On A Clear Day You Can See Forever...

...but not today. Today was a day of changing weather here in the City By The Bay. My office is located in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. At lunchtime, I like to wander. There are many sights to see in Telegraph Hill and the adjacent neighborhood of North Beach. In addition to Coit Tower, Washington Square Park and Saints Peter and Paul Church ( the Church of Dirty Harry, for those in the know), you can find many charming and historic homes in this area. These two have been around since the Gold Rush. The one on the right is known as The Gothic Cottage. (Documented in the book Stairway Walks in San Francisco.)

Lately, though, I have grown tired of seeing these sights, charming as they are, and have gone in search of different pastures to explore. The one advantage of driving to work is that I can leave the office and drive to places known and unknown. One of my newer stomping grounds has become Crissy Field, near the Presidio. This place used to be a marshy swamp, but thanks to the efforts of conservationists and the city planners, it has been transformed into a really nice place to walk at lunchtime. There are bike trails, a lovely beach, stables, and some really nice views of the Bay.

There is a saying in San Francisco: if you don’t like the weather where you're standing, walk two blocks. This is very true at Crissy Field. Face one way and you see this:

Face another way, and you see this:



Both on the same day! And from the same spot! I hope to get lots more pictures from this area in weeks to come. Last week, I went to the Palace of Fine Arts. The weather was gorgeous and the swans were happy to see me. Their enthusiasm vanished when they realized I had no food for them. Next time…

This historic building is one of the most beautiful structures in the city, in my opinion. It was built for the Pan-American Exposition of 1915 and is still here. It has been used in many films and TV shows, and is a popular site for wedding photos. Go there on almost any given day and you’ll see brides and grooms galore posing in the shadows of its classic colonnade. On this particular day, there were tons of school kids there, maybe a field trip. The Exploratorium is right nearby. There were signs all over the new plantings, advising us to “stay off the planted areas”.


There’s always someone who thinks the rules don’t apply to them.

The houses in this neighborhood are incredible. Can you imagine having this as the view outside your window?

Am I jealous? Yes. But then I remember the earthquake and fire of 1989 and how the Marina District smelled like fresh paint for weeks afterwards and I don’t get so jealous anymore.

There has been an uproar lately in SF because a cottage in Russian Hill dating from 1861 is being demolished due to neglect. The owners neglected the building on purpose, so they could get an emergency demolition order to raze the house to the ground and develop the vacant lot. There are very, very few buildings left in SF that pre-date the 1906 earthquake and fire. Now there is one less.

I love San Francisco. I was born here. I am one of a disappearing race: native San Franciscans who still live here. It is one of maybe three cities I could see myself living in. One of the reasons I love it is because it has such a sense of history and pride in its heritage. But there are always those who give in to greed and count profit over posterity. All those wonderful historic buildings that rose from the ashes of the Great Quake are slowly being replaced by ugly, ultra-modern concrete and glass boxes. At the rate they’re going, this town will soon lose its unique character. San Francisco will be no different from any other big city in this country. And that is a shame.