City Takes # 2 -Lines and Rhythm

                                    

                        San Francisco has an elegance.

Even as the city morphs and changes, there is a fusion of linear forces that vivifies.

We mourn the loss of the old places, and funky personality.

Economics, largely driven by tech, disrupts, it is true.

        

     As in any city with real imagination, the architecture is a kind of code; who we have been, and who we are becoming. 

    It is not about architecture only though, at least to those of us with cameras. It is also how it all comes together; angles, spaces and the juxtaposition of style and line.

        

    This post tries to celebrate those LINES AND RHYTHM.

    

Old and new, edged and rounded, light and space

creating feel and flow.

 

After a year and half of pandemic restrictions, we were excited just to see The City.

     As a kid, when westerns were the fare on television, my midwestern sense of the West was Dodge City, Tombstone, Boot Hill and such, until Have Gun Will Travel changed all that. 

    Paladin, a sophisticated well tailored bon vivant, graduate of West Point, a Chinese martial arts specialist, president of the San Francisco Stock Exchange Club, chess player, and swordsman made his home a city that appeared as exotic as the problem solving hero. No Roy Rogers or Marshall Dillon, he.

     In 1957 that was a mind blowing concept-a gentleman gun fighter private eye who quoted literature. 

                "Wire Paladin San Francisco."

    After that the old west was, old and primitive, but San Francisco locked in my mind as, exotic, unique, a place where Asian and Western culture mixed and in a place that looked unlike anywhere else.

        There is something else in this city that deserves a look,

Urban Alchemy. That is coming in a future post.

     See you down the trail.

INSPIRATION LIVES HERE and MIND BLOWING TALENT

OLMSTED POINT

     Olmsted Point, one of America's iconic locations, offers a view of the north side of Half Dome, one of the planet's most incredible spots.

   It seems appropriate this powerful view is named for a family that exerted powerful influence over how we live with nature.

   Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. who designed New York's Central Park is considered the father of American landscape architecture.  His son Frederick Jr. followed his path. Jr designed Biltmore and worked on Acadia, the Everglades and Yosemite. They understood the importance of nature,  setting and the quality of timelessness.

  Now generations come to this high spot in Yosemite and inspire their own muse.

Photo by Lana Cochrun
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

     Millard Fillmore, a Whig, was President when the Onyx Store opened in 1851. Today the store gets high ratings for its sandwiches, though there are not many places around this Kern County establishment in the town of 475.  

     The Onyx Store opened two years after the California Gold Rush began.  As an historical footnote, it was the year Moby Dick was published, the Yacht America, from the New York Yacht Club, won the first Americas Cup race and Virginia decided that all white males had the right to vote.

      A piece of the old west survives. What stories it could to tell.

A GREAT PERFORMANCE

     Michael Keaton in Birdman is one of the all time great performances. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu weaves a quirky comedic tale powered by incredible acting all around. Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Zach Galifinakas and the rest of cast are all simply superb. But Keaton leaves us with a theatrical work of art.  In fact the film is very much like excellent theatre and coincidentally is shot at and around the St. James theatre, all of which adds texture and nuance to what we see. Seeing Keaton work is a joy.  

     There is a scene where Norton is trying for a role in the play Keaton is staging. The two do an audition rehearsal and as characters they realize there is a magic in the way they interact. Fact is, you get that same pop and awareness from your seat watching the play in the film and realize there is some talent at work, in combine.

      If you get to see this work, pay particularly close attention to Keaton's eyes. Masterful work. Hope the politics of the Academy work in such a way he gets a nomination for this performance.

      See you down the trail.

     

VINES AND STEEL

A VIEW WITH A ROOM

(Paso Robles Appellation)  Aside from the generally excellent wine, a visit to the Denner Winery is enjoyable because of the excellent view.

Approaching from Vineyard you are taken in by the

interaction of steel, vineyard setting and artistry of

architecture.

When owner Ron Denner built his tasting room, he hired San Luis Obispo Architect John R. Mitchell.
Mitchell created a spectacular building, with equally spectacular views.
Denner is a excellent spot to watch the play between
structure and nature, steel and vines.

Even the skies over the vineyard are framed by

the modern structure.

Cheers!
See you down the trail.