RON HENGGELER

The Marin Headlands

The photo was taken on Monday June 12, 2006.

We drove across the Gate and into the Marin Headlands in the last hour
before sunset. From the moment we merged with the swift flow of traffic and
headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge, the views surrounding us were
fantastic and other-worldly. Ocean blown summer fog was racing over the
costal range and into San Francisco Bay. Its effect on the landscape was
pure magic. As we navigated the switchbacks up to Hawk Hill (Battery 129),
we were for one moment, in the fog, then under the fog, in the fog again,
then on top of the fog. The drive went on like this all the way to Black
Sand Beach. A half mile or so later, as we crested the next and final
highest hill (near the World War II bunkers that overlook Bonita Cove and
Point Bonita) and just before the downward approach to the lighthouse turn
off, a vision appeared straight out of a canvas by Caspar David Friedrich.
It was the dark silhouette of a man standing all alone in the fog on top of
this ethereal world. He was watching the sun go down. Because of this thick
fog that was enveloping us, we were able to look directly into the sun,
study it, stare at it, ponder it. It was a timeless moment that stood still
in the delicate white light of the sun. All breathless.

 

The photo was taken on Monday June 12, 2006.

ALAMO SQUARE

It is believed that some San Franciscans who died in the 1906 earthquake and fire are buried in Alamo Square. A temporary camp was almost set up in the square for those who were left homeless by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The terrace of restored three-story wooden homes on the east side of Steiner Street between Hayes and Fulton Streets across from Alamo Square was built by Irish-born property developer Matthew Kavanaugh in the 1890’s. They were originally sold for $3,500. Kavanaugh, who lived at 722 Steiner from 1892 through 1900, couldn’t have envisioned that a century later his houses would be among the most photographed vantage points in San Francisco, known as “postcard row.” The colorfully painted, elaborate Victorians contrast sharply with the skyscrapers of the Financial District looming in the background. The houses have been the ‘homes’ of characters in the motion pictures Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Woman in Red (1984), and Maxie (1985), and the television programs Too Close for Comfort (1980-1986) and Full House (1987-1995).

Respectfully taken from SAN FRANCISCO SECRETS by John Snyder
Chronicle Books 1999

(Alamo Square is a half block away and just around the corner from where I live. If I climb out the window and stand on the roof that overlooks my backyard garden, I can see the backside of these houses on Steiner Street). A family of raccoons (five members) pay nocturnal visits to my backyard on a regular basis. They sleep in the big old trees at Alamo Square during the day and come out foraging late at night when the neighborhood is quiet.)