SOMA & The Haight – EL Mac

 Posted by on August 13, 2011
Aug 132011
 
SOMA & The Haight - EL Mac

SOMA – San Francisco The Haight – San Francisco This is on the corner of Russ and Howard Streets, South of Market. Miles “Mac” McGregor.  Goes by The Mac or El Mac.  According to his own website El Mac was “born in Los Angeles in 1980 to an engineer and an artist, Mac has been creating and studying art independently since childhood. His primary focus has been the lifelike rendering of human faces and figures. He has drawn inspiration from the surrounding Mexican & Chicano culture of Phoenix and the American Southwest, religious art, pin-up art, graffiti, and a wide range Continue Reading

Civic Center – High School of Commerce

 Posted by on August 12, 2011
Aug 122011
 
Civic Center - High School of Commerce

Civic Center San Francisco 135 Van Ness Avenue There are so many wonderful building on the Van Ness Corridor, sadly, most people are driving either in or out of San Francisco and much to busy to notice them.   This building is near Market Street, not far from City Hall, if you are in the area, take a stroll. The High School of Commerce, designed by John Reid, Jr, was built in 1926-1927.  In 1952, Commerce became the central office for the school district and has remained in that use ever since. John Reid, was born in San Francisco in Continue Reading

Hayes Valley Farm

 Posted by on August 11, 2011
Aug 112011
 
Hayes Valley Farm

Hayes Valley – San Francisco Hayes  Valley Farm Thanks to the efforts of Colonel Thomas Hayes, Hayes Valley became the first outlying area of the vast Western Addition to develop. Hayes was born in 1823 in Ireland.  Afflicted by gold fever, Hayes and his two brothers set sail for San Francisco, and acquired a 160-acre tract through the use of a preemption deed—effectively exercising squatters’ rights. His claim was confirmed by the Van Ness Ordinance in 1855. According to historian Bill Kostura, the boundaries of Hayes’ property can by described thusly: “This tract began near the intersection of Fulton and Continue Reading

Western Addition – Pastime

 Posted by on August 10, 2011
Aug 102011
 
Western Addition - Pastime

Western Addition – San Francisco Corner of Franklin, Page and Market Street It is no secret that I consider graffiti to be an art form.  Do not confuse that with tagging, (those single color scribbles) or bombing (just really, really large tags) which fall into a whole other category.  But the question is, where does graffiti leave off and art begin.  I can not, nor do I want to, answer that question.  The above is why I am on this subject.  This fabulously colored wall is by a graffiti artist known as Pastime.  So is this just graffiti, or is Continue Reading

SOMA – Freeway Prophecy

 Posted by on August 9, 2011
Aug 092011
 
SOMA - Freeway Prophecy

SOMA – San Francisco Clementina and 8th Street Freeway Prophecy  Subtitled “a surrealistic look at the future of transportation” this is another mural by Johanna Poethig sharing “lead artist” credit with Sofie Siegmann.   “Freeway Prophecy” was a major coordinated production crediting, besides Siegmann, nine other Artist Collaborators, seventeen Youth Artists and the Writers Corps poet Donna Ho.I am hard pressed to actually understand the definition of this mural, but if you would like a rather ethereal, and complicated description you can find one here on this blog. the trees have grown to cover so much of the mural, but if Continue Reading

Mid-Market – Swallows and Sycamores

 Posted by on August 8, 2011
Aug 082011
 
Mid-Market - Swallows and Sycamores

Mid Market – San Francisco Swallows and Sycamores by Amber Hasselbring 7th and Market Mid Market area has long had a reputation for being a wasteland.  Storefronts boarded up, tourists as well as locals, finding a way around this section of Market, without actually walking down it, a veritable waste land in the middle of a vibrant city. For years politicians, concerned citizens and property owners have tried to figure a way to revitalize the area.  The artists have decided to use the area as a canvas and wait for the rest of the world to catch up. The SF Continue Reading

Alamo Square

 Posted by on August 7, 2011
Aug 072011
 
Alamo Square

Alamo Square – San Francisco Alamo Square is surrounded by Victorian Houses, and the famous “painted ladies” photograph that is quintessentially San Francisco, to say nothing of the fact that it’s image is probably the number one selling postcard.  I see no point in posting that picture, you have seen it.  I even hesitate to discuss victorians on this blog, because frankly there are so many experts and so many people out there that know so much more than I that I feel completely inadequate in even approaching this subject. One of my dearest and oldest friends Beach Alexander has Continue Reading

SOMA – Tile Buildings

 Posted by on August 6, 2011
Aug 062011
 
SOMA - Tile Buildings

SOMA San Francisco 1235 Mission Street at 8th This building houses the Department of Human Resources offices. * * * From the Architect and Engineer Magazine of 1928:  Bliss and Fairweather’s building for Mangrum and Otter Inc…is being favorably commented on for the somewhat daring, but nonetheless effectual, architectural treatment in glazed color tile…Admittedly, it was somewhat of a task to work out a design that would make a dignified front in bright colors.  The moorish type was chosen as best suited for such a treatment, and the effect is indeed pleasing. Mangrum and Otter was a wholesaler of tiles, Continue Reading

