San Fran Pt 2 - dithering, you call this tourism??

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. That aside what else happened in SanFran after my initial blog you may ask?

Well I almost have to ask the same question of myself as it was pretty non-productive as a gung-ho tourist – I aint in that category – blame my post flight jetlagged normal lethargy or whatever.

Thursday 27 Jan – I was simply really slow and tired after the foolishness of having black coffee at the Garcon restaurant after lychee cocktail and a Californian white then a ditto pinot noir, and logging on at the hotel and not going to bed until 3am. Some people might recognize a familiar pattern there! Anyway it was ahem “later in the afternoon” that I got out. As I had decided to go and see some bands at the Great American Music Theatre (hence GAMT) on Friday night decided I would go up there and buy a ticket beforehand to guarantee admission as had no idea of the size/conditions of the venue etc (more on that later). I had wondered about getting a 3 day local transport pass for $20 which I did last time – partic. As the local tourist trap i.e. cable car, charges $5 per trip. Buses and trams now seem to be a flat $2 exact change. And I had absolutely none (well $1 note) although I had a BART card which I had put $20 credit on at the airport. The now-sold Clipper E card, which also includes BART (the 3 day pass does not) might have been a better bet if I had known and checked it out at airport.

As I had none decided to walk up to the GAMT which is in the Tenderloin district which a bit sleazy with very cheap hotels (a rarity in San Fran) and general poor folks I guess to typecast. Anyway it was daylight so not that worried – and last time I stayed at the Opal which is just a little N of there, and not in that handy a location, unless you have the aforementioned transport pass to jump on cross-town E-W or up/downtown N-S buses or trolleys with impunity. Anyway to the GAMT and bought my ticket and then walked back the same way.

I had decided that as the generally excellent SF Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has half price after 6pm until closing at 8.45 on Thursdays that this was the aim. Just as well it was $9 as it is otherwise now $18! – which is why there was quite a long line at 6.20? – maybe not as long as the Louvre or Vatican but still. There was a Cartier-Bresson exhibition of photos which closes on 30 Jan. so maybe that was why it was so crowded. Photos being generally small meant that people formed a slow moving line – so I went against the flow in the opposite direction or jumped into gaps with few people. A lot of his pix are very well known – I won’t attempt to describe them but you would know them if you saw them – the catalogue definition of the “decisive moment”. Even though I have a fairly in depth knowledge of the history of photography the bulk of the exhibition was unseen work – and there was a lot of it – I would say about 12 rooms full. A lot of it was his documentary work for magazines like Life and Paris Match which includes series on China and Soviet Russia – as it then was – he was one of the first foreign photographers let into the country (USSR) c.1956 or so. There was also a room or so of portraits of famous people – well famous people in his time – French artists and people like Sartre and other French icons of cultural import.
After that a quick scamper thru a wine themed exhibition (How wine became modern) which had various wine glasses and displays of bottles and large blowups of wineries around the world and some gravel/soil samples from various terroirs (slightly more interesting than it sounds but I was not going to give myself museum fatigue reading all those captions.

Then upstairs again to an exhibition on secret or concealed photography, almost with a voyeuristic theme (in fact called “Exposed – voyeurism, surveillance & the camera since 1870”). It warned parents to exercise some control over their infants/children as may contain disturbing or porno. type images etc. Not all that stunning or masterpiece given the very nature of the way the pix were largely taken, including spy drops and that sorta thing.

On the way out queried the listing of Helmut Newton as Australian born in Germany. The young lady looked up some computer resource and gave me some bio info on him. Born in Germany but he moved with his parents to Australia – then they were interned in 1942 – and he even joined the Australian armed forces later which was completely news to me. So he must have got an Australian passport somewhere along the line – even though he later very much worked in Europe and US in the 70’s and onwards. Always known for a somewhat risqué and “out there” approach to semi-naked models and somewhat kinky setups.

Thrown out of there thought I would check out somewhere to eat in SoMa – South of Market, rather than heading over on BART to Mission where Garcon is. So ended up at the Thirsty Bear Brewing Company and Spanish food place. Had a homebrewed ale with vanilla/spice flavours – with some quite nice medjool dates stuffed with goats cheese, with I think a bed of some slivered fennel with a smear of pomegranate sauce. Then a Valenciana paella with some prawns whose shells were not very cooperative or easy to eat and chunks of chorizo. It was filling but hardly a challenge to my fave Garcon! Then back to my hotel – thinking it got rather cold – it was pretty balmy 18-19 in the day, but it is winter/Jan. after all

this is posted in Dallas - so too much time spent doing this and nothing else!

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Photos

Great American Music Hall
with Deerhoof - yet to be reviewed

Mitchell Bros Tenderloin
what else the district has to offer....

San Fran city hall
a rather capitoline structure

City Hall again
but with spooky trees

Comments

[BOB]

Nice to know you're doing OK
Hi Mike I'm pleased to know you are safe and well. I'm happy tp learn your saw some great photography. Thanks for your news.

[Huddo]

Helmut
Hi Mike, You still find plenty to do! even on a not/busy day. Modern Art sounded good, did not know that background to H Newton. The two city Hall shots were superb. Love Huddo and girls.