San Francisco – Tank Hill, Buena Vista Park, Mount Olympus, Corona Heights Park & Glen Canyon Park: April 2018

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

This is a view from Mount Olympus looking west. Tank Hill is the treeless hill visible on the left, and Mount Sutro is the treed hill on the right.

Here is a view of the north side of the summit of Mount Olympus. 
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This view is looking southeast from the summit of Mount Olympus.

This is a view from Corona Heights Park. The treed area on the left is Buena Vista Park. The pale pink building ahead is the second iteration of St. Joseph's Hospital. The hospital was founded by the Catholic Church at this location in 1899. This building opened in 1928. It accepted patients regardless of religion or nationality and was known as the working man's hospital. The hospital permanently closed in 1979 due to a decrease in the number of patients, and the concern about the vulnerability of the building in case of a massive earthquake. The building has since been structurally strengthened, and it is now a residential condominium community known as Park Hills Condominiums. This view is looking north.

Here is a view looking north from the summit of Buena Vista Park. The Marin Headlands and Mount Tamalpais are visible in the distance.

This is a view of Corona Heights Park as seen from Park Hills Avenue. The picture is looking south.

A scene from near the summit of Corona Heights Park. The view is looking northeast.

This is a view looking west from Corona Heights Park. A portion of Twin Peaks is visible on the left, and Mount Sutro can be seen on the right.


This is another view from near the summit of Corona Heights Park. This view is looking east.


This was the site of a brickmaking factory when Corona Heights Park was known as Rocky Hill. The factory was established in 1899. The factory buildings were destroyed during the 1906 earthquake; the factory was promptly rebuilt.

 
This is a view from Corona Heights Park looking south.

This picture of Corona Heights Park was photographed from the intersection of Eureka Street and 19th Street; the view is looking north.

In 1848 gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. People quickly traveled to California with expectations of finding gold. Men initially used picks and axes to remove gold from the land. In 1867 Alfred Nobel invented the blasting explosive known as dynamite, which became the widely used method to separate gold from the earth. 
On 19 March 1868, Alfred Nobel personally licensed the Giant Powder Company of San Francisco to produce and distribute dynamite to the companies and individuals who were searching for gold in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The gold diggings were approximately 150 miles east of San Francisco. The Giant Powder Company built the first dynamite factory in San Francisco's Glen Canyon. Less than two years after Giant Powder Company began production of dynamite, a massive explosion destroyed the factory and killed two men and injured nine people working in the factory. 
The Giant Powder Company manufacturing facility was moved to Fleming Point near Berkeley in 1879. In January 1883  there was a massive explosion at the Fleming Point factory. 37 Chinese workers, in addition to the assistant superintendent, were killed in the explosions. 
This is how the New York Times reported the 1883 explosions: 
"There was a terrific explosion this morning at the works of the Giant Powder Company in West Berkeley across the bay from San Francisco. Seven distinct shocks were felt, and 300 tons of giant powder brought death and destruction to the immediate neighborhood and caused great damage to Oakland and San Francisco. People for some moments, in both cities, were panic-stricken." 
The factory buildings were rebuilt, and production continued at Fleming Point for approximately a decade before yet another explosion occurred at the Fleming Point site on 9 July 1892. The general foreman later claimed that the explosion involved more than one million pounds of explosives. This is how the New York Times reported the 9 July 1892 explosion:
"Immediately after the explosion, the town of West Berkeley from a distance resembled the site of an actual volcano. Dozens of private houses in the vicinity were partially destroyed and all along the road from Oakland to West Berkeley Station were damaged buildings." 
Five men were killed, and more than a dozen people were injured. The Giant Powder Company Fleming Point manufacturing facility was then closed. The manufacturing operation was then moved to Point Pinole, an isolated area located north of Berkeley. Numerous explosions also occurred at Point Pinole. In 1960 the Giant Powder Company ceased making dynamite.

This is a late 19th Century advertisement from the Giant Powder Company.

This was the site of the original Giant Powder Company dynamite manufacturing factory. It is now a playground located in the lower area of Glen Canyon Park. The recreation center building seen in the photo was constructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1937.

This is a view from Glen Canyon Park looking north.

