921 Post as seen from Post
A partially obscured sign for Owl Cigars. Both 921 Post and it’s neighbor were built in 1919/1920 which means originally there was a clean line of site to this sign. I blame the silly clown striped facade for the current bad view. Bad stripes! No nicotine for you! Currently vacant; perhaps when 927 Post is rehabilitated/reopened/renovated the metal siding will come down and the full sign will be visible once more? Continue reading
Birds - not a dirty lens
Abandoned buildings make for very attractive nuisances. This one resides on Pier 90 along Islais Creek in the Southern Waterfront. Closed in the 70′s due to issues with seismically unsound fill, a rotting pier, and changes in shipping technology that favored the Port of Oakland – it stands as a gorgeous reminder of midcentury American industry. Continue reading
510 Green Street
Remember when Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey oversaw integrated 7up ad campaigns and everything was sunshine and flowers and rainbows and acid trips? Yeah, I’m a Reagan era baby, I don’t either. Continue reading
This is what the Corona Cap looks like after eleven days outside; including four days of rain. All detail has dissolved away and the bottle cap has physically split in two – the top of the cap separating from, and sliding off, the bottom. Can poppy seed sprouting be far behind?
See Related: Urban Camo Seed Bomb Part 1
Willie "Woo Woo" Wong Playground
I wrote about the San Francisco Ghost Sign Mapping Project for the Traction blog. You can read more about it here.
UPDATE 3/16/2012
My Traction blog post was picked up by the Huffington Post and San Francisco Egotist. Although neither link to Perception Filter I’m still pleased.
A little backstory on this project…
Between working, sleeping, and socializing I split my time pretty evenly between Oakland and San Francisco. Given that most of that time is spent in the Tenderloin (where I work) or Fruitvale (where I live) I have a passing familiarity with urban blight and the underutilization of green space. The specific issues – and by “issues” I mean observable symptoms not their underlying causes – in each area differ immensely. In San Francisco, urban space is a cage – the grid-like layout of it’s streets and the box-like architecture of it’s buildings marching up and down hills like prison bars or long teeth. With buildings pressed up against the sidewalk and one another there’s a dearth of front yardage, a dearth of tree wells and a general dearth of visually accessible greenery. However, this series is not about that specific set of urban issues. Sorry San Francisco, this series is very much about Oakland’s relationship to space. Continue reading
I love how the paint is weeping off this sign. 1576 Market July 2011
Built in 1907 and abandoned to the pigeons and homeless in the 1980′s; 1576 Market Street was demolished in August of 2011. I doubt this double lot hole will sit empty for long. While much of Market Street languishes in functional disuse – it’s proud department stores and theaters of yore having been torn down and segmented into dollar stores and discount clothiers – this lot is eminently buildable with a prime location on the edge of Hayes Valley.
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