aren’t as “soft and fluffy” as they seem. It includes the above nasty photo and cliams:

Hospital records show that 17 individuals with a range of injuries were admitted to the emergency room after last year’s pillow fight in Justin Herman Plaza.

“Folks should be aware of the danger of corneal abrasion, penetrating injuries, and even orbital fractures,” according to [Director of Health Mitchell H. Katz, MD].

While feathers are soft and pillows as a whole don’t tend to injure, a quick scrape of the edge of some fabric can cause serious harm, said Katz. Not to mention the occasional wild swing that results in the collision of a person’s clenched fist with a sensitive region like the eye. We recommend refraining from such public displays of violence, even if they are out of an innocent desire to have fun.

Be safe out there, kids.

UPDATE 2/14/2010: This post is a joke.