Here is a view looking south.

This is a view from Glen Canyon Park looking west. Ahead is Mount Davidson, 928 feet (283 meters), the highest natural point in San Francisco.


This is a view looking north from the top of Glen Canyon Park. Sutro Tower is seen ahead. 


This is a scene from a playground located in the Sunnyside neighborhood of San Francisco.


Here is a view looking southwest from the Sunnyside neighborhood of San Francisco.


This is a view of San Bruno Mountain. The picture is looking south, and it was taken from Yerba Buena Avenue. 


This photo was taken on the grounds of San Francisco State University. This library building is the current home of the Adolph Sutro library.


The next three photographs are of houses located in the St Francis Wood neighborhood of San Francisco.


St Francis Wood.


St Francis Wood.

This is a flowering Leucospermum Pincushion plant; it is native to southern Africa.

"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 that were posted on the Internet between 2002 and 2011. Click Here to view those photos.

   A Sony camera was used to take these photographs.

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

Photographs taken in Albany and San Francisco: April 2018

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

This is a view of the Albany Mudflats Ecological Reserve at low tide. This protected area consists of approximately 160 acres of tidal mudflats in the city of Albany. The photograph was taken from the Albany Bulb, and Albany Hill is visible. The view is looking east. 

This is a view looking west from Albany Beach.  The north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge is detectable, and the Albany Bulb is visible on the right side of the photo.

 Berkeley can be seen ahead. This is a view from the east side of Albany Hill. 

Here is another view from Albany Beach. San Francisco is discernible in the distance.

This is a view looking northeast from Twin Peaks Boulevard in San Francisco.

This photo was taken from Mount Davidson. At 928 feet (283 meters), Mount Davidson is the highest point in San Francisco. Twin Peaks is visible on the left side of the picture.

This is a view of Eureka Peak, 904 feet (276 meters), which is the northern summit of Twin Peaks. This photo was taken from the top of Noe Peak, 910 feet (277 meters), which is the southern summit of Twin Peaks.

This is a view of Eureka Peak looking north from the recently reconfigured roadway.

This is a view of Eureka Peak looking south.

Traveling up to Twin Peaks.

This is a view of Noe Peak looking south.

This is a view from the summit of Noe Peak. Mount Davidson is visible on the left; the Pacific Ocean is ahead. The picture is looking southwest.

San Bruno Mountain is located in San Mateo County. This is a view looking south from Mount Davidson.

Here is another photo that was taken from Mount Davidson. From left to right are Mount Sutro, 909 feet (277 meters), Sutro Tower, and Twin Peaks. The view is looking north.

This is a view from Mount Davidson looking east. Glen Canyon Park can be seen.


This is a view of cable car #13. It is traveling outbound on the Powell & Hyde Street cable car route. The cable car is seen turning west onto Jackson Street from Powell Street. Partially visible on the left side of this photograph is the San Francisco Chinatown branch library. This library branch opened in 1921, and it was the sixth of eight San Francisco library buildings whose construction costs of approximately $750,000 were financed by Andrew Carnegie. Thank you, Andrew Carnegie!


St Francis Wood is an affluent community located in the southwestern area of San Francisco.


Here is a view of Chinatown looking north up Grant Avenue.


This is a view from the summit of Russian Hill.


The Marin Headlands and the Golden Gate Bridge are ahead. This photograph was taken from the Marina Green, and the view is looking north.

This is a view of downtown San Francisco as seen from Pier 14.

Here is another view from Pier 14. Construction is proceeding with the installation of three additional ferry piers which will be contiguous with the San Francisco Ferry Building. The clock tower on the right side of this photograph is the location of the Ferry Building.


People are fishing from Pier 14. The western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is ahead, and Yerba Buena Island is visible.


This is the facade of the original San Francisco YMCA Hotel. The YMCA Hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco. Registry #86000148. The building was constructed as a 400-room hotel in 1928. It was demolished approximately thirty years ago, except for the facade as seen above. A 131-room hotel was erected in 1991 on the site of the 1928 structure. The locale is now known as the Harbor Court Hotel.


