Category

San Francisco
“The traveller in San Francisco, asking the question Englishmen invariably ask, What’s to be seen? would be thus answered. The Big Trees, Eusamity Valley, Napa and the Quicksilver Mines.” —    Charles Dickens, All the Year Round, 424-28 Almaden Quicksilver Park is a county park, 16 miles south of San Jose in the Capitancillos Range...
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Brisbane is a small town 9 miles south of San Francisco, nestled in the Guadalupe Valley on San Bruno Mountain. Although it is located on Highway 101, Brisbane is easy to miss because it is separated from 101 by a man-made lagoon. Shellmounds on San Bruno Mountain indicate that this area was once inhabited by...
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  On Saturday, November 15, I visited the Pigeon Point Lighthouse 50 miles south of San Francisco and 30 miles north of Santa Cruz. It was the 142nd anniversary of the lighthouse, one of the tallest in the United States. Sea lions, whales and birds frequent this area. But the rocks are treacherous. In 1853...
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Looking down Clarion Alley from Mission Street I see colorful painted surfaces everywhere, even on the asphalt. Since 1992 artists and craftsmen have enlivened the space with social, political, and cultural messages that express their point of view or showcase the community. Cartoons, caricatures, portraits and written commentary fill the walls. Artists rework the surfaces...
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  The worst shipwreck in San Francisco history occurred off Land’s End in February, 1901. The Rio de Janeiro, a steam-powered passenger ship, sailed through the Golden Gate Straits in heavy fog. With very little warning or time to react, the iron-hulled ship hit a shallow reef near Fort Point and began to sink. The...
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The Pulgas water temple is located in Woodside, near the Crystal Springs Reservoir and one mile north of the Filoli estate.   It was built in 1934 to celebrate the completion of the Hetch Hetchy pipeline, and represents the terminus of the pipeline.   The Temple closely resembles an earlier structure, the 1910 Sunol Water Temple, designed...
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“Chinese Whispers” is a local research and storytelling project dedicated to recording the history of the Chinese in the Bay area. Currently they have teamed with the National Park Service to tell the story of the Chinese shrimp-fishing industry of the late 19-early 20th centuries. Saturday, I drove to Richmond for the kick-off event, a...
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Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), photographer, inventor, and artist settled in San Francisco in 1866. He soon established a freelance business photographing landscapes of the west, such as Yosemite, and accepting commissions to document the homes and possessions of the wealthy. Later (1872-1882) Muybridge collaborated with Leland Stanford, photographing Stanford’s trotting horses at his farm in Palo...
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  Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco is located at 443 Broadway on a seedy block between the redeveloped waterfront and bustling North Beach. Mabuhay means “Welcome” or “Live” in Tagalog, recalling this one-time restaurant’s Filipino roots.     The doors of the “Fab Mab” are now closed and locked, but the exterior is dotted with...
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San Francisco has 4 carousels, each one distinct. Three of them are antique works of art—amusements that have been lovingly preserved and maintained. The fourth, a relatively new carousel, has bells, whistles, and lights, making it a glittery representative of San Francisco’s playful side. The Looff Carousel, in Yerba Buena Gardens, was the first to...
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