Category: Urban

San Jose

Now really, who WOULDN’T want to do his laundry at the Pineapple Laundrette?

I drove down to the city on Saturday, taking pictures and generally poking around. San Jose is nice, and it’s a handy reminder to Bay Area residents that we do in fact live in California. San Francisco has its own charms, but it’s really Californian only by virtue of geography…

San Jose, on the other hand, is more reminiscent of that cliché Southern California “dream” which draws so many people to the west coast. With its cute little single-family houses and neighborhood shopping centers from the 1950s, and with its freeways and low-rise orientation, and its palm trees and semi-trpocal vegetation, San Jose looks more like California is “supposed” to look: informal, sunny, modern, and open.

San Francisco looks stuffy, cold, damp, claustrophobic, and old. Residents are stacked on top of each other, many of them don’t own cars, and the freeways are more likely tobe demolished than repaired or expanded. There are dingy corner stores rather than big (or small) shopping centers, and any palm trees one finds look rather lost. It’s no wonder people are so surprised to find this very east coast city on the tip of a Penisula in California…

Letters to the Editor

Why do I read the letters to the editor? It only causes me pain…

About the New Bloomingdale’s on Market Street:

It is true that the actual building will not be affected. But what about the people inside? During the next three years, the employees of the nonprofits and small businesses located in this building will have to deal with the constant sound, dust, vibration and stress caused by construction that will take place only 5 feet from our office windows — windows that are our only source of ventilation.

Boo fucking hoo. That’s what urban life is all about. Yes, it’s annoying. Yes, it bothers me when I have to deal with construction near my house. No, I don’t believe that it’s some giant conspiracy against “nonprofits and small businesses”, nor that it’s really worthy of a letter to the editor of the business section…

Bitch about it on a web journal instead; they’re designed for whining and complaining, dammit…

Or maybe we should just leave all vacant lots empty in perpetuity, lest the neighbors be incovenienced…

About the Patriot Act:

Personally, I do not care if someone knows what books I have checked out from the library, or what sites I have visited on the Internet. If collecting this information will save even one American life, it is well worth the so-called infringement of civil rights and liberties.

America is at war, and at times of war people must give up certain liberties to ensure the security of this great nation. As Americans, we need to stand up against those who wish to weaken our defense and let the enemy in.

Is it me, or is the collective IQ of this country declining on a daily basis? Think what you will about the Patriot Act, but this moron clearly misses the point all the way ’round and shows his ignorance both of the concept of rights and liberties (which are not “gifts” of the government to be rescinded at will) and of critical thinking…

It was Benjamin Franklin, I think, who said something to the effect that anyone who willingly gives up his freedom in exchange for a sense of security is worthy of neither…

Hollywood and Home

Anniversary day. Had breakfast at the Best Western Coffee Shop in Hollywood. We went there looking for the exact site of a Sandra Bernhard joke, but were pleased to find that it was also dirt cheap and uncrowded. We liked…

Afterward, off to Amoeba and a stop by the Formosa Cafe (from LA Confidential), and then back to the valley for some daytime pictures. Soon, we were on our way home, with a lovely cloud of smoke to our left as we approached the Grapevine…

All Around LA

 

Brushed the ash off the car and toured Orange County and parts of LA. I was, of course, looking for miscellaneous old supermarkets and shopping centers to photograph for the other site. We also made a pilgrimage to the site of the very first Taco Bell in Downey (and then drove down the street to eat at arch competitor Del Taco). Stopped by another Best Buy in Lakewood for more necessities and then made our way to our Saturday night accomodations at 3rd and Vermont in LA…

The motel was old and dumpy, with some very strange plumbing quirks, but it was clean and not terribly scary, so we survived it (after some initial apprehension)…

 

We took the 110 to Pasadena. Mark had never travelled California’s oldest freeway, and I thought it was time. Popped in a record store, realized it was too late for dinner at Clifton’s, and made our way into the Valley in search of interesting sights. And food. The sights lasted a little too long before producing food, but finally we were fed and happy…

More pictures:

 

 

 

Preservation vs. Density

The old “density” versus “preservation of neighborhoods” argument is in the spotlight again here in Sodom-by-the-Bay. Proponents of the former state — correctly — that the only way to build new housing in San Francisco is to build it at a higher density than is currently utilized in most of the city. The neighborhood preservationists have a point as well, that current residents should have some say in how the city (and their part of it) develops…