Here is a view of Alcatraz Island and Angel Island. The photograph was taken from the intersection of Green Street and Jones Street, and the view is looking north.

"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 that were posted on the Internet between 2002 and 2011. Click Here to view those photos.

   A Sony camera was used to take these photographs.

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

San Francisco – from the Ferry Building through the Presidio and concluding in the Richmond District: 3 April 2018

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

San Francisco Municipal Railway streetcar #1 was built in San Francisco in 1912. Streetcar #1 was initially used on the "A-Geary" line, which ran from Kearny Street to Golden Gate Park via Geary Boulevard and 10th Avenue. In 2009 the streetcar was restored by Brookville Equipment Company of Pennsylvania. After it arrived back in San Francisco in 2010, it was put into limited service for special occasions and private tours of the city. Streetcar #1 has been assigned to regular E-Embarcadeo line service commencing on 3 April 2018.

A view of the interior of San Francisco Municipal Railway streetcar #1.

This is a view of Telegraph Hill looking southwest from the Embarcadero. If you look closely at Telegraph Hill, you can see the scar from a no longer active 100-year-old rock quarry. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there were a number of quarry operators who were demolishing portions of Telegraph Hill. San Francisco was a rapidly growing city, and quarry rocks were needed for the construction of streets, city infrastructure, and buildings. Starting in the 1890s and continuing into the early 1920s, the Gray Brothers operated a rock quarry on Telegraph Hill.

The Maritime Museum was built in 1939 as the Aquatic Park Bathhouse. The construction was a joint project of the Federal Works Progress Administration and the City of San Francisco.The maritime museum was closed from 2006 to 2009 for major repairs. The Maritime Museum reopened in 2010.

This is a remnant of the Pier 43 Ferry Arch. This was a rail pier constructed in 1889. Rail barges would come to this pier from Richmond, Oakland and Marin County. It was part of the San Francisco Belt Railroad which ran along the Embarcadero. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a WWII Liberty Ship is framed within the ferry arch.

Here is an innocuous looking building sitting on a forgettable pier. The pier is located between Aquatic Park and Fort Mason. The pier was known as Transport Wharf No. 4; it was the location from which federal authorities transported prisoners to Alcatraz Island. Al Capone, the Birdman of Alcatraz, and other notorious prisoners were whisked from this wharf to Alcatraz Federal Peniteniary.

Here is a view of Transport Wharf No. 4 with Alcatraz Island visible in the distance.

This is the east portal of the abandoned Fort Mason Tunnel. The tunnel was constructed in 1914; it was built to provide an efficient method to deliver material for the construction of the Panama Pacific International Exposition which opened in 1915. It was subsequently used as a streetcar route for visitors to the Panama Pacific Exposition. The US Army utilized the tunnel for rail access to the military Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason. During World War Two, more than one million six hundred thousand soldiers, and 23 million tons of supplies were transported to the Pacific battlefronts from the San Francisco Port of Embarkation. 

Here is a view of the west portal of the Fort Mason Tunnel. It is adjacent to the primary entryway to the site of the San Francisco Port of Embarkation. There is a possiblity that the tunnel will be renovated and used as an extension of the E & F San Francisco streetcar lines.

A view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The photo was snapped on what was once an aircraft landing field. Crissy Field was the site of a US Army airfield which became operational on 24 June 1921. The Marin Headlands are seen in the distance. The view is looking northwest.

This is Gun Battery Boutelle. It is located within the Presidio at Fort Winfield Scott. It was active from 1901 to 1917 and was decommissioned from service in 1918.

A view looking north from within the site of Fort Winfield Scott.

The distance traveled was approximately 9.0 miles (14.5 kilometers). The cumulative elevation gain was about 630 feet (192 meters). Mile markers are displayed on the GPS generated track. Click on the image to see the full-size map.

This plant is known as a Sea Fig (Carpobrotus chilensis), it is a succulent plant that is native to southern Africa. It was brought to California to be planted alongside freeways. The plant has since been recognized as an invasive plant; it is now found in parks and woodlands. This picture was taken in the Presidio. Thanks to Margot Cunningham for identifying this lovely plant.

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

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

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

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

   A Sony camera was used to take these photographs.

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