Happy Herbs

 Posted by on November 10, 2012
Nov 102012
 

1391 Haight Street

This creature by Bode is on the side of the new Happy High Herb Shop in the Haight.

Happy High Herbs is not your everyday head shop. Their website and sign promise to “promote herbs that bring happiness, bring wellness, increase horniness and bring contentment,” and they say their products “are marketed only in our physical shops, in a face to face situation, as alternatives to drugs of harm and addiction.” That said, you still have to be 18 to buy them.

The company was founded in Australia by Ray Thorpe to offer safer alternatives to typical party drugs. The Haight Street shop is their fifth shop stateside, and their fourth in California.

 Mark Bode was born in Utica, New York. He is the son of the legendary cartoonist Vaughn Bode.  Mark is best known for his work on Cobalt 60 and as the creator of the hit comic Miami Mice.

Bode attended Art School in Oakland. His first professional job was for Heavy Metal Magazine when he was asked to color is father’s black and white strip Zooks.  He was a fine arts major at The School of Visual Arts in New York and studied animation and etching at SF State University.


The Apexer in The Haight

 Posted by on October 29, 2012
Oct 292012
 

Haight and Masonic

*

This spot recently held a mural by Lango. This colorful and powerful new mural is by Ricardo Richey, also known as Apex.

Ricardo is a street artist who creates colorful abstract patterns through the use of spray paint.  Part of the gestalt collective that engages in collaborative murals in San Francisco his work can be found all over town.

This video shows the making of the piece.

The Haight – Evolutionary Rainbow

 Posted by on April 16, 2012
Apr 162012
 
The Haight
Haight and Cole
*
*
*
*
*

Called Evolutionary Rainbow, this mural was originally done by Joanna (Yana) Zegri in 1967 when she was a manager for the business in the building. She has returned to restore the mural in ’81, ’83, and ’06. This landmark Mural depicts a stage of evolution in each color, visible when you study the mural up close.

Excerpt from San Francisco Bay Area Murals by Timothy W. Drescher:

The earliest community mural in San Francisco was begun by Joana Zegri in 1967. It was never formally titled, but was called Evolution Rainbow because as the colors of its rainbow design progressed from dark to light, details within each color depicted the evolution of animals from early protozoa through dinosaurs up to modern species. ..

The first pause came when the artist, in the middle of painting the mural, took time off to give birth to her first child. After several months she completed the mural, and even restored in in 1981 with stronger paints. In 1982, the business of the wall of which the mural was painted changed hands, and the new owner had the mural painted out….In this instance, the destruction catalyzed community forces in a way that indicates the role such murals play in forming social communities. Protest, petitions, complaints by the store’s customers, letter writing campaigns, and meeting late into the night followed…the store owner contacted Zegri and asked her to repaint the mural.

error: Content is protected !!