Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair ~ Haight Ashbury

What trip to San Francisco would be complete without a stop in the Haight-Ashbury district, most notably the heart- the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. After all isn't this where 'it' all started? Americans and soon the world learned a little more about ourselves here. We went on a sunday morning and the shops were not yet open. On the corner opposite of the photo above sits a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream shop- how fitting. Hmmmm It has been a while since I had my favorite- Cherry Garcia! Peace and Love. . .





A Little History of Haight-Ashbury


Haight-Ashbury is a district of San Francisco, California, US, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets. It is commonly called The Haight. The district generally encompasses the neighborhood surrounding Haight Street, bounded by Stanyan Street and Golden Gate Park on the West, Oak Street and the Golden Gate Park Panhandle on the North, Baker Street and Buena Vista Park to the East, and Frederick Street and Ashbury Heights and Cole Valley neighborhoods to the South.
The area is further subdivided into the Upper Haight and the Haight-Fillmore or Lower Haight districts; the latter being lower in elevation and part of what was previously the principal African-American and Japanese neighborhoods in San Francisco's early years. The street names themselves commemorate two early San Francisco leaders: Pioneer and exchange banker Henry Haight, or, (though it is arguable) the tenth governor of California, Henry Huntley Haight,the former's nephew, and Munroe Ashbury, one of the city's first politicians, who served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1864 to 1870. Both Haight and his nephew as well as Ashbury had a hand in the planning of the neighborhood, and, more importantly, nearby Golden Gate Park at its inception.
The district is famous for its role as a center of the 1960s hippie movement, a post-runner and closely associated offshoot of the Beat generation or beat movement, members of which swarmed San Francisco's "in" North Beach neighborhood two to eight years before the "Summer of Love" in 1967. Many who could not find space to live in San Francisco's northside found it in the quaint, relatively cheap and underpopulated Haight-Ashbury. The '60s era and modern American counterculture have been synonymous with San Francisco and the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood ever since.


The Haight-Ashbury's elaborately detailed, 19th-century multi-story wooden houses became a haven for hippies during the 1960s, due to the availability of cheap rooms and vacant properties for rent or sale in the district; property values had dropped in part because of the proposed freeway.The bohemian subculture that subsequently flourished there took root, and to a great extent, has remained to this day.
San Francisco and the Haight gained a reputation as the center of illegal drug culture and rock-and-roll lifestyles by the mid '60s, especially with the use of marijuana and LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs. By 1967, the neighborhood's fame chiefly rested on the fact that it became the haven for a number of important psychedelic rock performers and groups of the time. Acts like Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin all lived a short distance from the famous intersection. They not only immortalized the scene in song, but also knew many within the community as friends and family. Another well-known neighborhood presence was The Diggers, a local "community anarchist" group famous for its street theatre who also provided free food to residents every day.
By the "Summer of Love", psychedelic rock music was entering the mainstream, receiving more and more commercial radio airplay. The song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" became a hit single. The Monterey Pop Festival in June further cemented the status of psychedelic music as a part of mainstream culture and elevated local Haight bands such as Big Brother and the Holding Company and Jefferson Airplane to national stardom. A July 7, 1967, Time magazine cover story on "The Hippies: Philosophy of a Subculture," an August CBS News television report on "The Hippie Temptation" and other major media interest in the hippie subculture exposed the Haight-Ashbury district to enormous national attention and popularized the counterculture movement across the country and around the world. Thousands of youth migrated to the Haight-Ashbury district during the flower power movement, including many runaway teenagers, irrevocably altering the social structure of the neighborhood and the world's views of San Francisco as a city.

Colma~ City of the Dead

As mentioned in a previous Blog, Colma was one of our planned destinations on our road trip to the San Francisco area. Colma is unique in that it was founded in 1924 as a necropolis. It is one of the few cities where the dead residents outnumber the living. There are people that actually live there. They even have a Kohls and a Best Buy for heaven's sake. Also several car dealerships with more being built. There are some 17 cemeteries there, and one for pets too! So of course it was a must to visit.







