SAN FRANCISCO by quashlo

[quashlo]

[quashlo]

Telegraph Hill

[quashlo]

[quashlo]

Golden Gate Park
2013.07.20

Next, some urban wildlife, starting off with a red-tailed hawk enjoying a meal in Golden Gate Park. You can see hawks in many parts of the City, although I had never seen them feeding before, much less been able to get this close (~15 ft) to one. This particular individual seemed not to care much as it munched on a pigeon while passersby heading to and from the nearby California Academy of Sciences were mere steps away. Do not click on the spoiler if you are at all squeamish.

[quashlo]

[quashlo]

[quashlo]

The Presidio
2013.08.10

Next, the famous parrots of Telegraph Hill, although you can now hear their squawks and see them flying in many neighborhoods across the City, not just Telegraph Hill. They first became famous after a 2003 documentary.

I spotted a small flock of them as they snacked on hawthorn berries up near Simonds Loop in The Presidio. In fact, I almost missed them if not for the unusual “popping” sound as they snapped the berries off the trees. There’s also some wild blackberries growing here (and in many other parts of The Presidio) which some local residents occasionally pick, but the parrots didn’t seem too interested in them on this day. Most of the birds are red-masked parakeets (Psittacara erythrogenys), originally native to South America and one of the more popular species in the bird trade.

[quashlo]

Dolores Park
2013.08.25

This is a large green and open space in the heart of the City next to Mission Dolores, the original Spanish mission and the oldest building in the City. It’s a popular hang-out spot for all the Mission hipsters and is frequently packed on sunny days. It also happens to offer one of the best skyline vantage points in the City—not nearly as tall as Twin Peaks but far more accessible.





They began work on the second tower of One Rincon Hall earlier this year, shown here under construction.

[quashlo]

The gorgeous “Mission Revival” tower of Mission High School.



Slightly further away is the Mission Dolores bell tower.



The City seems to be a flurry of construction nowadays… At left, the renovation of the former AAA building at 100 Van Ness Avenue is well underway. The former offices will eventually be converted to 400 apartments along one of the City's main thoroughfares. On the right is the 754-unit NEMA, the western vanguard of the “Mid-Market Renaissance” that is transforming the neglected segments of Downtown's main drag west of Fifth Street into a functional, attractive neighborhood. NEMA will also be apartments.



1998 Market Street (Linea) under construction (115 condos), one of a slew of projects underway in the Market / Octavia area.



Second Church of Christ, Scientist (1905)



The J Church light rail line trails along the west edge of the park. At 9%, this is the steepest grade in the Muni Metro network.



In addition to the steep grades, this segment of the J Church is also notable for these curvy sections of exclusive ROW cut into the hill.

[quashlo]

Looking north up Church Street, where we can see the recently-installed pavement treatments (well, really just red paint) along the J Church tracks near Market Street. Where the red ends is where the line turns east and dives underground to enter the Market Street Subway.





Mission High School (1924)

[Danny]

Very nice compilation of pictures, quashlo! I´m a fan of San Francisco... Thanks.

I´ve specially liked the pics of the hawk at Golden Gate Park and the views of San Francisco from Dolores Park. Stunning views! Such a nice park!

Interesting new buildings being constructed in San Francisco, very good news.

Congratulations and greetings from Madrid, Spain.

[quashlo]

Thanks for comments, Danny.

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BART Fleet of the Future
2013.07.24

BART prepared a (very low-budget) mock-up of their new railcars and put it on display at MacArthur Station in Oakland to allow people to take a look and submit comments. Nothing earth-shattering, but a vast improvement over their current fleet, if only because the current fleet sucks big time. The biggest changes are an additional door on each car side (only two currently) and modifications to the seat layout.



I commented that they should drop the coarse, un-hygienic fabric stirrups and go with plastic triangles, which are much more comfortable on straphangers’ hands.







The proposed design puts bike racks in every car. That’s a mirror there, so there’s only three spaces per car, not six.

[quashlo]

A sample loop of the programming for the LCD screens to be placed inside the train. You can watch the loop here.



They’ll be doing a better job of color coding. Currently, the lines are color-coded on maps, but there is nothing on or inside the trains or on the overhead destination signs indicating line color.

[quashlo]

They probably went a little overboard on the language programming... Korean and Vietnamese are probably not needed. Interesting that they went with Simplified Chinese, and not Traditional Chinese.

[quashlo]

Lafayette Park
2013.09.01

This is one of San Francisco’s many neighborhood parks, located in the Pacific Heights area. Like Alta Plaza Park and Alamo Square, it’s designed as an open green for the neighborhood, occupying four city blocks in a 2×2 square situated atop a hill.











This home dates from 1885 and survived the 1906 quake and fire.



This Beaux Arts residence is the Spreckels Mansion (1913), originally built by entrepreneur Adolph B. Spreckels (of Spreckels Sugar Company) and now the home of author Danielle Steel.

[quashlo]

The fog can roll in quite quickly in the afternoon, here enveloping Sutro Tower.









St. Mary’s Cathedral. Bernal Hill is in the distance.

[Danny]

Thanks again for these two new updates about San Francisco, quashlo! I´ve enjoyed them.

First, I´ve liked and I´ve seen very interesting the new improvements in the BART. I´d specially stand out the bike racks in every car, three is good and it´s a very good idea, and the programming for the LCD screens inside the cars. I´ve watched the loop and I see it gives a very complete information.

Second, I´ve liked your new pics from Lafayette Park. In that park we enjoyed very good moments in our visit to San Francisco.

Third, the pics of St. Mary´s Cathedral and Sutro Tower are very nice too. We visited St. Mary´s Cathedral and we liked it a lot.

You can see my threads about Alta Plaza and Lafayette Park in this link:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=194999

And about St. Mary´s Cathedral in this one:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=195057

Thanks for bringing us so many good and unforgettable memories, quashlo.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain

[quashlo]

Thanks for the comments.
Looks like you really got around, judging from your pictures.

[quashlo]

Lake Merritt
2013.09.08

Oakland's "jewel" is this lake bordering downtown, a popular place for a lunchtime or after-work walk or run. Earlier this year, they completed some streetscape and design improvements to enhance ped and bike access to the lake, including a new bridge and improved walking and running trails.

First, we start off above street level with a contextual overview. This is looking southeast over the Lakeside neighborhood. In the distance is the Oakland Estuary and Alameda.



Looking down Webster Street, along the eastern edge of Downtown Oakland:



Lakeside is sometimes called "The Gold Coast", and there are some beautiful historic buildings here.





A relatively new addition to the Lakeside area is this condo tower, The Essex (2001). Behind it is the expanse of Lake Merritt and the dense residential neighborhoods along the eastern shore.



The condo tower at street level:



On the eastern shore of the lake is 1200 Lakeshore, an older building of luxury apartments. They recently remodeled, so it actually looks like a fairly modern building now.



West of the lake is the up-and-coming Uptown, where residential blocks haved sprouted up after Mayor Jerry Brown's "10K" compaign to build 10,000 new housing units in Downtown Oakland.

[quashlo]

Downtown is flat, but the neighborhoods north and east of the lake get quite hilly. This is the Cleveland Heights / Ivy Hill area.





Adams Point area along the north shore of the lake.







The Cathedral of Christ the Light (2008), another recent addition to this area. Perhaps an unusual place for a church, surrounded by office buildings, but it is the new centerpiece of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland.



Grand Avenue