Scott Hess Photography

Some Orange for the Giants

 

The City is so stoked that the Giants are now ahead 2-1 games in the World Series. The team is a crazy beautiful expression of a great wild City.  I offer up these two orange images in their honor. The team may still be in Texas but the energy in San Francisco is exuberant.  Coit Tower is now is now-light painted orange along with City Hall and a variety of other places. The Chronicle ran a front page photo of the orange tower. Orange is popping up all over the City.  . . . and it's Halloween too - a real color synch.

Commerce and Currency - Fuel for Culture - Part 2

 

Above- Pacific Coast Stock Exchange building.  Looking east on Pine Street toward Sansome.

There is so much history swirling in the Financial District.  Titanic forces in the human heart and mind have played themselves out on this stage at the edge of the Bay. I feel it strongly as I pass by the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange building on Pine just west of Sansome. Classical themes echo in the original structure constructed by the Federal Government for a Reserve Bank in 1915. At that time San Francisco and the United States approached World War One as a young but rising global player. After being taken over by the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange in 1928, towering mythical figures appeared in front of the building, speaking of a vigorous industrial triumphalism. They don't look back to European classical themes as much as they express a bold new strength. The massive sculptures were carved in Yosemite granite by San Francisco artist Ralph Stackpole from 1929-1932. They depict the bountiful Earth and agriculture in the female figures on one side of the colonnade and the spirit of industry and technology embodied in the male figures on the opposite side. 

 

Above- The Feminine figures on the left (eastern) flank of the collonade personify natural abundance and Agriculture. 

 

When the Pacific Coast Stock Exhange took over the 130 Pine Street Sub Treasury Buildling they hired San Francisco architect Timothy Pflueger to design an adjoining tower at 155 Sansome.  Ralph Stackpole "direct carved" the sculpture over the entrance of the art deco showcase.  Pflueger put Stackpole in charge of assembling other artists and craftsmen to work on the interior, especially the City Club on the top floor, and they were delighted to do so in the early Depression years.

Above-  Stock Exchange Tower, fronting Sansome Street, was built in 1930 and was part of the overall Stock Exchange complex. The famed City Club is located on the top floor. The former equities trading building (130 Pine Street) was sold to private developers around 2000 and is now occupied by Equinox Fitness. The options trading floor still operates in the 120 year old Mills Building that is connected to it.

Below- the art deco lobby of Stock Exchange Tower. The tower and club are considered the finest examples of art deco in San Francisco.

 

Ralph Stackpole, San Francisco's most prominent artist of the 1920s and 1930s, pushed hard to land a commission for a mural Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Rivera had been a member of the communist party in Mexico and was well known for his revolutionary passions. The decision to award Rivera the commission caused some controversy on the left and the right since this building was a temple of capitalism. The intense conflicts and tensions between workers and capitalist-owners were boiling up in revolutionary movements across the world in this period of rapid change. In the end, Rivera's bold style and personality matched the mood of the day and did he do the mural in the capitalists' den. The work was completed in 1931. It was Rivera's first commission outside his native Mexico.

The mural is basically a song of praise for the rising tide of California's industry, agriculture, and technology.  We see California portrayed as a Queen, surrounded by the industrious works of "man"- from the deep miners, to builders and scientists. There was little environmental/ecological awareness at this time and both businessmen and artists of the day seemed to be carried away by the increasing speed and power of production, transportation, communication and invention in our rapidly evolving world.  Communists, capitalists and fascists all attempted to organize and ride this developing energy in their own unique ways.  Mainstream art and architecture in countries associated with all of these systems in the 20s and 30s reflect a heroic, modern, European view of a rapidly advancing, mechanized Humanity.

Below - Diego Rivera's mural "Allegory of California" in the staircase to the upper level of the City Club.  Tennis-great Helen Wills Moody, a friend of Stackpole's, posed as Queen Califia. There are also portraits of James Marshall, discoverer of gold, and Luther Burbank, famed horticulturist. Other figures represent the engineer, the merchant and the farmer, all panning for gold. Youth and its dreams are represented by a serious minded boy (the model in this case was photographer Peter Stackpole) holding an airplane, representing the infant industry. The oil industry and shipping are illustrated above Califia's shoulders. 

Rivera's view looks slightly dated now - somewhat innocent in it's celebration of the positive side of industrialization- but it still has undeniable artistic and mythic power.

Below- view from the City Club at the top of Stock Exchange Tower looking north over Pine Street directly below. The spot where the Transamerica Building now sits was directly on the shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove before it was filled in the 1850s.  It was also the location of the famous Montgomery Block building (1853-1959), where Stackpole had his studio and where he hosted Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo while they were in San Francisco.

