Lover’s Lane

 Posted by on December 22, 2014
Dec 222014
 

Lover’s Lane
The Presidio

Lover's Lane Presidio San Francisco

There is a small trail in the Presidio titled Lover’s Lane. It has a well known history that you can read on the plaque found at one end of what is still existing of this trail.

Shanks mare and Lovers Lane

The sign reads: “This trail has witnessed the passing of Spanish soldiers, Franciscan missionaries and American soldiers of two centuries  It is perhaps the oldest travel corridor in San Francisco.  In 1776 this path connected the Spanish Presidio with the mission, three miles to the southeast.  During the 1860s it became the main route used by off-duty solders to walk into San Francisco.  Many of those men made the trip into town to meet their sweethearts, and the trail became known as Lovers’ Lane.”

Keep in mind that when they say walk into San Francisco, San Francisco at that time was the mission.  However, what you also must keep in mind is that those three miles were sand dunes. That is right, not nice dirt trails, or gravel roads but hard to trod, rolling hills of sand.

Sand Dune Map San Francisco 1800's

 This map is a compilation of several maps from the 1860’s, remember lovers lane began in 1776. I have underlined in red the Presidio at the top and the Mission on the bottom right. The original, and enlargeable map can be found here.  It is part of the San Francisco Watershed Finder series of maps.  This series of maps was put together with the help of Joel Pomerantz of ThinkWalks, Joel gives walks all over town to discuss these watersheds and the hidden streams and creeks of San Francisco.

If you aren’t really great at reading topo maps here are some photos from San Francisco, while from the late 1800s and early 1900s sand dunes were still prevalent.

Late 19th Century The Richmond District looking towards Lone Mountain Photograph from a Private Collection

Late 19th Century
The Richmond District looking towards Lone Mountain
Photograph from a Private Collection

Sunset District 1900 Photo courtesy of Greg Gaar

Golden Gate Park construction with the Sunset District in the back – 1900 
Photo courtesy of Greg Gaar

So imagine how hard it must have been to trod for 3 miles over these sand dunes. Also, in 1776, these would have been the Spanish soldiers that came with Juan Bautista de Anza, and I am rather sure their boots weren’t the easiest to cross these sand dunes in either.  The need to get back to town had to have been rather  pressing to make a trek like that.

oldest bridge in San Francisco

This bridge, which marks either the end or beginning of your trip, depending on where you start, was built around 1885.  The bridge crosses Tennessee Hollow and a creek, whose source is El Polin Spring.

The presence of the spring was a reason that the Presidio was a viable place for a garrison. While not enough water for cattle and crops, which is why the Mission is 3 miles away, it was enough for horses and men.  During the Spanish American War of 1898, the First Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment camped here, providing the name Tennessee Hollow.

While walking the Lover’s Lane path keep an eye out for Andy Goldsworthy’s Wood Line. 

Few and Far Paint Clinton Park

 Posted by on October 15, 2012
Oct 152012
 

 

As you turn onto Clinton Park from Valencia the first piece you are greeted with is the beauty by Amanda Lynn.  Few and Far  have covered the walls of Clinton Park to the delight of all that wonder down this very short alley.

 

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And a little further down Valencia at Duboce, you will find another by Mags and Amanda Lynn

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Muertos in the Mission

 Posted by on August 31, 2012
Aug 312012
 

Valencia Street

Between 15th and 19th Streets

Mission District

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 These tree grates are part of Phase One of the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project.  They were designed by DPW architects John Dennis and Martha Ketterer and manufactured by Iron Age Grates company.

Phase one of the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project included removal of the striped center median, sidewalk widening, bulb-outs, more accommodating curbside loading zones for trucks, improved traffic, parking and bicycle lane alignments, the removal of the striped center median, pedestrian scale lighting, art elements, bike racks, and new street trees.

The project included the replacement and addition of 76,000 square feet of sidewalk and the installation of pedestrian bulbouts to provide traffic calming, facilitate street crossing and add space for gathering. Additional improvements included the planting of 106 Brisbane Box and London Plane trees along the sidewalks, new trash receptacles, 69 bike racks, 32 wheel chair accessible curb ramps, 26 roadway-scale lights and 46 pedestrian-scale lights. Four Victorian-themed street posts, uniquely designed for Valencia Street through the San Francisco Arts Commission, were also installed. This public art feature entitled ‘Valencia Street Post’ was installed by artist Michael Arcega.

