Monday, March 23, 2009




Coming Soon: Edward Durell Stone in Palo Alto

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Survivor: Telegraph Hill


Telegraph Hill, July 4, 1940 Charles Cushman

We love old photographic images, and one of the joys of the Interwebs is that major and minor collections are being digitized and available globally. One we've been referring back to for a few years is the Charles Cushman Collection from the University of Indiana. Cushman was an amateur photographer who's thousands of slides create an archive of America that might have existed today only in our memories. There are some great shots of San Francisco, like the one above. When I first saw it I never thought the structures could still exist.

And then, tootling around Telegraph Hill on Sunday, there they were. Well, some of them. but still, remarkable survivors. The Bay Bridge only has one level, and we don't see too many warships out in the Bay anymore. But the electrical lines have been buried since then. I wish my pictures were as half as good as his.

Union Street, East of Montgomery, September 24, 2008

Charles Cushman Collection

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Thank You, Jorgen


Inger Thing, stoneware jar with lid [Jorgen L. Dalgaard]

File under Why We Love the Interwebs: I was doing some research on Danish pottery and came across this specialst dealer's site. Worth a good forty minutes of making believe you're working, although there's not much actual information, just lust-worthy objects with not much going on inside. It's true, I only want you for your blue eggshell glaze. Besides, where else but in Denmark would you run into a name like Inger Thing making such luscious objects?
Jorgen L. Dalgaard 20th Century Decorative Arts

Tomorrow: The Empty Lots of San Francisco

Monday, July 28, 2008

Time Capsule, $1.8M



Multiple-unit dwellings are the heart and soul of sitcoms. Seinfeld? Three's Company? I Love Lucy? Even the turgid drama queen Dynasty had everybody living in the same house with their in-laws and bastard third cousins. And of course the San Francisco classic Tales of the City. So when I came across
The 2 other 1 bedroom units are protected by owner's will from any rent increases during their occupancy
on a quiet, hidden lane just downhill from Grace Cathedral, I had to check it out. Trusts! Wills! Rent Control! You might as well hand me a paper bag soaked in paint thinner. It's simple: the buyer has to agree to permit life occupancy to two tenants who were dear friends of the previous owner who died at ninety-four. No rent increases. One pays $300, the other $660.

Aside from the hand of the dead reaching out from the grave on a monthly basis, the house is in sad shape. The realtor said they'd only just discovered the brick foundation was in very bad condition. The house was remodeled in the mid-'Sixties and untouched since; if the original construction values had been better one could argue that the double-height owner's unit on the top floor should be preserved. It has that vibe- this place had some good parties.





Then there's the terrace. The astroturf may be regrettable, but here it's about the enclosure- a beautifully detailed and weathered Japanese-style fence with roofs and brackets for bonsai. An amazing little detail hidden away, and subtle enough to have be the work of R.G. Watanabe or one of his associates.

6-12 Leroy Place [Janis Stone, TRI/CB]
Nice Shoji, Dude [Curbed SF]

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Killer Countertops






Granite kitchens. Everybody knows that means countertops, black and shiny beyond belief, accompanied by stainless steel appliances and brown woodwork, the crabgrass of kitchen specifications. What was once stylish is now hopelessly pedestrian. And, according to the New York Times and CBS, potentially radioactive, a charge that the Marble Institute of America calls "ludicrous". Actually, the common black stuff is probably okay. Seems the most likely to be really hot are the dramatic striated granites from the tropics. It's no longer enough to know where your tomatoes are from.

What's Lurking in Your Countertop? [NYTimes]

What's the deal here?





[Sunday, July 27, Lombard Street east of Filbert, about 3PM. These idiots are not parked. They're waiting, with motors running, to reach the Crooked Street. So they can drive down it.]

I used to blog for Curbed. I have nothing but the most ardent fandom for these guys. Lockhart and Ben have created the must-read sites for New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I miss blogging. I just don't miss having to come up with five posts a day, a goal I often missed anyway. And I know I miss getting paid to blog.

We're going to start (Beta, if you like) with this elementary format. At some point we'll move on Typepad, when html and I warm up to each other a bit.

I'm not interested in replicating what I did at Curbed. Although the voice remains the same and we may be looking at the same things in San Francisco, I can guarantee my magpie instincts will take us elsewhere.