 

Commerce and Currency—Fuel for Culture

In one sense the Financial District is the central nexus of the City. Commercial activity creates culture and I can feel the "global brain" at work here in the dense connected canyons of steel and stone.

A 150 year historical sweep of styles and stories are embedded in the structures of the Financial District. The rich jumble of architectures speaks of large jousting ambitions and rapidly evolving conditions. The stately 1908 Greco Roman Bank of California building seen above is one such example. It is the second physical incarnation of a Bank central to California economic history and the first large building to rise from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake and fire. California's economic history is one of aggressive mining speculations, radical economic fluctuations, class and racial tensions, and dynamic wealth creation. It is a place for gamblers, innovators and those called to be present as new possibilities emerge. 

Below: After a series of mergers, the 1908 building with the Corinthian colonnade and the 1967 brutalist skyscraper behind it belong to Union Bank, a subsidiary of UnionBanCal Corporation, a bank holding company. This was the site of pre gold rush trader William Leidesdorffs storehouse on the shore of the Cove.

The new abstract buildings of the 1970's and 80's seem to be much less loved than the historic buildings with their rich architectural references but I find the contrast visually stimulating. The key is actually looking up and taking in the angles, reflections, rhythms and echos. 

Below: A variety of period architectures look down from the sky in this view from Post and Montgomery. In the center is Louis Polk's 1914 Hobart Building. Polk was San Francisco's star post earthquake architect. On the far left edge is detail of the 1927 Hunter-Dulin Building which served as the West Coast Headquarters of the National Broadcasting Company. The curved building in the lower left detail is the 1908 First National Bank Building also designed by Polk. The white tower at 44 Montgomery was built in 1967 and was once Wells Fargo's world headquarters. Montgomery Street is the "main street" of the Financial District. It used to mark the shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove and was the center of trading, commerce, and banking.

The new skyscraping temples of commerce seem to transcend the earthly plane with their abstract geometries and straight lines racing toward the heavens. The question always hanging in the air is, "how can we sustain this energy intensive expansion?".

Below: The SW corner of Sacramento and Montgomery, now occupied by a modest two story building, was occupied by an Indian sweat lodge until 1842. A small stream used to run down the area marked by Sacramento Street (from right to left) and formed a small freshwater pool directly adjacent to the site. The shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove was only yards away off the left side of the frame.

Click photos to enlarge. In my next post the leftwing artists of the day mix it up in the heart of 1930's capitalism.

Decompression 10-10-10 Burning Man in the City

As 10-10-10 draws to a close I head over to Dogpatch in the eastern part of the city for Burning Man's Decompression.  Burning Man was born in San Francisco and this year is the 25th anniversary of this extreme art festival. The main event is held on Labor Day week in the Black Rock Desert in Northwestern Nevada, but this is the beloved "afterparty" in the City.

 
When I arrive at the six block event-area at the foot of Potrero Hill the place is absolutely roaring.  People in all types of fanciful dress are arriving from all directions and the place is surging with high energy. Pulsing techno and electronica are pumping out through huge banks of speakers at key locations. The Burning Man community really knows how to party.  The feeling is here is "altered state" all the way and the mood ecstatic.

I pop on my glittery bowler hat and feel a tinge of regret that I hadn't taken some time to think about a more artistic outfit.  The idea is to enter a world of personal creative expression as quickly as possible. I jump into the flow by responding to the images as they move around and through me.

10-10-10 is a day of reflective awareness.  That is why the climate activists have made 10-10-10 Climate Awareness Day. I think about the huge amount of jet fuel just burned by the Blue Angels in the celebration over the City and about my own modes of transportation, heating etc. Burning Man has encouraged people to carpool and use public transportation to get here, but I can't figure out how to do that with my schedule and camera gear. The best I can do now is to open up my mind and heart and feel the joy of this amazing artistic community.

Above - This couple hung out in the glow of the catcar for a very long time - just loving each other.

Below- A Shimmering, color shifting beauty casts a magical spell at the edge of the park. It is hard to walk away.  The guy in the braided coat can't stop shooting video of the spectral hues as they play through the face of the feminine.  This piece is the pure love of light and the human form. It feels good on my way in and my way out.

Click on above photos to see entire image.

For more photos of Decompression 10-10-10  http://bit.ly/9lcCka

The Navy Is Here 10-10-10

Blue Angels F-18s roar across the San Francisco waterfront in tight formation. 10-10-10

After visiting Treasure Island, I ponder the places from which the U.S. Navy has withdrawn in the San Francisco Bay Area - places like Treasure Island, Mare Island, and Hunters Point. This week I am strongly reminded of the Navy's presence here and now. It is Fleet Week. A parade of Navy ships pass through the Golden Gate to various Piers around the Bay, and the Blue Angels offer a dazzling display of naval air power. The F-18s dominate the Bay Area's airspace for several days straight. They perform amazing feats of physical and technical discipline and one is grateful that these screaming machines are friendly entertainers today.

