Coit Tower Murals

I became interested in 20th century muralism in the early 90s, while visiting Mexico to learn some Spanish and to further the Mexican interests of my Texas employer. It was probably not what they had in mind. In any case, learning that the Depression-era Coit Tower murals were done by Diego Rivera students and admirers made it an imperative for me. A few of Rivera's murals are in San Francisco--he painted here in the early 1930s--I'll have to get to them some other time.

Fast-backward to 1994: Rivera's History of Mexico at the
national palace

Ditto, Frida Kahlo home and museum, Mexico City

Fast-forward to 2013: at the entrance to Coit
Tower; the murals are all on the main and
second floors, and on the stairwell between
them; completed c. 1934 by a variety of San
Francisco artists

The murals generally depict life in California and specifically
the Bay area

Agriculture, for example...

But throughout, there is abundant social commentary, much
of it disapproved by the city fathers, some even removed
(NRA was the New Deal "National Recovery Act," one of
FDR's "excesses")

In The City now, the Daily Worker at the
newsstand

Life on the streets

Not much has changed...

In the public library, a patron at the right reaches for Das
Kapital

Workers of the world...

While some live in tents, developers show
up to survey the scene (click to enlarge and
note the difference between their dogs)

Upstairs, plans are shown to Mrs. Roosevelt 

More city scenes

And at the end of the tour, a glimpse of the elegant life

A Day in San Francisco

So a few weeks ago we decided to do some tourism in The City, riding into town with Rebecca, Jeremy and Penelope, initially up the coast, looking for big waves, and then on into town and our main destination, Coit Tower. (They went on back to the zoo). We wanted to see the murals (next post) and do the Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill guided walks. And then more walking. And then a great dinner at Marlowe before taking the Caltrain back home.

Up from the Cliff House: the ruins of Sutro Baths; founded
in the 2nd century by Carthagenian monks, wracked by
earthquakes and the eruption of Mt. Tamalpais in 79 AD,
and then terrorized and plundered by Saracen pirates, it
finally closed in 1966; wait, no...

Golden Gate from Coit Tower

Rebecca, Jeremy, and Penelope

Coit Tower; murals in next post

Saturday on the Bay

Downtown

Embarcadero and Bay Bridge

On Telegraph Hill, location for the Bogart/McCall film Dark
Passage; there's Bogey in the window if you click to enlarge

Somewhat reminiscent of Henri Guimard,
XVIIIe arrondissement

Street humor

One of the famed Telegraph Hill parrots

On Telegraph Hill; I can't believe my sister has done the
marathon twice now on these hills...

Same day, different hill

On Washington Square, the Church of Saints Peter and Paul
(and probably Mary, too)

Interior of Grace Church, someone doing the
interior pilgrims' maze

Mural of 1906

Seven miles' walk and a short bus ride later, we had a great
dinner at Marlowe, a superb and meaty little bistro, right
next to the station...thanks again, Rebecca and Jeremy

$2.49 Chuck

The world is changed, I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. 

Much that once was is lost...

Winter Solstice Greetings And Annual Message of Hope

Belated, I know. But better belated than never. Besides, I always like to wait and make sure the days are getting longer. More sun-light. You know what I mean.

We are still here in Menlo Park, grand-parenting Penelope while daughter Rebecca and her husband Jeremy work. Rebecca chairs the English department at Castilleja Girls School in Palo Alto now, and Jeremy continues his tech consulting, mostly at Simply Hired in Sunnyvale. Penelope is wonderful and figures largely in my last several blog posts, of course. Daughter Rachel and her husband Will just bought and renovated a house in DC, where they live. Rachel is manager of governmental affairs at Amgen there, and Will is on the staff of Montana senator Max Baucus. The big news for Rachel, apart from the house, is her new master's degree from American U. And much more time to devote to interior design.

We are much enjoying our little travel respite in Middle California. The weather is pleasant, if occasionally on the cool and wet sides of the spectra. Our little cottage is cozy but comfortable. There are both natural and human sights and sounds of interest nearby...beaches, mountains, and forests, The City, with all its culture, and Stanford shopping mall, of course. The little downtown parts of Redwood City, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto, all nearby, are very attractive. The Bay Area is a foodie's paradise, and, of course, we love to cook. Thai basil and galangal root and kaffir lime leaves are all at Nak's, a mile away on Santa Cruz Ave. Besides, one can live pretty well on 2$Chuck and Costco's pintxos and poulet roti.

We plan to return to Europe in April and resume our travels from Toulouse, see more of southwestern France, then more of Spain, up the Atlantic coast generally all the way to Calais, and then across to Britland. The UK of GB is still part of Freedonia, and we'll spend 90 very pleasant days there before returning to Schengenia. The next 90 days we'll pass leisurely through France and then concentrate on Italy, perhaps all the way back down to Sicily. Heaven. And then we'll confront the periodic issue of whether and how to ship the Grey Wanderer back to the States. In any case, we'll be back in the States in the late fall of 2013.

It's a great year to look forward to, and we hope our readers' 2013 will be wonderful as well.

At Brix in Napa; Jeremy's dad Robert treated us all to a great Xmas dinner

Goin' To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo*

So Thursday Rebecca, Penelope, Vicki and I went to the San Francisco Zoo. The zoo by the sea, near Daly City. It was cold, cold, cold. But P appeared to love it, especially the zoo-choo-choo.

Flamingos...winter in Middle California

Napping primate friend

On the zoo choo-choo...a 1925 baby steam engine

Toot-toot

Meditating Montana grizzly

Morning after polar bear

At 20 months, Penelope is learning her alphabet; and here
has spotted the P and W together...her letters

A black swan

Our party, momentarily resting

Lions resting

Hippo showering

Rhino sauntering

Tiger pacing

Penguins feeding

Near the pachydermarium

Our party on the move

Fellow primate

Ditto

Feeding the giraffes

And a final peacock

*Raffi; also Peter, Paul, and Mary