Album San Francisco local from Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)

SFO traffic jam ! / pandemic (# 0574)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:24:23 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Almost a traffic jam – there’s actually three Alaska airlines planes in this picture. Between the two you can see there is a third pointed straight in and thus barely visible.

SFO ANA flight / pandemic (# 0572)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:24:15 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

ANA (All Nippon Airways) flight touching down at SFO; taken from Bayfront Park.

SFO Bayfront park / Westin / egret (# 0575)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:24:25 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

At Bayfront Park, a Westin egret (I’m kidding (about Westin)). The N/S runways for SFO are behind me, the E/W are off the right side of the picture.

SFO Volga-Dnepr Airlines (# 0573)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:24:21 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

I originally wasn’t going to use this because I was too far away to get a clear picture, but then I realized that it included two cargo planes of the Russian company, Volga-Dnepr Airlines. The company, based in Russia, specializes in moving very heavy and bulky cargoes using the pictured Russian-built Antonov An-124 Ruslans. U.S. government agencies are among the organizations that contract to Volga-Dneper for use of the An-124.

Sources:
An-124: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-124_Ruslan
Volga-Dnepr Airlines: airline.volga-dnepr.com/en

SFO / pandemic (# 0565)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:24:19 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Fairly quiet with quite a few empty gates – only one Southwest and two Delta flights at the gates at 9AM on a Friday morning. Taken from Bayfront Park.

SFO ANA flight / pandemic (# 0569)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:24:12 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

ANA (All Nippon Airways) flight coming into SFO; taken from Bayfront Park.

SFO Bayfront park / egret / breakfast (# 0567)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:24:03 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Always an interesting stop for me, and since I had to get a ‘to go’ breakfast from McDonald’s, a necessary stop to have a place to eat. Bayfront Park is on landfill that’s primarily occupied by hotels that serve SFO (San Francisco International Airport). The park has some interesting trails through swampy areas, and provides an excellent view of SFO (and birds).

San Francisco / Castro redevelopment (# 0559)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 09:01:10 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction.

When this era of redevelopment started in around 2010, it didn’t seem particularly objectionable since often it was replacing an old and unused or underused building, and seemed to be providing some interesting new design. Ten years later, though, I can definitely understand why my local friends see it as the destruction of the neighborhood, of wiping out much of its culture. By being typically 5 or 6 stories (3 or more stories taller than previous), filling the entire piece of land right up to the sidewalk with a vertical box, and following a consistent angular architectural design, the style overpowers what was the defining uniqueness of the area.

In this picture, I’m surprised that Beck’s hasn’t succumbed to the redevelopment demands – it’s one of the few old fashioned motels still in existence relatively close to downtown SF. What was next to it, and is being replaced, was a funeral parlor. Below is a link to the Google Street View of the same section, taken in July, 2009.

goo.gl/maps/rQF1tyVsxq4g3LQd7

San Francisco / Castro redevelopment (# 0563)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 09:01:17 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction.

This building is also on a piece of land that was once a gas station – and a more successful (longer lasting) station than the one across the street (the previous picture).

Linked below are three Google Street View pictures from January, 2011. The first link, labeled Market and 15th, is closest to being similar to this view. The second and third try to capture the changes of the entire intersection with a broader view looking down Market towards downtown and then up towards the Castro.

Market & 15th : goo.gl/maps/SYcuJEZHAKyNA6Ug7
Towards downtown: goo.gl/maps/v5GPKZ3oSQjgQaY29
Towards Castro: goo.gl/maps/FKsLGchb7Y255rHCA

San Francisco / Castro redevelopment (# 0561)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 09:01:15 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction.

This building is on a piece of land that was ‘iffy’ for most of the time I lived in SF. For a number of years there was a gas station here, but that gas station closed and was demolished, leaving the lot empty and a spot often used for selling Christmas trees. While this might be considered to be a positive improvement over the previous use, its overall mass ends up dominating the remaining historic structures nearby. The link below, again Google Street View from July, 2009, may be from when the lot was being prepared for the construction of the new building that is this picture. I vaguely recall stories that building on this lot was difficult because of problems associated with the gas station that had been here.

goo.gl/maps/2Z1ahVBSdLTty2iL6

San Francisco / Castro redevelopment (# 0560)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Sat, 14 Nov 2020 09:01:13 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction.

