Whenever I’m able to spend a few days in San Francisco, as a rule I try to avoid doing the most obvious tourist stuff. Of course, this rule must occasionally be broken — like when I visited Alcatraz for the first time back in 2018. And this year I feel like I broke the rule again when I ventured to […]
Well, yes, it’s been awhile. Just shy of a month — a month of some serious ups and downs for me. First there was a trip over to the Mendocino coast; then I came down with Covid for the first time ever; and once I had more or less recovered from that, I spent a week in San Francisco. But […]
A few images from my visit to San Francisco in August 2023.
At the Maritime Museum near Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco I discovered dioramas, ship models, and remnants of the wooden ship Niantic. California’s 1849 Gold Rush spelled the end of her varied career at sea; once arriving in San Francisco Bay, the crew deserted to search for gold. Like so many other ships, Niantic was abandoned in the bay. She was later converted to an onshore hotel — only to be destroyed by fire in 1851. More than 120 years later, Niantic‘s remants were rediscovered during a routine excavation. You can click on any of the images to enlarge and read the text.
I visited San Francisco’s Maritime Museum last summer, and I’ve shared a few images previously here. I really enjoyed studying the artifacts, the ship models, and the dioramas exhibited on the museum’s ground floor. But one of the most intriguing displays is the story of Kenichi Hori, the 23-year-old who in 1962 sailed alone across the Pacific in the sloop […]
As summer draws closer and the weather warms up, it’s important to stay hydrated. With that in mind, I’m sharing some small pieces from San Francisco’s Legion of Honor art museum (and one from my favorite hotel) to help remind you. These beautiful creations from Europe and the Mediterranean date from as far back as 300 A.D. to the modern […]
I had been hoping to go check out San Francisco’s Aquatic Park Bathhouse for a few years; when I finally got there last August I was slightly disappointed to find the upper floor blocked off. But despite my disappointment, there was still a lot of fascinating items on display in this beautiful building, constructed in the mid 1930s. The Aquatic […]
If you’ve ever felt like just staying in bed all day (and really, who among us hasn’t?) this one is for you. I went to the Legion of Honor museum expecting to see some great works of art, but I never dreamed I would find such a comfy looking bed! Of course, these days we can only look, not touch. […]
Yesterday ‘s post featured a visit to Iwasaka Images of America, a Southern California company that produces extremely realistic and delicious-looking samples of food, mainly for the restaurant industry. I’m not sure if the food images I saw last summer in the window of this restaurant were created by that same company, but it’s quite possible they were. The cafe, […]