Merry Christmas

to all visitors of my blog.

The building is the former Bank of America or 555 California Street. The building is second in height to the Transamerica Pyramid and 31st tallest in the US. If I'm not mistaken, the Pyramid reflects in the windows of the building. This certainly wasn't intended and I am surprised to see it.

Transamerica Pyramid

another picture from the Transamerica Pyramid Building. I was standing right next to it. Very impressive building.

shop window

Today I came across this interesting display window. I found it very creative and special. It was not a cactus or flower shop though.

In case you wonder ...

... what that thing is? - It's an elevator coming from the basement
... what these metal doors in sideways are for? - Sometimes they open up to stairs going into a basement of a store, or like in this case for an elevator.
... why the picture is that bad? - It was shot in rainy weather, evening and with an iPhone, running by. But I won't blame the iPhone though.

Theme Day: waiting ...

... for the next train was my first thought, when I saw the choice of December Theme Day.

See what other City Daily Photo bloggers from around the world had in their mind: Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Fall

That's how I love fall, blue sky and trees turning yellow! And yes, there are some trees changing colors even in SF. However you can still see flowers in the winter!
Have a good weekend everyone.

Fire alarm box

and the German store "Lehr's" in the background.

United States Mint San Francisco

I was wondering what this big building located higher up at Market Street, is. Now I know. It is the
United States Mint at San Francisco. This building was built in 1937 and workers moved from the old facility to this new building. I hope I'll be able to take a picture of the old building, which is turned into a museum, too.

Halloween front yard

I hope I don't bore anyone with all these Halloween pictures, but it's only once a year and the art of decorating houses and even front yards are great motives.

Halloween doorway

Yesterday was Halloween and the Theme Day of CityDailyPhoto bloggers is "Doorways". I thought I combine both and show you another picture how people decorate their houses at this time of the year.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Halloween

During this time of the year, you'll see pretty amazing stuff hanging outside of people's houses or shops.

wigs for pipes

Another image of some artist stuff one wouldn't expect. I saw a couple of them at different places, so someone must have really put some work into it.

Scarecrow or man on stilt

Today was Noe Valley Harvest Festival. This guy was walking on 24th street on his stilt exceeding everyone else.

Wigs

With Halloween coming up soon, you'll need a wig.

car without tree

I just saw this beautiful old car in the same neighborhood, where a tree was fallen on a different car a couple of days ago (see my previous post). I love these old cars and I also liked the white against the red garage doors.

stormy weather and fallen tree

The sign missed warning about falling trees. Today was really stormy and it rained all day long. We haven't had this for months! I feel sorry for the tree and the owner of the car.
I am sorry that I haven't posted pictures on this blog lately. I had a really stressful time and then I got sick too, still am (feel almost like the tree in this picture). Hopefully soon I will be recovered and presume my activity.

Bay Quackers

There is always something new to learn about San Francisco. Today I saw this red "car" catching my interest and it turns out to be a refurbished World War II Amphibious landing craft. According to the Bay Quackers website, It's used for a Surf & Turf Duck Tour of San Francisco and the Bay.

Zeitgeist

it's the name of the bar. But it's also a German language expression and means "spirit of the times or the age". I already like the term in German but I also like that they picked it as name for the bar. In addition to that, the bar has a "beergarden". Not the ones I'm used to in Germany, but hey, it's still a outside space where you can drink a beer under a tree (the one on the left side of the picture). If I'll get the chance I'll post a picture from the inside.

Sunday afternoon

At first I saw the very red house on the right, then the brown "Bernal Hill" in the background.
The hill is the one I took this picture earlier this year.
And last but not least the teenager with his skateboard ran or rather skated into the picture. Skateboarding is very common in this city with all the hills.

Twin Peaks - red sky

This evening we got this beautiful red sky, sunset, which I rarely see in this part of the city.
The thick grey stuff looking as clouds is fog, covering part of the hill. For me it's always a incredible spectacle watching the fog rolling in. I guess the city is famous for it's fog and I've never seen anything like this anywhere else.

One more, close up of the tower:

Flight or up in the air

taken during my flight from Portland to Oakland. I admit not necessarily a picture from "my" city but it was taken getting there, so hopefully it's a valid picture.

Duboce Ave

The Muni J-line goes underground here and above are some parked old muni streetcars.

another historic streetcar

Newsstand

There's a guy selling the local newspaper in the underground, at the Muni and BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) station. This picture was taken at Powell street in Downtown.

Evening sky in Chinatown

California Secretary of State

Debra Bowen presenting the Keynote with the title:"Opensource, Open Government" at the OpenSourceWorld, San Francisco today.

Golden Gate in layer of fog

today I went to Baker Beach, from there you have a spectacular view of the Golden Gate bridge. While I was enjoying the sun and ocean, I saw how the fog got burned off by the sun and uncovered bridge, (see my other blog for a series of images.)

Mural or have a seat

Maybe the huge wall with the mural was also the one wall to someone's living- and bedroom. Maybe the sofa and be was just put out on the streets for someone to pick up. Maybe someone thought to make an open air museum out of it, with art and seating. Whatever it is, I found the combination interesting enough for a photo.

