RON HENGGELER |
March 24, 2009
Francisco, and North Beach
The Briones family, who built their home and ranch near the present day intersection of Powell and Filbert Streets in North Beach, supplied fresh meat and produce to passing ships before the Gold Rush. The North Beach neighborhood was named after a now long-vanished beach that once extended from Telegraph Hill to Russian Hill. It was built up by landfill soon after the Gold Rush. The waterfront extended to present-day Francisco Street. North Beach, centered on Columbus Avenue north of Broadway, is a diverse neighborhood with a lively mix of cultures. During the 19th century, it was largely industrial. In 1876, it contained 10 breweries. A substantial influx of Italians during the 1880’s gave North Beach a secondary name of “ Little Italy”. By 1931, five Italian language newspapers were published in North Beach. The Chinese began crossing Broadway into North Beach in the 1960’s, and Asians are now the dominate ethnic group in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, tricolored Italian flags are still displayed on lampposts, and bocce ball, the Italian version of lawn bowling, is still enjoyed at the North Beach playground at Lombard and Mason Streets. From SAN FRANCISCO SECRETS by John Snyder 1999 Chronicle Books
Detail of the entrance of the Olympic Club on Post Street |
Francisco |
Transamerica Pyramic and the historic Sentinel Building (Coppola Building) American Zoetrope (also known as Zoetrope Studios from 1979 until 1990) is a privately run film studio, centred in San Francisco and founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Opened on 12 December 1969,[1] American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV. The studio has produced not only the films of Coppola (including Apocalypse Now, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Tetro), but also George Lucas's pre-Star Wars films , as well as many others by avant-garde directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, Wim Wenders and Godfrey Reggio. Four films produced by American Zoetrope are included in the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films. American Zoetrope-produced films have received 15 Academy Awards and 68 nominations The company's headquarters is in the historic Sentinel Building, at 916 Kearny Street in San Francisco's North Beach neighbourhood. Coppola named the studio after a zoetrope he was given in the late 1960s by the filmmaker and collector of early film devices, Mogens Skot-Hansen. "Zoetrope" is also the name by which Coppola's quarterly fiction magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story, is often known. American Zoetrope is now owned entirely by Coppola's son and daughter, directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola. |
Broadway in San Francisco |
Broadway in San Francisco |
Mural on Upper Grant Avenue |
Store window on Upper Grant Avenue |
detail of a restaurant facade on Upper Grant Avenue |
In a store window on Upper Grant Avenue |
Francisco |
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