SF Winter Solstice Union Square (1469)

San Francisco local

Folder: California
The parts of San Francisco that have been an integral part of my life. The areas where much of who I am, developed. My first visit to San Francisco was in 1967, when I was in the military. I've been in and out of the city ever since, having lived there from 1983 to 1996 and continuing to have personal and professional contacts there that facilitate regular visits. The city was very important…  (read more)
SF Mission Bay (1320)

SF Mission Bay (1320)

09 Dec 2014 1 1 202
Housing or office space? Public or private institution? Hard to say which, but clearly a very different version of "San Francisco." Not exactly "Gentle people with flowers in their hair" , and not quite the explanation meant in "There's a whole generation with a new explanation" sung by Scott Mc Kenzie in "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)", released in 1967 when SF was known for hippie movement, not hi-tech.
SF SOMA Panoramic micro-units (1322)

SF SOMA Panoramic micro-units (1322)

09 Dec 2014 229
Panoramic, a housing development that focuses on small (micro) spaces and, for this building, will be car free. On Mission at 9th. The older building at the very right edge of the picture is the home of Twitter.
SF Mid-Market development (1323)

SF Mid-Market development (1323)

10 Dec 2014 1 3 202
More new housing, this time in what used to be called SOMA (South of Market) but is now called Mid-Market. The intersection ahead is 10th and Mission, on the left is one new complex, to the left of me and not visible is the new Panoramic complex seen in picture #1322, and on the right past 10th street is more construction on a block that has seen a huge amount of expansion of housing with NEMA (see picture #1324). Oh, and behind me and to my right is another new highrise apartment building.
SF Mid-Market development (1324)

SF Mid-Market development (1324)

10 Dec 2014 170
NEMA (see later pictures) is at the far end of the block, nearer and on the left side of the picture is the construction of 1400 Mission, something unbelievable -- 190 affordable housing units. These are being built in cooperation with the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. See following for description TNDC: www.ipernity.com/doc/donbrr/36704134
SF Mid-Market (1326)

SF Mid-Market (1326)

10 Dec 2014 4 263
A block over from Market Square (Twitter), is a relatively non-descript large building with some government offices, the headquarters of Uber, and the San Francisco office of Rocketfuel. Most already know about Uber, so I won't go into it here. Rocketfuel? It's descriptions sound very trendy hi-tech speak "We unlock the power of artificial intelligence to make digital advertising better.....shared vision: to be a disruptive and indispensable marketing platform for brands." (http://rocketfuel.com/about-rocket-fuel)
SF Mid-Market SF Mart/Twitter (1332)

SF Mid-Market SF Mart/Twitter (1332)

10 Dec 2014 1 4 316
The former San Francisco Furniture Mart, now called Market Square and known for being the home of Twitter. I personally don't understand living life with 140 characte*rs, but it’s encouraging to see Twitter occupy the remodeled historic structure (the asterisk is at 140 characters). The building, originally known as the Western Furniture Exchange and Merchandise Mart, was completed in 1937 and set largely unused for many of the years that I lived in San Francisco (1983-96). Unfortunately I did not take a photo of it right after the Loma-Prieta earthquake, when almost all of the glass from the building had shattered and fallen onto the street.
SF Mid-Market NEMA branding (1327)

SF Mid-Market NEMA branding (1327)

10 Dec 2014 157
"Social and Local" Advertising for NEMA. The name of the website for renting sounds oddly medical to me (Rentnema.com)
SF Mid-Market NEMA branding (1328)

SF Mid-Market NEMA branding (1328)

10 Dec 2014 2 196
"Tech Savvy, Not Shabby". Advertising for NEMA. This, to me, sounds like a slam against the neighborhood's recent history of being a place of transients and homeless.
SF Mid-Market NEMA branding (1329)

SF Mid-Market NEMA branding (1329)

10 Dec 2014 1 198
"Amenities, Not Enemies". Advertising for NEMA. To me this is an odd slogan. Is it suggesting that most apartment buildings are full of people who don't like each other? Ot that landlord/tenant relationships are typically adversarial?
SF Mid-Market NEMA branding (1330)

SF Mid-Market NEMA branding (1330)

10 Dec 2014 213
"Innovate, Don't Imitate". Advertising for NEMA. Now this slogan is, to me, at the heart of the tech takeover of the Bay Area. It touches very much on the increasingly libertatian theme in the area where everyone is assumed to be able to go out and create their own startup.
SF Mid-Market NEMA (1334)

SF Mid-Market NEMA (1334)

10 Dec 2014 1 1 269
Looking down Polk street to Market. NEMA is the large building in the center, on the left is Fox Plaza. Fox Plaza has been there since 1966 and at 29 stories was one of only two tall buildings in the Civic Center area for years. I looked at apartments in it in the 1980's and they were reasonably priced, but the area around the building had (and still has) no amenities other then quick access to Muni. There are no nearby grocery stores and there was no sense of 'neighborhood'.
SF Mid-Market NEMA (1333)

SF Mid-Market NEMA (1333)

10 Dec 2014 4 239
NEMA, where you must live... Studios, 463 - 754 sq ft, $3250-$3810; 1 bedroom, 757-969 Sq Ft, $3740-$5255; 2 bedrooms, 1376 sq ft, $7320
SF Mid-Market development (1331)

SF Mid-Market development (1331)

10 Dec 2014 248
Looking towards City Hall from the corner of NEMA and Twitter (behind me), with Argenta (available 12/23/14 at a bargain: 1 bedrooms from $3263 to $4465, 2 bedrooms from $4792 to $5362) and new construction in between. I suspect the block of older buildings in the middle is doomed to be demolished and replaced with more towers.
SF Civic Center Public Health (1335)

SF Civic Center Public Health (1335)

10 Dec 2014 249
Headquarters of the Department of Public Health at 101 Grove Street, built in 1932.
SF Civic Center Public Health (1336)

SF Civic Center Public Health (1336)

10 Dec 2014 231
Historic 'First Aid" sign on an alley corner of the headquarters of the Department of Public Health. Down the alley on the side of the building was the Tom Waddell Clinic that provided health care (including HIV/AIDS) to the poor and/or homeless with specific service days for transgender clients. The clinic still provides such care from a larger location nearby. I did not find information regarding the relationship between this 'first aid' sign and that clinic.
SF Civic Center development (1337)

SF Civic Center development (1337)

10 Dec 2014 167
Under construction next to SF Public Health, an162 unit, 13 story apartment building named (so far) 101 Polk.
SF City Hall / development (1350)

SF City Hall / development (1350)

10 Dec 2014 2 193
SF City Hall, taken from the steps of the Supreme Court of California. The tall building in the distance is new apartments. Though the apartment building looks new, it sort of isn't. For many years it was the offices of the California Automobile Association. Starting in 2010 the outside of the building was removed and replaced, and the interior redesigned for apartments.
SF Polk art deco (1351)

SF Polk art deco (1351)

10 Dec 2014 2 267
Art deco building, built in 1932 (per hotel website), housing the Embassy hotel. I could find no other information on the history of the building. The building is located in what was until recently known as the lower Polk Gulch, an area for young hustlers, gay, bi, and trans runaways, homeless, and impoverished. Per various websites, non-gay neighborhood organizations have formed in recent years and, in cooperation with the police, have attempted to drive those populations out of the area. Now, directly across from the hotel, is one of the many buildings in SF owned and used by the private (and expensive) Academy of Art University ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Art_University )
678 items in total