http://www.whatimseeing.com WHAT IM SEEING dot com is a San Francisco photo blog focusing on history, current events, and day-to-day life through the lens of our cameras. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:56:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Best Girafa capture of 2008 While the Chinese may not acknowledge the Giraffe as an active member of the lunisolar calendar -- we certainly do.  Why?  Well because it seemed the only silver lining in what what otherwise a dark year.  And because more than any other subject matter, 2008 proved ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2009/01/03/2008-year-of-the-girafa-hunter/ Artificially emulated Lomographs using methods learned on DPS... The Ferry Transit Terminal aka "The Grandfather Clock of Market Street" bka The Ferry Building was designed by architect A. Page Brown in 1898, replacing its wooden predecessor.   The present terminal has survived two earthquakes and more notably, The EMB extension of ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2009/01/03/the-ferry-building/ Look up in the sky!  Its 23 birds.  On a wire.  Well, not exactly.  It's actually 23 illuminated, translucent, polycarbonate books seemingly airborne from the top floors of the New Sun Hong Kong Restaurant at the nexus of Columbus and Broadway in the North Beach sector. The latest ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2009/01/03/the-language-of-the-birds/ Channel 4.3 (OTA HD) Traffic Cam http://www.whatimseeing.com/2009/01/03/sight-ems-102/ Thank you William Howard Taft, wherever you are.  You stuck a label on us and we are forever stuck with it -- "The City That Knows How..." The City is a snake, shedding its skin, changing constantly, moving about in unexpected directions.  However, if it is a great city, which San ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/31/postcards-from-the-edge-of-america/ Washington Tuna Cannery Well, we spoke too soon.  Seen here -- the FINITE last shooting of a Girafa for 2008, submitted by Flickr friend Eb78.  See 54 additional Long-Neckers in the shooting gallery here. Have you spotted a migrating Camel Leopard on the loose??  Drop the cross-streets in the comments section or ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/30/girafa-hunting-17/ Built on the location of the historic Monkey Block, The TransAm Pyramid contains 48 floors of retail and office space and several thousand windows.  Construction began in 1969 and finished in 1972.  It is currently ranked as the 100th tallest building in the world. The unique constructional shape is the result ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/30/the-transam-pyramid/ Columbus & Vallejo http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/30/sight-ems-101/ Subprime shots found lurking on the Swell Dell while the G9 is being repaired... 121 Birds Snail Mail Big Foot Unlimited The Trife Life http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/29/stray-shots-5/ In what might very well be the last hunted and shot Girafa of 2008, we see here a species very near to extinction.  A non-enthusiastic property owner, or perhaps a proponent of The Urban Quilt, has performed one half-assed buff job on 20th near Kirkham. Thanks to EGW for sending this ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/29/girafa-hunting-16/ Over the weekend, Flickr friend Rowenoftc pointed us to an awesome site called Polardroid, which allows you to download a free Polaroid emulator -- for Macs and PCs. The only problem is that now I want to Polaroid every picture I've ever taken -- and this could get rather gimmicky rather ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/28/artificial-polaroids/ Beginning January 1st, a new state law will make texting while driving illegal.  The CHP has activated freeway signs to remind drivers of the changes effective next Friday. EDITOR'S NOTE: Pls do not let this legal technicality prevent you from text messaging your sightings of wayward Girafa's to the tipline.  Rest ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/27/thou-shall-not-text-while-driving/ WHAT IM SEEING dot com is signing off for 2008. We will return on January 2nd, refreshed. Posting will be sparse over the next week. The next 8 days will be spent locally: reading our camera manuals from cover to cover, reorganizing our Flickr account, embarking on multiple photowalks, and time ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/24/administrative-update-3/ In memory of Tatiana the Tiger: 6/27/03-- 12/25/07... The Great Gate 364 days ago, a feisty feline named Tatiana was put to the test of all tests and responded with a ferocious FAIL.  Shortly after she was provoked and assassinated, the childish side of our Your Editors got the best of us ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/23/the-ghost-of-tatiana-the-tiger/ This is Leonard Connacher's Christmas, located in the lobby of Five EC's Hyatt Regency Hotel.  