Late July is usually the foggiest time of year in San Francisco. As the rest of the country bakes in summer heat, a cold Alaskan current cruises down the Pacific Coast and sends cool air and clouds through the Golden Gate, over The City and into San Francisco Bay. Most days in the middle of summer, we have fog in the morning, blue skies with some wispy clouds in the afternoon, then the fog comes racing in back full force in the evening. Sometimes it can be quite chilly. As an example, the record high temperature for July 24 is 78° F. Average is 67° F. For tourists who aren’t expecting the fog, it can be quite a shock. Imagine you’ve been touring the U.S. and visited Las Vegas and Los Angeles and then you come here. Most years, vendors at Fisherman’s Wharf do a brisk business selling sweatshirts and hoodies with San Francisco designs to tourists freezing their shorts off. This year we’ve had plenty of fog but the sweatshirt and hoodie business is far less brisk.
I like the fog. It keeps the temperatures moderate, the air clean, and makes some really cool designs in the sky as it settles over the streets of The City. I don’t like it when it’s so dense you don’t see the sun for days. And some days the urban streets can be a bit of a drag. In the summer I find myself longing for a camping trip or a weekend wine country getaway but then I remember how uncomfortably hot and crowded some of those places can be in the peak of summer. Most days I am very content to chase the fog with my camera through the now not-so-crowded streets.
The Louis Vuitton store in Union Square is open and often has a line of people waiting outside to shop there. I have never understood the appeal of their expensive handbags and accessories, but their window displays make for some great photographic fun.
This street art featuring a phoenix rising from the ashes is outside Pacific Cocktail Haven on Sutter Street. Veni • Vidi • Vixi (I came, I saw, I survived) is an old rallying cry from Candlestick Park, where fans were given “Croix de Candlestick” pins for enduring extra inning Giants games in the notorious San Francisco fog.
The Masonic Auditorium on Nob Hill, framed with wisps of fog.
Messages of S.F. left-wing liberalism adorn a window on Russian Hill.
Street artist fnnch has been creating his wildly popular Honey Bears in San Francisco since 2011. When COVID-19 hit, he started designing them with masks (some with glasses of wine, too). As a fundraiser, he then designed a series of 11 different Honey Bears with masks for people to order and hang in their windows. The Honey Bear Hunt was born so neighbors could walk around and spot them as a kind of treasure hunt. He has donated all the proceeds to COVID-19 charities - over $130,000 so far.
View from Russian Hill looking down Taylor Street towards San Francisco Bay.
“Black Trans Lives Matter” street art on a boarded-up business in the Tenderloin.
Shadows on concrete columns on lower Polk Street.
I just had to photograph these purple flowers behind some construction fencing at Powell and California Streets. A kind of reminder that nature will prevail.
On Green Street in North Beach, street parking has been replaced by outdoor seating for the many restaurants along that corridor. This was a Wednesday evening and the area was bustling.
Flowers in front of the Rue Lepic restaurant on Pine Street.
This Victorian on Mason street reminded me of a wedding cake.
The August Hall marquee has some wise words for residents.
Stark shadows in a nearly empty Embarcadero Center.
What made those shadows? These concrete lattices that frame the base of the Embarcadero Center towers.
Looking down Davis Street through a corridor of steel and glass towards the Salesforce Building.
Another beautiful day on San Francisco Bay (notice the fog starting to encroach from the west).
Primo Pizza has added a mask to the pizza design on its windows.
Someone placed all these “TAKE” sticky notes in a doorway on Divisadero Street. They were just there for the taking.
Words of encouragement on a business on Divisadero Street.
This beautiful piece of street art by Deirdre Weinberg (@dwei100) is outside Everlasting Tattoo. All tattoo parlors in San Francisco remain closed.
This dead tree at Moscone Center South is kind of a sad reflection on a convention business that died quite suddenly. I like the way the shadows of the branches look like its roots.
The Library Bar is closed but there are still books in their window.