Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Saturday, December 20, 2008

House with Christmas decoration



The house is famous for it's decoration on Christmas and Halloween and I believe Easter. People walk or drive by to look at it and take pictures. When I came today a crowd of at least 20 to 30 people passed by, alone, in pairs, in groups and with or without children. Popular place and one of it's kind, at least here in the neighborhood.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

German store front view



Again a picture of the German store in SF, the store is on Church Street in Noe Valley.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

J-line trails Church Street



The J-line Muni (one of San Francisco's transportation systems) trails on Church and 22nd. The trails are separating from Church street, running parallel for a while, because the street is getting to steep for the Muni cars.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Cable Car on California ...



... stopping at Grant in Chinatown. The picture was taken three years ago, as you may see on the "de Young" ad, announcing the re-opening in october 2005.

Christmas decoration and palm tree

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

"Milk" at Castro Theater



Milk is the movie/biography about Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay man in public office. He was assassinated, November 1978 along with Mayor George Moscone by another Supervisor Dan White.
Castro Theater is the 100th SF Landmark. In the picture you see part of it's beautiful ornate interior and at the bottom an impressive organ that is played before a movie.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Ikea - Emeryville



Ikea, the worlds largest furniture manufacture with retail stores worldwide has also stores close to SF. One in Emeryville and one in Palo Alto. Whenever I tell visitors from Germany that "we" have a store here in SF, people are always surprised. So here's the proof, yes there is an Ikea.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Downtown zoo



I hope you can see the two cats in the picture. It's a shop window of Macy's a Department Store at Union Square. They decorated everything Christmas like, looking like a house or home and put little cats or a little dog in the windows. It did not only get my attention.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Fire alarm box



It is a device used to notify the fire department. Some see them as outdated since everyone uses a cell phone these days. However in case of a disaster, power might be out, phone services might be broken and then such alarm box is quite useful.
Interestingly enough such boxes don't seem to be in every city of the US. I just found a online list of cities with operating box alarm systems. The list is not that long and San Francisco is one of them.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

El Rio - a neighborhood bar



with parties in the patio. The picture was taken a month ago, it's not that nice and warm outside anymore.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Holiday Ice Rink



Today I came across an Ice skating rink at Union Square. It seems a bit weired to me to ice skate while the temperature is still high enough to wear a t-shirt but hey it's November and only one month to Christmas.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Historic Streetcar



This one, the streetcar from Milan, Italy, built in 1928 is my favorite historic streetcar. It's fun to ride in it and also fun to see them passing by. The history of these streetcars can be read at the Muni website.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Tower Theater tower



Here's a picture of the Tower, where I posted the poster board last time. Sorry for all this inconsistent alignments, but I liked the pigeon, so I choose this one over another picture with straight lines.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Poster wall on Mission Street



The wall is not meant for posters but it's perfect to put them on. It's a screen of boards to close the entry of the old Tower Theater which is up for sale. The 10 posters draw a lot of attention and I thought I share the remains.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

In the countryside: Napa Valley



Approximately 67 miles north of SF is Napa Valley with it's winery's. One of them is Rutherford Hill and from their picnic ground you have a view of the Valley.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Protest march ...



...against passing of Prop 8.
One of the answers to the pro Proposition 8 votes on Tuesday was a protest march tonight.
Tuesday 52.5% voted "yes" on Proposition 8, and want to ban same sex marriage in California, whereas 47.5% voted in favor. So that's more than a half million who don't want those legal rights for citizens and it's written in the Constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. It overrides a state Supreme Court ruling that briefly gave same-sex couples the right to wed.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

First signs of Christmas



It's the beginning of November, warm outside and the city starts with Christmas decoration. However I like this time of the year with so many extra lights.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Festival of Altars ...



or Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Death.
Every year there's a procession ending in the Garfield Park at 26th and Harrison. I am always impressed by these altars, build to remember the death of someone's loved one.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

City College building



Science Hall at the Ocean Campus/City College of SF. This month theme are books, but I'm taking an online class at CCSF, so no books involved. I'm kidding and I'm not participating in the theme day. However I thought I share a building where learning takes place and of course, books are part of learning.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Valencia Street: once Levi's plant



The building was one of Levi Strauss' & Co's US plant, Levi, the Jeansmaker. The building had been open since 1906, but was closed 2002. Now it's a school.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

SanFrancisco JazzFestival



Friday, Archie Shepp played at the Herbst Theater. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the artist, so I took the picture during the intermission. Unfortunately not much to see but I wanted to let people know that we have great artists playing in the city.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Fingerspelling



On a school in the Mission is a Mural with paintings of the fingerspelled alphabet. The picture shows the letters "X,Y,Z". The last letter looks like the "F", but doesn't make sense at the end of this sequence, so I suppose it's indicating the end of the alphabet.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Muni buses lined up



On a grey autumn sunday today, I took the picture of these buses all lined up, parked and awaiting their next service.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Antenna tree in plant pot