UN Plaza

 Posted by on August 5, 2011
Aug 052011
 
UN Plaza

Civic Center – San Francisco United Nations Plaza United Nations Plaza is an area off of Market Street with a walkable corridor straight to Civic Center, which includes City Hall and Herbst Theatre.  The United Nations Charter was signed in the War Memorial Veterans Building’s Herbst Theatre in 1945, leading to the creation of the United Nations. According to Wikipedia “Civic Center has a seedy, run-down, high crime reputation and appearance with large amounts of Homeless encampments which has prevented it from attracting the large amounts of tourists seen in other areas of the city. Despite repeated redevelopment of Civic Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – Humming With Life

 Posted by on August 4, 2011
Aug 042011
 
The Tenderloin - Humming With Life

The Tenderloin – San Francisco Hyde and Golden Gate This is panel one of a new mural on the U.S. Postal Service office building  at the corner of Hyde and Golden Gate.  It was done by Johanna Poethig, whose work we saw in The Tenderloin National Forest and Tutubi Plaza.  This mural is titled humming with life.  If you hop over to her blog. where she has posted lots of pictures of the activities that took place around her while she was installing this blog you get a sense of how apt the title its. This is directly from her blog – “Humming With Life”, Continue Reading

SOMA – Murals on 6th

 Posted by on August 3, 2011
Aug 032011
 
SOMA - Murals on 6th

6th Street Corridor – San Francisco 6th and Minna Streets 6th Street in San Francisco is not the nicest street in the city.  Its overabundance of SRO’s crack dealers, and soup kitchens make it a street many people avoid.  I took all these shots while wandering by myself, however, it was broad daylight.  The point is, like any city, know your surroundings and keep your eyes open, and life is not all that scary. This mural was painted in 1998 by Precita Eyes.  The designer and painter, specifically was William Boler Jr. On the other side of the alley are Continue Reading

SOMA – Gordon Street Murals

 Posted by on August 2, 2011
Aug 022011
 
SOMA - Gordon Street Murals

SOMA – San Francisco This mural is on Gordon Street, South of Market.  Gordon is a dingy dead end alley off of Harrison Streets between 8th and 9th.  It is hard to find, and you would have no reason to even be on the alley, but it was a quiet Sunday and no cars or buses were blocking the view which is how I spied it.  The mural is titled Zen and is by Kristine Brandt.  Kristine studied at the Academy of Art University and the Florence Academy of Art.  What I really loved is the incorporation of the mural Continue Reading

SOMA -Art that Disappears when Buildings Do

 Posted by on August 1, 2011
Aug 012011
 
SOMA -Art that Disappears when Buildings Do

SOMA – San Francisco 260 Fifth Street at Clementina This sign is an anathema to me for several reasons.  While hard to read, it states that this building will be demolished and a 9 story building will be put up in its place. Although not highly ornamented, it does have some lovely features. When I see old buildings with history like this arbitrarily being tossed by the wayside so that a non-descript highrise can be built, it makes my blood boil. The unique architecture of any city is what makes it stand out, the more that we have nondescript, inexpensive Continue Reading

The Tenderloin – 20,000 Missing Seats

 Posted by on July 31, 2011
Jul 312011
 
The Tenderloin - 20,000 Missing Seats

The Tenderloin – Market Street Junction – San Francisco 6th -Taylor – Market Street This fascinating piece is on the back side of Show Dogs Hot Dog Stand at the corners of 6th Street, Taylor and Market. The mural is an homage to those movie and performance art theaters (Strand, Unique, Embassy, Rialto, Granada, Regal, Imperia, Pantages, Tivoli, Hub, State, Egyptian, etc) that once graced this area of Market Street prior to the 1906 earthquake and up into the 1950’s.  It is part of the S.F. Arts Commission 2011 Art in Store Fronts Project. The artist is Rafael Landea an Argentinean Continue Reading

SOMA, Tenderloin, Market Street, July 30, 2011

 Posted by on July 30, 2011
Jul 302011
 
SOMA, Tenderloin, Market Street, July 30, 2011

Bears Around San Francisco A while back I was walking in my own neighborhood, SOMA,  (this is Berwick and Heron off of Harrison or 8th Streets) and in this little alley I came across this great big bear. Well as I was wandering The Tenderloin Forest, I came across this guy I knew I had seen this work before and was happy to see another wonderful character.  Then last week I was driving through the intersection of Market and 6th Street and what do I see? The artist is Chad Hasegawa.  He was born in Hawaii and has quite a repertoire.  This Continue Reading

