Sun Yat Sen

 Posted by on September 8, 2011
Sep 082011
 
Sun Yat Sen

Chinatown St Mary’s Square Quincy, Pine, California and Kearny Streets Sculpted by Beniaminio Bufano This 12 foot statue is inscribed (in Chinese): Dr. Sun Yat Sen 1866-1925 Father of the Chinese Republic and First President Founder of the Kuo Min Tang Champion of Democracy Lover of mankind: Proponent of friendship and peace among the nations, based on equality, justice and goodwill Bufano has been in this blog before.  His work usually used an easily-recognized style of glazed terra-cotta, a technique he learned from porcelain glazers while traveling in China. Also while in China, Bufano met and befriended the Chinese revolutionary leader, Dr. Sun Continue Reading

Chinatown’s Fire Station #2

 Posted by on September 7, 2011
Sep 072011
 
Chinatown's Fire Station #2

Chinatown, San Francisco 1340 Powell Street Fire Station #2 When you are in the building trades you realize that building parts can be art too.  For most people, however, they are just that, parts.  In the case of this fire station, Al Wong has added art that is whimsical, appropriate, and yet truly probably missed by most people that walk by. This is etched out of the glass in the jut out on the left, when the sun is right it paints clouds on the ground below. The bay markers also reflect “clouds” Al Wong graduated with an MFA in Continue Reading

North Beach Parking Garage

 Posted by on August 24, 2011
Aug 242011
 
North Beach Parking Garage

North Beach – San Francisco It is hard to believe that a website dedicated to art is going to talk about a parking garage, but that is what makes this job so fun.  This is the North Beach Garage at 735 Vallejo Street. The work was commissioned by the SF Arts Council in collaboration with the Department of Parking and Traffic under the guise of our two percent law, requiring two percent of the construction budget of a new public building have an art enrichment allocation.     Two local artists featured the faces of the Chinatown/North Beach community people Continue Reading

Banksy in San Francisco

 Posted by on August 17, 2011
Aug 172011
 
Banksy in San Francisco

Banksy in San Francisco SOMA 8th Street between Folsom and Harrison Quoting from wikipedia “Banksy is a pseudonymous England based graffiti artist, political activist, film director and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.”  ” Banksy’s first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, billed as “the world’s first street art disaster movie,” made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  The film was released in the Continue Reading

Chinatown Architecture

 Posted by on July 25, 2011
Jul 252011
 
Chinatown Architecture

15 Waverly Place Chinatown – San Francisco The Marble plaque on this wall reads: Chinese Baptist Church Property of the American Baptist Home Mission Society of NY Built 1888 Destroyed 1906 Rebuilt 1908 When Chinese students were not permitted to attend the city’s public schools, the Church offered day school for children, and night school for adults. Today it offers English language classes and an outreach program to immigrants. After the 1906 earthquake, many buildings in San Francisco were built of brick, mainly because people feared fire more than shaking.  This of course was foolhardy as brick does not stand Continue Reading

Art Nouveau in Chinatown

 Posted by on July 24, 2011
Jul 242011
 
Art Nouveau in Chinatown

720 Kearny Street Chinatown, San Francisco The first overseas office of the Sing Tao Daily was opened in San Francisco in 1975.  The parent company of the Sing Tao Daily, the Sing Tao Newspaper Group Limited, was founded in 1938 and is based in Hong Kong.  It has one of the longest publishing histories among the Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong. This amazing Art Nouveau building designed by Luigi Mastropasqua in 1907, is at the corner of Commercial and Kearny Streets in Chinatown. Mastropasqua is probably more famous for designing Julius’ Castle on San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill. Commercial Street is Continue Reading

Oriental Home and School of San Francisco’s Chinatown

 Posted by on July 23, 2011
Jul 232011
 
Oriental Home and School of San Francisco's Chinatown

Chinatown 940 Washington Street, San Francisco I love the architecture that you find in Chinatown.  I actually think, more because of the history than the actual styles.  This brick building with its’ beautiful tile arched entry is one of my favorites.  It is the Gum Moon Womens Residence.  It has a nice piece of marble with the inscription. Oriental Home and School of the WHMS of The ME Church This building’s history begins in 1870.  The history of the Chinese immigration in the United States is not a pretty one, and this is standing testament to the people that did Continue Reading

Chinatown’s Dragon Mural and More

 Posted by on July 22, 2011
Jul 222011
 
Chinatown's Dragon Mural and More

Chinatown – San Francisco * Chinatown is chock a block with murals, and this is one of my favorites.  It is titled Dragons Gate and is by Wes Wong and Lost One.  According to their website Fresh Paint they are “a San Francisco based mural painting company offering a fresh take on aerosol wall painting.”  They are young, and their work shows that link from youth based tagging to professional mural execution” You can find Dragon’s Gate on the corner of Trenton and Pacific Avenue. This mural was sponsored in part by SFAC StreetSmArts Program. Wentworth Street between Jackson and Washington presently Continue Reading

Phone Company Building

 Posted by on July 21, 2011
Jul 212011
 
Phone Company Building

743 Washington Street Chinatown San Francisco’s Chinatown  is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside Asia. Established in the 1840s, It plays an extremely important part in the history of San Francisco and the history of the Chinese diaspora. Chinatown is the most densely populated neighborhood in the city and one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the United States. It is also one of the more working class neighborhoods of San Francisco.  Chinatown has more visitors annually than the Golden Gate Bridge. The Chinese Telephone Exchange sits at 793 Washington. In 1891, the first public telephone pay Continue Reading

Chinatown Murals

 Posted by on July 20, 2011
Jul 202011
 
Chinatown Murals

Chinatown – San Francisco Stockton and Pacific This mural is also on the Ping Yuen Housing Project.  This is the Stockton Street Side of the building. Painted by Darryl Mar in 1999.  Mar is a graduate of UC Irvine.  He went on to get a masters in Asian American Studies from UCLA.  Mr. Mar was aided by Darren Acoba, Joyce Lu and Tonia Chen.  It is in memory of Sing Kan Mah and  those who have struggled to make America their home. Walking further down Stockton Street towards the tunnel you will find this mural on the Victory Memorial Hall Continue Reading

Chinatown – 8 Immortals

 Posted by on July 19, 2011
Jul 192011
 
Chinatown - 8 Immortals

Chinatown – San Francisco  711 Pacific Bok Sen  – Eight Immortals I was stopped short by this set of murals.  The style is so obviously asian and yet you just don’t see that style outside of the asian world when it comes to murals.  This is the front of the Ping Yuen Public Housing Project on the corner of Stockton and Pacific in San Francisco.  The housing project was built in 1952, and designed by Architect Henry Temple Howard.  Howard was a graduate of UC Berkeley and the Ecole de Beaux Arts.  After a stint with his father, architect John Continue Reading

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