Pier 70, San Francisco
Due to a remarkable set of circumstances I was invited to stay at the home of Toby and Jerry Levine while I was in San Francisco. My friend Meredith from the Pelham Cultural Council is a great friend of theirs and encouraged me to get in touch before my trip. They were super hosts and are both very involved in San Francisco neighborhood preservation and development. Toby serves on several boards and seems to be familiar with every important neighborhood issue both past and present. At one point early in my stay she asked me if I was interested in large industrial sites. Indicating that I was, she made arrangements for me to have a tour of a few buildings at Pier 70 that are slated for development.
I only had about an hour and just my little cameras with me, but Everardo, who interns with the development company gave us a grand tour of buildings 112/113 and 104.
I get so jazzed about shooting in these environments.
There is something about this time in the life of a building that intrigues me.
Since I was not able to photograph during its productive era, I can only imagine what was happening in these rooms when they were in use.
But there is usually enough evidence left behind to give an inkling to what it might have been like to work here.
And the light is always so natural and soft.
This building is huge. It was part of a ship building and dry dock facility which at one time was part of Bethlehem Steel. I believe that it was originally the Union Iron Works.
Which at one time must have employed a ton of people.
I especially like old locker rooms and bathrooms.
Nice sign over the urinals.
It is not difficult to imagine people using these sinks after a long day’s work.
I like this little office in the middle of everything.
This is a view of the second floor of 113.
How about the red fingernails painted on this stylized hand which points the way to the rest room?
This color green shows up regularly in buildings like this one. The light fixtures give a bit of a clue to when this office space was last renovated. I’d say mid 1960’s.
These last few shots are from building 104 which seems to have been mostly used for administrative offices.
This is the top floor of 104. You can just see the skylights which at some time were painted black.
The staircases are fantastic.
More lockers here, and it seems odd to me that they were in what was essentially an office building.
There was a small hospital in one wing of 104, and with all the machinery that is saw, I can imagine it was a busy place at times.
Thanks so much to the Orton Development people for granting me access to these amazing buildings. And of course to Toby and Jerry. Here are a few links to learn more about the site, its history, and future. Click here and here.
AT&T Park, Giants v Nationals
Yesterday I went to see the Nationals play the Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco. It was an interesting game. Very few hits and not much scoring. The Nationals won in 10, 2 to 1. As you can see it was a beautiful day, perfect for baseball. I was at the mercy of the guy selling the tickets, and just asked for a very cheap seat. Ended up in section 302, which by my estimation is the nicest place to sit in the whole park. The only problem was that for the first time in all my years of going to baseball games, it was difficult to concentrate on the action with this amazing view of the bay always pulling me away from the game. Even if you HATE baseball, it is totally worth $24.00 to sit up here for an afternoon drinking a few beers and being part of a crowd of very friendly people. / After the game I blasted over to the offices of Collector’s Weekly and met with Hunter Oatman-Stanford who wrote this article about the suitcases that really opened a lot of doors for me. We were joined by two other editors and had a great chat about this and that. I was totally blown away when they told me that the story had generated roughly 600,000 views on their site. I really owe a lot to Hunter for his great interview and interest in the project. / Made it out to the airport in time to catch the redeye back to Boston. Got home at about 9.30 this morning and was happy to see the Pearl, who after a bit of a scare this weekend seems to be back on her feet.
Artists (and dogs) at the Exploratorium
I have never given much thought to whether or not I am an artist. And the whole idea of whether or not photography is an art is a whole ball of wax that I try to avoid. So when Pam Winfrey (whose idea it was to have the Exploratorium host the “Normal” exhibit) invited me to be part of an artist’s night, I said yes without giving it much thought. So it was a bit weird for me to be introduced to people as one of the artists whose work was on display. I’ll accept it for the time being but I doubt it will go to my head. The event was pretty cool. Since I was basically alone, I wandered around looking lost for a while before I ran into my refound friend Katie Hahren and her daughter Annie. That loosened things up a bit. Eventually Karen Miller and I ended up signing catalogues and chatting with guests. / One thing about San Francisco that I really like is that dogs seem to be accepted in most public places. When I was at the Exploratorium in February I met a 4 month old black lab who was on his way to work for only the second day. I can not imagine bringing the Pearl to an office job even now when she is 12 and mostly calm.
