The City of The Silent aka Colma: Where the official population is 1500 (above ground) and 1.5 million (underground).  Meet 9 famous (and infamous) San Franciscans who helped to shape Our City over the past 158 years…

Joshua Norton - Emperor of The United States and Protector of Mexico

Lilly Hitchcock Coit - Volunteer firefighter and benefactor of Coit Tower

John McLaren - Superintendent of Golden Gate Park

Charles McCabe -  Nemesis of Herb Caen and columnist for The Chron & Examiner

EDITOR’s NOTE: If you know the location of The Late, Great Herb Caen’s final resting place, pls email me.  I could not, for the life of me, find it.  Thanks!!

Charles Crocker - Gold Rush railroad executive

Steve Silver - Creative genius behind Beach Blanket Babylon

Claus Spreckels - Sugar magnate

Willis Polk - San Francisco architect

James Flood - Discoverer of The Comstock Load

See three more local cemeteries here and here and here.

Flickr set here.

Best Girafa capture of 2008

While the Chinese may not acknowledge the Giraffe as an active member of the lunisolar calendar — we certainly do.  Why?  Well because it seemed the only silver lining in what what otherwise a dark year.  And because more than any other subject matter, 2008 proved to be paramount in the rapid-fire hunting and shooting of Girafa’s city wide from bays north to south, east to west.  The oft-weekly submissions of wayward Long-Neckers from Our Loyal Readers proved to be one of the best reasons for checking the inbox.

So it’s time to give back: Since you took the time to send in the snappers, we took some time to compose a 1650 x 1050 sized mashup of your submissions into the below desktop wallpaper ready .jpg.

And pls do continue to send your captures our way.  And we will continue to publish them as rapidly as they arrive.

(click for larger version)

Unframed version of the above image here.

Dueling Girafa Flickr groups with even more Girafa’s here and here.

Artificially emulated Lomographs using methods learned on DPS…

The Ferry Transit Terminal aka “The Grandfather Clock of Market Street” bka The Ferry Building was designed by architect A. Page Brown in 1898, replacing its wooden predecessor.   The present terminal has survived two earthquakes and more notably, The EMB extension of “The Car Strangled Spanner.” The clock tower was modeled after the 12th century Giralda bell tower in Sevilla, Spain.  During daylight, on every full and half-hour, the clock bell can be heard chiming portions of the Westminster Quarters.

Until the completion of the Bay Bridge and The Great Gate in the 1930s, The Ferry Building was the second busiest transit terminal in the world.  It served as the embarkation point for commuters to The City from the The Town who rode the ferry fleets of the Southern Pacific and the Key System.  A loop track existed in front of the building for streetcars.

In the second half of the 20th century, while the Ferry Building and its clock tower became a cut-off part of the skyline, the building interior deteriorated.  Over the years, the ticketing counters and waiting room areas were partitioned into office space.  The formerly grand public space had transformed itslef into a narrow and dark corridor, through which travelers passed en route to the piers.

With the construction in the late 1950s of the Embarcadero Freeway, which passed right in front of the Ferry Building, views of the once-prominent landmark from Market Street were separated and foot traffic was all but non-existent.  When the double-decker cement monstrosity was demolished in the aftermath of the The Great Shaker of ‘89 and replaced with a ground-level boulevard, the barrier was finally gone.

In 2004, the building reopened as an upscale farmer’s market, office building, and re-dedicated ferry terminal.  The restoration project spanned several years, with an emphasis on recreating the building’s original 1898 glory.

[text source:wiki]

Look up in the sky!  Its 23 birds.  On a wire.  Well, not exactly.  It’s actually 23 illuminated, translucent, polycarbonate books seemingly airborne from the top floors of the New Sun Hong Kong Restaurant at the nexus of Columbus and Broadway in the North Beach sector. The latest in The City’s never ending parade of public art installations is the work of site specific artist Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn.  And while we have never heard of the latter — we have long been fascinated by Goggin’s decade old Defenestration installation at the corner of 6th & Howard.

