Parkside Playboy

I've been travelling in the Outer Parkside lately. Unfortunately my camera is broken and I only have the clunker along sporadically. There are quite a few things I want to shoot.

Check out the gate to this bunny hutch:


It is right across the street from this:


Awesome garage door paint job.

Octagon House

Okay, it's not in the Sunset, but I thought that you would like to know that we have an octagon house here in the Outsidelands, up at Land's End in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Officially known as the Point Lobos Marine Exchange Lookout Station, the building is owned by the National Parks. It was built as part of system started in the Gold Rush that reported on ships entering the Golden Gate.

If you've ever hiked out there, you may have looked up above the trees and seen the pole. The family of the last lookout was allowed to live in the home after it was decommissioned. Last time I took a walk up to Fort Miley I noticed that the road to the building was no longer blocked off, so I went up to take a look.

I took some photos and when I got home checked the Western Neighborhoods Project for info about the building's fate. Be sure to read John Martini's great article about the building and the Marine Exchange. Did you know how Telegraph Hill got its name?

Gloomy

It has been grey on my street for at least ten days now. There has not been the usual blowing off of fog in the afternoon. A couple days ago I walked two blocks toward the ocean and it was sunny. Seriously, I can look out and see sun to the east, which is normal, but also to the west, north and south, everywhere but here it seems.

So I've pulled out some sunny photos from my walk east of 19th Ave. It's been so long that I've forgotten the exact locations, drat. This mural and the garden that follows are somewhere around 11th and Noriega.

Lovely garden:


Check out the mouse on the mailbox:


And the artist's signature:


Down the street is Jack's Rose Garden.



I wonder what variety these lovelies are:

Updates

I went for a bike ride, intending to take a bunch of photos, but all I got was this place on Kirkham at about Funston.



Look familiar? I posted about a similar one on 19th Ave. last year.

And remember this building at Irving and 9th? It was actually Henry Doelger's office building. Duh. Thanks David. And, also duh, I didn't know this Doelger window was there either, in the little building behind the driveway, even though I inadvertently took a picture of it.


My on purpose (advertant?) photo isn't great. Go look at David's in Flickr.

The Zoo

The San Francisco Zoo is celebrating its 80th year. If you visit the website, you can see historic photos and videos and download the latest annual report which has a lot of great photos in it.

There will be a historical tour on August 1st. You can meet the author of the new book about the zoo. I bought my copy of "Images of America: San Francisco Zoo" by Katherine Girlich in the gift shop. It will be carried at bookstores, too. I enjoyed all the photos, some of them jarred long buried memories, like the trash cans with the enormous animal heads.


New at the Zoo, as part of their conservation and historical focus, is one of the 1906 Earthquake shacks. You can read all about them and the preservation efforts of the Western Neighborhoods Project here.



There have been so many changes at the zoo. There are a lot of things I miss. One day I will have been using the "new" entrance longer than I ever used the old one, but it will never be the same.

I took this shot of the Mother's building last Fall.


Like many people I have mixed feelings about zoos. Some argue that kids can see wildlife on television, so we no longer need to keep animals in captivity for them to experience. Some of the photos of animals make me sad, as do my memories of the old small cat cages.

I do know that the changes I lament about the zoo are made in large part to improve the animals' surroundings. There is still a lot to be done. I'll miss the old buildings, they are so tied to my childhood memories.

An inexpensive ($3.50) book published by the zoo in 2004 is for sale in the gift shop. It is only 32 pages long, but well worth the cost. It has color photos, and are not all the same as the Arcadia Publishing book.

More Weather Vanes

Ship in the fog on Kirkham. Check out the rigging.

Fowl:


Just passing through?


And a final vessel heading west.

Sidewalk Sightings

I took a good long walk in the Inner Sunset and Golden Gate Heights yesterday. On a tip from reader (thanks!) I snapped this at Noriega and 11th Avenue. Noriega comes in at a funny angle and there are really only three corners at this intersection. Noriega is spelled correctly on one.


This is a new to me concrete contractor. It reads: M. THIDE CONCTRACTOR 376 22nd AVE. This mark is on the 1800 block of 9th Ave.

This next may be of interest to reader CM whose grandfather, EJ Brown, was a contractor. I have spotted a bunch of "DC McCabe and Sons" marks in the Outer Sunset. They are listed in the 1938 phone book at the McCall building.

This sewer cover is the first I have see of "McCabe & Brown". I wonder if they were partners and later McCabe went out on his own? There were two of these on 9th Avenue. The bottom says "1st NATL-BK-BDG"


I took tons of photos of sewer covers with names I hadn't seen before. That will be a later posting. This F. Nelson cover is on the block of 16th Ave between Judah & Kirkham that is full of Crafstman homes.

Although the house it is in front of is not that style. It is across the street from these: