SAN FRANCISCO by quashlo

[quashlo]

Golden Gate Park
2013.01.13

Another set from the city’s sand-dunes-turned-urban-oasis, focusing on a few more of the park’s attractions. This time, we start off at the eastern end of the park at the Conservatory of Flowers, built in 1878. It is the oldest building in Golden Gate Park, and claims to be the oldest extant public conservatory in the western hemisphere. Regardless, it’s a beautiful building, and one of the park’s most photographed sights.







The conservatory grounds are also a pleasure, with well-tended flower beds and a historic tunnel beneath John F. Kennedy Drive.





Next, a look inside…

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Back outside…









We continue down John F. Kennedy Drive, one of the park’s main east-west thoroughfares. The eastern end of the road is closed to vehicular traffic on Saturdays and Sundays, and many city residents come out to enjoy some of the sun in running shoes, on skates, or on bikes.

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Next, some views from atop Strawberry Hill inside Stow Lake.
Looking east towards the California Academy of Sciences.



Looking north towards The Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge.





Looking south towards the Inner Sunset and Golden Gate Heights



Outer Sunset and ocean

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Back down to ground level…



Urban wildlife







Stow Lake is the most famous of the park’s lakes and offers a nice walk or paddleboat ride.



The lake’s modest Chinese Pavilion is a recent (1981) gift from sister city Taipei.

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54th Annual Tibetan National Uprising Day
2013.03.10

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Larkspur
2013.02.26

Larkspur is a small town just south of San Rafael in Marin County. I had some field work out there one late winter day, which meant starting off the morning with a ferry ride on the Bay.

Container cranes at the Port of Oakland



Most of the Bay’s commute ferries terminate here at San Francisco’s Ferry Building. There are routes to / from Sausalito, Tiburon, Larkspur, Vallejo, Alameda / Oakland (Jack London Square), and Bay Farm Island.





Nob Hill



Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill



Treasure Island and the under-construction eastern span of the Bay Bridge

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Ridgetop mansions in Tiburon (I think…)



New construction



We approach Larkspur through the Corte Madera Channel. While the ferry service is reasonably popular, the ironic thing is that the current Larkspur terminal isn’t ideal for a variety of reasons, one of the major ones being that the channel isn’t very deep or wide. Wakes from boats can damage sensitive marshland habitat ringing the channel, so the ferries are forced to crawl through this area at slow speed.





Richmond – San Rafael Bridge



Alcatraz is undoubtedly more famous, but just east of Larkspur is another fairly notorious correctional facility on prime bayfront real estate: San Quentin State Prison. It’s the oldest prison in California.

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Houseboats on the Greenbrae Boardwalk along the south side of Corte Madera Creek





The ferry terminal is quite large, although most of it is just a giant surface parking lot. With the nearest alternatives at Tiburon and Sausalito, the Larkspur terminal ends up serving all of San Rafael and the surrounding communities.







The service has become increasingly popular with commuters after the introduction of high-speed catamarans, and Golden Gate Transit now has to run a commuter bus to pick up stragglers who can’t fit onto the most crowded boats.

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Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is Larkspur’s main thoroughfare, and it’s frequently choked with traffic during commute hours with vehicles heading to and from US 101 and west into Kentfield, Ross, and San Anselmo.







Some afternoon shots west of the terminal… This is the former Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) right-of-way, where passenger rail service is being restored as part of the Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) project. The current planned southern terminus will be here at Larkspur, just across the street (Sir Francis Drake Blvd.). It will be a 5-10 minute walk from the station to the ferry terminal, with a new bike / ped bridge spanning Sir Francis Drake



SMART will terminate for the time being at Larkspur, but the tracks and ROW actually continue south over Corte Madera Creek on this drawbridge, all the way down to Sausalito (with a spur out to Tiburon), although much of it has been “rail-to-trail” converted to bike paths. I never imagined SMART making it very far, so perhaps we may see train service restored to southern Marin County before long.

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The Old Mint
2013.03.02

The Old United States Mint at the corner of Fifth and Mission is one of the city’s most unique buildings, although it has definitely seen better days after years of neglect, with the grand staircase fronting Fifth Street frequently taken over by homeless. Designated a historical landmark, the building is closed to the public, although efforts are now underway to eventually convert it into a new museum about the city’s history. A special “San Francisco History Expo” was held at the Old Mint the weekend of March 2-3, offering a rare glimpse of the building’s interior. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get very many good pictures, but here’s a peek inside.



The vault floor (underground)…

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The History Expo was spread across the entire building, with an impressive array of booths and exhibits about the city’s history







The inner courtyard is a treat. Tthe adjacent section of Jessie Street was converted into a hardscape plaza several years ago and plans are moving on the “5M Project” to redevelop the historic Chronicle Building across the street from the Old Mint. Construction work has also finally begun nearby on the 250,000 square foot CityPlace urban mall, now branded as “Market Street Place”. Hopefully, this building will also eventually get the attention it deserves.

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Kalayaan 2013
2013.06.15

This was a small celebration of The Philippines' Independence Day, held in Union Square.







A Filipino restaurant that recently opened at the Metreon.

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The headliner of the event was apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas.

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I think this guy was on American Idol or something…

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James R. Herman Cruise Terminal (Pier 27)
2013.06.16

Work on San Francisco's cruise terminal was recently completed at Pier 27, although the site is currently serving as the America's Cup Park, one of the two official venues to watch the races, while the cruise ships continue to berth at Pier 35.







Yachts docked at the pier



The Cup itself hasn't completely met expectations, leading some locals to call it a flub.

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The terminal itself is a modest size, but overall a nice design. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go inside.

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