Mr. Magic performs on the street in Fisherman’s Wharf. To be honest, even though he’s pretty good with the metal rings in his hands, the rings around his eyes and on his upper lip had me more mezmerized.
Tag: San Francisco
Under the Bridge
It gave me a funny sort of feeling when I stumbled (OK, climbed and scrambled) onto this spot directly under the Bay Bridge, where it traverses San Francisco’s northeastern edge and first passes over water to the initial tower.
See higher-res versions at the Spots Unknown Flickr pool. And follow SU on Twitter.
It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Smashes Their Nuts
I’d probably risk it for 30 seconds, at which point I’d be sucking wind too hard to stand up. Otherwise, the longer I jumped, the more likely my bad aim would place one or both of my feet into the edge holes.
Seriously, how do you get insurance for something like this? The bars in between trampolines don’t even look padded.
Name That Spot
Where are these two be-Stetsoned gentlemen located? In the comments.
The Answer to Betty White Fatigue
While we were at a pawn shop on Mission Street, Steve spotted this. (What’s with the two jumping fishes?)
MUNI should totally bring back Phyllis Diller for the Fast Pass! At 93, she’s got 5 years on Betty White. I even did their graphic design work for them:
Sally Rand in 1933: Unfair to Nudism! (NSFW)
Last week I posted some photos by Seymour Snaer from 1939, a couple of which were of Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch from the Golden Gate International Exposition that took place on Treasure Island. Rand is worth a closer look, if you know what I mean. Take a peep after the jump…
Continue reading Sally Rand in 1933: Unfair to Nudism! (NSFW)
Photos of San Francisco in 1939
1939 was a big year for San Francisco, during which it attempted to convince the world that it had fully recovered from the catastrophes of 1906 and was once again a city to be reckoned with. Completion of the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge was punctuated with the International Exhibition on Treasure Island.
For one photographer/photojournalist, that year left a lasting impression.
The photographer’s name is Seymour Snaer, and the images were published in 1980 in a book titled, San Francisco 1939: An Intimate Photographic Portrait. Snaer had over 100 rolls of film from that one year, so publisher Bill Owens reprinted select shots from negatives, rescuing them from the bad cropping done by newspapers like the Examiner, who Snaer had worked for.
I’ve Googled around and not found much mention of the man, nor have I seen any of his images. The (used) book is listed on some sites, but none even have the cover image (above).
I’m including just some of the photos (in low-res format taken with my camera), and the captions that go with them. Additionally, I’ve excerpted some text from the body of the book. The writing has a raw feel to it; you can tell it was written by someone who doesn’t write, but really has something to say.
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Some of the highlights: Real fishermen using nets in the Bay; Belt and Southern Pacific trains; view from Twin Peaks; Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch (NSFW); ski jumping on Treasure Island; auto polo.
Tip of the hat to Jonathan at Viracocha for gifting the book to me (that was a very kind way to get me to stop bugging you about your fantastic shop).
The above image is from the cover, portraying still and movie photographers capturing President Franklin Roosevelt’s motorcade who came to see the Expo before it opened, in ’38. Snaer writes:
Two of the guys in the bunch were very famous newsreel cameramen in the ’30s, Joe Rucker and Frank Vail. They used hand-crank cameras … I had big bulbs and all of a sudden – a bulb exploded! Secret Servicemen ran all over the place. It really embarrassed me. [p. 24]
The following images and text are all directly from the book. (Keep in mind that when he says “today,” Snaer means 1980.)
Note: I’m pretty sure the copyright, originally reserved by Snaer himself, isn’t being actively enforced, but in case it is, I’m only posting low-res images, and will gladly remove them if a rights-holder contacts me. Check out the photos/text after the jump…
Continue reading Photos of San Francisco in 1939
7×7 Can Do No Right When it Comes to Maps
A post at the San Francisco Citizen blog finds no credit for the above map in the print version of 7×7’s current magazine – and suspects it might have something to do with the fracas over this thing.
Indeed, I couldn’t find a version of the map on 7×7’s website, which is odd. But I’m gonna give them a pass because this new map is pretty cool on a couple of fronts.
First, it’s bizarre enough to be interesting – the descriptions applied to the various parts of town are an exercise in willful non-sequiter.
But best of all is its use of actual phrenological terms (philoprogenitiveness? C’mon!), and the probable inadvertent nod to our new favorite historical eccentric, Frederick Coombs, a.k.a., George Washington the Second.
Even before he went Cocoa for coo-coo puffs, Coombs wrote and self-published a book on phrenology called Popular Phrenology: Exhibiting the Exact Phrenological Admeasurements of Above Fifty Distinguished and Extraordinary Personages, of Both Sexes with Skulls of the Various Nations of the World
Note the skulls. Awesome.
So, hats off to 7×7. (They do lose points, however, for the offensive profile of the goateed hippie that defines the edge of the map.)
Emperor Norton vs. George Washington the Second
George Washington the Second beside a bust of his namesake. (I think he looks more like Ben Franklin.) Image courtesy San Francisco Public Library.
His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Norton I, in addition to being the prototype of Frank Chu, is credited with visions of a suspension bridge across the Golden Gate (some suspect this to have been made up by others later) and a tunnel toward Oakland before those ideas were considered sane.
There were other eccentrics who paraded San Francisco’s streets in the 1850s and 60s, but for some reason the only one we still celebrate is Norton. It is a monopoly that he, above all, would have cherished; but just like his attempt to corner the rice market in 1852 which eventually sent him over the rainbow, this monopoly may not last.