This is his insanely large miniature metropolis: 100's upon 100's of petite houses and buildings.  1000's upon 1000's of tiny and not so tiny trees.  2 fleets of trains, planes and automobiles, respectively chugging, flying ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/22/the-12th-annual-hyatt-regency-snow-village/ Embarcadero Center Ice Rink http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/22/sight-ems-100/ Urban legend?  No, there really is a Pez Museum!!  Not the Barca/SF graff artist of the same name -- but rather the plastic Pez that dispenses flavored candies from its neck.  And there are 1000's of them on display at The Museum of Pez Memorabilia in Burlingame.  Located at 241 ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/22/pez-museum-burlingame/ 4880 El Camino Real in Los Altos http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/21/sight-ems-99/ Kearny & Broadway In 2003, The San Francisco Lusty Lady was bought by the entertainers and began to be managed as a worker cooperative.  One of two West Coast branches, SF had already entered the news in 1997 when it became the first (and as of today, the only) successfully unionized ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/21/the-lusty-lady/ 18th & Potrero A brief survey of this website might indicate an unhealthy obsession with all things Girafa and/or Frank Chu and/or Herb Caen. Don't believe the hype, Loyal Readers.  We have branched out to include a new species -- the eco-concious and graff-squad abating PlanTrees. Osage & 24th Have you seen a four-colored, ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/21/plantrees-in-your-neighborhood/ Inspired by WHAT YOU'RE SEEING Flickr member Bats1234... EC4/JHP http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/20/sight-ems-98/ 2008 is officially the Year of The Girafa. At an almost daily rate, sightings continue to arrive in our inbox.  In addition to taking over every freeway, underpass, abandoned warehouse, newspaper box, industrial sized dumpster, and moving truck in the greater Bay Area -- this most known of unknowns has seemingly ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/18/girafa-hunting-15/ ...is this MUNI Metro edition tee shirt and wall calendar.  It will pair perfectly with my necktie, cuff links, and vintage transfer collection. [via SFist via Muni Diaries] http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/18/all-i-want-for-christmas/ In 1955, The Chron published the below map of proposed freeway construction which included a Mission Freeway, an EMB Freeway, a Southern EMB Freeway,  a Crosstown Freeway, a Central Freeway, a Bayshore Freeway, a Western Freeway, a Park Presidio Freeway, a Hunters Point Freeway, and a Golden Gate Freeway.  The ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/18/the-freeway-revolt-of-1964/ Powell Street Cable Car Turntable http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/17/sight-ems-97/ Well, here's a new twist on an old favorite: a bucktoothed Girafa and an extremely upright Musk. Loyal Reader Erica found the two get up kids lurking in the Stevens Creek Tunnel, which lies directly below El Camino Real in Mountain View.  See 50 additional Giraffidae and a 1/2 dozen mummies ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/17/girafa-hunting-14/ Sub-prime, stray shots from the Union Square sector... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/17/its-beginning-to-look-alot-like-christmas/ Powell Street MUNI/BART Station http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/17/sight-ems-96/ Loyal Reader That Huberock passed us several unused books of vintage MUNI transfers yesterday and some questions immediately surfaced: What year are these from? How much were adult/children/senior fares at the time? How many rides were these valid for? What is the logic behind the colors? What is the logic behind the alpha-numeric symbols? Why is ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/16/your-editor-asks/ (click for larger image) The common denominator of housing in San Francisco is a view. With the sweeping expanse of hills, harbor, and bay stretching for miles outside his window -- Your Editor in his tiny, overpriced one-bedroom apartment on Goat Hill is as scenically rich as the millionaire in his four-bedroom ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/16/a-window-frames-a-city/ What the ho, ho, ho?? 1000's of drunken Santa's stumbled through the streets yesterday, spreading cheer and merriment to any and all they encountered.  This year, the Red Menace split into 3 groups which collectively roamed The Wharf (Klassic Kringle), The Haight (Ho's on H8), and The Dirty 30/Castro (Mastrobation). What is ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/14/drunken-santa-convention/ Obtaining the above sub-prime shot was certainly a learning experience in usage of a non point-and-click. We shot with The Big Boy at 1/40 of a second using stop F.8 at 200 mm.  