San Francisco is My Home

27
Mar

The Legion of Honor

Author: kris, Category: Museums

I went to the Legion of Honor today to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit. I always forget that the Legion is there, wonderful, waiting with hushed halls of art whenever I want it. (And free on the first Tuesday of each month, except for special exhibits.) The exhibit is great — actually, the non-celebrity photos turned out to be way more interesting than the high-gloss snapshots of the rich and famous — but the best part of any visit to the Legion is wandering the normal art afterwards.

I like the gorgeous furniture pieces they have displayed here and there throughout the maze of rooms that house the artworks. I like the grounds, manicured and smattered with statues. I even like the overpriced cafeteria, an important part of any museum visit. And I like leaving the museum and driving the quiet, winding streets back through the ritzy Sea Cliff neighborhood where all the most gorgeous homes are.

I recommend both a visit to this museum and seeing the special exhibit. But be warned: go early! The school field trips start showing up around noon and things get crazy and crowded.

25
Mar

Tuesday profile: Local ballparks

Author: kris, Category: Landmarks, Oakland, Sports

I don’t write about sports much on this site because, well, I mostly find them boring. But I do enjoy baseball. Not in the sense of following it or understanding it in anyway. I just like going to games. And for this reason, this week’s Tuesday business review deals with the two baseball stadiums available to a local fan.

We begin with AT&T Park* in San Francisco. With its sweeping views of the water, this is a gorgeous place to hang out even if you hate baseball. It’s especially nice on sunny days when the water gets all gemstone-sparkly and all the colors seem crisp and new. The drawback, of course, is that tickets are expensive, even for the cheap seats.

For cheaper and less classy game, I like to head for McAfee Coliseum, current home of the Oakland A’s. I like this place because of the cheap Wednesday night games. For a while, tickets to these games were $2, but I think they might be as high as $4 now. That’s in addition to the cost of ten or so dollar hot dogs (now raised to $2 I think) which are an integral part of the experience. A cheap baseball game isn’t a cheap baseball game unless you sneak in your own hooch and make yourself sick by eating way more hot dogs than you wanted simply because you can pay for them with the loose change you find floating around in your car. This stadium is especially exciting because of the side games being offered such as dot racing (three dots “race” on the message board; every guy I know explodes in a frenzy of ridiculous wagering). It’s like even the people who work for professional baseball know that you need fun distractions when watching professional baseball.

Rumor has it that the A’s are making a bid to move to Cissy Field in Fremont, which will be a great sadness for everyone. Get your cheap games in now, because later you might not have the option.

*I’m sure real baseball curmudgeons have covered this much more adroitly and ad nauseam on the internet, but don’t you hate the branding of sports fields? I don’t even like sports and I hate it. You strip the poetry from sports and all it is is big business. What about the little kid who plays on a Little League team and still dreams about making the major leagues, not because it pays well but because he loves the game? What does the branding tell him about that dream? (Don’t get me started on what’s happening to the little girls who love the game.)

This view could be yours.

24
Mar

Library Science

Author: kris, Category: Landmarks

I rhapsodize about the SF Public Library at the drop of a hat. The main branch — so lovely! The winding staircase drenched in light, the many book-filled floors, the friendly people, the cheerfully burbling anti-theft detectors at the door! As if this weren’t enough, a recently approved ballot measure is allowing the library system to clean up their act, systematically upgrading the libraries branch by branch. Check out the newly renovated Noe Valley branch to see the results.

In addition to this, I want to share some library wisdom I’ve learned. A lot of this is probably true for all libraries, but in any case it is cool:

• You can request any of the check-out-able items that the library has system-wide. These are added to a wishlist in your account, and you’re notified when the item becomes available. You can request that the library send it to your local branch, and then you have about a week and a half to come pick it up.
• Having an SF library card gives you access to all kinds of cool stuff, including the online Oxford English Dictionary, the best and most complete of all word compendiums. Buying access to this yourself is (for me, at least) prohibitively expensive, so the fact that I can get at it for free is terribly exciting. Also, I am a big nerd.
• In addition to books, the library also has DVDs and CDs and stuff. This is not news to anyone but me, because before I got all library-happy this year, I think I had not used a library since 1988. My how things have changed. I wonder if I can get the new Vanilla Ice single on these round shiny discs that play music just like a record?

If you find all this as exciting as I do, you might want to check yourself into San Jose State University, which provides the only local program offering a Master’s degree in Librarianism.  I, too, thought it sounded boring, but since my best friend started working the program my eyes have been opened. Her experiences with digital archiving have taken her to Juvenile Hall, the local Maritime Academy, and will perhaps (fingers crossed for her) take her abroad to Kenya and beyond.

And…that’s all I have to say about libraries. For now.

In case you’re wondering about this fabulous painting, this image is from here.

24
Mar

Photo show at the Legion of Honor

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Events, Museums

If you need more eye candy in your life, then…you probably don’t live in the Castro. Anyway, the solution for this is a trip to the Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990–2005 exhibit at the Legion of Honor. This show is padded with images of all the loveliest celebrities in famously sexed-up poses; the perfect thing to spice up a dreary work week. Check it out any time between now and May 25.

20
Mar

Exhibits at the Conservatory of Flowers

Author: kris, Category: Golden Gate Park, Kids, Museums, Nature

The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park has two exhibits going on right now. I saw both yesterday (ever your faithful correspondent, I go see pretty floral stuff in the middle of the workday so you don’t have to) and I can say with confidence that they are awesome.

First off is The Butterfly Zone. Now, I am not normally a girl who will cheerfully walk into a room full of giant flying insects, but somehow butterflies are different. I am still a little jumpy when they land on me, but my yen to be surrounded by pretty pretty colors overcomes — just barely — my aversion to things flying at my face. Butterfly Zone is an exhibit all about butterflies, as you might imagine, and includes tons of information on their lives and habits, none of which I paid any attention to. Instead, I sat on one of the benches and watched the many pretty little guys fluttering around the plants and flowers and occasionally coming to check out my shoulder blades and hair. This exhibit is good for kids, but very young kids will want to touch the butterflies, which is bad for them.

This exhibit runs through November 2. You can also check out their Night Safaris, where you get a different butterfly experience. Check the website for details.

Photo by Ron Lewis.

On the other side of the Conservatory (where you’ll find the secret passage to the Lounge), The Art of Penjing resides peacefully among the water plants. This ancient Chinese art consists of creating elaborate miniature landscapes of plants, wood and stone, with a few tiny houses and people in boats thrown in. (Incidentally, do you ever hear anyone talking about a modern Chinese art? Whenever you say “Chinese art,” you feel compelled to throw in an “ancient,” right? Weird.)

I love miniatures. I always have, since I was a little girl. I love elaborate dollhouses filled with sliver-sized spoons and knives no bigger than a freckle. I love books about tiny people or miniatures that come to life (The Indian in the Cupboard, Mistress Masham’s Repose, The Littles). And so I found these carefully constructed landscapes completely enthralling. The care that’s taken to choose the little plants that look like towering trees, the ones that look like pussy willows along the bank, and the tiny tiny blossoms blooming on hillsides — it’s unreal. Plus, there are itty bitty insects in there that were fluttering among the “trees” like birds. It was really enchanting. Top marks from me.

The Art of Penjing runs through April 27. Your Conservatory ticket will get you into both shows as well as the bulk of the Conservatory itself. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students, $1.50 for kids under 11 and free for kids under 4. Enjoy!

14
Mar

Star Gazing and the Zoo

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Landmarks, Nature

I’ve been feeling interested in celebrity sightings this week. Maybe it’s because my fellow is going to New York on business, and everyone has a story about how they ran into some celebrity they love and adore while they were in New York.

If you too are interested in fame-spotting, you might want to check out this list:

“San Francisco is home to a host of lovable local characters and celebrities, but if you want to spot famous faces with a wider appeal there’s no shortage of movie stars in this town. Whether you want to haunt a film set or stake out a celebrity-attracting eatery, this list will help you hunt down your favorite stars.”

Don’t worry, you’re not losing your daily dose of me me me. I wrote that list too.

In other news, I wound up going to the zoo yesterday rather than the photo archive. If ever you find yourself at loose ends on a weekday in this town, you really should check out the zoo. It’s calm and quiet during the week, so you can just sit and watch the animals in peace for a long time. And here it is, your moment of them (because moment of zen is trademarked, and I don’t want Viacom to sue me):

13
Mar

Where we came from, where we’re going

Author: kris, Category: Museums

As a city, we define ourselves by our disasters and our idealism. People date things by the Great Fire and the Loma Prieta earthquake, by the Summer of Love and the time when the Beats held court. No one seems to be dating things by the recent oil spill yet, but I have high hopes we’re not going to just forget about that, all evidence to the contrary.

I’m thinking about this today because I’m reading Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile which is set, surprise, in Egypt.