Submitted for your approval: Frederick Coombs, a.k.a., “George Washington the Second.” Learn all about him after the jump…
Continue reading Emperor Norton vs. George Washington the Second
Sweet Vintage Street Sweeper, circa 1950
This beauty of a machine is shown cleaning the street at Dolores Park, which apparently even back then was regularly trashed by hordes of Missionites. (If anyone knows the origins of this photograph please drop it in the comments so I can properly attribute. I found it here.)
You can buy a vintage ad for the Austin-Western “Model 40” on eBay (and, really, why not?):
Here’s the ad copy:
On any street, there are many things the operator of a sweeper has to watch, and with the model “40” he sees them all. Only with this sweeper does he have unobstructed view of everything around him. There are no “blind” spots for the man behind the wheel of a model “40.”
Children don’t always watch where they’re going. Thanks to front steer and rear-mounted hopper, the model “40” operator can do the watching for them, because he sits in the natural place “up front” where he can see what’s going on.
And there’s another important angle… Not only can he operate Model “40” safely but efficiently as well, because it’s the only sweeper with gutter brooms visible at all times.
Yes, for efficiency’s sake as well as safety’s sake… GET A MODEL “40.”
Let the “hipster-proof” jokes commence…
Hazardous Cliffs Stay Back
Be sure to watch to the end for some sweet irony.
City of Smarty Pantses
Oh man. This is really not helpful.
I already feel enough pressure to be as awesome as the average San Franciscan, and take enough hits to my self-esteem as a result. So, here are a few clever San Francisco thoughts (or the closest I can come to clever before finishing my coffee):
- San Francisco residents already knew this.
- This chart is going to be endlessly referenced as soon as The Big One hits.
- So SF is both smart and dense? Clearly they need more San Franciscans working for the Census.
- Suck it, New York.
CNN Says San Francisco is Infested with Bedbugs
Without naming the actual hotel involved, CNN opens this article on urban pests with an anecdote about the creator of a website called BedbugRegistry.com getting bitten in San Francisco.
We’re aware of at least one egregious bedbug mating/feeding zone here in the city, but is it fair to highlight SF in the lede that way? Maybe.
There are 497 San Francisco hotels listed on Yahoo Travel, and 64 in The Bedbug Registry‘s database. There are 85 New York hotels found in the registry, but that’s out of 794 total on Yahoo Travel. That gives NYC an infestation rate of 10.7% and SF a rate of nearly 13%.
Now, I realize my method is less than totally scientific. There may be any number of reasons that cause more bug reports in one city than another, and it’s impossible to know the accuracy rate of the reports that are made. For instance, here’s an entry for the Hotel Verona in SF:
Friend seems to have a number of bedbug bites. Other hotel residents had reported them.
Such diagnoses are not exactly confidence-inspiring. Other considerations: There may be hotels in either city not listed on Yahoo Travel, though that effect probably cancels itself out. And, the math is cumulative, so it doesn’t necessarily represent conditions at any given time.
In any case, WTF? The fact that approximately 13% of SF hotels have had bedbug reports is not good. And NYC shouldn’t be bragging about their rate either.
Go ahead and rip apart my math/logic in the comments.
Hillapalooza – an Urban Hike
If you’ve got half a day some weekend or holiday, and you like a moderately challenging hike, this easily-accessed, 4.5-mile route with a 900 ft. elevation means you don’t have to leave the city of San Francisco. Details after the jump…
Continue reading Hillapalooza – an Urban Hike
Hot New Philip Bloom Video of San Francisco
More moody San Francisco; this time the streets are a little more familiar to current residents, definitely grittier, but no less gorgeous. (Philip Bloom’s blog.)
(Thanks, Sonia!)
Opposite Ends of the Mobility Spectrum
Street photography this stunning and powerful is too rare. The ideal combination of subject, setting, perspective, and of course, timing.
Here I see so many things besides the obvious: purpose, ambition, and perhaps mostly, the continuum of life. Photography has done for me what years of meditation practice couldn’t. It makes me aware of the world.
Twitter Cheats for Gavin Newsom, Soon to be CA CZAR
Also, Twitter hates Republicans who run for governor in California:
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is on the suggested user list and has 1.2 million followers. His likely opponent for the Democratic nomination, Attorney General Jerry Brown, has 960,000 followers even though he is not a declared candidate and has posted the fewest tweets of all the gubernatorial hopefuls.
None of the three Republican candidates is on the list, and all have fewer than 5,000 followers.
Hey, here’s a thought: Those people are lower not on the list because they have fewer followers. Oh, wait:
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said in a March posting on his blog that he and a handful of other company employees make the final choice about who will be featured, a list that has grown to about 500 people.
Ha, Newsom has no excuse for losing now. (That is so not fair.)
The Stewardship of Precita Creek
Make no mistake: Artist and self-styled “greenbelt steward” Amber Hasselbring, pictured above (pointing) along with her field-guide-clutching partner in crime (and fellow artist), Iris Clearwater, is just as enthusiastic inspecting manhole covers like the one next to her, as she is identifying a native butterfly or monkey flower. More after the jump…
Continue reading The Stewardship of Precita Creek
Fantastic 1958 Film Footage of San Francisco
San Francisco 1958 from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.
A film colorist at a local Chicago production house inherited a bunch of 16mm Kodachrome film shot in the late ’50s by his grandparents.
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Cars driving down Lombard Street. The silhouette of the guy smoking the cigar in the window is classic. I also like the moody accompanying music.
UPDATE: A commenter at Boing Boing informs that the song is “Alone in Kyoto” by Air.
Related book: Historic Photos of San Francisco
From Amazon
From Powell’s
Original Subway Plans from 1931
Uploaded by Eric Fischer
Hot damn, look at those McAllister and O’Farrell spurs. Fun to think how different certain neighborhoods would be if this plan were enacted as drafted.