The Pyramid

"Somewhere near Salinas..."

Cats

Alemany Farmers' Market, Bernal Heights

Aardvark Books, Church Street

Justin Herman Plaza

October 2011

May 2012

Golden Gate Park

Sidewalk Scrawl

Bernal Heights

Sausalito Ferry

Market Street

Japantown

Benkyodo has been making fresh manju and mochi for over one hundred years.  When in Japantown be sure to stop by their bakery which shares space with a '50s era coffeeshop.

Heading South

Jack Kerouac letter to Allen Ginsberg, May 18 '48

"... Anybody with any sense in California can ride between Frisco and LA endlessly on that road, once a week if they want to, and nobody will ever bother them.  When the train stops at a siding, you can jump off and help yourself to fruit if you're near a field..."

                                                                              

Lower Haight, Evening

Tartine

Yes, it's worth waiting half an hour in line for a fresh baked pain au chocolat at Tartine

deYoung

The copper-clad deYoung Museum, which houses a large fine art and textile collection, opened in 2005 after the previous building was damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake.  Slowly the building will oxidize to a green hue and blend in with the surrounding trees of Golden Gate Park.

Just outside the elevator to the tower are these wonderful wire-crocheted sculptures by Ruth Asawa.

And here is the view from the top of the tower...

Bay to Breakers 4

6th & Howard

Pink Trees

A fine mist in the evening air, walking back from the Larkin Street library after watching a slideshow presentation of film clips- from 1947 Bogart and Bacall in Dark Passage to 2011 Rise of the Planet of the Apes- celebrating the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge...

Street Art

SOMA

Western Addition

SOMA

Ice Cream Men

Coast Starlight

The Coast Starlight train travels between Seattle and Los Angeles.  I caught it in San Francisco (actually Oakland, you take an Amtrak bus from San Francisco to the Oakland train station) and took the twelve hour trip south to Los Angeles, past farm fields and rolling hills and ocean views.

You can have your lunch and dinner in the dining car, but I chose to pack my own food and spend most of my time next to a big window in the observation car.  I had my favorite California cheese and chocolate (Humboldt Fog and Recchiuti Asphalt Jungle Mix), local raspberries, fresh mini sourdough baguettes from Acme Bakery and cherry pastry from Frog Hollow Farm.  Acme Bakery and Frog Hollow Farm are both in the Ferry Building which is right next to the Amtrak station and they both open early enough that you can pick up fresh stuff for your trip.  Plus you can have a Peet's coffee and a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich from Cowgirl Creamery Sidekick while sitting down by the water, watching the commuters come in by ferry and waiting for your bus.

I'll post more photos from the train trip over the next while...

Sausalito Stones

Poem

A poem I had published in the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal...


SYMPHONY ON HAIGHT

The sound was in the distance and then
close
closer
and there he was rounding the corner of Haight
striding along the gum-flecked sidewalk
in majestic bluegreen robe and turban
and beat-up sneakers
squeezing that accordion as if life itself depended on his music
a symphony of one

the sound faded as he made his way down Clayton
the music became
birds
wind chimes
the N Judah train
silk scarves rippling in the sun

Parisian Pooches, Outer Richmond

Car, SOMA

Bay to Breakers 3