San Francisco's Aquatic Park
San Francisco's Aquatic Park

Author: Bill Pickelhaupt

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738530840

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Aquatic Park has long been the place where San Franciscans and tourists alike go to enjoy an authentic maritime experience. Along Hyde Street Pier and the sandy strip of beach near the Maritime Museum, this area was once called Black Point Cove. It now hosts a dramatic array of historic ships such as the Balclutha (formerly Star of Alaska) and a graceful curvilinear pier with a sweeping vista of the Golden Gate. For most of its history, this park has seen recreational use of every stripe. Members of the delightful Dolphin Club have braved the chilly bay waters ever since the club was founded in 1877. Then there is the South End Rowing Club, which for many decades has carried on its graceful traditions in the protected lagoon.

The Forever Swim
The Forever Swim

Author: Antonio Argüelles

Publisher: Reverte

Published: 2020-04-21

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 8429195637

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Plunge into the water, accompany Antonio Argüelles on his Oceans Seven adventure, and, along the way, find out how to achieve your own dreams and goals. On August 3, 2017, Antonio Argüelles swam 35 kilometers from Northern Ireland to Scotland. When he arrived on the Scottish shore after a swim of nearly 14 hours through hypothermic currents wearing only a speedo, cap, and goggles, he became just the seventh person ever to conquer the Oceans Seven, an aquatic achievement on par with the Seven Summits. His feat made international news, in part because at 58 years old, he became the oldest athlete ever to complete the challenge. Despite all warnings and his own self-doubt, he endured stormy seas, 24-hour swims, venomous jellyfish blooms, and a host of other hazards to accomplish his dream. But no goal seized is an isolated incident, and Antonio's story is no exception. The Forever Swim is not only a tale of success; it is also the tale of how a hyperactive overweight boy would discover swimming, chase an Olympic dream, attend Stanford, and wade into the tangled web of Mexican politics. This is a story of risk, fear, confidence, failure, and loss. It shows how the ability to adapt, focus, and manage the mind enabled Antonio to overcome each setback that sought to take him down in and out of the water. The Forever Swim illuminates key strategies anyone can utilize to pursue their own goals and reminds us that no dream, however bold, is ever out of reach, as long as we are willing to chase it down with relentless discipline and joy.

Art Deco San Francisco
Art Deco San Francisco

Author: Therese Poletti

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press

Published: 2008-09-03

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9781568987569

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The Castro Theatre, the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Headquarters, 450 Sutter Medico-Dental Buildingthesemasterpieces of San Francisco's Art Deco heritage are the work of one man: Timothy Pflueger. An immigrant's sonwith only a grade-school education, Pflueger began practicing architecture after San Francisco's 1906 earthquake. While his contemporaries looked to Beaux-Arts traditions to rebuild the city, he brought exotic Mayan, Asian, and Egyptian forms to buildings ranging from simple cocktail lounges to the city's first skyscrapers. Pflueger was one of the city's most prolificarchitects during his 40-year career. He designed two major downtown skyscrapers, two stock exchanges, several neighborhood theaters, movie palaces for four smaller cities (including the beloved Paramount in Oakland), some ofthe city's biggest schools, and at least 50 homes. His works include the San Francisco Stock Exchange, the ever-popularTop of the Mark, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the San Francisco World's Fair. It is a testament to his talentthat many of his buildings still stand and many have been named landmarks. Therese Poletti tells the fascinating story of Pflueger's life and work in Art Deco San Francisco. In lively detail, she relates how Pflueger built extravagant compositions in metal, concrete, and glass. She also tells the story behind the architecture: Pflueger's commissioning and support of muralist Diego Rivera, his association with photographer Ansel Adams and sculptor Ralph Stackpole, and his childhood friendship turned to adulthood sponsorship with San Francisco Mayor James "Sunny" Rolph Jr. Beautiful archival photography mixes with stunning new photography in this collection of a truly Californian, but ultimately American, story.

Cool Gray City of Love
Cool Gray City of Love

Author: Gary Kamiya

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2014-10-14

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1620401266

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A kaleidoscopic tribute to San Francisco by a life-long Bay Area resident and co-founder of Salon explores specific city sites including the Golden Gate Bridge and the Land's End sea cliffs while tying his visits to key historical events. By the author of Shadow Knights. 30,000 first printing.