Ming House

they do alterations, dry-cleaning and maybe laundry (wash and fold). It's another night shot.

Theme Day night: 24 hour Donut shop

This Donut shop is open 24 hours -every day and night-! I'm always impressed that it is really open at midnight and no matter what that there are actually people in there. The smell of sweet donuts at midnight is also somehow appealing, although I managed to withstand the temptation of having such super sweet sugar thing in the middle of the night.

Join City Daily Photo Bloggers worldwide for their view of the night:

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Empty too

I started the month with a picture of a woman collecting empty bottles (Theme Day was Empty) and I conclude this month with a picture of collecting empty cardboard boxes for recycling. You can see those pickup trucks collecting empty cardboards a lot in the city.

Transamerican Pyramid

I guess that's one of the most recognized buildings in San Francisco. The building can be seen from a lot of places and be easily spotted due to it's extraordinary shape.

Windy tonight

These two flags (US and California) were waving in front of the 555 California building, formerly known as the Bank of America Center. It's the second tallest building in the city, 52 stories high, 779ft or 237.4m.

Bay Shore - Central Waterfront

the area is all industrial and parts of the harbor, in the background is Portrero Hill with it's housing projects and very far in the back is the Twin Peaks transmission tower.

Gum machine

... poses threats for dogs. Dogs be aware, danger comes from the machine! I found this sign pretty funny when I pictured a dog running off with a machine in tow.
The sign says: "Please do not tie dogs to this machine ... Danger of falling!! Thank you."

Bastille Day

Today is "Bastille Day, a French holiday. Before I repeat what the holiday is about, you can read about it on Wikipedia

The balloons mark the entry to an Irish Bar located in or close to the French Quarter in Downtown SF were they were celebrating it.

Today I realized that actually yesterday was the first anniversary of my DailyPhoto Blog. One year ago, on the second day, I uploaded a picture of the same location to this Blog. So I thought, as long as the Bar will celebrate this and as long as I will keep the Blog alive, I'll celebrate my yearly anniversary with a picture of the balloons of Bastille Day celebration.

Stern Grove - Joan Baez II

Please excuse that I took one of the pictures from yesterday and uploaded it for today's post.

I wanted to write one more thing about Joan Baez at Stern Grove, and needed a picture from the event.
She greeted the Iranian people, dedicated two songs to them and when singing "We shall overcome" she shared the stage with Tahmoures Pournazeri from Iran. Watch the following videos on Youtube:

Joan Baez shares her stage with Tahmoures Pournazeri for Iran
Joan Baez For Iran, 12 July, S F
Joan Baez, July 12

I must say very very impressive and touching! Thank you, Joan Baez!

Stern Grove - Joan Baez

I just came back from the Stern Grove Festival. Today Blame Sally a local band was playing first and then Joan Baez! I had to go and see her, she's such a legend! And the place is beautiful too. It was packed, 10.000 people, they were even sitting all the way up in the woods. See next days (July 13th post)

Church

I found the sky and the church and cross against it very impressive so I had to take the picture, although the church surely isn't that beautiful.

Layer of fog (close)

Another picture of fog in the city. I like the thick layer of white fog and with the blue sky above. It also spares part of the city, while some parts are sunny with blue sky, other parts are completely covered by this grey, wet substance.

Just $1

I saw the dog and a lady setting up the table and signs at the Jazz Festival. You can barely see it but there were $1 bills stuck in the dogs collar. I took a picture and then she called me over for help and I watched her table for a couple of minutes. That was my contribution.

Fillmore Jazz Festival

Yesterday and today is the Fillmore Jazz Festival. It is one of the largest free Jazz Festivals on the West Coast. Visitors can listen to live music, enjoy art and craft, food and beverages over 10 blocks on Fillmore Street.

Layer of Fog

Today the thick layer of fog didn't get burned of by the sun and stayed there all day. It always impresses me how the fog is just in certain parts of the city while other parts are completely sunny.

Theme Day: Empty

Today is Theme Day empty. The picture shows one of a couple of people in this city looking for empty bottles or cans in garbage cans. They bring them to places for recycling and make a little bit of money out of it.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Iran Protests - Theme Day

I posted a photo of Twitter, because Twitter became one of the most important platforms for the Iranian protest, as well as other social websites.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Bike

I saw this bike yesterday morning. Very impressive how innovative and creative some people are! On bigkidbike are even more bikes.

Little car (Fiat 500)

This car produced between 1957-1975 by Fiat was marketed as a town or city car. How true this is even today. I bet you can get parking easily with such a car. And finding parking is one of the most concerns in a populated city with rare parking space.

Swoops the attacking blackbird

People watching Swoops.

There's a bird, actually two birds in SF financial district who became famous, attacking people.
It protects it's nest, build in one of the trees. When people walk by to close to the tree, he attacks them. There's a bird blog with news about the bird, some youtube videos. for example a video from Assoziated Press and one from CNN

So of course I had to go there as well to take a look myself. There were quite some people sitting or standing and watching what was going on. It was a great live comedy with the little Alfred Hitchcock twist.

The bird is getting ready, watching for someone to get too close to it's tree:



Person attacked and bending over to avoid the attack (the bird was too fast to catch on the photo):