Victorian, Edwardian, and Modern

 

Here are Painted Ladies of San Francisco (all seven of them). Pictures like this sold as postcards, wall calendars, freezer magnets etc. They are symbol of San Francisco as much as Golden Gate Bridge, Colt Tower  or Ferry Building.    

But it would be  not fair to say that the  name: "Painted Ladies" applied only to these seven. There are many other houses from Victorian or Edwardian times which are  painted in bright, joyful colors. Like this house at the corner of Franklin  and California.

Or these two. They are a  more modest, but still beautiful. 

There are many thousands  houses which were built during Victorian or Edwardian eras (second half of nineteen  or beginning  of twentieth century). A lot of them were destroyed in 1906 by infamous earthquake and subsequent fire.  But some survived and/or were restored. As of now there are around forty eight thousand homes from that time. And name "Painted Lady" could be  applied to most of them.  But  were they aways known  under such a name? Absolutely not. Here is Haas–Lilienthal House   (2007 Franklin Street). It was originally built  in 1886 by merchant William Haas. It survived earthquake and stayed with Haas family for almost one hundred years. In 1972 Haas descendants donated this home to the public. 

I believe this house now looks  approximately the same way  it looked in 1886 (apart of the fact that there were no cars in front, maybe horse carriages). While house looks magnificent, its colors are very modest compare to Painted Ladies.   San Francisco houses got there bright paint covers in sixties and seventies. Until that most of them were panted in grey (right after end  of WWII   there was surplus of grey paint originally  used for navy ships). To ruminate this topic a little more I would like to present you this photo: 

On the left you see the house which could be qualified as Painted Lady (not brightest of them but close enough). On the right there is the house painted mostly in grey with small white touch.  That, probably, how most Victorian homes looked after WWII. And in the middle you can see well known Tetris House. It was renovated by professional artist  Xavi Panneton   in 2023 and it represents latest trend in house decoration of San Francisco. Most likely we will see more of that in the nearest future.

And some  more photos which show that street art could be applied even to  dull utilitarian modern building...  

... or  to the means of transportation.

Waymo Ride

 

Eventually I made my fist Waymo ride. Waymo robotic taxi  now operates in ten cities in USA including San Francisco. But in my  home town on East Bay it is not available yet.  To give the ride some sense we decided to visit De Young museum by public transit: ride on BART to San Francisco downtown and from there  take Waymo to Golden Gate Park.

Trip from corner of Market and 4-th street to De Young  (<4 miles) cost us $26. Taxi trip would be probably more but Lift or Uber should be less.

I ordered ride by Waymo Android app. It instructed us how to walk to to the place where robocar will pick us up. It was taxi  stand at the corner  of 4-th street. We waited about 10 minutes. When car arrived we came to car door and pop up app button asked me to push the button to unlock the car. After that handle moved out of the door, I opened the door  and we entered the car. For movement to start all passengers must buckle  up seatbelts.

The ride was fun. This Waymo can drive I would tell you. The only complain is the last part of the ride in the park. Due high traffic of pedestrians  and bicycles it was too slow. 

We would be better of to leave the car and just walk to the museum  but I had no idea how to convey our wish  to Waymo. So we patiently waited till car stopped near museum entry and let us  out.

Wild Turkey

 In a 1784 letter, Benjamin Franklin criticized the Bald Eagle as a national symbol, calling it a bird of "bad moral character" that is "lazy" and "cowardly" for stealing food from other birds. He favored the Wild Turkey, which he deemed a "more respectable bird," a "true original native of America," and a "bird of courage".

Here you see turkey walking next to the parking lot of Concord (CA) John Muir hospital. (Shot with Pixel 9 Pro telephoto lens). Indeed isn't it a time to change national symbol?

One more photo (profile view).

And here is the clip  (the same time and place).

Great Egret

 This picture I shot near Markham Arboretum in Concord, CA with Pixel 9 pro telephoto lens on March of 2026.

Roadside Picnic

 

I made this shot  two days ago (Google Pixel 6  Pro telephoto lens).