RON HENGGELER

Gizmo napping in the basket at the window overlooking the backyard

The Camera Obscura at the Cliff House on Ocean Beach

Camera Obscuras have a long history in San Francisco. The first recorded reference to one is from the 1860s in an attraction called Woodward’s Gardens. The second Cliff House, built in 1896, had a camera obscura on its fourth floor that was destroyed when the building burned down in 1907.

The current Camera Obscura is the last remaining structure of the world famous Playland. It was built by Floyd Jennings and Gene Turtle in 1946 on the observation deck behind the Cliff House as an extension of Whitney’s Playland. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 for its engineering significance. While the exterior of the building was extensively modified in 1957 to appear as a giant camera, the internal workings of the camera obscura, the basis of its placement on the Register, remained unchanged since its erection in 1946.

Seagulls on Ocean Beach, viewed from the Cliff House balcony near the Camera Obscura

Seagulls on Ocean Beach, viewed from the Cliff House balcony near the Camera Obscura

Seagulls on Ocean Beach, viewed from the Cliff House balcony near the Camera Obscura

Seal Rocks and the setting sun, viewed from the Cliff House balcony near the Camera Obscura

Ruins of the Sutro Baths, viewed from the Cliff House balcony

Seagulls on Ocean Beach, viewed from the Cliff House balcony near the Camera Obscura

Seal Rocks, viewed from the Cliff House balcony

Pelicans and the rising moon, viewed from the Cliff House balcony near the Camera Obscura

The Camera Obscura and the setting sun

The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge

Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland California

The hills of Oakland and Piedmont cradle one of the finest examples of a garden cemetery found on the West Coast. With its stately avenues and winding roadways, its native live oaks and imported Italian stone pines, its simple columbarium and elaborate mausoleums, Mountain View Cemetery is a wonderful example of early American culture and the lively spirit of early California.

Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland California

Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Mountain View Cemetery is the resting place of famous figures and ordinary people, the principal players in California’s and San Francisco Bay’s dramatic settlement.

People like author Frank Norris, artist Thomas Hill, architects Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck, captains of industry such as powerful railroad builder and banker Charles Crocker...all made their contributions to the shaping of a nation’s frontier.

Late afternoon sunlight on the stones of a fountain at the Marin County Fair in San Rafael

The grounds of the Marin County Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

The Marin County Civic Center, the last commission by Frank Lloyd Wright. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center Administration Building took place in 1960, after Wright's death and under the watch of Wright's protégé, Aaron Green, and was completed in 1962. The Hall of Justice was begun in 1966 and completed in 1969. Veterans Memorial Auditorium opened in 1971, and the Exhibit Hall opened in 1976. Located away from the former county seat in downtown San Rafael, the expansive complex stretches across two valleys just east of US 101. Its pink stucco walls, blue roof and scalloped balconies are distinctive. The smaller wing is the county administration building and the larger the Hall of Justice, joined by a round structure on a small hill that houses a county library.

The grounds of the Marin County Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Marin County Fair in San Rafael

Marin County Fair in San Rafael

The spire of the Civic Center's rotunda by Frank Lloyd Wright

With a gentle nod to "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" – 1884, by Georges Seurat

Marin County Fair in San Rafael

Marin County Fair in San Rafael

Marin County Fair in San Rafael

Marin County Fair in San Rafael with the spire of the Civic Center's rotunda by Frank Lloyd Wright in the background

Marin County Fair in San Rafael

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