Monday, December 17, 2007

Candy bars


About some of the other blogs... why do so many shoes show up on the street? I don't know and I also don't know what these color pipes are used for either. They were at least as tall as me. Their varied colors randomly juxtaposed making for another serendipitous moment.

sensitive boy

When I see street art like this I wonder about the person who made it. Who is this sensitive boy? Did he make this during a time of sadness? Or was he just being facetious? More importantly, did he ever find his girl?

Location: 20th and Florida

Extinguisher at Atlas Cafe

I saw this fire extinguisher behind the Atlas Cafe, which you should check out. The fenced off area behind the cafe seems to be one of the very few abandoned lots in the area. It might be part of the cafe's property, I'm not sure.

The cafe itself is excellent. Decent coffee, wireless, and great sandwiches. The smoked trout is especially good. I also have to commend them on their excellent magazine collection. They have many art magazines including Modern Painting and Soma. Plus generally trendy rags. A friendly place, plus a smoking room.

Location: Florida Street at 21st Street behind the Atlas Cafe

Accident Shoe

This shoe was abandoned on Broadway by Bartol. It was obvious that an accident had occurred there the night before. There was broken windshield all over the ground. I was crouching in it while taking this picture. I wonder if this shoe was from a Woman involved in this accident. It looked sad.

Location: Broadway at Bartol

Sneakers in the street

I had noticed that there were fewer shoes on the streets in the past few weeks. Perhaps a result of the colder weather. But here is another. This one was a solo shoe and looked like it was dropped accidentally rather than abandoned.

Location: Sansome and Pacific

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

squares and squares


This abandoned building is on 21st and Harrison. I really like the patterns the windows create. I often peek into the more thinly painted spots to see if any progress is being made on the inside. It's so secretive, yet the white paint invites one to wonder what is going on behind the friendly windows. Maybe one day there will be a sweet cafe that has live music in this space. A girl can dream.

art and protest


There is this section of wall along Valencia street that people can post just about anything on. Everytime I walk past it I see some beautiful art. I like the faces in the this picture, which look to be drawn with chalk by an artist hoping to get their work discovered or at the very least appreciated. I appreciate it. I also like the handmade anti-repression posters as well. Beautiful.

do what the sidewalk tells you


You really should.


Location: 23rd and Valencia, in front of Buffalo Exchange

Monday, December 3, 2007

Sneakers 2


More discarded shoes.

These were on the F-Line island at 6th and Market. I was riding lat at night and had to stop to get this shot. It was frickin cold out.

The crazy dude all yammering away on the island ceased his yelling and looked at me like I was nuts.

Location: 6th and Market

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Today is your day to be famous


I was in Yerba Buena Gardens between the hours of 8 and 9 midweek about 2 months ago. I was in desperate search for light-saturated images of architectural elements when this man approached me and asked me to take his picture. I had some extra film (I roll that analog way) so I figured why not. He sat himself down in quite possibly the worst light ever and so I took this shot with a super long shutter speed and very low depth of field.

When I snapped the shot he exclaimed, "Now that's a rush! I've always dreamed of being a part of art like this but never thought it would make me feel so good."

Location: Yerba Buena Gardens (4th St. and Mission St.)

So many sewers, so little time!


This photo strikes me as more casually funny than anything else. While I can't claim it as my own, I was the one demanding my friend to pull out her camera and send me the photo later.

Who really takes the effort to jam something down a grate only to give up halfway? Especially when that thing is a dead pigeon?

Seen at 20th St. & Valencia St.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Caffe Trieste at night

What happens to your café at night? Is it haunted by nerdly creatures? Is skin made violet thru LCD reflections or is an otherworldly nature revealed thru this eerie pallor? The blood red walls with the beardless nerd's violet skin make me recall musing from Van Gough. For him color could trigger an episode of violent madness. Message: Do not take color's impact too lightly or you may live to regret it.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Sewer with white cross, homage to Kasimir Malevitch

Everything seemed beautiful that day including this sewer. This looks to me like an homage to Kasimir Malevitch.

Pork/SHEEDY caution

I didn't have my camera the first time I saw this. But, I was able to find the graffitied sign, not in the open as previously, but fenced in like a pig in a pen.

Location: Mission and New Montgomery

Beautiful Sewers


Do you ever look down? You should.

Location: California and Drumm

Monday, November 26, 2007

Yesterday is for malingerers


I think this one speaks for itself. Sorry about the poor quality, camera phone.