This is the new Exploratorium on the Embarcadero at Pier 15. It is amazing. Go check it out if you ever get the chance.
Bridge
I am back in San Francisco and the weather is beautiful. Staying in the Mission Bay area and yesterday had a long walk up to the Ferry Terminal from my host’s condo. Off to meet some folks and then the event at the Exploratorium tonight. Should be interesting.
Union Square
We will be heading back East early tomorrow. I had hoped to have a long post about the Exploratorium exhibit ready to go, but I am still processing my feelings. I will have something up by Thursday. What can be said now though is that by mounting “The Changing Face of What is Normal” in what was basically a museum dedicated to science related issues, they have done something incredibly daring. It is not what many people familiar with the Exploratorium expect to see, and for that I give them a ton of credit. It is a very interesting experience and for those of you who get the chance to be in the area, well worth the effort.
Slate Magazine
Slate Magazine ran a really nice piece on the Willard Suitcase project. Here’s the link. Big thanks to David Rosenberg for his interest and doing a great job choosing and laying out the photos. / When I was recently in San Francisco I stayed at this place. It is a great old building and the staff are loads of fun.
Green Liquid
I am back in Brockport shooting at the College for a few days. The people here are always so nice and pleasant to be around. This beaker was in a lab in the department of Environmental Science and Biology. I didn’t ask what was in it, but the green color was quite lovely. It was in a bar in San Francisco last week and saw a small martini glass filled with something that looked just like it.
Sutro Baths
I am sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for my redeye flight home. This morning’s quick meeting with the team ended well. I know know pretty much what I need to do in the next few weeks as far as printing goes.
I had yesterday pretty much to myself. Around noon I met with an old friend from Ithaca, Katie Harhen and we ate a couple of dozen oysters in the Ferry Terminal and had a great time catching up. She is a really wonderful person and has created a great life out here in the Bay Area.
I had been hearing about the Sutro Baths from the Exploratorium folks and Stephanie Bailey said it was her favorite place in the area. I hopped on the Geary bus and after a long ride out to the western-most part of SF got to a cliff above the ocean.
I especially like the fact that except for a few spots one is totally free to roam around the ruins without having to be warned of imminent danger. It is part of a National Park, and for now the only areas that are closed off are to do with a river otter that has taken up residence. (He wasn’t there when I showed up.)
There was a little tunnel through the rocks that was kind of eerie. You could hear the waves crashing and in a few spots could actually see the water.
The ocean was a steely gray for most of the time I was there.
It was foggy and quite cold when I arrived and just as I was leaving at about 5.00, the sun came out.
The flora reminded me a lot of what you would see on the Cornwall coast.
It is a very special place. And the gift shop at the top of the hill is way cool. I got a great mug and a bunch of vintage postcard reproductions. It is always completely baffling to me how something as cool and popular as the baths can virtually disappear. Check out some other links to the history of the place and be sure to visit if you are in the area.
Shenango China
This beautiful plate was underneath my little metal teapot at Golden Coffee this morning. Ever since I lived in central New York State I have turned plates over to look for the Syracuse China mark on the back. Here’s a link to a previous post. I was surprised to see the logo on the back of this plate.
To me it looks like a Native American strangling a big dog (Mr. Rorschach anyone?) When I searched the company name I saw other examples that make it look like a Native American sitting on a blanket hitting a drum. No definitive answer though. This is particularly interesting to me since I grew up in Meadville, PA which isn’t far from New Castle. Sadly, the company is now closed.
Golden Coffee
My flight to San Francisco went smoothly. I am staying at the same part of town where Claire Larkin, Peter Carroll, and I stayed when we were working on a project for the Smithsonian American Art Museum. We came to Golden Coffee for breakfast most mornings. It is fabulous. They were still closed this morning when I went out to get tea, but I’ll head over there in a bit to have breakfast and then off to the Exploratorium.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
15 comments