Even using a long-lens, this exercise -- if nothing else -- put in to perspective exactly how far ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/11/full-moon-rising-2/ The Alta Loma Middle School choir conducting holiday merriment at EC3. http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/11/sight-ems-95/ Sporting a hard hat and wielding a nice shiny shovel, Our 10th Loyal Reader shattered the earth at the site of the Temporary Transbay Terminal at Beale and Howard Streets on Wednesday.  Other notable attendees included ex-Mayor Willie Brown, Super Daly, and Nat Ford. The temporary transit hub will serve as ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/11/breaking-ground-temporary-transbay-terminal/ As seen on the 6th Street side of The Hugo Hotel... "Fake Santa Claus" "All the animals come out: whores...dopers...junkies; sick and venal.  Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets." - Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, 1976. "Illegal Christmas Presents" As a former resident of Wine Country ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/09/christmas-on-6th-street/ Oak & Ashbury Two more sightings in as many days.  And while the Panhandle sighting is not suprising -- finding a wandering Long-Necker north of The Gate is nothing less than spectacular. See 49 additional even-toed ungulate mammals in the shooting gallery here. Marin Headlands Have you spotted a Girafa on the loose??  Drop ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/09/girafa-hunting-13/ Oh, how the great have fallen.  In this case, the fascinating -- yet doomed -- Public Health Service Hospital on the edge of The Presidio.  This past week, several blows were struck to her wings with more devastation to come. Read the morbid, destructive details and future usage plans here and ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/09/building-1801-pshs/ MUNI 14-Limited http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/09/sight-ems-94/ Laguna & Haight http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/08/sight-ems-93/ http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/08/san-francisco-fish-eye/ Dateline: December 7th, 1941 -- Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A little tug that could (and would), The USS Nokimis (pictured right) -- a 218-ton harbor tug -- was was put to the ultimate test.  With explosive matter raining from the sky, she was the first on the scene at the USS Arizona ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/07/uss-nokomis-pearl-harbor/ 9th & Minna The ever elusive Long-Necker has been spotted multiple times in the South of Market sector over recent weeks.  Seen above: the forever migrating Girafa with Musk lurking in the shadows (far left). See 44 additional wandering Camel-Leopards in the shooting gallery here. Have you sighted a Girafa on the loose??  ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/07/girafa-hunting-12/ 7th & Folsom http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/07/sight-ems-92/ All of these can be yours for the low, low price of $2932... 1977 N-Judah 1100 Series #1160 1969 30-Stockton Twin Trolleybus #570 1949 1-Cal Twin Coach 44TTW Trolleybus #620 1960 39-Coit Mack C-49 DT #2617 1946 J-Church PPC Car #1110 1959 43-Roosevelt Mack C-49DT Golden Coach # 2517 1959 38-Geary Mack C-49 DT #2655 http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/06/miniature-munis/ Due to our pesky day jobs, it has become impossible for Your Editor's to see everything and everywhere in The City, all at once.  With that said, we do our best -- but oft neglect such fine sectors as the Western Neighborhoods, Ingleside, Park Merced, Sunnydale, Bayview-Hunter's Point, The Avenues, ... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/05/what-youre-seeing/ Editor's Note: Frank Chu has walked away from his Metro PCS contract and changed his cellular phone number.  The loss here clearly belongs to Metro PCS. Worry thee not, Loyal Readers -- Frank's new number is happily embeded in our Blackberry 8120. http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/05/the-magic-number/ Wintertime on Don Fisher Way http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/05/sight-ems-91/ Energy conservation? Yes! Reader discontinuation of WHAT IM SEEING?? No!! http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/05/unplugged-no/ Leftovers from our exploration of The Land of The Lost... Korea Town Grocery Mart Griffith Park Observatory South Central Ice Cream Truck La Brea Tar Pits Silverlake Junction Long Beach Holly-Hood Hills Ghetto Bird Fi-Di Angel's Flight San Pedro Bridge Infrared Plug1 Flickr set here. http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/05/stray-shots-4/ Actually, not. This variety is known as the Mexican Washingtonistas... http://www.whatimseeing.com/2008/12/04/socal-palm-trees/