The cost of the program was $6.1 million and was funded through a combination of a multi-year federal transportation bill called the Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act (“SAFETEA“) and two Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) federal grants with local matching funds.

Around San Francisco with Victor Reyes

 Posted by on August 12, 2012
Aug 122012
 
Around Town With Victor Reyes
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23rd and Mission
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This was done by Victor Reyes in 2010.  Reyes has several murals around San Francisco.

Reyes has been painting since the early 90s, and has shown extensively around the world in cities and countries such as Bosnia, Germany, Switzerland, Taipei, Japan, and Miami. Reyes is inspired by his peers, including a community of new California artists “The Seventh Letter,” who play an integral role in the development and motivation for his body of work.  Reyes, who has no formal art training, moved to San Francisco in 1998 and took a variety of jobs for rent money – he’s a freelance illustrator now.

Reyes did the black and white on this mural that can be found on Washburn off Mission near 9th Street.  The colors were done by Steel and Revok.

 

 

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This is the Mission Street side of the same building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Money Mural on South Van Ness and 15th

 Posted by on July 11, 2012
Jul 112012
 
The Mission
South Van Ness and 15th
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Signed Curve E. Pastime, one must assume this was done by Pastime of the LORDS crew.

 

Pastime has other work in San Francisco. LORDS Production Crew has been operating in San Francisco for almost two decades, manipulating the stark walls of the urban landscape to make the wasteland a tad more livable for those of us lucky enough to notice and appreciate their nocturnal artwork. For example, the wall across from Amoeba Records on Haight is one of their collaborative murals, generally referred to as “productions” in graffiti lingo. LORDS members have been featured in the documentary ‘Piece By Piece’ (chronicling 20 years of SF graffiti), as well as the independent feature film ‘Quality of Life’ (a fictional drama about SF graffiti writers). – Graffhead

Mission District – Community Thrift Store Mural

 Posted by on January 8, 2012
Jan 082012
 
Mission District
Sycamore Street at 623 Valencia

 

 

 

 

 

This mural goes along the top of the Community Thrift Store.  The mural is actually on Sycamore Street.
Done by a  school group they developed a mural design that emphasized the social as opposed to the currency value of objects, settling on a clothesline motif to represent the borderland between public and private.  Someone from the group blogged about the entire concept and this is what they said “The group voted to limit the parameters of design and color scheme to ensure a consistency in the final product. However, individual style will always assert itself, as reflected in the variety of rendering approaches used in the different objects. For comparison purposes: the boombox is by Mei-Tsung, the sock monkey & coffee grinder are by America, the lamp is by Suzie Bucholz, Lucy van Pelt Pez dispenser by Tom (mostly), salt shaker & cassette tape by Erin, nightshirt by Seija (who did very careful preparatory drawings), mixer by Brooke. ”

Mission, Norm’s Market

 Posted by on December 26, 2011
Dec 262011
 
Mission District
20th and Bryant
San Francisco
Sirron Norris

Across from the Deli-up Cafe with its work by Sirron  is this at Norm’s market. Here are all the photos for your enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

The Mission Kid Power Park

 Posted by on December 4, 2011
Dec 042011
 
The Mission District
Kid Power Park
Hoff between 16th and 17th
Ethel Siegel Newlin,program liaison at St. John’s Educational Thresholds Center (now Mission Graduates) on 16th Street, is responsible for this wonderful little oasis in the city.

Ten years ago, elementary and middle school children in one of Newlin’s programs surveyed the neighborhood and found liquor stores, dry cleaners and thrift shops, but no parks. The nearest one was at 19th and Valencia.

So they went to the Recreation and Park Department’s Open Space Committee to plead their case, and won $200,000. The next year they did the same thing, and won another $200,000. The third year they won $100,000. The following year, State Sen. Carole Migden secured $1.5 million from state open space funds, bringing the kids’ total to $2 million.

