click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
On Friday I had to wait for my car to be serviced, so I thought the best way to kill some time would be to hop on a bus and take a little trip over to San Francisco. I had quite an adventure spooking around The City, but City Hall was one of the places I ended up.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
Now, City Hall does have elevators -- but that's no fun. Much more interesting to climb the marble stairs -- the maintenance crew obviously spends a lot of time keeping them spotlessly clean.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
Now, I have to admit that my knowledge of City Hall is pretty limited -- so I lifted the following from Wikipedia:
The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 damaged the structure, and twisted the dome four inches (102 mm) on its base. Afterwards work was undertaken to render City Hall earthquake resistant through a base isolation system. In an earthquake, the mass of the dome threatens to act as a pendulum, rocking the building's structure and tearing it apart. But the base isolation system of hundreds of rubber and stainless-steel insulators inserted into City Hall's underpinnings has the effect of disrupting seismic waves before they can affect the structure. San Francisco's City Hall is currently the world's second largest base-isolated structure (after the International Terminal at San Francisco International Airport)—a triumph of seismic retrofitting.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
Here's a little tip -- if you want to stay current on everything that happens in the vicinity of City Hall -- including but not limited to the Opera, Symphony, exhibits, events, happenings, celebrations, and protest rallies -- then you'll want to cozy-up to S.F. Mike's blog over at: http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com. Highly recommended.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
The last time I was inside City Hall was a little over a year ago when the powers-that-be had given the green-light to gay marriage. Well, not long after, the voters of California decided they weren't quite ready for equality -- closed and simple minds once again had the majority.
Now, unless the couple in the above photo are pulling a fast-one -- I mean, who checks these things? -- I'm going to assume that they have all the necessary parts for prolific baby-making. They were a cute couple -- I wish them a ton of happiness.
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5 comments:
Congratulations on getting your beloved camera back. And I love the wedding parties flitting around City Hall, which looks more like an opera or a movie set than a real building.
Donald, another very fine day perusing your photos. I especially like the marble staircases! But I have a sentimental place in my heart for the green ribbon photo as well. Thanks for sharing. Your comments make the photos that much more enjoyable.
WELL THANK YOU S.F. MIKE AND KELLY L...
Thanks for the comments -- not that I should be fishing-for-comments, but I went four days there without getting any -- I started wondering if this thing was broken...
But yes, City Hall does look like a movie set or something out of a grand opera... Almost beyond dramatic and into the surreal...
And thanks for stopping by Kelly L... Very nice to meet you...
You got some really nice shots! It's a tough building to photograph.
What a beautiful building! I love the golds and yellows inside.
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