San Francisco

A story in progress | January 2015

By Kimberly Maroon

My background with Cities

Before I start commenting on San Francisco, you should know where I’m coming from.

I’ve spent time with a variety of cities—Washington DC, Chicago, Camden, Providence, Philadelphia, and obviously Boston. More significantly, I lived in the shadow of the greatest city in the world, New York City since I was born. So naturally, I measure every other city against it.

From age 23 to the present was when I fully became acquainted with New York. I would take marathon day trips going until I was completely exhausted, riding the subway practically everywhere and walking any other chance I got. At one point I walked from the Lower East Side to Greenwich Village and saw all the neighborhoods in between. Once I wore out Manhattan, I crossed the bridge into Brooklyn which quickly became my favorite borough.

The more times I would visit New York, the more I became conditioned to the over-stimulation. New York is the most overwhelming city—the noises, the smells, the oppressive heat in the summer, the people crowding every inch of space, and the movement of a million things in a million directions. It doesn’t stop and it doesn’t sleep. All those trips I took, I was conditioning myself to New York so that I could photograph it. I had to get to a place mentally where I could turn off the panic in my brain and focus on life in this crazy place. New York taught me how to document the street, the people, and most importantly how to disappear. I felt a responsibility to expose New York City in small pieces. Each photograph became a little window, a secret, and when I put them together they tried to tell a story of the city. I say tried because I don’t think you’ll ever have a complete story of New York or any city for that matter. Not only is a city constantly changing, but there are many ways to tell stories of cities. For Oakland, I chose street art. For San Francisco here, I chose neighborhoods. There are a lot of them and they each have their own special character.

My goal was to create a snapshot of the neighborhoods I visited and notes from my experiences. Granted I spent a total of maybe 10 days out of my 3 months exploring San Francisco and I didn’t have the luxury of time to get comfortable. This is only my first impression—and not the last.

From exploring the neighborhoods, I found myself furiously looking for something, a deep frustration that I couldn’t quite explain. What was it??!! Something never felt right. I had trouble comparing it to other cities. Yet each part of San Francisco had a glimmer of something familiar to me. Even now I don’t fully understand what I was looking for. I think what I was searching for has something to do with the grit, the original.

Where is the original San Francisco?

(stay tuned for updates to this story!)

Chinatown

I stopped at the Academy of Art to check out some student work in the lobby gallery. A woman working at the front desk helped me sort out the confusion with the public transit cards (BART, Muni, Clipper Cards—why they don’t just have one system is beyond me). She appreciated that I was using a paper map and pointed out a few spots in Chinatown. One was a fortune cookie factory in Ross Alley.

The Tenderloin

Just stay east of Taylor St. -Tim Borjas

Instead I walked straight through the middle of this neighborhood. Oops. It was about 4:00, the golden hour, and I started heading down Market St towards Golden Gate Park. Should be ok if I stay on the main busy street, right? This was actually more alarming than if I had chosen to zig zag up through Nob Hill. Once I hit the block with The Warfield, I knew to pay more attention. Camera out, iPhone and map tucked away. I stopped at Hyde and Market to wait for a bus to take me the rest of the way to the park. The longest and craziest 15 minutes. Good thing I had my camera to keep me busy.

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Ocean Beach

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Golden Gate Bridge

I liked to call her GG Bridge. I picked a very windy day to walk across the bridge and was grateful I didn’t decide on riding a bike instead. I nearly almost blew over the railing while taking a photo of the 5:00 shadow. Not as long at the Brooklyn Bridge, GG earned more points for height, wind speeds, and the occasional swaying if you watched closely enough. This history of how they designed and built the bridge is pretty remarkable. I hope to visit again at a time when there is more fog. Very dramatic.

I caught multiple views of the Golden Gate Bridge on one evening just before sunset. One from just outside an old fort in The Presidio. The second came at the recommendation of an older couple sipping beer from coffee tumblers waiting to watch the sunset. They said to follow the path around and I would come to a set of stairs that led down to Marshall Beach. The rocks looked a lot smaller from up top, but I still managed to climb over a few to snap this one.

Climbing over rocks before the tide came in.

Bi-Rite Market, The Mission

I loved coming here at the end of a day in the city to grab some snacks. Even though parking is always a pain, it’s well worth it. Bi-Rite is chock full of delicious local fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and the ultimate selection of breads. The ice cream though—they make it themselves and also sell by the pint. So if you’re like me and don’t want to wait in the huge line for a single serving, pick up a pint and slam it on the ride home.

This particular evening was Valentine’s Day and they were selling single roses and bouquets outside. I asked the girl if I could take her photo, a rare moment where I thought I should ask. I bought a rose to go along with my pint of sea salt caramel. Just because you should always celebrate the single life.

Haight Ashbury

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Walking into a music video in Haight Asbbury

Remembering a friend explaining to me that people are more confrontational here than in New York, I switched over to capturing photos with my iPhone. You can use the headphone controls for the shutter to go unnoticed. I was surprised at the results and how close I could come into someone’s space without them knowing about the camera.