The Blues Road: Goodbye to innocence and idealism

The waterfront in San Francisco

We awoke to a torrential downpour, which lasted a number of hours this morning. We feared that our luck had eventually changed and we were blighted by the unpredictably unique microclimate of San Francisco. This was the climate that prompted Mark Twain to write: “The worst winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” We were surprised to find however that when we eventually disembarked from the underground railway (BART), the rain had gone and the city shone once more.

Paddle steamer with the Bay Bridge in the background

The waterfront in San Francisco is always exciting but as usual I found Fisherman’s Warf disappointing and touristy. A tip on the Internet advised getting there before the crowds did. We did and good advice! It was fun to explore the historic buildings and boats.

A better pier than Fisherman's Warf

Relaxed in San Francisco

Hyde Street Pier was part of 101 before the completion of the Golden Gate in1937. It must have been an equally impressive way of leaving the city even then.

Hyde St Pier.

Always the customary hot chocolate at Ghirardelli Square.

Many of my age will always associate San Francisco with “Flower Power” and the “Summer of Love” in 1967. This was a magic moment in 60s culture which was extinguished after such a short period by the triumph of reality over innocence and idealism. The cradle of this movement was the district of Haight Ashbury. The area in 1883. before the building of the local cable car comprised small farms and sand dunes; but the opening up of this part of the city allowed many wealthy middle class San Franciscans to move out of downtown and build large elaborate houses. Fortunately the area avoided the fires that followed the 1906 earthquake but suffered during the depression. By the 1960 the area was poor and rundown and many young artistic people began to move in. The trickle turned into a flood in the spring of 1967 when the city fathers tried to stop college students moving there in the Spring Break. Those few summer months changed our youth culture for decades. A number of bands established themselves in Haight Asbury who subsequently went on to heavily influence West Coat Music. These included Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Janis Joplin. The final nails in the coffin of the Hippie Movement was the 1969 Rolling Stones Altamont Concert and the Manson Family Killings in LA

Jefferson Airplane

The Grateful Dead

Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin

Houses at Haight Ashbury

Still wacky after all these years!

I had always wanted to visit Haight Ashbury and it didn’t disappoint me. The wealthy middle class have moved in and the houses have been restored but there was still a wacky feel to the area as we walked along Haight Street

It was treat to be able to visit the world famous San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) Such a difference from the wide-open landscapes and vistas that have stimulated us over the last week and it is a refreshing contrast to be challenged by man-made creations and works of art. San Francisco is a modern city and so is its culture and its art. Landscape and our response to landscapes impacts on us all. I read this quote at an exhibition of paintings from the museum’s permanent collection:

“The United States is a country defined in many ways by the unique geographic spaces it encompasses. But the nation’s topography has equally been formed by the urban environments that generations of Americans have created.”

The urban landscape of San Francisco has had a significant impact on our late 20^th centaury culture. Its difficult to believe that the first recorded ship to sail into the bay was in 1776 and that the majority of the fledgling city was destroyed in the great earthquake and fire in 1906.

I chose 2 paintings to demonstrate the diffrent landscapes that have forged American art and its spirit. The bridge by Joseph Stella is of Brooklyn Bridge but I can think of nothing more appropriate in this city. The seascape by John Marin is of Maine but it could easily have depicted the Pacific that has accompanied us already for over a thousand miles