At the end of June, I retired from Architectural practice. It has been 40 years since I started my first job as an intern in Colorado. I moved to San Francisco in 1989, and the time since has been split equally between San Francisco and Berkeley/Oakland. But San Francisco was why I came to the … More 35 Years In San Francisco
On the north end of Palm Springs, before one exits the vast Coachella Valley and heads east towards Los Angeles, one passes beneath mighty Mount San Jacinto. At 10,834 feet , it towers over Palm Springs, and along with Mount San Gorgonio, forms a formidable pass , one that spawns the winds that power the … More Life On The Rocks
They sit quietly on tree-lined neighborhood streets. Often surrounded by single family homes , small apartment buildings and bits of retail, the branch library tucks itself gently into these neighborhoods, elegant public buildings at home in these more modest settings. San Francisco and The Bay Area are blessed with many fine examples, many of which … More Collections – A Salute to the Branch Library
As an Architecture student way back in the 80s in Buffalo, one’s introduction to contemporary Architecture had two threads. First, the late 19th and early 20th century’s seminal works, many of which were in our back yard thanks to Buffalo’s incredible treasures of Wright, Richardson, Sullivan, and Burnham. The second thread covered the next generation … More Two Modernists In Connecticut.
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 Hill, is the Tendernob. The … More The Tiny Shops of The Tendernob
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 its grocery offerings, particularly produce, … More 99 cent dreams
Maintaining a blog is a lot of work. But it also a labor of love, and sometimes, the juice to write and compose pieces is simply not there, and that’s been the case for me the last few months. But I have been keeping a list of topics I’d like to write about, and am … More Palm Springs- Where The Grass is Sometimes Greener
During the past year, I have described travels down a single street, and the changes one encounters along the way. We traveled from the bottom of Market Street to the top, and journeyed up Polk Street from one end to the other. I took that up again last week, getting out for a trek along … More The Taylor and Jones Shimmee
A couple of months ago, I set out on my latest “Grand Tour” Amble. But this was no ordinary amble, no this felt more like a journey to the center of the earth. For on this day I was traveling to Google’s world headquarters, or as it has come to be known, the “Googleplex”. Here’s … More Grand Tour.15-A Journey To The Googleplex
Last week, Urban Ambles wandered down to the Transbay terminal for one last time. The terminal has been , for years, the terminus of transit to and from the East Bay, and the terminal is slated for demolition. In its place is planned a spectacular new station that is hoped to be a nexus for … More Last Call For The TransBay Terminal
urban ambles 