Recently in San Francisco & California Category

Michaan's Auctions by the Bay are auctioning a Star Maiden bronze on June 22nd 2008.

If you are wondering "What is a Star Maiden and why should I care?" take a look at my post here on the Star Maiden and Audrey Munson, the beautiful young model who posed for this work and so many others. Even though there were at least 95 Star Maidens created for the Pan Pacific Exhibition in 1915, prior to this auction, the only way to see one was to journey to the Oakland Museum. I suppose no one knows how many of these sculptures are still in existence, but it's clearly a small enough number that if you want to see one, you should go to this auction.

The Lady Washington and The Hawaiian Chieftain are replica square rigged ships operated by the non-profit Grays Harbor Historical Seaport in Aberdeen, Washington.

The Chieftain is a 103-foot topsail ketch similar to Spanish ships of the 18th Century, and the Lady Washington at 112-feet is a full scale replica of a ship built in the British colony of Massachusetts in the 1750s. The two ships operate off the west coast of the U.S. stopping at ports, giving ship tours and taking enthusiasts and school children on day sails.

I think that sailboats are pretty cool, and if they are square-rigged that is a big plus. So when I was "accosted" while walking home from the Farmers Market by a young man dressed in 18th Century seafaring garb who was talking about free tall ship tours, I detoured out to the Pier 40 dock and had a look at the two ships. I was smitten and spent close to 45 minutes poking around and talking with the crew.

One of the most popular activities is a "Battle Sail." Each ship is "armed" with small cannon which are charged with blank powder charges. When the two ships go out for a day sail they have a mock battle and try to "sink" one-another by firing their cannon. It's loud and full of impressive white smoke, but there aren't any chains or canon balls involved and everyone comes home to "fight" again. This is what happens most places. However, it seems it is illegal to fire a blank cannon in San Francisco, so the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain must sail across the bay to Oakland to have their "Battle."

I burst out laughing when I heard this. It is so like San Francisco, a city ruled by the insane, trying to forget its maritime history and debt to the U.S. Navy. Although I hadn't heard this bit of news before, I wasn't at all surprised. I wonder if sailing regattas can use a starting gun?

Saturday morning: South End Rowing Club member on the bay. Angel Island in the background. (Click for larger version.)

The Saturday morning walk to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Plaza is always interesting. Some days, the early morning light is crisp and clear with the joy and promise of spring. Other days, fog blankets the bay and washes everything with pale shades of gray—San Francisco's version of early morning snow.

San Francisco, California is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve the page without compromising previous work, please do.

It really is a good article. Take a look!

A while back, I posted about the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' sanctimoniously declining the opportunity to host the USS Iowa at Fisherman's Wharf. It seems they are reconsidering their decision.

Although this is a definite improvement, some of the Supervisors continue to exhibit almost unbelievable self-parody in their public statements. Supervisor McGoldrick is reported to have suggested the USS Iowa could be used as, "a center for conflict resolution."

This actually may be one of the most lucid statements McGoldrick has ever made. The USS Iowa is certainly a great tool for conflict resolution; but probably not in the way McGoldrick has in mind.

Artist Liz Hickok models and molds the city of San Francisco in Jell-O(tm). She then makes color prints and videos of the result.

I am certain there is ample room for a snarky comment here about San Franciso politics & culture (after all, the artist did model City Hall in "red" Jell-O—which seems right to me) but as strange as it sounds, this really is art and it trancends the snide and snarky. Cleverly, one video of the results is named "Earthquake." It all seems exactly right and it is surprisingly fascinating.

I first came across the technique of making something "unreal" and then taking a photograph (which is always "real", right?) in the art of Sandy Skoglund. I've got a copy of her "Radioactive Cats" poster.

(Via Virginia Postrel and LiquidTreats.)

Every now and then I find some annoying or wonderous fact about San Francisco to comment on. This time, however, I direct your attention to some serious comments about the city, namely this article by Joel Kotkin which I unaccountably missed when it appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle last May.

It is important to always be observant. One of the reasons I love San Francisco, is that it is a compact place and very easy to get around in by walking. One sees a lot more on foot than from inside a car. You can never tell what you might find if you look.