The Trees of San Francisco
The Trees of San Francisco

Author: Michael Sullivan

Publisher: Pomegranate

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 9780764927584

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Mike Sullivan loves his adopted city of San Francisco, and he loves trees. In The Trees of San Francisco he has combined his passions, offering a striking and handy compendium of botanical information, historical tidbits, cultivation hints, and more. Sullivan's introduction details the history of trees in the city, a fairly recent phenomenon. The text then piques the reader's interest with discussions of 71 city trees. Each tree is illustrated with a photograph--with its common and scientific names prominently displayed--and its specific location within San Francisco, along with other sites; frequently a close-up shot of the tree is included. Sprinkled throughout are 13 sidelights relating to trees; among the topics are the city's wild parrots and the trees they love; an overview of the objectives of the Friends of the Urban Forest; and discussions about the link between Australia's trees and those in the city, such as the eucalyptus. The second part of the book gets the reader up and about, walking the city to see its trees. Full-page color maps accompany the seven detailed tours, outlining the routes; interesting factoids are interspersed throughout the directions. A two-page color map of San Francisco then highlights 25 selected neighborhoods ideal for viewing trees, leading into a checklist of the neighborhoods and their trees.

Kodoku
Kodoku

Author: Kenichi Horie

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Published: 2014-03-25

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1462913342

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Kodoku is the true story of a young Japanese sailor whose fascination with the art of sailing led him on a solo trans-Pacific journey. First described in a best-selling Japanese book, then an internationally acclaimed motion picture, Kodoku is the full record of the background, conception, preparation, and execution of this daring, yet carefully planned adventure. It includes not only the full text of his original log, but also his supplementary comments, adding detail and highlight to the day-to-day experiences recorded in the log. Also included are charts, plans, and a diagram comparing some of the more noteworthy craft that sailed the open seas in the past. The 61 photographs, including 43 taken by Horie himself during the trip, add a vivid touch to this fascinating story of courage, tenacity, adventure, and humor.

Building San Francisco's Parks, 1850–1930
Building San Francisco's Parks, 1850–1930

Author: Terence Young

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2004-02-16

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9780801874321

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In 1865, when San Francisco's Daily Evening Bulletin asked its readers if it were not time for the city to finally establish a public park, residents had only private gardens and small urban squares where they could retreat from urban crowding, noise, and filth. Five short years later, city supervisors approved the creation of Golden Gate Park, the second largest urban park in America. Over the next sixty years, and particularly after 1900, a network of smaller parks and parkways was built, turning San Francisco into one of the nation's greenest cities. In Building San Francisco's Parks, 1850-1930, Terence Young traces the history of San Francisco's park system, from the earliest city plans, which made no provision for a public park, through the private garden movement of the 1850s and 1860, Frederick Law Olmsted's early involvement in developing a comprehensive parks plan, the design and construction of Golden Gate Park, and finally to the expansion of green space in the first third of the twentieth century. Young documents this history in terms of the four social ideals that guided America's urban park advocates and planners in this period: public health, prosperity, social coherence, and democratic equality. He also differentiates between two periods in the history of American park building, each defined by a distinctive attitude towards "improving" nature: the romantic approach, which prevailed from the 1860s to the 1880s, emphasized the beauty of nature, while the rationalistic approach, dominant from the 1880s to the 1920s, saw nature as the best setting for uplifting activities such as athletics and education. Building San Francisco's Parks, 1850-1930 maps the political, cultural, and social dimensions of landscape design in urban America and offers new insights into the transformation of San Francisco's physical environment and quality of life through its world-famous park system.

The Secret
The Secret

Author: Byron Preiss

Publisher: ibooks

Published: 2016-10-05

Total Pages: 1

ISBN-13:

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The tale begins over three-hundred years ago, when the Fair People—the goblins, fairies, dragons, and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen lands—fled the Old World for the New, seeking haven from the ways of Man. With them came their precious jewels: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls... But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve fabulous treasures. And they remained hidden until now... Across North America, these twelve treasures, over ten-thousand dollars in precious jewels, are buried. The key to finding each can be found within the twelve full color paintings and verses of The Secret. Yet The Secret is much more than that. At long last, you can learn not only the whereabouts of the Fair People's treasure, but also the modern forms and hiding places of their descendants: the Toll Trolls, Maitre D'eamons, Elf Alphas, Tupperwerewolves, Freudian Sylphs, Culture Vultures, West Ghosts and other delightful creatures in the world around us. The Secret is a field guide to them all. Many "armchair treasure hunt" books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.