We actually went twice as there is just so much to see. My favorite cemetery was Holy Cross. It was actually established in 1887 on the land of a former potato farm. In Holy Cross cemetery one of the most unique things is that the place seems to be laid out in sections according to monument size and type. There was the children's area for example, nothing more than 4 feet high on the monuments- small crosses, lambs, doves- so sweet. There were those grand 8 foot and taller pillars, obelisks, crosses and Angels. It is very easy to spend hours in this cemetery alone.





At the top of the hill in the Greek Cemetery I was able to get a photo of the view looking north across the main drag through town and out to the cemeteries on the other side. Keep in mind that behind me was another huge cemetery and more to the right and left of that. The row of houses you see in the distance are houses of the dead! This place is a gem for those of us who adore cemeteries.



This is the Chinese cemetery. Most every stone is either red or black granite and look very similar and neat.

I will definitely visit Colma again as I was not able to see it all on this trip. Jeff and I took loads of photos here of course, we hope you enjoy these.

Here is a little history on the city of Colma.

Colma is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, at the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,191 at the 2000 census. The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924.
With much of Colma's land dedicated to cemeteries (17 for the interment of humans and one for pets), the dead population outnumber the living by thousands to one. This has led to it being called, "the city of the silent," and also has given rise to a humorous motto among some residents: "It's great to be alive in Colma."




The community of Colma was formed in the 1800s as a collection of homes and small businesses along El Camino Real and the adjacent railroad line. Several churches, including Holy Angels Catholic Church, were founded in these early years. The community founded its own fire district, which serves the unincorporated area of Colma north of the town limits as well as the area that became a town in 1924.
Colma became the location of a large number of cemeteries when San Francisco, the town's powerful neighbor to the north, passed an ordinance in 1900 outlawing the construction of any more cemeteries in the city (mainly because of increased property values making the cost of using land for cemeteries prohibitive), and then passed another ordinance in 1912 evicting all existing cemeteries from city limits. (A similar scenario prevails in New York City's borough of Manhattan, where only one active cemetery still exists). The relocation of cemeteries from San Francisco to Colma is the subject of A Second Final Rest: The History of San Francisco's Lost Cemeteries, (2005) a documentary by Trina Lopez.




The Town of Lawndale was incorporated in 1924 primarily at the behest of the cemetery owners with the cooperation of the handful of residents who lived closest to the cemeteries. The residential and business area immediately to the north continued to be known as Colma. Because another city in California with the name Lawndale (in Los Angeles County) already existed, the post office retained the Colma designation, and so the town changed its name back to Colma in 1941.
Originally, the residents of the town were primarily employed in occupations related to the many cemeteries in the town. Since the 1980s, Colma has become more diversified, with a variety of retail businesses and automobile dealerships, which have brought more sales tax revenue to the town government.

Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio

This blog will be the first part of several blogs regarding our road trip to the San Francisco area. One of the places we made a planned stop at was the town of Colma- which I will talk a little more about in a following blog. Anyway, In one cemetery called Holy Cross ( isn't there always a Holy Cross Cemetery in every city?) As we were meandering through, my attention was caught by a shiny black monument upon which several pieces of sports equipment- namely bats, balls and gloves had been laid. It was the resting place of none other than Joe DiMaggio.





Since I had not done my usual research into who was interred where before we came up here it was an interesting surprise. What I thought was most endearing were the pieces of equipment- many obviously from little league, left for him. And something else too. Coins. Coins left in a small ridge on the edge of the part of the monument that bears his name. In most cases of grave coins, the coins left are overwhelmingly pennies, but in this case the nickles were at least equal with the pennies. Likely a tie in to Joe's number 5, which the Yankees retired.





Traditionally coins left for the dead (usually in 3's) are a sort of tribute or payment if you will, in advance for a request or favor you are asking the deceased to assist you with. I wondered how many young men have come here and asked 'ol Jolttin Joe to help them excell in baseball, give them a little of his 'mojo', and leaving the coins with hopes that somehow Joe would be out there on the field with them the very next game. I would bet that more than one professional player has paid a visit to the Yankee Clipper for the very same reason. Below I have included a little history on Joe DiMaggio for your reading pleasure.


Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, Jr., was an American baseball player for the New York Yankees. He was the middle of three brothers who each became major league center fielders, the others being Vince and Dom.
A member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, DiMaggio was a 3-time MVP winner and 13-time All-Star (the only player to be selected for the All-Star Game in every season he played). At the time of his retirement, he had the fifth-most career home runs (361) and sixth-highest slugging percentage (.579) in history. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak (May 15–July 16, 1941), a record that still stands. A 1969 poll conducted to coincide with the centennial of professional baseball voted him the sport's greatest living player.
Joe DiMaggio was born in Martinez, California, the eighth of nine children born to immigrants of Italy, Giuseppe (1872–1949) and Rosalia (Mercurio) DiMaggio (1878–1951). He was delivered by a midwife identified on his birth certificate as Mrs. J. Pico. He was named after his father; "Paolo" was in honor of Giuseppe's favorite saint, Saint Paul. The family moved to San Francisco, California when Joe was one year old.
Giuseppe was a fisherman, as were generations of DiMaggios before him. DiMaggio's brother, Tom, told biographer Maury Allen that Rosalia's father, also a fisherman, wrote to her that Giuseppe could earn a better living in California than in their native Isola delle Femmine. After being processed on Ellis Island, he worked his way across the country, eventually settling near Rosalia's father in Pittsburg, California. After four years, he was able to earn enough money to send for her and their daughter, who was born after he had left for the United States.
It was Giuseppe's hope that his five sons would become fishermen. DiMaggio recalled that he would do anything to get out of cleaning his father's boat, as the smell of dead fish nauseated him. Giuseppe called him "lazy" and "good for nothing;" Giuseppe's opposition was due to not understanding how baseball could help DiMaggio "get away from the poverty" and make something of himself.
DiMaggio was playing semi-pro ball when Vince DiMaggio, playing for the San Francisco Seals, talked his manager into letting DiMaggio fill in at shortstop; he made his professional debut on October 1, 1932. From May 27 – July 25, 1933, he got at least one hit in a PCL-record 61 consecutive games: "Baseball didn't really get into my blood until I knocked off that hitting streak. Getting a daily hit became more important to me than eating, drinking or sleeping."
In 1934, his career almost ended. Going to his sister's house for dinner, he tore the ligaments in his left knee while stepping out of a jitney. The Seals, hoping to sell DiMaggio's contract for $100,000 now couldn't give him away; the Chicago Cubs turned down a no-risk tryout. Scout Bill Essick pestered the New York Yankees to give the 19 year-old another look. After DiMaggio passed a test on his knee, he was bought on November 21 for $25,000 and 5 players, with the Seals keeping him for the 1935 season. He batted .398 with 154 RBIs and 34 HRs, led the Seals to the 1935 PCL title, and was named the League's Most Valuable Player.

Hollywood and Vine

In the last blog I mentioned how Jeff and I had attempted to take enough photos for a full 'Hollywood' gallery. Well silly us we have forgotten the huge tourist factor. We figured a Sunday morning, before 11am- I mean shouldn't all these people be sleeping it off or in Church or something? Anyway, as mentioned we will go back at 6am on a Sunday soon and finish.





We did however get a few decent shots, so I thought I would post a few now to keep you on edge! In one of these images you see a building that actually stands on the corner of Hollywood and Vine. The Capitol Records building is actually on Vine set back a bit, but certainly viewable from the 'corner'. As you will read in the history I have included below, this corner is the most famous in Hollywood, but is no longer even in the heart of the Tourist area. That would be more like Hollywood and Highland- which if you watch the Oscars, you have seen at least on TV.