Back to the books: Below the solar-powered, liberated books are quotes from local authors spanning the last 150 years of North Beach’s rich literary history in Italian, English, and Chinese — including Armistead Maupin, Herb Gold, Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, and Jade Snow Wong — permanently etched into the concrete.  Goggin and Keehn teamed up with scientist David Shearer and local legend Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Bookstore to provide solar power to the City’s grid, offsetting the energy used by Language of the Birds. The solar panels are mounted on top of the iconic bookstore, located half-a-block down Columbus Street.

Channel 4.3 (OTA HD) Traffic Cam

Thank you William Howard Taft, wherever you are.  You stuck a label on us and we are forever stuck with it – “The City That Knows How…”

The City is a snake, shedding its skin, changing constantly, moving about in unexpected directions.  However, if it is a great city, which San Francisco forever is, it must retain its basic qualities — a sense of adventure, a delight in its own history, an air of freedom, and a rare tolerance for divergent views and actions.  The City dances on its hills and unashamedly enjoys its own beauty, which has survived many a long night of excesses, both joyous and tragic.

It’s been said that San Francisco is a great writer’s town — and photographer’s, too — tantalizing, just out of reach of its misty aloofness.  A city so small and yet so varied, from block to block.  Cross a street and enter a different world.  Every writer and snap-shot artist focusing on San Francisco strives to capture its essence and, on occasion, feels s/he has succeeded — but The City is always one step ahead, laughing, disappearing into the fog…

As the year nears its end, we’d like to thank our fellow bloggers — some of The City’s finest communicators via words and/or pictures.  These are those who have inspired us to do better at what we do…

1. Donald Kinney - A Photo A Day
2. Brock - SFist
3. Sarah Hromack/Susie Cagel/Jimmy Stamp - Curbed SF
4. Allan Hough - MissionMission
5. Travis Jensen - Travis Jensen
6. Brittney Gilbert - CBS 5
7. Greg Dewar - N-Judah Chronicles
8. Scott Beale - Laughing Squid
9. Thomas Hawk - Digital Connection
10. Kap$hure - Berderp

And add to this list the 143 members that decided to join our Flickr pool this year…keep shooting, keep contributing.

See more postcards here and here and here.

Washington Tuna Cannery

Well, we spoke too soon.  Seen here — the FINITE last shooting of a Girafa for 2008, submitted by Flickr friend Eb78.  See 54 additional Long-Neckers in the shooting gallery here.

Have you spotted a migrating Camel Leopard on the loose??  Drop the cross-streets in the comments section or send your snapper directly to the Girafa Hunting tip-line.

Built on the location of the historic Monkey Block, The TransAm Pyramid contains 48 floors of retail and office space and several thousand windows.  Construction began in 1969 and finished in 1972.  It is currently ranked as the 100th tallest building in the world.

The unique constructional shape is the result of a desire by The Transamerica Corp. to have a building whose top would be looked up to by the executives on the highest floor of the Triple 5 Cal, which is not only taller but built upon higher ground.  In the end, the pyramid was an innovative solution to a historical design challenge, and viewed from afar forms the most unique element of Our City’s signature skyline.

[text source: wiki]

Columbus & Vallejo

Subprime shots found lurking on the Swell Dell while the G9 is being repaired…

121 Birds

Snail Mail

Big Foot Unlimited

The Trife Life

In what might very well be the last hunted and shot Girafa of 2008, we see here a species very near to extinction.  A non-enthusiastic property owner, or perhaps a proponent of The Urban Quilt, has performed one half-assed buff job on 20th near Kirkham.

Thanks to EGW for sending this one our way.  See 53 much healthier looking Long-Neckers in the shooting gallery here.

Have you spotted a migrating Camel Leopard on the loose??  Drop the cross-streets in the comments section or send your snapper directly to the Girafa Hunting tip-line.

Over the weekend, Flickr friend Rowenoftc pointed us to an awesome site called Polardroid, which allows you to download a free Polaroid emulator — for Macs and PCs.

The only problem is that now I want to Polaroid every picture I’ve ever taken — and this could get rather gimmicky rather quickly.

Beginning January 1st, a new state law will make texting while driving illegal.  The CHP has activated freeway signs to remind drivers of the changes effective next Friday.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pls do not let this legal technicality prevent you from text messaging your sightings of wayward Girafa’s to the tipline.  Rest assured, our make-believe legal team will represent you to the fullest extent possible if cited and/or questioned in a court of law.

