July 19, 2007
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Wednesday, July 18
After work I decided to head down third street and see how the new T line was affecting the neighborhood. I think there’s already been a big impact and that gentrification is right around the corner. Starting in the financial district, I took this pic of the Pacific Stock Exchange which is now the Equinox Gym. How telling:
I started down 2nd street where all sorts of new buildings are going up. Some are more fabulous than others. Here is one of the winners:
Then I looped round AT&T park and continued down Third Street. I crossed Mission Creek, which used to be known affectionately as “Shit Creek” because of it’s condition and smell. It’s cleaned up a lot today. Maybe there will be birds in it next year:
Then I continued down third street and rode around the Dogpatch neigborhood. It’s an interesting residential neighborhood which is sandwiched between the docks and the freeway. It escaped the 1906 earthquake fire and has lots of old residential structures in it. You can read more about it here . I found this fabulous building on one end of the neighborhood. It’s arechitecture and placement near the docks leads me to believe that it was once a customs building. But I don’t know for sure:
From there I continued down Third Street into the Bayview District. I won’t go there at night, but during the day it has a lot to offer and signs of gentrification are everywhere:
I think in ten years many will view the T line as the first nail in the coffin of the last black neighborhood in San Francisco. But there’s a lot there that’s architecturally interesting and that which is not can be torn down. And it’s convenient to Caltrain and now Muni. And it’s only a matter of time before Candlestick Point gets redeveloped. I saw this pretty church up on a hill:
The houses across the street from it reminded me of New Orleans in the way that they’re so romantically decayed:
And Candlestick Park within sight:
The Bayview is much cleaner and safer than it was when I moved to San Francisco in 2000. It has a lot of shops and services that weren’t there before. This park in the shadow of Candlestick Park looks like some place you’d like to hang out:
A little farther down third street I found this spectactular Mural which covers the entire side of a very large building. I couldn’t photograph all of it but this is as much as I could get:
And then it was time to head home. I took Evans to Bayshore and then through the Visitacion Valley to Silver Terrace. Then I cut accross 280 through Saint Mary’s Park which is a 40′s neighborhood built on the sight of an old Catholic College:
And then I went home to walk the Rufus. He had a good time at the dog park and stayed out of trouble:
Here is he playing with the dogs:
Aren’t the pugs cute?? The technical term for them is “Pugly”. The black and white dog is named Socks and she’s a little bossy which is a good trait when you’re dealing with a dog with as much sass as Rufus. I love how she’s watching to make sure that he isn’t to rough with her pugs. We walked a little and then we went home and everybody had dinner and I had a little
work to do (lousy job). Rufus wasn’t done playing and a bored puppy can be a VERY
destructive thing. First, he started flinging around his water bowl.
Yes, it had water in it. Then he staked claim to Mimi’s pillow by
peeing on it. And then there was barking and flailing around. What a
mess! By the time I got everybody settled down it was getting late so
I took them for a long walk and after I threw a toy around with Rufus
which purged him of any remaining energy. Both the dogs collapsed
exhausted and I was able to finish my work and we all went to bed.
Jeff comes back tomorrow night. Huzzah!!