A History of Hollywood and Vine



Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, became famous in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered on the intersection.
The largest collection of photos of Hollywood Blvd. & Vine St. is on the Bruce Torrence Hollywood Historical Collection.
Today, not many production facilities are located in the immediate area. One of the few remaining is the Capitol Records Tower to the north of the intersection.The area was a lemon grove until 1903, when Daeida Beveridge allowed one corner of the dirt intersection on her property to be used for the building of the Hollywood Memorial Church for the local German Methodist population.
The historical marker plaque placed at the site by The Broadway-Hollywood Department Store and the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles reads:
Hollywood was given name by pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Horace H. Wilcox. They subdivided their ranch in 1887 and called two dirt cross-roads Prospect Avenue and Weyse Avenue. Prospect Avenue, the main artery, was renamed Hollywood Boulevard and Weyse Avenue became Vine Street. This was the origin of "Hollywood and Vine."
The streets were renamed in 1910, when the town of Hollywood was annexed by the City of Los Angeles.
Beginning in the 1920s, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the area began to see an influx of money and influence as movie and music businesses began to move in, turning the local farms and orchards into movie backlots. Hollywood and Vine was the second busiest intersection in the area, after Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue.

In the 1930s radio programs such as KFWB and the CBS Lux Radio Theater spoke of "broadcasting live from Hollywood and Vine," and newspaper columnists Hedda Hopper and Jimmie Fidler regularly touted the intersection's mystique.
In 1958, the intersection became the central point of the newly-installed Hollywood Walk of Fame. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the astronauts of the first lunar landing mission Apollo 11, were awarded television stars for coverage of the mission, and given the places of honor at the exact corners of Hollywood and Vine.
By the 1960s, however, many studios and broadcasters had moved onto more upscale areas, and the area fell into disrepair and disrepute, with many abandoned stores and offices, and the streets themselves, claimed by squatters and panhandlers. It took several decades for redevelopment to take hold, and visitors looking for Hollywood dreams were often taken aback by the area's contrast with shinier tourist meccas.
The Hollywood/Vine subway station opened in 1999, and led to more sustained and serious redevelopment in the area. On May 29, 2003, Hollywood and Vine was named "Bob Hope Square" to commemorate Hope's 100th birthday.
In urban folklore, many of the local buildings are considered to be part of "Haunted Hollywood", home to the ghosts of celebrities (and less stellar residents) of Hollywood's legendary past. The intersection has been mentioned or alluded to in dozens of songs, films, video games, music videos and other popular media, often as a symbol of Hollywood's lure as a destination for dreamers, or for its decadence and disappointments.

An Attempt at Hollywood

3 Happy Friends!


We journeyed down to Hollywood on Sunday morning hoping to get some good photos of some of the more quintessential Hollywood places. We did manage a few, but will have to make a second trip there- this time arriving at dawn in order to avoid the huge masses of tourists that tend to flock to certain places in large groups making it impossible to get a good photo-at least the kind I am looking for. Who the hell wants to see photos with crowds of tourists anyway? You can see that in your own vacation pictures!

I realize that tourists want to see these famous places- like Grauman's Chinese Theatre, but all the crap going on, on the sidewalk outside- like celebrity impersonators, and various 'acts' are really only there to try and collect tourist dollars- and are really so campy. But I guess it can be amusing if you never see things like that where you are from.

In June we are taking a road trip to the San Francisco area. We will also be spending at least a day in Colma- the city of cemeteries! The Ossuary gallery is sure to grow from that trip.

A peek at a few of the Galleries

Sacred




Down the Rabbit Hole




Los Angeles




Chicago




Attic




Amusementorium




Abandoned


Jeff and I are slowly working on cleaning up the galleries. I have noticed that I have placed a few photos in places where they don't belong. Soon, we will be getting a revamp of our front pages. Stay tuned for our new look! In the mean time here are some samples from various galleries for your perusal.

The City of the Angeles- New Gallery is UP!

A few weeks ago Jeff and I went early on a Sunday morning to Downtown LA in hopes of being able to snap some images of the city that is my home town, and Jeff's adopted home. Since we already have a gallery for Chicago- it seems only right that Los Angeles have her own gallery. Los Angeles is a beautiful city that often does not get the recognition she deserves. We hope you enjoy our view of the Queen of the Angels!


The photos are just about ready and the new gallery should be posted by weeks end. We have a great time when we go on these photo expeditions. In order to cover as much ground as possible we often drive up to a spot- one of us hops out and takes the desired images- while the other is often illegally parked for a moment or two. Sometimes to get just the angle we want we have to pull into driveways we aren't allowed in or buzz through neighborhoods that we would rather not be in.


