Little Puffer

 Posted by on August 7, 2022
Aug 072022
 

San Francisco Zoo
At the area between Grizzly Gulch and The South American Area

Little Puffer at the SF Zoo

Little Puffer is believed to have been built by the Cagney Brothers’ Miniature Railroad Company around 1904. Herbert Fleishhacker purchased the train in 1925 and installed it at the new Herbert Fleishhacker Zoo, where it remained for 53 years.

The history of Little Puffer is somewhat ambiguous, and if you would like to read the “stories”, you can do so here on the San Francisco Zoo website.

Little Puffer San Francisco Zoo

I will pick the story up here.  After many years of service at the zoo the train sat in storage for over 20 years and suffered greatly for it.  In 1997 the Zoo staff decided to put Little Puffer back in service on newly laid track.  The cost to renovate the train was $75,000, and the addition of the new depot, plaza area, track layout, landscaping and storage barn brought the total cost to $700,000.

While I truly enjoyed my twice around 4 minute ride on the Little Puffer, I question if it was worth the $5.00 admission (this is in addition to your zoo entry ticket), that is a lot of money for a family of four.

Little Puffer in Action at the San Francisco Zoo

 

I am sure conductor Johnny Sala would disagree, you can read his story here.

 

Dr. Burt Brent and his Hippopatomus

 Posted by on January 28, 2015
Jan 282015
 
Dr. Burt Brent and his Hippopatomus

San Francisco Zoo Sloat and The Great Highway Lakeside This hippopotamus is not only a wonderful sculpture but a favorite climbing creature in the San Francisco Zoo.  Heavyweight was sculpted by Dr. Burt Brent of Portola Valley. According to a 2007 article in the Almanac: Dr. Burt Brent, a plastic surgeon with an office in Woodside, has built his career and an international reputation on creating living ears for children born without ears or with deformed ears. He has pioneered a technique for building new ears out of the kid’s own rib cartilage; the ears actually grow as the child Continue Reading

What are those ruins in the parking lot of the San Francisco Zoo?

 Posted by on November 17, 2014
Nov 172014
 
What are those ruins in the parking lot of the San Francisco Zoo?

San Francisco Zoo The Parking Lot Sloat and The Great Highway This small monument is a remnant of a once great institution of San Francisco, the Fleishacker Pool. Fleishhacker Pool, like the San Francisco Zoo, was a gift to San Francisco by Herbert Fleishhacker. The idea, conceived by John McLaren, designer of Golden Gate Park, was to help bring athletic competitions to San Francisco. The first event held at the pool was on April 22, 1925, and featured a freestyle swimmer named Johnny Weissmuller representing the Illinois Athletic Club. Weissmuller appeared several times at Fleishhacker and was a real crowd pleaser. Continue Reading

Barnyard Watchdogs

 Posted by on November 3, 2014
Nov 032014
 
Barnyard Watchdogs

San Francisco Zoo Entry to the Children’s Zoo Barnyard Watchdogs by Burt Brent This cute sculpture and climbing item is by Dr. Burt Brent. Dr. Brent is a reconstructive plastic surgeon best known for his work in reconstructing the absent outer ear. He has repaired ear defects in 1,800 patients, most of them children born with ear deformities such as Microtia. He also reconstructs ears lost or due to some form of trauma. Dr. Brent is now retired. Brent grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and was highly influenced by his maternal grandfather who taught him cabinetry and woodworking. Although he considered Continue Reading

Hearst Grizzly Gulch

 Posted by on October 21, 2014
Oct 212014
 
Hearst Grizzly Gulch

San Francisco Zoo   This grizzly by Tom Schrey graces the Hearst Grizzly Gulch building at the SF Zoo.  Tom has a degree from California College of the Arts and presently works at Artworks Foundry.   The following was excerpted from a June 15, 2007 SF Gate article by Patricia Yollin: Three summers ago, two grizzly bear orphans in Montana were trying to fend off starvation. Now they are coddled ursine superstars living in San Francisco. On Thursday, the public got its first glimpse of the twins’ opulent new home as Hearst Grizzly Gulch, a $3.7 million habitat at the Continue Reading

