San Francisco - first impressions

This past Tuesday (Dec. 22) I arrived for a visit to San Francisco, certainly one of those cities I would go to frequently if time and money afforded. In this writing, I will offer a few sites and thoughts from my first night here. Since 22 is my lucky number, I was fortunate to come, no. 1, and to come on a "22nd"....

As I got ready to leave the airport....

for "the city" [meaning the City and County of San Francisco:)] - as I understand some people say here, the hills of suburban housing nearby, seen dimly below....

seemed to be a likely preview of the famous hill town I was about to see. I think I'll still love one of my favorite hilly cities - Pittsburgh - after this visit, but am glad to check out the fabled beauty I saw here 31 years ago on my last visit.

From the airport, I was about to take the "red line" north through Daly City (noted below and seen near the left center of the map here), to the Powell Street Station downtown....

As I rode on the train, I tried without success to get a picture of the hilly communities along the way, so wish to acknowledge a blog I just found for its pictures of one such hill in Daly City; see that hill, so to speak, in the second picture in the article "Forgotten Hills: La Portezuela" at http://urbanlifesigns.blogspot.com/2013/03/forgotten-hills-la-portezuela.html].

After a good ride on the train, with the horse I rode in on seen here at the Powell Street Station after I got off....

I felt this "west coast mini-New York City" vibe in the station concourse, if, granted, it was much newer than many similar subway spaces in New York....

and then I got a taste of what in San Francisco is sometimes called "Edwardian" style, and which I'm sure some people call "grandeur", with this view of the Flood Building, seen to the right, and "One Powell" to the left....

Before moving on to the wonderful heritage of the Flood Building, which I learned about in its lobby, I would love to research One Powell, but would only say that its sense of early 20th-century business power is joined today by the shelter its currently-closed entrance provides for the homeless, if again vaguely seen here....

The Flood Building, on a brief look at its lobby displays, three of which are seen here, brings together at least the subjects of Gold Rush dreams, disaster survival, film noir and family pride, and, with its standing at such a key corner, probably other themes as well.

It was named by its builder, James L. Flood, a son of James C. Flood (1826-1899), who came to San Francisco at the age of 23 (sounds like a good time to come based on history:)).

Its "Colusa Stone" and other features largely survived the earthquake and fire of 1906, with a recounting of that event in commentary here....

and the building seen here from Market Street along its southern end just after that disaster.....

Over time, its occupants included author Dashiell Hammett, who wrote "The Maltese Falcon" while working there for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. One of the memorials to this literary life in the landmark's lobby is a replica of the sculpture used in the movie of the book.....

The sculpture and other elements of the lobby's exhibit came about at least partly to celebrate a major renovation of the building in the early 90's, when the project coordinator was James "Jimmy" Flood, a grandson of the builder.

After I left the Flood Building, I spent a little time on the Powell Street side of "One Powell", just steps away from the starting point and terminus of the Powell Street cable car; if you look at the lower left side below, you will see a diagonal double line which marks a centerpiece of its charmingly small turntable in this pre-Christmas view from Powell towards Market....

Immediately to the right of this scene, I talked briefly with two of the many low-income people who live in nearby shelters, often faceless parts (for me as well) of the stresses between classes where, unfortunately, SF may be a leader in terms of its gentrification, a more powerful process here than in perhaps any other American city, due very much to the prosperity of Silicon Valley employees not far away, a number of them driving up the cost of housing through their city purchases.

I met Ricky Teague....

a poet originally from Oakland who said he lived nearby in an "SRO" (single-room occupancy) hotel and was out to sell copies of a 2001 book of poems, which he offered to me for $10 and then for $7, while I politely declined....

Shortly thereafter, I met Tony Perez....

who also lived in an SRO, and was selling the edition seen here of a homeless advocacy newspaper - "Street Sheet"....

He spoke to me of being born in Buffalo and coming to California as a 6-year old in 1976, when his family packed up a U-Haul truck which they took cross-country, first landing in Santa Cruz, then Santa Clara, and then ultimately with Tony coming to San Francisco. I did not delve into why they left Buffalo or what transpired in Tony's life to lead him to homelessness, but after his friendly "where's my cheesesteak?" (somewhat common when people hear you live in Philadelphia) we talked briefly.

Around 6:30, I walked past more of the holiday shopping world, and near a few of the many large and small hotels - ranging from deluxe to semi-divey? - in an area close to both Union Square and the heart of downtown, and then came to my reservation destination - the downtown SF lodging location of "Hostelling International" at 312 Mason just north of O'Farrell....

In short, I have had a good time here at 312 Mason based on my first night, and had a great morning of breakfast, conversation and the logistics of small sleeping and other spaces (more later there?), inside of more hotel heritage, as 312 Mason has housed a few short-term hotel spaces, including but not limited to.... the "Hotel Gloster" in 1909 [note the coincidental December date at the upper left of this postcard]....

and the Hotel Virginia in the late 1930's, hyper-advertised here in the left center around the time of an "expo" in SF in 1939....

This blog was completed thanks to a 1.3 billion grant and through the facilities of the Cup and Cake Cafe at Geary and Jordan....

whose location can be cut and pasted below, but seems to almost be exactly halfway between the famous "greeneries" of the Presidio and Golden Gate Park....
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cup+%26+Cake+Cafe/@37.7817153,-122.4568566,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xb503096ca5d1c279

Back for more writing soon hopefully....