SOMA – Inner City Home and Truth

 Posted by on July 29, 2011
Jul 292011
 
SOMA - Inner City Home and Truth

SOMA and Market Street Areas of San Francisco This is by Ricardo Gouveia, a Portuguese artist residing in San Francisco.  From 1984-2002, Rigo used the last two digits of the current year as part of his name (in this case Rigo94) , finally settling upon “23″ in 2003.  As part of TODCO’s Inner City Arts Program, Rigo worked with Sixth Street hotel tenants to create this powerful statement of community identity, painted on the Knox SRO and visible for miles.   TODCO Group is a community-based housing/community development nonprofit corporation for San Francisco’s South of Market Neighborhood. Sixth street is one of Continue Reading

SOMA – Frisco’s Wild Side

 Posted by on July 28, 2011
Jul 282011
 
SOMA - Frisco's Wild Side

SOMA – San Francisco Langton between Folsom and Harrison This newly restored mural is on Langton Street between Folsom and Harrison in the South of Market area. Originally painted in 1995 by Precita Eyes it is called “Frisco’s Wild Side”.  It took more than 70 participants to plan and paint depictions of endangered species in North America. The animals are found in fantastical settings of ancient civilizations and modern industrialization interwoven with and sometimes battling the animals’ natural habitats. San Francisco residents and local school children helped to paint and create tile mosaics that were then embedded into the concrete relief Continue Reading

Hayes Valley – Ethereal Art

 Posted by on July 27, 2011
Jul 272011
 
Hayes Valley - Ethereal Art

Hayes Valley – San Francisco Hayes Valley came to prominence when film director Erich von Stroheim chose the corner of Hayes and Laguna for the filming of his 1924 film “Greed.” His affections were for a 19th-century Victorian that had been built in the early 1880s by Col. Michael Hayes as an amusement pavilion, though word has it Hayes constructed the building to lure an extension of the streetcar line to Hayes Valley. The building survived the 1906 earthquake and fire and at the time of filming was occupied only on the ground floor, by a French laundry and the Continue Reading

Hayes Valley – Pop Up Art

 Posted by on July 26, 2011
Jul 262011
 
Hayes Valley - Pop Up Art

Hayes Valley – San Francisco I had the privilege of catching Andy Vogt in the process of making this piece.  We chatted for awhile, as he worked putting lath into the chain link fence.  This space surrounds a temporary landing spot for the Museum of Craft and Art.  The museum is presently in a storage unit plunked down on the corner of Hayes and Octavia.    The exhibit around the museum will run through October of 2011 and is entitled Place Making.  The museum invited three artists and architects to design installations based on the sites impermanent condition with architectural 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

Pepe Ozan’s Invocation

 Posted by on July 18, 2011
Jul 182011
 
Pepe Ozan's Invocation

Potrero Hill – San Francisco This sculpture is located at the corner of Bayshore Blvd, Cesar Chavez and 26th Street, just to the side of Highway 101. Though it was installed in 2004, to mark the beginning of a new bike path, they just started construction on said path this month. The sculptor, Pepe Ozan, stated that the piece represents an Eagle-Warrior, an institution that survived all of Mesoamerica’s civilizations throughout 2000 years until the arrival of the Conquistadors. The Eagle-Warriors were a corps of elite who served as leaders in religious ceremonies as well as on the battlefield. The Continue Reading

SOMA – Meagan Spendlove

 Posted by on July 17, 2011
Jul 172011
 
SOMA - Meagan Spendlove

SOMA – San Francisco This mural is on the corner of 10th Street and Sheridan in the South of Market Area of San Francisco.  The artist is Meagan Spendlove.  Her website reads “Meagan Spendlove currently works in San Francisco, California as a professional designer, illustrator and project coordinator. Her latest endeavors include yet are not limited to mural project coordination and digital illustration. Over the past twelve years her style has become recognized mainly for its feminine subject matter and organic ingredients. Assorted shaded ethereal women & bright colors surrounded by bold lines, similar to stained glass.” The bright colors Continue Reading

Tenderloin – Alcazar Theater

 Posted by on July 16, 2011
Jul 162011
 
Tenderloin - Alcazar Theater

Alcazar Theater – Tenderloin – San Francisco This is the center section of the Alcazar, it is flanked by two matching wings. In 1976, the Alcazar was awarded the highest rating for architectural significance in a survey of city buildings.   Located at 650 Geary Street, between Jones and Leavenworth in the Tenderloin, it was built in 1917 at a cost of $150,000 as the Islam Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The Shriners, a men’s social and charitable organization of the Freemasons, used the building until 1970. The building was designed by Scottish-born architect Thomas Patterson Ross. Continue Reading

The Embarcadero

 Posted by on July 15, 2011
Jul 152011
 
The Embarcadero

 Bronze Horse” by Marino Marini.  The fountain behind it is by Robert Woodward. Real estate development projects in San Francisco are required to develop public spaces in order to obtain project approval. A good example of this is at the One Maritime Plaza building, located at Battery and Clay Streets, near the Embarcadero Center office buildings. The office building was built in 1964 for Alcoa Corporation. This building was the first to use the seismic X-bracing as part of its structural aesthetic.  The formal plan for the garden squares on top of the garages was intended to create the effect Continue Reading

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