California Grizzly

 Posted by on October 15, 2014
Oct 152014
 
California Grizzly

San Francisco Zoo In Front of the California Grizzly Exhibit This Grizzly sculpture is by Scientific Art Studio.  From their website: We are designers, sculptors, painters, welders, builders, crafters, fabricators, and – above all – dreamers. We live to see the world through new eyes, to laugh and play like children, and to explore boldly and fearlessly. We push boundaries and relish challenges. For the past 33 years Scientific Art Studio has been the design and fabrication studio pushing the envelope of the latest fabrication techniques and bringing beautiful to everything we do. Under Ron Holythuysen’s creative direction, our multi-talented Continue Reading

Bruton Sisters WPA Mural at the San Francisco Zoo

 Posted by on October 4, 2014
Oct 042014
 
Bruton Sisters WPA Mural at the San Francisco Zoo

San Francisco Zoo Mother’s Building These murals, on the Mother’s Building at the San Francisco Zoo were WPA projects.  They were done by three sisters: Esther Bruton, Helen Bruton and Margaret Bruton. Helen Bruton has murals in downtown San Francisco that you can read about here. Here is an excerpt explaining the sisters work on the Zoo murals in their own voices: This Oral history interview with Helen and Margaret Bruton, 1964 Dec. 4, is from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Interview with Helen and Margaret Bruton Conducted by Lewis Ferbrache In Monterey, California December 4, 1964 LF: All Continue Reading

The Carved Tree of San Francisco Zoo

 Posted by on September 24, 2014
Sep 242014
 
The Carved Tree of San Francisco Zoo

San Francisco Zoo In Front of the Mother’s House Lakeside This carved seat, surrounded by animals was done by Sean Eagleton,  well known for his huge wood carvings on long dead trees. He prefers to call them “healing poles”. Shane feels that the huge healing poles, once planted at various points all over this earth will bring solace to Mother Earth and those that inhabit it. Shane “Tonu” Eagleton is a Polynesian master wood carver, whose work can be found in Golden Gate National Park, the San Francisco Zoo, Presidio National Park, the California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, Continue Reading

Gwynn Murrill at the San Francisco Zoo

 Posted by on September 15, 2014
Sep 152014
 
Gwynn Murrill at the San Francisco Zoo

San Francisco Zoo Sloat and The Great Highway Lakeside Cougar III by Gwynn Murrill Gwynn Murrill is a Los Angeles based artist who received her MFA from UCLA in 1972.  Murrill has three sculptures at the San Francisco Zoo.  Cougar III and Tiger 2 are at the front entryway and Hawk V is located at the Koret Animal Resource Center. Tiger 2 Gwynn Murrill has always worked with animals as her subject matter. Stripped of surface detail the sculptures are almost abstract in form. Hawk V The Arts Commission purchased Hawk V for $29,000. Tiger 2 was purchased for $85,000, Continue Reading

Earth Air and Sea on the Great Highway

 Posted by on July 15, 2012
Jul 152012
 
Earth Air and Sea on the Great Highway

Ocean Beach Sloat and The Great Highway West Side Pump Station Earth Air Sea – 1986 – by Mary Fuller Mary Fuller, along with her husband Robert McChesney, has been in this site before. Mary Fuller McChesney, a California sculptor, has been carving “giant totems and goddesses” for nearly 50 years. Her artwork embodies numerous sources – Native American, Pre-Columbian, African, ancient matriarchal cultures – and like the sacred totems of the Pacific Northwest coastal tribes, honors her ancestral ties to family, both animal and human. Her art is shared and openly accessible, as public commissions have ensured that it Continue Reading

Dogie Diner Sign

 Posted by on July 12, 2012
Jul 122012
 
Dogie Diner Sign

Ocean View 45th Avenue and Sloat near The Great Highway Restored Dogie Diner Sign The Doggie Diner (1949-1986) restaurants could be seen throughout the Bay Area during their heyday. Mr. Al Ross, the Doggie Diner Chain’s owner asked Harold Bachman an ad and billboard layout designer, to draw up designs for the sign, it is said that the bow tie was added by Mr. Ross. Three of Doggie Diner’s heads took a road trip to New York in 2003, courtesy of Laughing Squid and SF Cyclecide Bike Rodeo, and that experience was immortalized in a documentary called Head Trip. According Continue Reading

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