Manhattan or Phoenix? My preference would be for something in between, but that’s not going to happen in San Francisco. On average, this city is home to about 15,000 people per square mile. There are no more square miles. Therefore, ANY population increase will mean more density. Only three outcomes are possible: (1) population must decrease, or (2) density must increase, or (3) housing costs in the city must grow even more unreasonable than they are now. That’s just the way it is; that’s how cities and real estate values work…

Ultimately, the low-density neighborhoods WILL change, no matter which path the city chooses. It’s inevitable; either there will be more high-density housing or the neighborhoods in question will begin — although it may take a few years — to house a far different and more affluent type of resident, because no one else will be able to afford the buy-in. That “special character” will probably be lost one way or another as it already has been in many areas…

I don’t want to live in a dense urban area where mass transit is the only option. It’s my own preference, and many good and intelligent people do not share it. San Francisco can be a city exclusively for the rich, or it can be a dense, transit-oriented urban core. It cannot, however, be a place of affordable single-family homes with yards. Neither urban planning nor whining about the “good old days” can change this fact. Those who want these things should face the inevitable and consider moving to a place where land is more plentiful and less expensive…

That’s my plan…

Hospital Curve

Those of you who have to fight your way through it every day may be interested to know that the “hopital curve” section of the Bayshore (US 101) Freeway in San Francisco opened fifty years ago today. Happy motoring…

Thanks to Sarah for one of the maps I used in the graphic above.

The Neighbors

Just what kind of people sit around listening to annoying techno at top volume in their homes and backyards all day? I could maybe understand DANCING to it in a club (OK, maybe not even that), but just LISTENING to it all afternoon? What sort of chemical catastrophe does it take to create such an individual? And why did he move in next to me?

And yes, as a matter of fact, I DO believe that all techno is inherently annoying, thanks, especially when I have to listen to it against my will. But I guess I shouldn’t complain about nonstop circuit clone music; it’s so liberating, after all…

Anyway, for the weekend:

  • Working on a new site for a brand new TV station in upstate New York.
  • Maybe a little road trip to get the hell out of the neighborhood, this being one of those three weekends a year when it’s more annoying than usual to live near Folsom Street.
  • Probably an awful lot of Next Generation, since we now have them all on DVD, following dinner with Sarah on Wednesday.

The City

George Sessions Perry on San Francisco (1947):

It’s civilized and robust, and its shoulder wouldn’t fit a chip. When you point out something wrong with the place, its people relish that defect too — because it’s a valid part of San Francisco.

My, how things change. San Francisco has long since lost any sense of humor about itself; criticisms are often seen as evidence that the individual uttering them somehow doesn’t “deserve” to be here.

One thing, though, is now clear: San Francisco has not been the largest city in the Bay Area for more than a decade, and the Census Bureau has recognized the fact. And no amount of whining about how cosmpolitan, beautiful, or popular the place may be will change this one simple truth…

Atlanta to Greensboro

 

After a not very early start and breakfast at Waffle House (in this particular one, smoking had evidently just been banned), we went back into the city.

 

The first stop was Little Five Points, also known as the Haight Street of Atlanta, and the neighborhood where Miss Daisy finally allowed Hoke to drive her to the Piggly Wiggly. We hit Wax-n-Facts (I first visited this store almost 20 years ago) and Criminal Records. Then we drove around the neighborhood. I was happy, because I’d finally found a Minute Maid Orange Soda, which had not been an easy task in North Carolina.

Inman Park and the area around Little Five Points is quite beautiful and doesn’t seem all that pricey or “precious”. It’s another potential home, methinks.

 

Farther down Moreland Avenue, we found an old A&P which still bore the impressions of its old “Super Market” lettering, even though it probably hadn’t served in that capacity for over forty years. I was excited. Mark was accommodating.

 

We went back downtown for more photo ops and then made for home, after obtaining gas for about 70 cents a gallon cheaper than in San Francisco. I would have liked a lot more time in Atlanta. Mark would have too. A repeat visit will be forthcoming.

The drive back was from hell. We encountered a nasty traffic backup about twenty miles north of Atlanta, and things weren’t crystal clear the rest of the way either. It was, after all, the Friday which began Fourth of July week. We ended up eating at the very same K&W as yeaterday in Greenville. Mark liked the cafeteria scene, I think.

 

As soon as we got back to North Carolina, it started raining. By Lexington, it had become one of those torrential summer downpours with thunder and lightning. It was cool. You never see rain in summer in California, and you absolutely never see rain with this much volume. I liked it.

Finally, we arrived back in Greensboro. Mom and Dad were relieved.