San Francisco, California
March 28–April 2, 2022
March 28–April 2, 2022
My very first stop in San Francisco was the Museum of Modern Art. I had my socks knocked off (or more like all the way across the room) by Lee Krasner, Richard Mayhew, Morris Louis, Whanki Kim, Helen Frankenthaler, Brice Marden, Clyfford Still, Neri Oxman, and the artist I had planned my whole visit around months ago when I learned about her exhibition: Tauba Auerbach. S v Z is the first-ever solo retrospective of Auerbach’s work, and I was in awe of the balance of both range and consistency in her making.
That night, I met up with my friends Jon and Erica for dog antics, city viewing, dim sum, and cocktails at a marvelous little bar called Casanova, entirely decorated with velvet paintings of naked women. I somewhat-stealthily parked my van in a nearby neighborhood and emerged from my night without a single smashed window or stolen bicycle. (There’s apparently a rash of busted-window burglaries around the city these days.) The next morning, I got a Mexican mocha latte from Rise & Grind and took the dogs on a long walk around Golden Gate Park. What a place! The trees and flowers are stunning enough, but then there’s the Skystar ferris wheel, the Music Concourse, the Prayerbook Cross, the SF Botanical Gardens, and the peaceful yet emotionally charged National AIDS Memorial Grove.
I took one night away from the city proper to visit my cousin Julianne and her fiancé, Cory, at their apartment in Sunnyvale. Penny, their labradoodle, was not especially fond of my boys invading her space, but they made themselves right at home while we humans chatted, went out for dinner, and savored some wine. When I got back to the city the next day, I visited the Museum of Craft and Design, which had two exhibitions on display: Living with Scents and The Object in Its Place (showcasing the exhibition design work of Ted Cohen). The olfactory exhibit worked less well with masks required at all times, but it was cool nonetheless. And the gift shop was downright dangerous. While I was in the Dogpatch I stopped at Long Bridge Pizza Co. for dinner.
During the rest of my time in the city, I stopped in Haight-Ashbury and got tasty lunch at Café Reverie, outstanding treats at The Ice Cream Bar, and a vintage union suit made of dark blue wide-wale corduroy at Wasteland. I took a few photos on the scene of hippie history, but overall it was pretty tourist-trappy and overwhelming.
I spent my last night at Anthony Chabot Campground in nearby Castro Valley. It was a blissful little spot pleasantly overrun with wild turkeys, high above a surreally blue-green lake, and featuring the first telephone booths I’ve seen in probably 20 years. It appears that all the phone booths ran out to the woods when they left civilization in the early 2000s! On Saturday afternoon, I headed back through San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and then followed 101 north.
That night, I met up with my friends Jon and Erica for dog antics, city viewing, dim sum, and cocktails at a marvelous little bar called Casanova, entirely decorated with velvet paintings of naked women. I somewhat-stealthily parked my van in a nearby neighborhood and emerged from my night without a single smashed window or stolen bicycle. (There’s apparently a rash of busted-window burglaries around the city these days.) The next morning, I got a Mexican mocha latte from Rise & Grind and took the dogs on a long walk around Golden Gate Park. What a place! The trees and flowers are stunning enough, but then there’s the Skystar ferris wheel, the Music Concourse, the Prayerbook Cross, the SF Botanical Gardens, and the peaceful yet emotionally charged National AIDS Memorial Grove.
I took one night away from the city proper to visit my cousin Julianne and her fiancé, Cory, at their apartment in Sunnyvale. Penny, their labradoodle, was not especially fond of my boys invading her space, but they made themselves right at home while we humans chatted, went out for dinner, and savored some wine. When I got back to the city the next day, I visited the Museum of Craft and Design, which had two exhibitions on display: Living with Scents and The Object in Its Place (showcasing the exhibition design work of Ted Cohen). The olfactory exhibit worked less well with masks required at all times, but it was cool nonetheless. And the gift shop was downright dangerous. While I was in the Dogpatch I stopped at Long Bridge Pizza Co. for dinner.
During the rest of my time in the city, I stopped in Haight-Ashbury and got tasty lunch at Café Reverie, outstanding treats at The Ice Cream Bar, and a vintage union suit made of dark blue wide-wale corduroy at Wasteland. I took a few photos on the scene of hippie history, but overall it was pretty tourist-trappy and overwhelming.
I spent my last night at Anthony Chabot Campground in nearby Castro Valley. It was a blissful little spot pleasantly overrun with wild turkeys, high above a surreally blue-green lake, and featuring the first telephone booths I’ve seen in probably 20 years. It appears that all the phone booths ran out to the woods when they left civilization in the early 2000s! On Saturday afternoon, I headed back through San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge, and then followed 101 north.