” ‘If there were only any peace in Egypt I should like it better,’ said Mrs. Allerton. ‘But you can never be alone anywhere — some one is always pestering you for money, or offering you donkeys, or beads, or expeditions to native villages, or duck shooting.’ ”

The book was written in 1937, and accurately describes the experience my fellow had in Egypt in 2004. (Except the duck shooting, I don’t know what that’s about.) In this one aspect, at least (the relationship between Egyptians and tourists), Cairo hasn’t changed, and that’s interesting. Do they define themselves by their unchanging-ness, as we define ourselves by our changes? Then again, perhaps someone who visited our Pier 39 in 1937 would find it familiar today as well. I wonder.

It is because I wonder that I plan to visit the San Francisco History Center. It’s full of old photos and documents dealing with our past, and, well, I’m curious. If you, too, are curious as to what, if any, progress we’ve made as a city, you should check this out. It’s located in the Main Library, but the hours of the photo collection are kind of weird, so check before you go.

06
Mar

Falls in spring

Author: kris, Category: Nature, Outdoors

Some of you may notice I tend to wander off for a few days around the beginning of each month. Where do I go, and why? Could be anything, really. I’m not telling.

One place I might have been this month was off checking out one of our seasonal local waterfalls. I found this article in the Chron last month and have had it on my mental to-do list ever since. Though it is in the Chron, it mysteriously does not deal with child death, fatal MUNI accidents or the Mayor’s hair. Instead, it provides a list of great spring waterfalls to check out.

As we amble along through this unseasonable summer, I recommend taking advantage of it with a trip to a waterfall. Good for families, first dates and friendly gatherings, waterfalls lift your spirits in a way that letting the tap run for a few hours never seems to do. You think you’re going to get outside when the real summer comes. But that’s when the fog and rain hits. Do yourself a favor and step out your door now instead.

These falls are in Arizona, a bit farther afield. The picture is from here.

28
Feb

Save the Palace!

Author: kris, Category: Landmarks, News, Politics

San Francisco has three important palaces. There’s the Palace of Fine Arts, and the Palace of the Legion of Honor. And then there is the Cow Palace.

The amusing name derives from its original function, which was to house large livestock at the Pan-Pacific International Expo. The idea came about in 1915, but wasn’t completed until 1941.

These days the Palace houses all kinds of stuff, from the annual Dickens Christmas Faire to political speakers to popular bands to Disney’s Princess on Ice show. But State Senator Yee is proposing to sell the Palace to Daly City, who will definitely knock it down and replace it with a supermarket and other stuff the neighborhood needs.

What kind of person tells a Daly City family they can’t have a grocery store because we want to keep our entertainment center there, right? And yet…

The thing that makes living in SF and environs good, the reason we pay such high prices for rent and food and transportation, the reason people flock here in droves, isn’t just the great weather. It’s because the Bay Area is one of those places that still has a strong personality, one that would shine through even if you removed all the kooky, lovable characters. Because we have things like the Castro Theatre and the Albany Bulb and, of course, the Cow Palace.

If you are unconvinced, consider that part of why the Daly City council wants the thing torn down is because it hosts “too many gun shows, erotic balls and rap concerts.” A strike for the Cow Palace is a strike against censorship!

If you’ve got something to say on this, whether for or against, I urge you to attend tonight’s first meeting to discuss the possible sale of the C.P.

Meeting times are:

Tonight, 7 o’clock: Bayshore Community Center, 450 Martin St., Daly City

March 8, 10 a.m.: Visitacion Valley Community Center, 66 Raymond Ave., San Francisco

March 8, 11 a.m.: Bayshore Community Center, 450 Martin St., Daly City

March 25, 7 p.m.: Saddleback Homeowners Clubhouse, 1800 Saddleback Drive, Daly City

This photo of The Beatles playing at the Cow Palace was taken by Bob Campbell.

20
Feb

Swear not by the moon

Author: kris, Category: Nature, News

Keep your eyes peeled for a lunar eclipse tonight. Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, pah, a total lunar eclipse, big deal. I can see those anytime. Not so, dear friend. This will be the last total lunar eclipse available to us until 2010.

Also, who are you to be so cavalier about the movements of the cosmos? Shape up, kid.

It is, of course, possible that the weather, currently semi-crap, will be total crap by tonight, ruining the view of the big event. Still, it’s worth ducking your head outside to take a gander if you happen to think of it around 7 pm.

The next solar eclipse, if you are wondering, will take place in August.