For instance, I have always suspected that there are things about the Far East that Westerners don't understand, and I think this picture from a recent walk through Chinatown proves it....

In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth where he doctors historical records to comply with the Party's version of the past. The 1984 view of history is unburdened by reality, it is a past torn apart and remolded to conform to a current ideology. In San Francisco in 2005, eight members of the Board of Supervisors labor at a similar task — banishing the past and crippling the present in the service of progressive ideology.

In 2001, former San Francisco mayor, and current U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein helped to pass a $3 million appropriation to tow the battleship USS Iowa from its mothball location in Rhode Island to the Bay Area hoping to add the mighty ship to Fisherman's Wharf as an additional tourist attraction. The Iowa sits today anchored in a backwater of San Francisco Bay, looking for a home.

It was love at first sight. She was beautiful and mysterious, and I had to find out more about her. The story I found involved high culture in New York, spectacle in San Francisco, scandalous behaviour in the nascent film industry, the leading lights of American Beaux Arts sculpture, murder, insanity, the U.S. dime and half-dollar, and sad and strange biography that I will remember for a long time.

Someone my age should have had more sense than to fall head over heels for a complete stranger. After all, there was the age difference —she was ninety years old— and besides that, it was obvious she had a heart of stone. She was created by Alexander Stirling Calder for the Pan Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915.

She was also a clone. The Star Maiden and her ninety-four sisters stood atop the parapet above the Court of the Universe, a Colonnade of Stars: "looking down on the activities of men." Her pointed headdress was hung with cut-glass Novagems which were illuminated at night by spotlights.

How I wished I could have stood in the Court of the Universe and looked up at those stars. I was reminded of, and consoled by a poem by W.H. Auden:

Here's a short one for San Franciscans:

"At its creation, Treasure Island was 14' above sea level. It is now 9 feet. Earthquake activity would result in liquefactions and lateral spreading and could cause substantial damage if improvements are not made. Officials estimate the cost of shoring up the island for redevelopment at $100 million depending on reuse."

Treasure Island was originally constructed for the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair, and was intended to be the site of San Francisco's municipal airport. Alas, those plans were overtaken by events (World War II) and the island became a U.S. Naval Air Station until it was returned to the city in 1997.

With the right (wrong?) kind of earthquake we could rename it Atlantis.

If they do so at all, most people probably remember Barbara Belle Geddes as Miss Ellie, the matriarch in the long running Dallas television series, but I remember Barbara from her role in I Remember Mama, a jewel of a film from 1948 set in San Francisco dealing brillianty with the usual things: life, death and coming of age. I also remember Barbara from Vertigo (the ultimate San Francisco tour film), where she plays Jimmy Stewart's old college flame, Midge, who watches sadly and helplessly as Kim Novak leads Jimmy's character, Scottie, deep into romantic obsession.

Some (including Ann Althouse) have commented that Barbara just wasn't sexy, but I thought she was a babe. Scottie would have been a lot better off spending more time with Midge, and spending less time pursuing the mysterious blonde Madeleine/Judy. Terry Teachout agrees with me about BBG's attractiveness, and suggests that the Western, Blood on the Moon is another film that fans of Barbara Belle Geddes should seek out.

Babe or not, she cartainly was an actress of distinction who left the world richer for having been here.

In 1914 a small book with a big title made its appearance. The Elegant Art of Dining: Bohemian San Francisco, Its Restaurants and Their Most Famous Recipes - The Elegant Art of Dining by Clarence E. Edwords may have been the first foodie's guide to the city, pre-dating the invention of the word, "foodie" by about 80 years.

It's a lot of fun to browse thru, and thanks to the continuing marvel of the Internet, you can do so yourself starting, perhaps, at this link which chronicles the beginning of French dining in the city. Here you will learn that one of the earliest such places was called The Poodle Dog.

Maybe someone will try this recipe for Oysters a La Poulette and let us know the results!

If you are a wine lover and wine collector, you may think that anyone can ship wine to you, and that you can ship wine to anyone. You would be wrong.