The beginning of August is usually one of the busiest times of year for tourism in San Francisco. In a normal year, it feels like all of Europe is visiting, particularly if you are in Chinatown or Fisherman’s Wharf. I used to work as a waiter at a restaurant a block from Union Square. In August it felt to me like that everyone’s second language was English. One of my favorite chants at that time was “Italians and Germans and French - oh my!”.
It is also the time of year when many locals go on vacation. If you are not in one of the tourist hot spots, city neighborhoods can seem quiet. It can be a good time to visit local parks and cafes that are normally crowded on most weekends.
This year there are few if any tourists, and many of the locals are still out of town on vacation. Plus, people are moving out of town in droves. There is an exodus from San Francisco that I have not seen in the 30+ years I have lived here. This makes the vibe in San Francisco feel weirder than ever. On one hand, it is nice to have the city streets to ourselves. On the other hand, it feels almost dystopian walking around an empty city that was very recently bustling and vibrant.
San Francisco was long overdue for a reckoning of some kind. While the tech boom over the last ten years provided a huge economic boost, it also was creating some serious problems. The cost of housing skyrocketed so much that it simply became unaffordable to live here unless you made six figures a year. With fewer and fewer working class people able to afford housing, the city had become more gentrified. Some neighborhoods, such as SOMA, The Mission and even Chinatown were losing their unique characters that had withheld for generations. Many long-standing institutions and businesses simply could no longer afford the rents. And the economic success had other downsides too: construction everywhere and terrible traffic.
The City and its residents are resilient and we will make it through this pandemic. We may never be quite the same, but for better or worse, San Francisco will endure and continue to reinvent itself.
This mural by Eddie Gangland in the South of Market neighborhood is different from his work I have seen previously. He usually makes a political statements and his work is a more cartoon like. I was drawn to this piece because it reminded me about the rebirth of San Francisco.
Old Navy on Market Street is open! Yay! I always enjoy photographing the reflections in their windows.
I really like this mural on Kearny Street by illustrator and designer Shawna Chan.
The Hearts in San Francisco project debuted in 2004. 131 heart sculptures were created by local Bay Area artists that raised more than $3 million for the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. This one sits in the lobby of Moscone Center West.
Shadows from a fire escape make some fun patterns on a gate in Chinatown.
This is a window display for a small gallery that recently opened up on Sutter street called Cosmic Travel Outpost.
This mural on Post street is part of the Restore - 49 project, a new initiative to beautify neighborhoods with boarded up businesses and empower artists with paid opportunities to create publicly viewable works of art.
Looking up at a beautiful blue sky at Pine and Kearny streets in the financial district.
Late afternoon light reflects off skyscrapers onto a large brick building in the East Cut.
Someone used a large number of sticky notes to make this “Thank U Dr. Fauci” message along the Embarcadero.
Glowing light on a downtown office tower.
Looking up at the Trulia building. I like the way the glass reflects and almost blends into the clouds and sky.
I starting photographing chairs abandoned on the streets in San Francisco in 2006. San Francisco is a relatively dense metropolis with strict garbage and recycling rules, so when people move they often leave debris and furniture of all kinds behind on the sidewalks. With so many people moving out of town, I’ve been finding more abandoned chairs to photograph than ever. Here is a link to my gallery of Abandoned Chairs.
I really like all of the yellow lichen on this fence near North Beach.
Wispy clouds in the sky above La Galleria condominiums on Bush Street.