June Mail

Things are far from getting back to normal, but the flow of mail art (sent and received) seems to be picking up.  Mail art does make for some safe, socially distant fun.  A recent trip to the post office box included zines big and small.  Theo Nelson is taking mail he receives and turning pieces into one-of-a-kind zines.  Robin Sparrow’s delicate, shimmering, hand sewn piece made it through the mail all the way from New Zealand.  And it’s good to see things are busy at Gregg Biggs’ Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera.  

The mail shown here includes:

1. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
2. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
3. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
4. William Mellott – Taiwan 
5. Fleur Helsingor - California 
6. Theo Nelson – Canada
7. Robin Sparrow — New Zealand 
8. Dori Singh – California 

Pandemic Park

This weekend I stayed at home and painted.  This was my view one afternoon last week while I read a book in shady spot in Alamo Square.

Because I can enjoy our parks on weekday afternoons.  I tend to avoid the crowds on weekends.   This was true even before the pandemic.   I’ve noticed that most people seem to be practicing social distancing and, until they safely settle into a spot, usually wear a mask. That said we have a certain amount of careless and self-centered fools right here in San Francisco — for example, in 2016 9% of San Francisco voters chose the racist, Russian stooge who will remain nameless.  

Hayes Valley Secrets

In 1990, Hayes Valley was a scrappy neighborhood, with affordable (!) rents.  All bisected by the behemoth of the Central Freeway.  A noisy, dirty, elevated structure that nearly collapsed in the Loma Prieta Earthquake.  Gradually, over many years and political maneuvering, the freeway was torn down.   If you never saw the freeway, it is hard to imagine it was ever there.  

Commercial rents were low back then and retail pioneers started to take a chance on Hayes Valley.  In those days they were local, homegrown businesses.  Many of those shops were too high end for the times.  Quite a few lasted about a year.  There were even rumors of money-laundering fronts.  That said, some succeeded for a long time and a handful of the original stores are still in the neighborhood.   Today, Hayes Valley has become one of the most expensive retail strips in one of the most expensive cities in the world.  No one will be opening up a shop or restaurant without deep pockets and wealthy investors.

In the 1990s one of my favorite hang outs was a small café called Momi Toby’s.  I had spent countless hours there by the time I discovered the hidden world beneath the café and sidewalk prisms just out front.  One day, I was in the neighborhood with an open studios map and one of the locations was Momi Toby’s.  

At first, I assumed I would see an art show in the café.  I stepped inside, what I thought was a wooden panel had been opened.  It revealed a hidden doorway and a narrow, windy staircase.  It was like a secret passage.  The stairs took me below the café to a large, high-ceilinged, room that expanded below the sidewalk.  Natural light filled the space.   It was so unexpected — it was magical. The room was tiled with built in ovens along one wall.  I discovered the building had once been home to a bakery and below Momi Toby’s was now Tinhorn Press.  

Tinhorn Press is gone.  Momi Toby’s eventually changed hands, the prices climbed. Now it is replaced by a smart bar.  Still, when I walk down Laguna Street, I often think about the secret world under my feet.   A world far cooler and more interesting than a neighborhood with shops that sell $500 shoes and thimbles of ice cream for $7.

Pandemic Haircuts

Took a break from painting the neighborhood.   A friend sent me a photo of his homemade haircut and color job, and well, I could not resist making it into a painting.

Victorian Perpectives

My view, while waiting for a take away lunch the other day on Fillmore Street in the Lower Haight.   

Germania Street

San Francisco is one of the world’s most photographed and filmed cities.  Because of movies, television or advertising, many people all over the world feel they know what San Francisco looks like — in the same way many people “know” New York, London or Paris.  I myself live two blocks from the “must see” vista of Victorian houses in Alamo Square.  

It is hard for me to avoid the most ubiquitous San Francisco imagery. But how do we locals really see our city?  How should local artists portray San Francisco? You could not fault any artist for wanting to paint the Golden Gate Bridge or other iconic images, but some of us have a different lens.

Here we are still sheltering in place but may still take, safe, socially distanced walks.  I have been sticking close to home.  For example, walking down quiet streets like Germania in the Lower Haight.  The other day the garbage truck had already been through when I snapped a photo of the scattered empty plastic bins — black for trash, blue for recycling and green for compost.  No, not a postcard, but an image that any local would recognize as San Francisco.