It is the U.S. Navy that formally took San Francisco for the United States when Captain John Montgomery sailed into the bay on the U.S.S. Portsmouth and raised the stars and stripes over the Plaza (now Portsmouth Square) in 1846. The Navy has been a central player here ever since. San Francisico is the gateway to the Pacific in war and in peace. It has long been viewed as an Imperial City, projecting power over the Pacific and around the world. The Bay Area's budding military industrial complex was supercharged by the gold pouring from from the Sierras and developed side by side with the new technologies of mining. Now the high-tech companies of Silicon Valley enable the latest iteration of the new military machine. Powered by our core national mythologies, this complex is a powerful actor on the world stage.

Today the Navy is highlighting its humanitarian side which is real and effective. Crew members from the U.S.S. Makin Island at Red's Java House at Pier 30 tell me about all sorts of disaster relief capability built into their ship. They can deploy emergency housing, food, power and medical care with speed and efficiency wherever it is needed around the world—for humanitarian relief or in wartime.

By the end of the day I feel a renewed respect for the U.S. military. All the sailors and marines I have met have been polite, intelligent, and impeccable in their demeanor. I am all too aware of the dark side of this national power, but I know my life is completely intertwined with it. I'm always reaching for something that transcends this duality, but I do live with an "American" identity. The American identity is morphing now into a new range of color with a globalized consciousness. That is terrifying to some and exhilarating to others.

Above: The U.S.S. Makin Island (LHD-8), the Navy's only hybrid-electric drive amphibious assault ship, docked opposite Red's Java Hut, at Pier 30.

Below, sailors and officers from the U.S.S. Malkin stroll along the waterfront just south of the Bay Bridge. They host the public for demonstrations of disaster relief capabilities and a glimpse of the Navy's current technologies.

The day is not over yet, however. For something Completely Different I make my way to the Burning Man "Decompression" held at the foot of Potrero Hill. When I arrive the area is roaring with energy. More to come on this exuberant otherworld.

Treasure Island, Part 2 - Surreal Contrasts on an Ephemeral Platform

Treasure Island as it is today is a stage for a play of surreal contrasts.  Dreams of power and glory mix with spectacular views of San Francisco and the swirling energy of wind and water.  The earth underfoot, however, is tenuous. It is basically bay mud impregnated with a wide variety of toxins and pollutants.  It is very close to sea level and I wonder the fill will react to a strong shaking.  

The Ferry Building, above center, now stands backed by the financial powers of the day. In one 1906 photo from this same location on Treasure Island, the Ferry Building is completely surrounded by a wall of smoke and flame.  It was saved as a vital transportation portal by Navy and municipal fireboats.

Above is one of Treasure Island's key views of Telegraph Hill - directly aligned with Russian Hill behind it. 180 degrees opposite this view, (behind me) are a series of abandoned, vandalized art deco "star barracks" from Navy times. In 1996, the Treasure Island Naval Base was decommissioned and opened to the public under certain stipulations. Is is now in a strange transitional situation with lot's of questions hanging in the air.

The Yacht Club below, is one of the rare places on the island that looks and feels "normal". In the distance one can see the ongoing work on the eastern span of the Bay Bridge and a touch of the naturally green and vibrant Yerba Buena Island on the right. The iconic Pan Am "flying boats" used to use this cove for docking - kicking off an era of luxurious air travel, connecting distant locations in exciting new ways.

Below- A closer look  at the work on the new Bay Bridge alongside the present bridge built in 1935 - from the SE corner of Treasure Island.

Below is the Hall of Air Transportation built in for the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1935 and "dedicated to Men with Wings". When World War II pressed the building into military service the building was rededicated as a Naval Reserve Readiness Center. Now the building is occupied by Island Creative, a company providing high end staging and lighting services for film, television, and live performance.

Below - Brochures and posters featuring Treasure Island history found in Building One.

The strange thing is, three quarters of the 535 acre Treasure Island now looks like this - vacant, desolate, and in shambles.

Below is Sage Hall, one of the four massive Navy "star barracks" which now sit vandalized on the edge of the Bay, looking out to spectacular views of the City.  

Below - Another vacant Navy building on desolation row.

Below - I'm surprised to see this trailer just around the corner from Desolation Row.

Below - These abandoned homes on northern side look out over Angel Island and the entire Northbay. They are slated to be demolished for the new "magic city" coming soon.

E4 hit an prime spot on the old Bowling Alley.

Below- Three Dogs to Travel.   I'm not sure why this trinity is sitting here, ready to roll, in front of 888 Avenue H.