They tried buying a few vacant lots in the neighborhood, but couldn’t compete against housing developers in the red-hot real estate market. They had the same problem when they bid on the parking lot on Hoff Street — until the developer learned he was competing against neighborhood kids who wanted a park.

The developer backed out, allowing the Recreation and Park Department to purchase the property on behalf of the Mission kids. Working with Recreation and Park staff, the kids helped design the park, held community meetings and even picked the name.

Overall, more than 150 kids worked on the project, many of them knowing they’d be too old for it when it finally got built.

Berkeley artist Amy Blackstone designed and fabricated the fence and gate panels along with the sculptural trellises that utilize imagery and patterns associated with the dominant cultural heritage of Mission District residents.  The fence was part of the SFAC 2006-07 budget and cost $15,000.

The Mission – Kids Power Park

 Posted by on December 3, 2011
Dec 032011
 
The Mission District
Kid Power Park
Hoff Between 16th and 17th
Our Children

 

 

 

This huge mosaic mural is by Joseph Norris.  Writing about this mural is difficult.  While I love the smiles on these children, and I think the quality of the mosaic is superior, to say nothing of producing a mosaic of this size, the artist is a problem.  Joseph Norris was arrested this June for possessing child pornography.

So while I find no point in celebrating the artist, I still feel the mosaics are worth viewing.

Caledonia – Ape Do Good

 Posted by on October 22, 2011
Oct 222011
 
Mission District
Caledonia Street
On the Wall of Ape Do Good Print Shop
I apologize for bringing this to you in pieces, but the alley is very, very narrow and the mural is very long.  It was pretty impossible to do it in any other manner.  This mural has shown up in the blogsphere many times, but I have yet to find anyone that knows who painted it.  It has such a wonderful Dr. Seuss quality to it.  Look very closely at the first photo and you will see a real hanger in there.
This reads: “breaking cracking leaves. 100 sneezes echoing i need a lulaby[sic]. sleep creeping in under my cheekbones and fingers slow words spilling in half time like instant replay in some sick and twisted dream game and my head is playing faint songs I’ve never heard. Typewriter on my knees and paper shaking searching madly for some word some scrap of something written down and lost again. I want to know what it feels like to hold a handful of worms in the crepuscular predawn of some stormy sunday. we are doing a dull thing with style not nodding or shaking our heads now you are trapped in my dreamworld. blink”

Homes as Canvas

 Posted by on October 21, 2011
Oct 212011
 

Mission District
Castro District

3014 22nd Street
So many times I walk by homes that look like canvases.  I fantasize that some wonderful artist lives in this abode.  I have no way of knowing but here are a few that I have enjoyed.
This is the garage door of a home at the corner of Saturn and Lower Terrace.
Notice the stenciled 2nd floor and the “mosaic” gutter.
The neighbors did the same.

Caledonia Street

 Posted by on October 20, 2011
Oct 202011
 
Mission District
Caledonia Street
Between 15th and 16th
and Mission and Valencia Streets
Caledonia is another one of those alley’s in the Mission District that only serves as an entry into garages and backs of buildings.  So needless to say it is a haven from graffiti artists.  These are some of the better ones I found.
This beauty is by Mike Kershnar a talented artist that established a non profit called Elemental Awareness which aims to utilize art and skateboarding to enrich the lives of children.
These 2 are actually stencils.
This has such a disjointed look, I wondered if it wasn’t done by two different people.
After all that edgy work, this 60’s flashback made me laugh out loud.

Dan Plasma in the Mission

 Posted by on October 18, 2011
Oct 182011
 
Mission District
15th and Valencia
This is the side wall of restaurant Pica Pica.  Dan Plasma had originally painted a tiger mural on this wall, then over the course of a few days other aerosol muralists covered it over with their work.  This made Mr. Plasma rather angry, so when he took the wall back he commemorated the little war with this piece.