WHAT IM SEEING dot com is signing off for 2008.

We will return on January 2nd, refreshed. Posting will be sparse over the next week. The next 8 days will be spent locally: reading our camera manuals from cover to cover, reorganizing our Flickr account, embarking on multiple photowalks, and time well spent with good friends — old and new.

Happy Holidaze to you and yours…

In memory of Tatiana the Tiger: 6/27/03– 12/25/07…

The Great Gate

364 days ago, a feisty feline named Tatiana was put to the test of all tests and responded with a ferocious FAIL.  Shortly after she was provoked and assassinated, the childish side of our Your Editors got the best of us when we bid/won on a plastic, growling tiger on eBay.  For the next 12 months we carried her in our pockets at all times, right alongside our cameras.

Everywhere we wandered, we had to wonder: Where would she be right now if not taunted by a couple of drunken stoners from the South Bay?  What would Tatiana be doing right now if not taken from us in a hail of SFPD gunfire?

We’d like to believe that Tatiana’s ghost roams free around The City by The Bay…

Castro Theater

Treasure Island

Ghiradelli Square

Cable Car

Bay Bridge

City Skyline

TransAm

Lusty Lady

St. Peter & Paul

Sonoma County

Ferry Building

Flickr set here.

Click on these links for hi-res/large format pix, perfect for a wall calendar or desktop wallpaper!

Christmas memorial details here.

This is Leonard Connacher’s Christmas, located in the lobby of Five EC’s Hyatt Regency Hotel.  This is his insanely large miniature metropolis: 100’s upon 100’s of petite houses and buildings.  1000’s upon 1000’s of tiny and not so tiny trees.  2 fleets of trains, planes and automobiles, respectively chugging, flying and motoring through this winter wonderland.  Ski slopes and ice palaces.  Shoppers and teeny-boppers.  Even a Starbucks and a Harley store.  A Wells Fargo and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Snow Village display, in its 12th year, is the masterpiece of a simple 64-year- old Castro Valley man who wanted to recreate the Norman Rockwell-like Christmas scenes he remembers from his childhood in Pennsylvania.  Connacher started collecting the pieces (which are all manufactured by a company named Department 56) in 1981, shortly after his company transferred him from Pennsylvania to the East Bay.

“I was one of nine children, I had never been away from home before,” he said. “I was homesick. Then one day I was at the old Liberty House store in San Mateo and saw this little parsonage, and it reminded me so much of home.”

So he bought the parsonage and a few more pieces for his bookshelf, then soon bought a few more, and then moved the collection to a spare bedroom, then to the bigger bedroom, and before long the little Christmas-themed figures filled both bedrooms and two storage lockers.

He also has filled a spare conference room at the Hyatt Regency, and rents a U-Haul truck to transport them between hotels, his home and storage lockers.  The items on display are only a fraction of what he owns. 

“I have every ‘Snow Village’ piece they’ve ever made.  Sick, huh?,” says Connacher.

Flickr set here.

Embarcadero Center Ice Rink

Urban legend?  No, there really is a Pez Museum!!  Not the Barca/SF graff artist of the same name — but rather the plastic Pez that dispenses flavored candies from its neck.  And there are 1000’s of them on display at The Museum of Pez Memorabilia in Burlingame.  Located at 241 California Drive, the space itself is small storefront with just two rooms: a sales floor in the front, and in the back — a museum.

Curator and owner, Gary Doss has been collecting Pez dispensers for almost 15 years.  The space was originally a computer retail and repair business.   He set up his personal Pez collection as a distraction for the customers.  Over time, word spread and the computers had to go to make room for the rapidly growing collection of mechanical candy dispensers.

Austrian candy executive Eduard Haas invented Pez candy in 1927.  The original little candy bricks were peppermint only.  The name “Pez” is an abbreviation of the German word for peppermint (PfeffErminZ).  Pez was originally marketed as an adult mint for people trying to quit smoking.

The first Pez dispensers, known to collectors as “regulars”, did not have character heads.  Around 1952, cartoon heads and fruity flavored candy were introduced. Since then, over 550 different heads have been made and Doss has at least one of each in his very impressive collection.