 

It all comes back to the island's relationship with San Francisco and it's great connecting Bay.

 

San Francisco from the western shore of Treasure Island.


 

Treasure Island—Village of Dreams Anchored in Space. Part 1

It's a beautiful morning and I find myself on Treasure Island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. This is truly a stage of dreams, constructed from dredged bay mud in 1936-37. It was built on the shoals off the north side of Yerba Buena Island for the Golden Gate International Exposition. The setting is powerful—physically spectacular, and the contradictions of human nature play themselves out here in an especially poignant way.

The ongoing story of this place is one of romantic notions of global connection, adventure, and transcendence balanced with the toxic reality of war and exercise of hard power. Treasure Island was at first an exuberant, positive, poetic, celebration of the industrial and technical might of the young, muscular USA. In addition to the futuristic Exposition, the island was used as an airport for Pan American's "flying boats" such as the luxurious China Clippers. Building One, below, is a Streamline Moderne remnant of the World's Fair and was used by Pan Am as their dramatic air terminal facing out to the Pacific. It, and two large hangers are the only remaining buildings from the exposition.

The former terminal with its cavernous interior space curves in an arc directly facing the San Francisco skyline. Murals depict the history of Naval Power deployed from San Francisco and Treasure Island in particular.

looking West-Southwest from Buliding One to the heart of San Francisco.

When the United States was attacked and became embroiled in World War II, the Federal Government declared the island important for national defense and took it for a Naval Base. In return the Navy gave the City Mills Field near Millbrae—and that is where our present airport is today. Treasure Island Naval Base housed large electronic and radio communications schools, and thousands of sailors poured through this base on their way to fight in the Pacific. War is always polluting and damaging to the biological environment, and now the groundwater and air are officially polluted with asbestos, plutonium, radium and other carcinogenic substances.

With the end of World War II the romantic ideal began to re-emerge on this tenuous stage surrounded with shimmering waters charged by ocean weather. From the 1980's onward Treasure Island's massive aircraft hangers have served as sound stages for film and TV productions. Numerous high profile films and television productions have been shot here.

Now there are plans for an eco-development with high rise towers, gardens and a car minimizing transit system. The huge expanse of decaying housing projects, halls, and barracks from the Navy period will be demolished for a new "magic city" aimed at a hopeful future.

interpretive sign in Building One

Treasure Island Part 2 will take a look at other fascinating aspects of this unique place.

 

Sand Francisco

It's family day so K, Lukas (above on the right) and I head off for Ocean Beach for the 27th Annual Sandcastle Contest, sponsored by the dynamic organization Leap—widely celebrated for its programs bringing art and architecture into Bay Area Schools. (www.leap4kids.org)

The day is cool and overcast but many hundreds show up to create, compete, and play. This year's theme is "San Francisco" and we see lots of marine mammals, pyramids, stadiums, and buses. It looks somewhat Atlantian.

There are moats and waterways surrounding most of the pieces and they remind me, not only of Atlantis but of a high-end Chinese publication called LA China (LA meaning landscape architecture). I was just reading in the magazine about new architectural designs being presented for floating cities and cities interwoven with ocean currents and tides. These designs are being put forth as a response to global warming and rising sea levels.

Lukas seems to enjoy the scene and does some digging himself. He also claims to hear the ocean calling him to "come on in to my waters!". 

Downtown Church—Patty Griffin at "Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass"

Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass, the amazing, star-studded, free concert held each year in Golden Gate Park, kicks off today and a brief window of time opens for me to attend. I enter near the Arrow Stage and the Ebony Hillbillies are putting the crowd in dynamic motion. Soundstreams from several bands criss cross in the cool air as I move toward the Rooster Stage in Marx Meadow to catch Patty Griffin playing with Buddy Miller.

I've heard Griffin tracks before on CDs and the radio and I know she's a talented singer-songwriter, but her performance this mid-afternoon is absolutely thrilling. The large crowd filling the meadow is clearly captivated and energized but I am taken by surprise at the strength of my own reaction. From the first note to the last my eyes well up with tears. There is something about this woman's frequency that sends an ecstatic spiritual energy right through me. Her range is extraordinary and every note is perfect. I'm still feeling it.

In the photo above, Emmylou Harris (in the long coat and scarf) joins the band on one of those new/old gospel songs on Griffin's new gospel album, Downtown Church. That's American roots music legend Buddy Miller, who produced the new album, in the brown hat.

The next act (below), and last for me, is the highly talented, upbeat indy rock duo Jenny and Johnny (Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice). They are great—rock hard with style, and are much appreciated by the crowd, but it is Griffin still resonating in my mind and heart as I make my way back home.

Jenny and Johnny on the Rooster Stage at Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass this afternoon.

For more information on this beloved San Francisco festival go to http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2010/