Category: Zoo
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Little Puffer
San Francisco Zoo At the area between Grizzly Gulch and The South American Area Little Puffer is believed to have been built by the Cagney Brothers’ Miniature Railroad Company around 1904. Herbert Fleishhacker purchased the train in 1925 and installed it at the new Herbert Fleishhacker Zoo, where it remained for 53 years. The history of Little…
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Dr. Burt Brent and his Hippopatomus
San Francisco Zoo Sloat and The Great Highway Lakeside This hippopotamus is not only a wonderful sculpture but a favorite climbing creature in the San Francisco Zoo. Heavyweight was sculpted by Dr. Burt Brent of Portola Valley. According to a 2007 article in the Almanac: Dr. Burt Brent, a plastic surgeon with an office in…
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What are those ruins in the parking lot of the San Francisco Zoo?
San Francisco Zoo The Parking Lot Sloat and The Great Highway This small monument is a remnant of a once great institution of San Francisco, the Fleishacker Pool. Fleishhacker Pool, like the San Francisco Zoo, was a gift to San Francisco by Herbert Fleishhacker. The idea, conceived by John McLaren, designer of Golden Gate Park, was…
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Barnyard Watchdogs
San Francisco Zoo Entry to the Children’s Zoo Barnyard Watchdogs by Burt Brent This cute sculpture and climbing item is by Dr. Burt Brent. Dr. Brent is a reconstructive plastic surgeon best known for his work in reconstructing the absent outer ear. He has repaired ear defects in 1,800 patients, most of them children born with…
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Hearst Grizzly Gulch
San Francisco Zoo This grizzly by Tom Schrey graces the Hearst Grizzly Gulch building at the SF Zoo. Tom has a degree from California College of the Arts and presently works at Artworks Foundry. The following was excerpted from a June 15, 2007 SF Gate article by Patricia Yollin: Three summers ago, two…
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California Grizzly
San Francisco Zoo In Front of the California Grizzly Exhibit This Grizzly sculpture is by Scientific Art Studio. From their website: We are designers, sculptors, painters, welders, builders, crafters, fabricators, and – above all – dreamers. We live to see the world through new eyes, to laugh and play like children, and to explore boldly…
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Bruton Sisters WPA Mural at the San Francisco Zoo
San Francisco Zoo Mother’s Building These murals, on the Mother’s Building at the San Francisco Zoo were WPA projects. They were done by three sisters: Esther Bruton, Helen Bruton and Margaret Bruton. Helen Bruton has murals in downtown San Francisco that you can read about here. Here is an excerpt explaining the sisters work on the…
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The Carved Tree of San Francisco Zoo
San Francisco Zoo In Front of the Mother’s House Lakeside This carved seat, surrounded by animals was done by Sean Eagleton, well known for his huge wood carvings on long dead trees. He prefers to call them “healing poles”. Shane feels that the huge healing poles, once planted at various points all over this earth…
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Gwynn Murrill at the San Francisco Zoo
San Francisco Zoo Sloat and The Great Highway Lakeside Cougar III by Gwynn Murrill Gwynn Murrill is a Los Angeles based artist who received her MFA from UCLA in 1972. Murrill has three sculptures at the San Francisco Zoo. Cougar III and Tiger 2 are at the front entryway and Hawk V is located at…
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Earth Air and Sea on the Great Highway
Ocean Beach Sloat and The Great Highway West Side Pump Station Earth Air Sea – 1986 – by Mary Fuller Mary Fuller, along with her husband Robert McChesney, has been in this site before. Mary Fuller McChesney, a California sculptor, has been carving “giant totems and goddesses” for nearly 50 years. Her artwork embodies numerous…
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Dogie Diner Sign
Ocean View 45th Avenue and Sloat near The Great Highway Restored Dogie Diner Sign The Doggie Diner (1949-1986) restaurants could be seen throughout the Bay Area during their heyday. Mr. Al Ross, the Doggie Diner Chain’s owner asked Harold Bachman an ad and billboard layout designer, to draw up designs for the sign, it is…