Here is a peek at the new Gallery!

Amusementorium

We are in the process of adding more photos to some of the existing galleries. I have chosen a few for the Ossuary featuring cemeteries from our road trip last summer to Arizona. The photos added are from the Seligman, Williams, Grand Canyon and Sedona cemeteries.

In addition a new gallery is being created and should be up by this weekend. Appropriately entitled Amusementorium. There is just something creepy about Carnivals. You know the sort. They pop up in open fields in town, or shopping center parking lots, much like the first one featured in the gallery.
The rides are often old, well used and each has stories to tell. About the towns they have travelled to, the people they have met, the roads they have travelled. The kissing, laughing, screaming, and vomiting that has been done in and on them.

Most of us have some sort of childhood memory about Carnivals like this, and more than one of us has likely been creeped out by the 'carnies'. On our early morning visit to capture some photos of the empty rides before opening, the carnies were actually very kind, even turned on the Ferris Wheel lights for our photos.

Here is a little preview until the full gallery is up~ Enjoy~

2 Brand New Galleries added!

As mentioned previously, Jeff and I took a trip to Chicago at the end of February. We were there just 4 full days, but made the most of it- seeing as much as we could possible fit in. Well really it was me that needed to do the seeing since Jeff is from there originally. As expected we took LOTS of photos- some 854 to be exact. Most turned out, and the best of those we have now added to our site www.novemberobscura.com

In the new Gallery named Chicago, you will find many city scenes- featuring architecture both old and new, lake Michigan and the Chicago River. There are also a few of the lovely homes of Oak Park a suburb very near to downtown that while most noted for its large concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright homes- also hasVictorian and Queen Anne's a plenty! I also slipped in a pic of the Cheddar Fries we had with our lunch the day we visited Graceland Cemetery. Yes they were every bit as cheezy as they look!

We took quite a few cemetery photos there as well, but those you will find in the Ossuary Gallery. No worries the ones from Chicago will stand out. The cemeteries there have a unique look and feel - also there was snow and ice in many of the pics.






Check the Carriage House Gallery for photos of the lovely B&B we stayed in- lots of GREAT door knobs too! Other new pics in the Cellar, The Attic, the Parlor, and the Stairway

Finally, We added a new Gallery called Down the Rabbit Hole which features some of my Alice in Wonderland collectibles. Just a bit of whimsey. Enjoy your tea and A Very Merry Un- Birthday to You!

~Wendy~

New Photos up

After a bit of delay, the site is refreshed and new photos are up. I had worked with some vintage cameras that we have, and I really liked them as models. Perhaps Ill try something similar with our more 'modern' cameras.

At the end of the month Jeff and I are going to Chicago for a few days. Not enough time to see everything, but hopefully we will get some interesting photos out of it. I am hoping to find interesting old buildings downtown. We shall see.

Icons

I am home sick this week, and this morning as I was laying there trying to sleep- I thought about some photos I took of some vintage cameras that Jeff has. So since I am unable to sleep, I think I will try to make some use out of the day and work on those photos. Hopefully they will be ready and loaded to our site this evening.


The photo above of the Madonna in her grotto is a favorite of mine. I have taken a few of her from different angles, on both digital and B/W film and she always looks so beautiful and serene. I find religious icons to be fascinating so I am always on the look out for opportunities to capture them to digital or film.


The photo below of Mary at the crucifixion ( another of my favs!) was taken inside the sanctuary under very poor light conditions. Jeff and I each took several of her to try and get one clear one. We didn't have the option of flash and were trying to remain respectful of the worship space. What I really needed to do was to stand on the main altar and shoot from there- but somehow I think that would have been frowned upon.


Ok now on to processing!

~W~

Beta test is over!

The beta test is complete. The website is up and running. We have opened a few more galleries and posted a few hundred more photos there. Hope you enjoy it!

Jeff and Wendy

More. .

I have processed almost 100 more images for the site. We will be posting them soon. Also a few more galleries and sub headings will be added. A rainy day such as we are having is the perfect time to complete such tasks. Ill do more tomorrow and with luck the new additions will be posted by late afternoon.