SFist (Free subscription) | yesterday
Known as San Francisco's "other conservatory," the Sunnyside Conservatory underwent a dramatic renovation in 2009. And come Saturday, December 5, the newly refurbished conservatory will be open for business, complete with a kickoff party featuring conservatory tours, a ribbon cutting ceremonies, and... high tea! Best of all, it's just a few blocks away from the Glen Park BART station, and...
Gandalf's Gallery (Free subscription) | yesterday
Arthur Mathews (Markesan, Wisconsin, 1860 - San Francisco, California, 1945) led a group of progressive Californians who believed that fine art and design served the public good. After the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, he and his wife, Lucia, also a designer led the effort to rebuild the city's fine public spaces. The pastoral scene in Spring Dance resembles civic-minded murals created for museums,...
Skippers Chippers (Free subscription) | 11/18/2009
Daisy grew up in San Francisco and survived the earthquake of 1989. A classically trained actress, she moved to Los Angeles and worked in film and television until, in 2005, she had a spiritual epiphany and began writing music. Daisy lived in the fabled Rodeo Grounds arts collective in Topanga Canyon, where she wrote funny campfire songs and fought the State to keep her land. Too shy to share her “serious”...
Postcard Mania (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
Humans have it seems always taken malicious delight in the misfortune of others. The Germans have a word for this - Schadenfreude. Many of the disasters to befall humankind in the early part of the twentieth century, from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent damage from fires through the 1912 sinking of the RMS [...]
Flavorpill San Francisco Events (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
Nov 5 – Dec 30 Tuesdays–Fridays (10:30am–5:30pm) Saturdays (11am–5pm) @ Fraenkel Gallery Carleton Watkins moved to California in 1851 and soon established himself as one of the most important Western landscape photographers of the time. In 1864 his images of Yosemite played a part in convincing Congress to set aside the land as a national park. Even today, his strikingly crisp...
PR News Wire (Free subscription) | 11/16/2009
OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) has added a fourth public hearing to receive public testimony on options for a proposed toll increase on the seven state-owned Bay Area toll bridges.
Eclectic Book Reviews (Free subscription) | 11/15/2009
In reading terms, I owe a lot to Clive Cussler. Aged 13, a gift of his “Deep Six” from an indulgent aunt transformed my reading world from the children’s section of Aberdeen library to one where more ‘grown up’ adventures took place. The conversion was rapid, and like many new to a faith, my dedication to thriller writing became utterly zealous, seeking out Cussler, then...
Apartment Therapy (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
Last week we discussed the brilliant designer Eva Zeisel, born November 13, 1906. What else was going on in 1906? The San Francisco Earthquake struck, the first radio broadcast was aired, the m
InHistoric (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
Scrapbook Memories celebrates the 20th anniversary of Oakland's last World Series triumph. Since the day they set foot in Arizona some seven months prior, the A's mission for 1989 was clear; a wildly successful 1988 season had ended with a thud, leaving a sour taste in their collective mouths, and a sense of unfinished business. After disposing of the Toronto Blue Jays in five hard-fought games, the...
Britannica Blog (Free subscription) | 11/03/2009
In the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, part of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed. A replacement, costing at least $6 billion, is not expected until 2013 and the bridge was closed last week when a cable snapped. Thirteen people died in a 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse (pictured here) that happened after Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed millions for highway and bridge fixes. Meanwhile, China and...
Avon Romance Blog (Free subscription) | 11/03/2009
Recently, I found myself sitting in an audience filled with teens and tweens at a movie theater showing of FAME. At the start of the previews, the screen suddenly filled with a rather non-descript lake scene--well, apparently not that non-descript--as the 100 or so adolescent girls in the room began screaming with joy. Of course, it was the opening to the preview of the TWILIGHT sequel NEW MOON. Recently...
Austinist (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Photo by brainware3000/Flickr Phillyist was all about the World Series this week: hating on the opposing team ; waxng nostalgic ; and generally getting psyched . Although the Phillies trail the Yankees one game to two in the Series, Phillyist remains optimistic: they have God on their side . Gothamist learned that Vespa owners are resorting to illegal measures (okay, scraping off their vehicle ID...
Northwest Progressive Institute (Free subscription) | 10/31/2009
Pity the poor commuters in the Bay Area this week. The Oakland Bay Bridge, which carries about a quarter million cars per day, is closed . An emergency repair put in place this past Labor Day weekend failed, dropping a couple of tons of steel down on the bridge deck. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. The Oakland Bay Bridge is a perfect example of the need for reliable infrastructure funding....
More Hardball...... (Free subscription) | 10/31/2009
After a long absence, I am back for another addition of This Week In History. Although we are late into October, and the days of regular season baseball are well over, some of baseball's most memorable and monumental events occurred during this week of Halloween. Let's take a look at these events and see if you can remember watching, listening, or reading about some of 'em. October 25 : 1986- With...
San Francisco (Free subscription) | 10/30/2009
Probably the most spectacular of Lima's colonial-era churches, the Convent of Saint Francis is a strikingly restored, yellow-and-white 17th-century complex that survived the massive earthquake ...
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