’41 Ford, Golden Gate Bridge

The ’41 Ford, parked in what must be one of the most overused photo locations on the West Coast, if not the U.S. or even the world. Given that the car's brakes would fail completely about 50 miles south of here, this photo represents what might be our last truly happy moment together. Note to self: Conduct thorough mechanical inspection and rigorous test-drive prior to start of 1,000-mile road rally.

Founding Fathers

Commemorated in bronze outside the Lucasfilms studios in the Presidio of SF: Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, and Edweard Muybridge, creator of the first moving images. Suffice to say, these two men made modern entertainment possible. Without them, I'd never have been able to while away my childhood watching reruns of Gilligan's Island and Bewitched.

Midcentury Modern, San Francisco

One Bush Street, San Francisco. Another fine work by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, this 1959 steel and glass skyscraper was the first new building erected in San Francisco after the Great Depression, and it's a beauty. At twilight, its glass curtain walls reflect the fading blue of the sky and reveal the building's steel structure. If you look closely, however, you'll notice that the solid part of the structure isn't concrete as it appears from a distance but thousands of tiny, iridescent Italian tiles. At the street level, the building is a delightful composition that leads pedestrians up to and inside the building in a manner that's welcoming at the same time it impresses with style and grandeur. (The design for the garden was originally assigned to Isamu Noguchi, but that didn't work out and it was done by SO&M instead.) There's also another surprise in the beautifully polished wood railing that encloses the lobby from without, and which alludes to the building's original purpose as the headquarters for Crown-Zellerbach, the forest products company.

Repetition, San Francisco

Levi's Plaza, another wonderful public space by Lawrence Halprin.

San Francisco, the Financial District

The Alcoa Building on the right, the Embarcadero towers straight ahead.

Hidden San Francisco: Water Street

The screenprinting nun

Some cool screenprints by Sister Mary Corita Kent are now on display at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco. (Thanks to Henrik for the tip, and for doing pro bono screenprinting work at the opening!)
Sister Corta studied under Charles Eames and later taught in (and eventually chaired) the art department at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. She's best known for creating the "Love" stamp for the US Postal Service in 1985, but the earlier work on display here is even better at showing her strong graphic style as well as her sense of social justice.

Ferry Building, San Francisco

Restoring the Ferry Building to prominence at the end of Market Street is one of the best thing the city planners in SF have ever done. It's a great place to hang out, and it's a sight I never tire of, especially in the fading light of a sunny spring day.

SF: Rincon Annex

The wonderful Rincon Annex, built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration—why the Federal government didn't create a similar program to deal with the recession of 2007 will vex me to my dying day. This was one of the most successful Federal programs ever instituted, and it put all manner of people to work creating useful, beautiful things for the benefit of all Americans.

SF: Rincon Annex interior

A few interior details from the Rincon Annex post office, built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939.

SF: The murals of Rincon Annex

Three of the 27 murals painted for the walls of the Rincon Postal Annex by Anton Refregier in 1946, all of which depict the history of California and San Francisco. Refregier was born in Moscow in 1905 and came to the US for the first time in 1920. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and won the competition to paint these murals in 194, beating 83 other artists and earning $26,000 for his efforts, paid by the Works Progress Administration. Refregier's treatment of his subject matter made the murals controversial in their day—naturally, a conservative politician wanted to have them destroyed—but they remained in place throughout the Rincon Annex's functional life as a post office. They were nearly destroyed again in 1978 along with the building itself, but both were saved thanks to the lobbying of artist Emmie Lou Packard. In 1979, the same year that Refregier died in Moscow, the building and its contents were declared a San Francisco landmark.

San Francisco: The Embarcadero

Here's a piece of sculpture that makes me really happy, not least because it resembles both that iconic Alessi juicer and a 1950s toy rocket. And as a bonus, it's really big!

San Francisco: The Embarcadero

I've always loved the piers along the Embarcadero, especially their monumental scale and Industrial Romanesque arches.

Cordes Building, San Francisco

The Cordes Building, built in 1909 and designed by Albert Pissis. Pissis, who was born in Mexico to French parents and grew up in San Francisco, was one of the first Americans to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. (Another noteworthy Bay Area architect, Julia Morgan, was its first female student.) He also designed the Flood Building below (see entries for March 2010), as well as a few other favorites that I'll photograph eventually. Apparently, his buildings were thought rather reactionary at the time of their construction, but they've aged better than most and have an undeniable grandeur that derives from more than mere scale.

Banksy in SF

Two works by Banksy in North Beach/Chinatown.

Ghost advertising, San Francisco

Lost in that peeling paint is an ad for nonstop service from San Francisco to Hong Kong. I can't recall which airline offered it, but I suspect it's now defunct, kind of like this ad. Apparently, latex doesn't adhere well to brick…

Hobart Building, San Francisco

At Market and Montgomery, another Willis Polk masterwork, like so many of San Francisco's best buildings. This one was completed in 1914, and its beauty really stands out against the much plainer skyscrapers in the background. 21 floors of steel-frame construction, adorned in a sort of neo-Baroque style. As with so many buildings on the north side of Market St., the shape of the building was dictated by the odd-shaped lot, yet it all works, somehow. More to come on this one.

Flood Building, San Francisco

Landmark building at Powell and Market, still striking even when seen from the back. Built by James L. Flood and designed by Albert Pissis in 1904, it withstood the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, one of the few buildings along Market Street to do so. The ground floor housed a Woolworth's from 1945 until 1996—I only went in there once, to buy a wig with David Horii—and a Gap since the building's renovation in the 1990s.

2301 Jackson Street, San Francisco

Built in 1900 by an unknown architect, this lovely house displays the classic Greek proportions, which perfectly balance the front and the sides of the building against each other as well as the horizontal and the vertical. Note the seven windows along the front.

Hyde Street, San Francisco

That's a cast iron column pretending to prop up the second floor of that building.