Christal
Cooper 1,712 Words
*Written
by Dan Benbow and Christal Cooper
**Photography
by Dan Benbow unless otherwise noted
Guest Blogger Dan Benbow
Crystal Blue Persuasion
“San Francisco itself is
art, above all literary art. Every block
is a short story, every hill a novel.
Every home a poem, every dweller within immortal. That is the whole truth.”
American
Dramatist/Author William Saroyan
August
31, 1908 - May 18, 1981
For
years I imagined taking a daytime walk from the Embarcadero to the Pacific
Ocean, both for the visceral experience and the bucket list feat of
traversing San Francisco from one end to the other. On Tuesday, December 3,
2014, the elements finally conspired in my favor.
The
tour started in the viewing area of the San Francisco Ferry Building, a
terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay.
From
a glance I could see the back of the San Francisco Ferry Building, which was
designed by American architect A. Page Brown, in the Beaux Arts style in
1892. The entire length of the building
on both frontages is based on an arched arcade.
Six years later, in 1898, the building had its opening and was the
largest project undertaken in the city up to that time.
The
Embarcadero Center Four, a separate building, is within one hundred yards
behind the San Francisco Ferry Building.
The
clock tower on top of the building is 245 feet tall with four clock dials, each
22 feet in diameter. The clock tower can
be seen from Market Street. Brown
designed the clock tower after the 12th Century Giralda bell tower in Seville,
Spain. During daylight, on every full
and half-hour, the clock bell chimes portions of the Westminster Quarters.
I glanced at the waterfront sign that greets ferryboat
arrivals, here in isolation, here in concert with the buildings in the
background.
The next stop of my journey was the ice skating rink
behind Embarcadero Center Four, a seasonal San Francisco treat surrounded by green
tall palm trees and 60-degree weather, courtesy of the oyster of a sun.
I
walked from the skating rink to the nearby cable car turnaround on
California Street. I couldn’t help but
notice the soaring buildings of the Financial District. It made me realize that
no one is really alone even if we may feel like it
sometimes.
Soon
my camera eye was drawn to this little boy in the cable car who gazed in
wonderment at the skyscraper canyon. I
realized that wonderment is not only in the eye of the beholder but the focus
of the beholder as well.
Working
inland, I approached the Transamerica Pyramid, the tallest skyscraper in the
San Francisco skyline, on Merchant Alley.
The 843-feet high Transamerica Pyramid was commissioned by Transamerica
CEO John (Jack) Beckett, who is believed to have commissioned the structure for
the purpose of allowing light in the San Francisco streets.
The Transamerica Pyramid was designed by
architect William Pereira and built by the Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction
Company. Building began in 1960, and,
upon its completion in 1972, it was the eighth tallest building in the
world.
I passed a catwalk, similar to the kind
San Francisco’s most famous police detective, Dirty Harry Callahan, was known
to climb in pursuit of criminals.
My
field of vision shifted from the contrast between the little brown buildings
and an off-white tower into a concrete bank of off-white.
At the base of the
Transamerica Building, is Glenna Goodacre’s (http://www.glennagoodacre.com) famous sculpture Puddle
Jumpers, depicting children, playing within the safe shadows of the
Transamerica Building. For a moment, the
city become quiet as I observed their hands clasped together, their bodies in
midair like birds, and their laughter almost became so real to me; but only for
a moment.
Soon, the soundtrack of the
city returned as I continued along Sacramento Street, climbing a precipitous
incline to the block-sized plateau at the top of the hill, where a treasure
trove of landmarks and views surround Huntington Park. From this vantage point,
I glanced down at Taylor Street, which leads to the San Francisco Bay.
As I took in the bay and its beauty I
thought of the famous saying by New York City mayor (1935-1945) Fiorello Enrico
la Guardia: “God took the beauty of the Bay of Naples, the Valley of the Nile, the
Swiss Alps, the Hudson River Valley, rolled them into one and made San
Francisco Bay.”
A stone’s throw away, I walked the steps
of the Grace Cathedral, which is famous for its mosaics by Jan Henryk De Rosen,
two labyrinths, stained glass windows, and its 44-bell carillon.
Grace Cathedral has also been the
backdrop in American pop culture: photographer
Ansel Adams produced a series of paintings of the uncompleted Grace Cathedral
in 1935; the legendary Duke Ellington performed his televised Concert
of Sacred Music on September 28, 1965; and it is the place where Alfred
Hitchcock filmed an abduction scene from his final film Family Plot.
Next,
I walked by the entrance of the world-class Mark Hopkins Hotel, which rests on
the southeastern peak of Nob Hill.
The
site was originally purchased by Central Pacific Railroad co-founder Mark
Hopkins, who built a mansion for his wife Mary.
The mansion was not completed until 1878, after his death. Mary Sherwood Hopkins willed the mansion to
her second husband Edward Francis Searles upon her death in 1891.
Two years later, Searles donated the property to the San Francisco Art Institute, only to have the
estate destroyed in the 1906 three-day fire that followed the famous San
Francisco earthquake.
Mining
engineer and hotel investor George D Smith purchased the Nob Hill site and
constructed the Mark Hopkins Hotel, which had its opening day on December 4,
1926.
From
the Mark Hopkins Hotel, I hoofed it down this Mason Street sidewalk, crossed
Mason and Bush and walked into the Tenderloin, a rough neighborhood given to
fits of beauty like this mural (at Eddy and Taylor) by artists
Darryl Mar and Darren Acora which reflects the magical diversity of San
Francisco and makes me feel hopeful about the multicultural tapestry of
America's future.
