Month: August 2007

BART plans

BART leadership has announced a change of strategy that will see it abandoning the expansions of recent decades in favor of running more trains more closely together and…

Toll Drive

Plans are in the works to fix the “antiquated and unsafe viaduct” known as Doyle Drive. Doyle Drive is the scary, narrow strip of road that leads from…

San Francisco cable car lines, 1893

Some people don’t realize that cable cars were at one time a working transit system in San Francisco and not just an amusement ride for tourists. In fact,…

SF Trek

via Laughing Squid

My Bad

You hear it all the time now. But, believe it or not, there was a time when people said “my fault” instead of “my bad.” Where did the…

Lily and snake

Here’s another in my series of photos of water lilies. This is from the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. With this one you get a bonus:…

Another record for San Francisco

According to SanFranog.com, San Francisco is a world leader in expensive hotel parking. The Westin Saint Francis (at Union Sqare) is a notable example, charging $63 a day…

Bay Nature

Bay Nature magazine, to the surprise of many, has managed to stay afloat for several years now. They’ve even started broadcasting on public television stations. It shows how…

If you’re going to San Francisco, it’s still okay to wear flowers in your hair …

… but be sure to arrive with a job, it says here.

Encyclopedia of San Francisco

The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society in putting together an encyclopedia of the city. Right now there isn’t much up, but if they follow through with this…

Fisher Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio

Gap founder Donald Fisher’s announced intention to build a new museum in the Presidio has been widely reported. Namastenancy has posted a good summary. Apparently Mr. Fisher has…

Testing the limits

Bravo to Contra Costa supervisors who unanimously voted down an attempt to expand the East Bay urban limit line — a line overwhelmingly approved by area voters less…

Transbay Terminal designs

I got over to City Hall yesterday to see the models and visualizations of the new Transbay Terminal (on view for that one day only). The general outlines…

Free San Francisco WiFi Spots

Someone has made a mashup that overlays free WiFi locations on a Google map of the city. I don’t know if it’s the most complete or accurate list,…

Sixth Street

I wrote about 6th Street, sort of, when I mentioned Tu Lan. But I didn’t realize that the street was undergoing some kind of transformation. At least, that’s…

“The Cancer of the San Francisco Chronicle”

Edward Champion blasts Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius as “a hack who defames journalism” and “a heartless and complacent yuppie writing very much in the thoughtless and vacant manner…

A scholar’s rock by Zhan Wang

Yesterday’s mystery image was a detail from a stainless steel “scholar’s rock” by the contemporary Chinese artist Zhan Wang. The example shown is displayed on the patio near…

“The worst-programmed major museum in America”

That’s what Tyler Green of Modern Art Notes is saying about the De Young Museum under the relatively new directorship of John Buchanan: Remember this ending to SF…

What is it?

It’s a detail from an artwork prominently displayed in an often-visited place in San Francisco. Who can guess what the artwork is? Take a wild stab! Points for…