 

 

Lango in the Mission and SOMA

 Posted by on October 11, 2011
Oct 112011
 
SOMA – San Francisco
Mary at Howard Streets
This piece was done by Lango, a tattoo artist here in San Francisco.  I have tried to contact him to ask him about this mural, but according to a friend of his I met the other day he is extremely shy.  I respect that, and figure his work speaks for him, it is really spectacular.
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This is on the Howard side of the building.
This is also by Lango.  It was commissioned by an auto repair shop.  I had fun chatting with the guys who own the shop.  They were rather fond of their piece of art work.  This is at 4 Shotwell at 14th Street.
Lango at 22nd at Folsom

Mission Super Heroes

 Posted by on September 3, 2011
Sep 032011
 
Mission District – San Francisco
19th and Mission Street
This wonderfully whimsical wall is on the 19th Street side of a grocery at 2290 Mission Street.  It was done by three artists, you can see their names in “bubble” style.  KEB, WAND and BUTR.  The skill in which they have recreated the various super heroes is really rather impressive.  All in all, you can not help but smile when walking by this little gem.

The Mission District, San Francisco

 Posted by on September 2, 2011
Sep 022011
 
The Mission District
1077 Valencia Street
Ben Eine has shown up in this site before.  This is done in his circus font.
To quote his website:Ben Flynn, a.k.a. EINE, (Born 1970. London, England) shot to international fame when David Cameronpresented one of his works to President Obama as a gift on his first official state visit, but is arguably more famous for ‘Alphabet Street’ – the shutters and murals he painted in his trademark colours and typography in Middlesex Street, London– described by The Times as “a street now internationally recognized as a living piece of art with direct links to The White House.”
This piece has been painted over as of April 2013

Mission District – Bartlett Street Mural

 Posted by on August 31, 2011
Aug 312011
 
Mission District – San Francisco
85 Bartlett Street

Right next to the bright and colorful Amate Mission mural by Jet Martinez, is this fascinating mural. It is a partial reproduction of an original found behind the altar of Old Mission Dolores. The original was believed to be painted by Mission Indians somewhere between 1791 and 1796.

Here is all the information in the Jet Martinez’s own words:

“When Ben [Ben Wood, the freelance artist who, along with archaeologist Eric Blind, photographed the mural by lowering a camera behind the 18th-century altarpiece blocking it from view] approached me, I didn’t want to do it. I grew up in Mexico. I saw a lot of murals of priests saving the souls of kneeling Indians. And this mural is really about the Catholic missionaries’ oppression of the natives. They painted those hearts — the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Sacred Heart of Mary — because that’s what the missionaries told them to do.

But my New Year’s Eve resolution was to be more open. Ben wanted me to restore the mural to what it would have been, but I didn’t want to. Huge sections were missing. To imagine what the mural would have been [would be] to put my own interpretation in it. I left the gaps.Working with two other painters [Bunnie Reiss and Ezra Eismont] helped me remove myself a little. People would ask me, “Why are there no Native Americans working on this mural?” Because we had one Mexican-American guy, one German guy and one Jewish woman.I thought, Native Americans were already forced to paint this once. We’re not going to make them paint it again.”

I apologize for the angle on this, but the sidewalk is narrow, and lined with cars.

Amate Mission

 Posted by on August 30, 2011
Aug 302011
 
Mission District – San Francisco
85 Bartlett Street
“Amate Mission”

This mural, by Oakland-based artist Jet Martinez, was created in partnership with The Mission Community Market, the SF Arts Commission “Streetsmarts” program,  and the Mexican Museum.  The title “Amate Mission” is a double entendre, according to Jet:

1. Amate style painting with a Mission District flair. (Including the ever ubiquitous deer that always seem to pop up in Mission District art).
2.”Amate” when spoken in a Central American accent means “love yourself” and in essence, “Love the Mission”

It is based on reinterpretations of traditional Mexican folk arts. According to Martinez, the title refers to a style of painting usually done on paper made from bark from the amate tree. The style is thought to have originated with the Otomi Indians in the state of Guerrero, but it’s now practiced by many artisans throughout Mexico.

 

Mission District Parklet

 Posted by on August 29, 2011
Aug 292011
 
Mission District – San Francisco
Parklets

A parklet is a small urban park, often created by replacing several parallel parking spots with a patio, planters, trees, benches, café tables with chairs, and/or bicycle parking. Parklets are designed to provide a public place for citizens to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the city around them, in places where either current urban parks are lacking or if the existing sidewalk width is not large enough to accommodate activities.