I continued along Eddy until I reached
Boeddeker Park, a diamond in the rough. From
Boeddeker Park, I took a left through this charming crosswalk at
the intersection of Leavenworth Street and Golden Gate Street. Several blocks down Leavenworth, I observed the
mural “The Gifts You Take Are Equal to the Gifts You Make” by
Catalina Gonzalez and Marta Ayala.
A mile west, I stopped at Alamo Square, a
popular tourist destination, and observed San Francisco’s famous “Painted Ladies."
I got a closer look of “The Painted
Ladies” from the intersection of Grove and Steiner Streets. The Victorian at 716 Steiner Street was
bathed in sunlight.
A few yards away is 712 Steiner, with its
simple, elegant front porch and exquisite window frames.
I reversed the typical perspective as I
sat on 712 Steiner Road’s front porch and viewed two of countless thousands who
have captured snapshots of the Victorian sisters from the hill across the way.
After leaving Alamo Square, I encountered
this sidewalk stencil from street artist Éclair Bandersnatch, and a door mural
at Scott And Fell.
Soon, I found myself in the Panhandle, on
a winding trail which cut through abundant green space crisscrossed with
lengthening mid-afternoon shadows.
The Panhandle took me to Golden Gate Park
where I entered Hippie Hill from the back and breathed in the glorious expanse
at the ridge.
I continued west to the de Laveage Dell
in eastern Golden State Park into the Aids Memorial Grove, which was envisioned
by Isabel Wade and Nancy McNally in 1988.
In December of 1994 the first official observance of World Aids Day took
place at Aids Memorial Grove.
I explored the tunnels of the Academy of
Sciences, which has its first origins as far back as 1853. The Academy of Sciences building covers
400,000 square feet and continues to carry out original research with exhibits
and education.
I
passed Rainbow Falls off of John F Kennedy Drive. The waterfall was dedicated in 1930, and
during its dedication, was illuminated by nature’s rainbow of lights – thus the
name Rainbow Falls. The Rainbow Falls’
water is supplied and circulated by nearby Lloyd Lake.
Lloyd Lake is the home to a wide variety
of non-native and non-migratory birds:
geese, Pekin ducks, Muscovy ducks, Campbell ducks, mallards, gulls, and
pigeons.
There is an urban legend that luminous,
small, floating ghostly figures and globes are also inhabitants of Lloyd Lake. Early 20th Century Spiritualists
warned visitors that Lloyd Lake is “a
place that opens the receptive soul to dangerous influences. It should not be visited carelessly.”
Next
up was the Spreckels Lake Model Yacht Facility, known as Spreckels Lake, an artificial reservoir with an adjoining clubhouse. Spreckels Lake, completed in March of 1904,
was built for the use of model boaters of all ages; it is also home to
seagulls, including the one pictured here, who stood in perfect repose while a nearby duck paddled through the water, leaving a “V” in its wake.
Sunset neared as I closed on the Pacific
Ocean, trying to keep up with the trails of sunlight which refracted through
tree cover, moving west just ahead of me, reminding me of San Francisco
socialite/author Patricia Montandon’s saying:
“San Francisco is poetry. Even the hills rhyme.”
Thus it seems fitting to end this
photo essay with lines of poetry:
The
Pacific was, as ever, grand.
The big ball in the sky
hovered,
Its death glow growing
brighter,
Casting orange as it
dropped
Low to the water
Going, going, going,
Gone!
Photograph
Description And Copyright Information
Photograph
2
William
Saroyan
1970s
Library
of Congress – Public Domain
Photograph
5
A
Page Brown
1859
Public
Domain
Photograph
12
John
(Jack) Beckett
Public
Domain
Photograph
13
William
Pereira
Fair
Use Under the United States Copyright Law
Photograph
16
Dirty
Harry Movie Poster
Fair
Use Under the United States Copyright Law
Photograph
19
Glenda
Goodacre
Facebook
Page Photo
Fair
Use Under the United States Copyright Law
Photograph
22
Fiorello
Enrico la Guardia speaks over WNYC on Grad A Milk from budget room.
March
23, 1940
Attributed
to Fred Palumbo
Public
Domain
Photograph
25
Jan
Henryk De Rosen
Public
Domain
Photograph
26
Ansel
Adams
1950
Attributed
to J Malcolm Greary
Public
Domain
Photograph
27
Duke
Ellington
Publicity
Photograph
1940s
Public
Domain
Photograph
28
CD
cover of Concert of Sacred Music
September
28, 1965
Fair
Use Under the United States Copyright Law
Photograph
29
Family Plot Movie Poster
Fair
Use Under the United States Copyright Law
Photograph
30
James
Smith Bush
Public
Domain
Photograph
32
Mark
Hopkins
1878
Attributed
to IW Taber
Public
Domain
Photograph
33
Edward
Francis Searles
Public
Domain
Photograph
34
Looking
Down Sacramento St., 1906. [verso:] "San Francisco: April 18, 1906."
From As I Remember by local
photographer Arnold Genthe: This
photograph shows "the results of the earth quake, the beginning of the
fire and the attitude of the people." It was taken the morning of the
first day of the fire. Shows Sacramento St. at Miles Place (now Miller Place)
near Powell St.
Public
Domain
Photograph
35
Top
of the Mark Hopkins Hotel
Cocktail
Lounge
1942
Photograph
64
Lloyd
Lake with ice
Attributed
to AL811 from Twitter
Fair
Use Under the United States Copyright Lake