Location: 16th Between Guerrero and Valencia

sidewalk hands

This is on 21st between Harrison and Treat. I wonder if the person or people that did this wore gloves when they spraypainted their hands on the sidewalk.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Silent Crane

Construction is seen through chain link fence. Orange crane now moves silently in an ochre pond with pink shoreline. It is less exciting but more pleasant devoid of the sound of the work.

Location: Vallejo Street and Fresno Alley

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Pelicans


Man Pelicans are pretty big birds. They fly low over the water in a line. I often watch them over the bay.

This guy died out by the Sutro Baths at Ocean Beach. It is a great place to go and do a little hiking around. There are some paths out by the cliffs and I go there to chill about once a month. The old Sutro Bathouse is pretty cool too. It was built in the 1800's and burned down in 1966. When I say burned down I mean intentionally, by the owners, to collect insurance. Probably. Isn't history neat?

Anyway it is totally cool there, especially the big tunnel. Go check it out.

Location: Sutro Baths at Ocean Beach

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

sidewalk pinup girl

I absolutely love stencil graffiti. So when I saw this design on the corner of 21st and Florida, I had to snap a photo. I like the way the image is repeated within the two sidewalk tiles. It has a lot of impact. If you look closer, you can see it's a picture of a pinup girl with a flower in her hair.

traffic meter trees

I was going to go buy some sage to smudge my new apartment in the Mission and parked my car at this traffic meter. Someone decided to decorate these traffic meters on 23rd and Valencia with green plastic ties. I think they make the meters look tree-like. There is a relative abundance of foilage on this block, so maybe that was the idea.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Mike and Ike

Coming home from a bonfire birthday last night I saw these little guys in the Ashby Bart. I always liked Mike and Ikes.

Location: Ashby Bart Stop on top of the schedules box

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Sneakers


There are a lot of abandoned shoes lying around San Francisco. They are almost invariably in pairs. I always wonder who's they are and why they are there. Did someone just get tired of them and leave them out for a homeless person. Sometimes they are really nice shoes that I am tempted to take, but I don't really need them.

These Converse High Tops were not some of the really nice ones, they were very thoroughly worn. They fit right in on Broadway, home of the semi-seedy, to very seedy strip clubs. It is funny how the callers at the doors always try to get me to go in. I never do, but they keep trying. I wonder if there is something about me that says I want to go to a strip club.

I don't know what that would be.

Location: Montgomery and Broadway in front of the Head Shop

Thursday, November 15, 2007

impromptu derby


I went on an urban hike up Bernal Hill with a couple of friends on a sunny Sunday not too long ago. When we reached the top we heard cheering and discovered a soapbox derby extravaganza going on. They had to have a running start to go, and then were pulled back up the hill by vintage moped fellows. My favorite soabbox racer was one that thought to include cup holders in the car. It was clever.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Pink Oliphants




Location: 13th and Van Ness at Zeitgeist

Sea Unicorn Boogaloo



So there is this great place to eat called Boogaloo. Inside this fine eatery are many attractive and interesting wait-persons. They serve attractive and interesting breakfasts to you (I like the eggs gravlox). My waitress today had this fine Narwhal on here apron. It is todays sight. If you go check it out she will probably still have it on. Also eat a biscuit and vegetarian gravy. Yum.

Location: 22nd and Valencia, inside Boogaloo

Rain Date


I love rainy days and on Saturday it rained pretty good all day. I got caught out on my bike in it. I saw this coming up California Street. It is a drain on the sidewalk with water just bubbling right out of it. I guess there was some backup further down the hill, it was pretty neat.

Location: About California and Polk, near Pizza Pino

Friday, November 9, 2007

Crop Circles

So I don't really know what to make of this. I do know it is one of the coolest pieces of graffitti I have seen in San Francisco. I ride my bike by it a couple of times a week. It seems to be made out of tin foil pressed onto the pavement. This is a method I have never seen before.

There is a small signature also in tin foil nearby, it is just a little tin S.

Location: Taylor and California, across from the cathedral

Thursday, November 8, 2007

SF Seen - Introduction


So I see a lot of weird stuff on the sidewalks in San Francisco. I thought I would lead with this little guy as he reminds me of home time of year.

I am from upstate New York so in the fall there are a lot of dead animals around. They just start biting it as the cold sets in.

I also thought this was a good picture and a decent example of the subject matter you can expect from me.

The other posters will be starting up soon and their content will be unique to them.

Location: North of Broadway on Montgomery