San Francisco Bay Area Photo Blog: November 2020

29 November 2020

Views of Point Molate, Point Isabel, and Winehaven: November 2020

Click on an image to view the full-size photograph.

This photograph was taken from Point Molate Beach Park. The view is looking west, and Mount Tamalpais is visible in the distance. The 5.5 miles long Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which was constructed between 1953 and 1956, is the northernmost of the five San Francisco Bay bridge crossings. This bridge replaced a ferry service previously provided by the Richmond-San Rafael Ferry Company.

This map shows the locations where photographs were taken for this posting: Point Molate, Point Isabel, and the Albany Bulb.

The Albany Bulb as seen from Fleming Point in the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.

Point Molate Beach Park.

A view looking west from Point Isabel.

Albany Hill as seen from Point Isabel. This view is looking east.

Costco is located on Point Isabel.

A view from Point Isabel looking northwest.

Ahead are the sites of the four Kaiser Richmond shipyards built during WWII. Over 90,000 women and men worked at the shipyards during WWII, and 747 ships were built during the war. This is a view from Point Isabel, looking northwest. Mount Tamalpais is on the left, partially hidden by clouds. This four image panoramic picture was taken on 2 February 2021.

A view looking west across San Francisco Bay, as seen from Point Isabel. San Francisco is visible ahead, as is the southern portion of the Golden Gate Bridge and the eastern and western spans of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge.

This picture was taken from the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline. Point Richmond is on the right, and Marin County and Mount Tamalpais are on the left. The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which is barely visible in this photo, connects the two areas. This is a panoramic photo that consists of three images, and the view is looking northwest.

A view of Point San Pablo Harbor.

Houseboats docked at Point San Pablo Harbor.

This is the entryway to the Point Molate Naval Fuel Depot site and also the site of Winehaven, which during the early Twentieth Century, was the largest winery in the world.

Winehaven, circa 2010.

Winehaven, date unknown.

California Wine Association / Winehaven advertisement.

Winehaven, date unknown.

This photograph of Winehaven was taken circa 1933.

Winehaven provided housing for some of its employees. Several houses dating back to the early twentieth century are still standing, unoccupied, and off-limits.

Winehaven housing.

The Richmond–San Rafael Bridge and Mount Tamalpais are seen ahead. This view is looking west.

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"A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.” Dorothea Lange

"Photography has not changed since its origin except in its technical aspects, which for me are not important." Henri Carter-Bresson

"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer." Ansel Adams

"The important thing is not the camera but the eye." Alfred Eisenstaedt

The first volume of the San Francisco Bay Area Photo Blog contains galleries of photographs posted on the Internet between 2002 and 2011. Click Here to view those photos.

These photographs were taken with a Sony camera.

Question or comment? I may be reached at neil@mishalov.com.

08 November 2020

Vice-President Kamala Harris' childhood home in Berkeley, California: 8 November 2020

Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California, on 20 October 1964. She lived in Berkeley on and off until the age of 12, when her family moved to Montreal, Canada. Ms. Harris returned to the United States after attending high school in Canada. She graduated from Howard University in Washington D.C. and from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

Attorney Harris was employed as an Alameda County prosecuting attorney before being elected San Francisco district attorney. She was then elected California attorney general. Kamala Harris was also elected as a California senator in the United States Congress.

Click on an image to view the full-size photograph.

This is a view of a single-family house located at 1227 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. During 1970-1971 the house was extensively remodeled. The lower area was utilized as a site for a pre-school. Kamala Harris, her mother, Shyamala Gopalan (1938-2009), and her sister Maya resided in the upstairs living area.

Shyamala Gopalan came to the United States from India in 1960 to study for her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1963, she married Donald Harris, a fellow graduate student who was an immigrant from Jamaica. They separated when Kamala Harris was a young child.

THEN This photo, looking north, and taken in 1972, shows the west side of 1227 Bancroft Way. Kamala Harris can be seen at the front center, along with her grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, her mother Shyamala Gopalan, her grandmother Rajam Gopalan, and her sister, Maya.

NOW This is a current view of the scene in the above photo. The stairway goes to the upstairs apartment, within which the Harris family resided.

Kamala Harris attended Thousand Oaks Elementary School in Berkeley. Ms. Harris has commented that she started kindergarten one year after the Berkeley school system launched its student integration program.

Kamala Harris is shown in 1989 with her mother and Mrs. Francis Wilson, her first grade Berkeley school teacher. Kamala Harris has just received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

THEN: Kamala Harris, her sister Maya, and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, as seen on Milvia Street in Berkeley. This photo is circa 1969.

NOW Here is a view of the same scene on Milvia Street taken during November 2020; the cross street is Berkeley Way.

Donald Harris is Kamala's father. This picture of Donald and Kamala Harris was taken in April 1965. Professor Harris is now 81 years old and has retired from his teaching position at Stanford University.

Shyamala and Kamala at 1227 Bancroft Way, Berkeley.

Maya and Kamala Harris.

Here are Kamala and Maya Harris, as seen during Christmas 1968, in their 1227 Bancroft Way apartment.

Kamala Harris is being sworn in as the 49th vice-president during the Presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, 20 January 2021.

This posting was updated on 25 August 2024.

Thanks to Natalie Orenstein, the author, and Berkeleyside, the publisher, for providing information about Kamala Harris' childhood in Berkeley, California.