Fake Tales of San Francisco
(note: this is hopefully the last of my long-overdue posts. Rejoice!)This belated post is about my trip down to San Francisco, a (in my skewed view) much-deserved reward after finishing my contract organizing the Planners for Tomorrow conference.
(Aside: P4T went fabulously, and I learned a lot - mainly, I never want to event plan again.)
Anyhoo, so while most people of the planning variety were coming to Vancouver for the World Urban Forum, I decided to leave Vancouver and spend some time in a new city, just for kicks. Oh, and to see Radiohead. (I think I'll write more on that in my next post....okay, this is the second last belated post....)
Some cities I love for their vibrant city centre, others endear for their more understated widespread idiosyncracies. San Francisco definitely falls into the latter - I was hard-pressed to pick a favourite area, they were all so different.
That said, my favourite discoveries were perhaps a little obscure:
Flax Art & Design - a huge art supply store (on Market)
The Container Store - how these people stay in business is kind of beyond me... (on 4th)
David's Delicatessen - a fantastically dodgy deli on Geary Street. Excellent cheese blintzes!
The Savoy Hotel - they are so nice! (also on Geary)
Paxton Gate - oh my god, Paxton Gate, there are no words.
Of course, World Cup was in full swing those days and so a fair bit of the vacation was spent in hotel rooms and bars, but we did manage to get out to Alcatraz and ride the old Italian streetcars on the F-Line like good little tourists. (Oh, and a speedy cab ride up and down the hills of downtown.) We also managed to squeeze in a little culture via the De Young Museum (well, the observation tower and gift shop) and the Museum of Modern Art. About which I will share with you a little tale....
So Pat and I went to check out MOMA - fanastic photography, design, and the feature "Matthew Barney is insane" floor. Leaving the crazy Xiferotarch architecture exhibit, an older couple headed out before me into the lobby and sat down on a bench. The second they sat down, the wall in front of them began moving. "Oh, this is an exhibit!" cried the lady, and I quickly snuck in beside her to catch the exhibition. The moving walls revealed a large deconstructed room behind, with ropes jumbled in one corner, some plywood, and some Matthew Barney exhibit signs in the other corner.
"Now what is this about? Is something supposed to happen? No, this is just realism?..." I thought as the wife thought aloud, "oh, I was wondering what that garbage can was doing sitting out in the lobby, it's part of the exhibition...."
The husband and I took a look at the garbage can sitting outside the deconstructed room with equipment in it....I think the realization dawned on us at the same time...then just as the husband turned to break the news to his wife, a janitor came out of nowhere and wheeled her garbage can into the freight elevator.
Modern Art: 1
Sucker Visitors: 0
More of my pictures are here, but my favourites are below. (Sepia seems to suit the fog.)
posted by Aleksandra @ 10:24 AM
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