Flickr set here.

World’s largest Pez dispenser here.

Video interview with Gary Doss here.

4880 El Camino Real in Los Altos

Kearny & Broadway

In 2003, The San Francisco Lusty Lady was bought by the entertainers and began to be managed as a worker cooperative.  One of two West Coast branches, SF had already entered the news in 1997 when it became the first (and as of today, the only) successfully unionized sex business in the U.S.

Peep shows operate thusly (so I’ve heard):  several mostly naked women dance simultaneously on a stage, separated by glass windows from the customers who each stand in their own booth, paying to keep the window open (25 cents/minute).  The dancers are also available for 1-on-1 shows in glass separated private booths where tipping is possible.  As an added bonus, coin-operated booths showing adult videos are available.

But it’s not all good in the pornographic hood…

Several grievances led to the unionizing effort in 1997.  African American feminist Siobhan Brooks (while working at the club) had noticed that dancers were discriminated against and filed a complaint.  The precipitating event was the installation of one-way mirrors in the booths, resulting in some customers taking photos and videos of the show.

After a vote of the employees, the business was organized by the Exotic Dancers Union, an affiliate of Service Employees International Union. The Bay Area Sex Worker Advocacy Network (BAYSWAN) provided online support for the workers’ unionization effort, which helped to garner public support for the workers as well as inquiries from other exotic dancers and sex workers throughout the country.

After management cut hourly compensation at the SF Lusty Lady in 2003, the workers struck again and won.  The subsequent efforts to turn the club into a worker cooperative were led by Donna Delinqua, a stripper and graduate student.

The workers bought the club for $400,000, with money borrowed from the old owners.  In 1996, the club had had a revenue of almost $3 million; by 2003 this had fallen by 40%. The monthly rent was $13,442 in 2003 and had doubled over the preceding three years.  The club had a revenue of about $27,000/week in the first half of 2006.

A dispute began in the summer of 2006 when a male employee wrote a confidential email to the co-op board, complaining that hiring of too many heavy women drove customers away, thus lowering every employee’s income.

[text souce: wiki]

18th & Potrero

A brief survey of this website might indicate an unhealthy obsession with all things Girafa and/or Frank Chu and/or Herb Caen.

Don’t believe the hype, Loyal Readers.  We have branched out to include a new species — the eco-concious and graff-squad abating PlanTrees.

Osage & 24th

Have you seen a four-colored, well-shaded pine tree sprout up in your neighborhood?  Hit us up on the tip-line or drop the cross-streets in the comments section.

Inspired by WHAT YOU’RE SEEING Flickr member Bats1234…

EC4/JHP

2008 is officially the Year of The Girafa.

At an almost daily rate, sightings continue to arrive in our inbox.  In addition to taking over every freeway, underpass, abandoned warehouse, newspaper box, industrial sized dumpster, and moving truck in the greater Bay Area — this most known of unknowns has seemingly taken over this blog.

Seen here and submitted by Loyal Reader “Nick” — are two of the best to date.  We should point out that these submissions could possibly be screen grabs from the Flickr Pool as Nick’s email address seems suspect.  (Read: an emailed reply bounced back).  See 51 legitimate Long Neckers in the shooting gallery here.

Have you spotted a migrating All-City Pagan God Camel Leopard on the loose, be it urban or rural??  Drop the cross-streets in the comments section or better yet — send your snapper directly to the Girafa Hunting tip-line.

…is this MUNI Metro edition tee shirt and wall calendar.  It will pair perfectly with my necktie, cuff links, and vintage transfer collection.

[via SFist via Muni Diaries]

In 1955, The Chron published the below map of proposed freeway construction which included a Mission Freeway, an EMB Freeway, a Southern EMB Freeway,  a Crosstown Freeway, a Central Freeway, a Bayshore Freeway, a Western Freeway, a Park Presidio Freeway, a Hunters Point Freeway, and a Golden Gate Freeway.  The news was not well received by the general public and a great debate ensued.

In 1959, the Board of Supervisors voted to cancel 7 of 10 planned freeways, including an extension of the Central Freeway.  In 1964, protests against a freeway through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park led to its cancellation, and in 1966 The BOS rejected an extension of the EMB Freeway to the The Great Gate.