Thanks to some gardeners in the city we got some more green. I've seen this tree somewhere else from far away and was wondering if it's an antenna. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but certainly it's not an antenna.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Fort Mason Center



Part of the Fort Mason Center in the background. Fort Mason Center is a former military base, but houses now about 30 nonprofit organizations and hosts several cultural activities. It's along the bay and part of the Golden Gate Recreation Area.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Fleetweek 2008 's over



today I went to Fort Mason, actually not to watch the flight show, I went to Open Studios to watch photography. But I wanted to post a picture of today's event. Instead of posting a picture of one of these jets (which I'm sure you can see everywhere), I'd rather post a picture of the workers providing food/BBQ at this show.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Good morning sun



One of San Francisco's steep street in the morning sun. In the background the tower of Twin Peaks.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Simulation of a Tornado



Found the simulation on the airport at Gate 87 before my departure.
Fans simulate the airflow in a thunderstorm, creating a miniature tornado.
An overhead fan draws the air upward, imitating the updraft that occurs in the core of a tornado-spawning thunderstorm. Air blowing from the sides of the tubes start the updraft spinning and create the mini tornado. Droplets of water injected by a fog machine make the airflow visible.

Monday, September 29, 2008

San Francisco Airport



Terminal 1, domestic flight with United Airlines from San Francisco to Chicago. While waiting on my plane to get ready, the one in the foreground, there were two others pulled into their positions and ready for departure.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Golden Gate Bridge



driving through the toll at Golden Gate Bridge when coming back to San Francisco.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

San Francisco State University



Two buildings of the whole complex.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Steep sidewalks



If streets and sidewalks are too steep, they put little bumps on the sidewalks. They look and feel like stairs, so supposedly it makes it easier to walk. I still prefer the flat surface though.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Monday, September 15, 2008

Antique Clock Repair



with a huge, working clock in the window.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Baseball



SF Giants playing the Diamondbacks Arizona in the AT&T Park (getting ready for another round).

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Bench



In this city also benches adjust to the hills and get in slanting position.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Store in Chinatown



It's a store on Grant Ave. After you pass the gate these kind of stores are to the left and right all the way up. They are packed with all kinds of things and as you can see are really colorful.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

"Fixing" the wires



Since most of the electrical wiring is up in the air, they use cranes to get to them and do whatever they have to. Why are these wires in the air, I don't know, maybe it's to prevent them from breaking in an earthquake?

Monday, September 1, 2008

Mural finished



When I started the Photo Blog I uploaded a picture of the mural with the scaffolding in place and from a different angle. The painting on one side of the parking lot was finished, the scaffolding was removed a couple of weeks ago and I am going to show a closer shot of it in this posting. It's such beautiful artwork from Mona Caron.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Hobart Building



I just learned that this building is considered one of San Francisco's historic landmarks. It was completed 1914 and is an example of classical revival architecture. I always find those old buildings between all the new ones made out of steel and glass, truly outstanding and amazing. The building is located in San Francisco's financial district, at Montgomery and Market Street.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Baggage claim



Sorry for not posting for such a long time. I was out of the city for quite a while and didn't get the chance to update the blog. Now I'm back on track, starting with a picture from SF airport after a 12 hour flight from Frankfurt.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Heart at Union Square



This one is at the corner of Post and Stockton and a red one is at the corner of Geary and Stockton.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Antojitos San Miguel



it's a little cart outside the BART station at 16th and Mission. While on your way somewhere you can grab a bite. I didn't stop to eat, but to take a picture. Whenever I come by, the shiny silver cart, reflecting the sunlight, attracts my attention.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Church (Street) under dark sky



All of a sudden, the sky turned dark grey as if one would expect a thunderstorm. But thunderstorms are so rare in this city, that these dark clouds unfortunately didn't result in thunder and lightning. (View of Church Street in Noe Valley)

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Moscone Center North



in front of the Exhibition Hall/ Moscone Center North, where the annual LinuxWorld Conference & Expo was taking place from August 4th - today.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

LinuxWorld


/Moscone Center. The skull is part of the Alameda County Computer Resource Center project. They presented it outside the Moscone Center North where LinuxWorld (August 4th - 7th) San Francisco is taking place.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Rainbow Grocery



In the distance you see part of the vegetable and fruit section of the Rainbow Grocery store. According to their website, they "provide natural, organic, vegetarian food and environmentally and health conscious products at an affordable price." One can get all kinds of food and also natural medicine for example.
Furthermore: "Rainbow Grocery Cooperative is an independent, collectively run, worker owned and operated cooperative at which decision making and responsibilities are shared through democratic structures and elected committees."

Monday, August 4, 2008

Oldtimer



Today I saw this Oldtimer on Grant Ave in Chinatown and thought it's a great image for the picture of the day. Not that such a car is typical for this city. But what is typical, is that you will find all kinds of cars and bikes on the streets, even such a rarity from GB.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Bay Bridge and view of the city



Coming back home, driving over the Bay Bridge,you will get a great view of the bay and the city. And it's always stunning how downtown presents itself to the viewer.