Category: Essays

  • The Tiny Shops of The Tendernob

    The Tiny Shops of The Tendernob

    This is an update to a post from last year We live on the backside Nob Hill. When you stand up at the top , near Grace Cathedral, and look south, your eye follows the canyon of the street down towards Market and the Tenderloin. Between the Tenderloin and Nob…

  • 99 cent dreams

    99 cent dreams

    After a long layoff with the blog, I have some things to say again. More to come, and more frequently ! Among the many changes encountered in moving from San Francisco to West Berkeley a few years back was the extraordinary range of places to buy food. Berkeley is world-famous for…

  • Those Damn Residents, If They Would Only Listen

    Those Damn Residents, If They Would Only Listen

    A new condo building went up in the neighborhood recently. Here it is: I like this building’s reinterpretation of a two apartment wide block of flats with bays. I think its interest lies in its tweaking of the massing, angled center section with bays rising to the top, rather than…

  • The Glass Of Wine

    A few days ago, I was at a cafe late in the afternoon, sipping a coffee and reading. I glanced over at a table nearby, and saw a vaguely familiar face. A dignified looking older man, sitting by himself , a suitcase next to him, sipping a glass of wine.…