The movement in San Francisco began as a temporary action.  Taking over a few parking spaces on a city organized date and decorating them.  The city had sought quick ways to add to the supply of open space within already developed commercial areas. Businesses pay permit and construction costs and agree to maintain the spaces. In return, they create a pedestrian attraction, often outside their front doors. Startup costs for a parklet include fees of nearly $1,000 to apply and have a site inspection, plus $650 for the removal of two parking meters and a $221 annual fee.

After six were approved on a trial basis, the program took on a life of its own. The first two rounds of proposals attracted 71 applications.

This is the very first one built by a homeowner, and allows him access to his garage, not for a car but for his many bicycles.  The owner Amandeep Jawa explains the project very well.

This is Trixie, the mascot of this little parklet.
When you come to San Francisco, you won’t have to travel far to find parklets, they are springing up all over town.

 

Chor Boogie

 Posted by on August 28, 2011
Aug 282011
 
Mid Market – San Francisco
2174 Market Street

Mid market is a desolate stretch of abandoned store fronts and SRO’s.  This long frontage of boarded up building has been covered by an artist known as Chor.  This is not any random street painter, Chor has a worldwide body of work, including a commissioned piece for the Beijing Olympics.  His website
displays his incredible talent, and his blog is loaded with fabulous images of his work.

I had the privilege of seeing some of his art gallery work at “The City We Love” showing at 941 Geary street.  If you are in the neighborhood, drop in and ask about him.  The piece below is on Clarion Alley in the Mission District.  Chor has also done it on a smaller scale, and it is on display at 941 Geary.

The Mission & The Tenderloin

 Posted by on August 18, 2011
Aug 182011
 
Tenderloin – San Francisco
The Mission District – San Francisco
Taken on Hemlock just off Polk
The rabbit is by internationally know ROA.  He has an amazing body of work that you can view at this website.  Born in Ghent, Belgium, his start in the art world was like most graffiti artist, under bridges and on subway walls, but as you can see he has grown substantially. ROA strives for precise anatomical detail, and his works often come across as unsentimental, feral beasts whose looming scale and piercing gaze can present a real challenge to the viewer.
 “Belgian graffiti artist ROA is obsessed with bringing nature back to the streets. Because of him, pigs sleep in alleyways in London and oxen and bears rest in Warsaw. Executed in trademark black and white paint and usually on a gigantic scale, his pieces often show a darker side to wildlife – recurring crows plucking at the eyes of men and rabbits, or animals with their internal organs on show. Notoriously private, he is elusive in interviews but has exhibited across Europe”
Spencer Keaton Cunningham followed him around while he was in San Francisco and posted 3 short videos here on Vimeo but ROA’s face is blurred, and he really doesn’t say to awfully much.
Hardly matters, his art speaks for him.
These were taken on Bartlet Street between Mission and Valencia and 21st and 22nd.
The 2 large seals are standing on the one that shows in the last picture.  While huge, the mural is also behind several chain link fences.  Understandable that the property owners would put up fences, there wasn’t a square inch on the block that had not been tagged or paint balled.  Sadly, once again disrespecting tags on someone else’s work.  Alas, fences make for poor photographs, I wish I could have gotten it all in one shot.
UPDATE – The Roa in the Tenderloin is no longer available.

Mission District- Balmy Avenue

 Posted by on July 3, 2011
Jul 032011
 
Balmy Alley, Mission District, San Francisco.  Part II.
Part of the wooden cut out mural at the 24th end of Balmy Alley
“The birth of a silence is written in the agony of a sigh”
I continue with just a few more Balmy Alley murals today.  There are many, many more and I again encourage you to make your way there when you can, and take a tour by Precita Eyes if you have the time.
Virgin of Guadalupe by Patricia Rose
Patricia Rose is the senior tour coordinator for Balmy Alley and one of the major artists in the Mission Mural Movement.
Manjushri by Marta Ayala
Tibetan Buddhist wisdom deity.  The mural merges Tibetan Art with Latin American motifs.  A native of El Salvador, Marta has been a resident of San Francisco since 1968.  I loved the juxtaposition with the fact that the Virgin of Guadalupe is directly across the alley from the Manjushri.
Rejoice by unknown artist
Just a little fun along the way.