(click for larger image)

Opposition to the Embarcadero Freeway continued, and in 1985, the BOS voted to demolish it.  It was closed after 1989’s Loma Prieta earthquake and torn down shortly thereafter.  The entire portion of the Central Freeway north of Market Street was demolished over the next decade: the top deck in 1996, and the lower deck in 2003.  Two other short freeway segments were demolished in the same time period: the Terminal Separator Structure near Rincon Hill, and the stub end of 280 near Mission Bay.

San Francisco was the only major city in the country that lost freeway miles between 1990 and 2005.

[text source: wiki]

Powell Street Cable Car Turntable

Well, here’s a new twist on an old favorite: a bucktoothed Girafa and an extremely upright Musk.

Loyal Reader Erica found the two get up kids lurking in the Stevens Creek Tunnel, which lies directly below El Camino Real in Mountain View.  See 50 additional Giraffidae and a 1/2 dozen mummies in the shooting gallery here.

Have you spotted a migrating Camel Leopard on the loose??  Drop the cross-streets in the comments section or send your snapper directly to the Girafa Hunting tip-line.

Sub-prime, stray shots from the Union Square sector…

Powell Street MUNI/BART Station

Loyal Reader That Huberock passed us several unused books of vintage MUNI transfers yesterday and some questions immediately surfaced:

• What year are these from?
• How much were adult/children/senior fares at the time?
• How many rides were these valid for?
• What is the logic behind the colors?
• What is the logic behind the alpha-numeric symbols?
• Why is “EMERGENCY” in the “Late Night Special” verbiage?

If you know the answers to any or all of these questions, pls leave them in the comments section.

(click for larger image)

The common denominator of housing in San Francisco is a view.

With the sweeping expanse of hills, harbor, and bay stretching for miles outside his window — Your Editor in his tiny, overpriced one-bedroom apartment on Goat Hill is as scenically rich as the millionaire in his four-bedroom condo across the street.  And he is infinitely richer than the well-off City Official in his St. Francis Wood mansion, whose windows can’t even see around the corner.

The San Franciscan never tires of looking at the face of his city, he always wants to keep looking.  He never sees enough of it.  If he has a few extra dollars to spend, he is likely to invest in a larger window, or in a deck he can step onto with a visitor and say, with the smug assurance of one who is unfolding certified wonders, “Look! Where else can you see something like that?”

Inspired by the Late, Great Herb Caen

What the ho, ho, ho??

1000’s of drunken Santa’s stumbled through the streets yesterday, spreading cheer and merriment to any and all they encountered.  This year, the Red Menace split into 3 groups which collectively roamed The Wharf (Klassic Kringle), The Haight (Ho’s on H8), and The Dirty 30/Castro (Mastrobation).

What is Santa Con? Well, it’s short for Santa Convention, where the only requirements are a red suit and desire to get really, really drunk.  It helps if you are able to stand upright while inebriated for 10-14 hours.  Traditionally, the event takes place on the 3rd Saturday of each December.

This year marked the 15th year anniversary of the mass-metro infestation of Santa clones.

In 1994, the Cacophony Society staged the 1st SantaCon in San Francisco.  The Cacophonists decided to celebrate the Yule time season in a strictly non-commercial manner by mixing guerrilla street theater, pranksterism, and public intoxication.

SantaCon has since evolved, spawning many splinter cells and interpretations of the event in cities all around the world.

This year, SantaCon went 2.0 with a Twitter feed updating participants of the rapidly changing locations, thus allowing fresh and less inebriated Santa’s to join the migrating herd.

Our friends at Laughing Squid have posted an excellent round up of the collective “Santarchy” here.

NSFW Flickr set here.

Obtaining the above sub-prime shot was certainly a learning experience in usage of a non point-and-click.

We shot with The Big Boy at 1/40 of a second using stop F.8 at 200 mm.  Even using a long-lens, this exercise — if nothing else — put in to perspective exactly how far away the earth’s only natural satellite actually is.

I have no explanation for the bottom middle shot.

UPDATE: Shot this below last night upon the advice of  SF Citizen’s Jim Herd.