This is a new building just to the right of Beck’s Motel (adjacent picture 0559). What was here before was a building that was most often a restaurant when I lived in SF, though it seemed to often have tenants that had trouble staying in business. The one exception that I remember was a good Thai restaurant that lasted a number of years. Below is a link to the Google Street View of the same section, taken in July, 2009.

goo.gl/maps/piWJtrG8Hf8w57w78

San Francisco Castro theater (# 0549)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 08:59:33 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

The Castro theater, closed for many months by the pandemic. The sign looks much more worn than I’ve seen it in recent years and I doubt that wear is due to the closure from the pandemic. Here’s a photo from 11 years ago.

San Francisco Castro dining outside / justice politics (# 0548)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 08:59:31 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Just a few parking spaces downhill from the adjacent picture, another string of parking-space outdoor eating areas, in front of a modern building with a “Stop Killing Black People” banner.

San Francisco Castro Twin Peaks bar / outside (# 0550)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 08:59:35 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

One of the oldest and most durable gay bars in the Castro, “Twin Peaks”. I think it’s a statewide Coronavirus standard that bars have to limit capacity, that patrons have to sit at tables, and that they must serve food. Here’s Twin Peaks before the Pandemic – they’re at a very busy intersection, so they don’t have a lot of room to expand outside.

San Francisco Castro dining (and smartphoning) outside (# 0551)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 08:59:29 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Another view of the street-side and parking-space dining shown in the first Castro picture (# 0547) – with the prerequisite number of young men checking their smartphones…..

San Francisco Castro dining outside (# 0547)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 08:59:26 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

The basic foundations of Castro culture are all the restaurants, bars, and other shops that provide some opportunity to have a sense of gay community. Given that the Coronavirus health restrictions meant that bars and restaurants had to strongly limit their indoor service, I wondered how the Castro was adapting. Though I was there midweek at lunch time, it looked like they were doing fairly well.

The scene here with the long area of enclosed parking spaces as dining area is the same as what is seen in this older picture. From the older picture you can see that there are multiple restaurants in this string of buildings, so I’m curious as to how they worked out having a common sidewalk structure for multiple businesses.

San Francisco Castro / homeless covid (# 0558)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 09:03:35 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Find a Safer Place to Sleep

The signs, courtesy of the City, have instructions for defining a safer place to put up a tent or sleep on the sidewalk: 3 feet between tents; 6 feet from doorways, transit stops, etc.; 5 feet from fire hydrants; 4 feet from sidewalk paths; clear from driveways and roadways.

San Francisco Castro / homeless covid (# 0557)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 09:03:31 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Find a Safer Place to Sleep

First time I’d seen this – 3 covid/sleeping signs in front of apartment buildings in the Castro. Why I saw these signs here but not in other places might be because the green-tile faced building here, and the building much further down, all had level enclosed spaces adjacent to the sidewalk which would be easy for sleeping. See the adjacent picture for the text of the signs.

San Francisco Lands End / Golden Gate….(# 0545)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 08:50:26 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

One of the trails on the bluff at Lands End, with the Golden Gate bridge in the distance. There’s lots of stairs and elevation change on the trails at Lands End and, even in those sometimes strenuous situations, people were pulling their masks up as soon as they got near other people.

Picture locations are only approximate, could be off by as much as a mile.

San Francisco Lands End / beach mask etiquette… (# 0544)

nobody@ipernity.com (Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)) — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 08:50:24 +0000

Don Barrett (aka DBs travels) has posted:

Families on the beach at Lands End. There’s a reason why the city has the virus under control – people were very conscientious about wearing masks and maintaining social distance. Even though these people were outside in an area with a good breeze, everyone in this picture, including the small children, is wearing a mask (my friend and I had been down there and seen them.)