Mission District – Balmy Alley

 Posted by on July 2, 2011
Jul 022011
 
Balmy Alley
Inspired by Huichol Indian Yarn Paintings by Mia Gonzales, Susan Cervantes and Others 1991

This is the beginning of Balmy Avenue.  It is runs between 25th and 24th streets in the Mission District, between Harrison and Treat.  This block long alley is one of several great alleys in San Francisco with a highly concentrated collection of murals. The murals began in the mid-80’s as an outlet for artists’ outrage over human rights and political abuses in Central America. Today the alley contains murals on a myriad of styles and subjects from human rights to local gentrification and Hurricane Katrina. The alley is best viewed on foot.  If you plan ahead, you can get guided tours by Precita Eyes.  The alley is constantly changing so repeat visits are always fun.

Naya Bihana, Painted by Marin Travers of Precita Eyes in 2002
“Una ley immoral nadie tiene que cumplirla,”  “No one must comply with an immoral law.” Romero was “urging us to think for ourselves, to consider what we’re doing. We shouldn’t blindly comply with something we know is not right, Romero fought the military government for the rights of the poor in El Salvador, he was murdered in 1980. But his presence is still felt here with two murals on Balmy Alley.
A Tribute to Archbishop Oscar Romero – 2001
listed as both unknown artist, and attributed to Jamie Morgan
Victorion by Sirron Norris – A Giant Robotic Victorian House
Sirron Norris was born in Cleveland, Ohio and settled down in San Francisco in 1997.  Initially, Sirron worked as a production artist in the video game industry. Sirron received his first artist in residence from the De Young Museum. That year, Sirron’s career propelled into the limelight and today is known as one of San Francisco’s most notable artists.
Sun and the Moon by Frances Valesco
Valesco received her BA from UCLA and her MA from California State University, Long Beach.  She teaches at City College of San Francisco, the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco State University, and UC Berkeley.
Those We Love, We Remember by Edythe Boone – 1997
Edythe is a 72 year old arts educator.  Another great mural she worked on was the The Women’s Building in the Mission District of San Francisco.
Indigenous Eyes by Susan Kelk Cervantes

Mission District – 24th Street Mini Park, San Francisco

 Posted by on July 1, 2011
Jul 012011
 
24th and York

This is another mosaic by  Colette Crutcher, this time, in collaboration with her husband, Mark Roller and friend Aileen Barr.   The park is at 24th and York in San Francisco.  It is a wonderful little mini park in a terrific part of the Mission District. This giant mosaic statue of the Mesoamerican snake-god Quetzalcoatl and it’s playful fountain is the focal point of the park.  Quetzalcoatl started as a concrete structure and then was covered with broken commercial tile, and hundreds of handmade tiles.
The park used to be a neighborhood eyesore, filled with pretty scary folks just lounging in the park, but thanks to a million-dollar 2006 beautification project, the 24th & York Street Mini Park was transformed into an urban oasis.
Across the street is the vintage St. Francis Soda Fountain, where you can get milkshakes and sandwiches like when you were a kid, or just hang out and wait for the strolling ice cream carts to come by.
This part of town is covered with murals, thanks primarily to Precita Eyes.  Precita Eyes was established in 1977 as an inner city, community based, mural arts organization.  I will be coming back to them from time to time as I explore the murals in this neighborhood over the next few days.
All of Quetzalcoatl with the fountain running.  This is one of those fountains, that turns itself on and off and surprises you, but it is so warm in this part of town, that it is often welcoming.
Most of the walls in the park are covered in murals. Many of them by Michael Rios, who designed many of Carlos Santana’s album covers in the 1970’s.  Carlos Santana and Rios grew up in the neighborhood and Rios still lives there.
These three pieces are pierced steel.  They remind me of pierced steel lamps you find all over Mexico, but I could find nothing about them, nor who made them.

Clarion Alley

 Posted by on March 13, 2011
Mar 132011
 

 

 

This mural is in Clarion Alley, it was painted by Emily Buttefly and Tania Esmeralda.

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