My friend Louie and I started out the morning with Irish coffees and split a crab omelette out by the beach. Beautiful sunny day, fresh ocean breezes AND whales now migrating north. Lots of them cavorting off Ocean Beach, on their way back north after having calves in Baja.
Then, since I was looking for leather to make knife sheaths with (been making custom handles for Russell hand-in-USA carbon steel knives). We ended up going to the S. H. Frank Co on 17th street and it was an amazing place. Been there over 100 years, tons of leather, animal skins, tools. I got some leather working tools and some leather. Excited to finally have the punches, cutter, leather scissors, etc. so I can work leather.
Came on this morning as I was here working on a big shift in Shelter Publications’ future output on building.
Nutshell: from country to city,
i.e. from Walden to Detroit
Small Houses in Cities
Stay tuned…
This is such a perfect song:
Tired of Being Alone by Al Green on Grooveshark
You know what? I am suddenly REALLY excited by this idea. Just as I was with the idea of building on a piece of land in the country in the ’60s-’70s.
Different time now.
The last 2 posts hit a nerve: there have been 24 comments on the subject so far.
I was thinking last night about the concept of building in sketchy city neighborhoods:
To be sure, there are these. A beautiful young woman was gunned down 2 days ago in Oakland, trying to protect her kids from a gun fight on the streets. But I believe there a lot more neighborhoods that don’t have drugs and gunshots. When I go to Berkeley, I often cruise Oakland, Richmond, El Cerrito, San Leandro; have checked out Hayward (big town) and Vallejo (on the bay, old buildings downtown, about to get hot I’ll bet). Then there’s Martinez, Benecia, Hercules, San Ramon, Livermore, Danville…This is San Francisco Bay area, my turf, but others in other urban areas will know the outlying towns of big cities.
Point is: not every part of every city’s small building neighborhoods is a crime combat zone. I find tons of neighborhoods that don’t look dangerous.
Here are a few homes in the East Bay. How many little homes like this are in the USA?
I just decided we’ll have a big section in our forth coming book, Small Homes, on “Small Homes in Cities.” If you have something to contribute, write us at smallhomes@shelterpub.com.
There was an article in the New York Times on March 7, 2015, that mentioned that there are 800 or so abandoned homes in the Bay Area city of Richmond. I think that fixing up run-down homes in less than opulent cities is one of the most viable, practical, and economical things that people wishing to create their own shelter could do in these times.
In fact, I make a point of shooting photographs of small homes in cities like Richmond, San Leandro, Hayward, Vallejo—nearby places where (some) neighborhoods are run down, but hopefully not infested with drug dealers and crime. I guess it’s a balancing act—if you can find a neighborhood that is on its way up, instead of one that is dangerous and has no hope for the future.
Detroit, for example, has scores of well-built small homes in decaying neighborhoods.
I sort of have a fantasy about fixing up an old place and planting a garden and making friends with the neighbors, who will be pleased that someone is improving their neighborhood. Having a house party and inviting the neighbors. People respond to positive action. It could work.
This will be one of the main subjects in our forthcoming book, Small Homes.
Photo by Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post Tiny Homes For The Homeless Built Out of Dumpster …”:
Hi Lloyd, ran across some more articles on this fellow and had a look at his website.
He now has a TON of pics of his tiny homes for the homeless, which he has pretty much created from garbage.
Hunted this post out, to put the link on, in case anyone is interesting in building some of these, he has quite detailed pics of his work in progress, and MANY many finished homes.
I believe these pics are from a photographer who has photographed this man’s work/art.
https://www.seenimages.com/homelesshomesproject/h2DEF07F0#h2a2b1063
No, no, a different kinda toot: see https://www.lloydkahn.com/2013/02/17/a-toot-in-san-francisco/.
Louie and I went over in the morning, went to the Cliff House Bistro at the beach. got a couple of Irish Coffees at the bar, then a great breakfast sitting at an ocean-view table AND the surf was big. There were maybe 50 surfers out, peaks everywhere, and everyone was getting rides. “We’re in ’em,” said Louie as breakfast was served, a salmon fishermen’s expression for being in the midst of a school of salmon.
We went into the unique vintage camera obscura (anyone see “Tim’s Vermeer” documentary?), then to the Academy of Sciences in the park to see the spectacular “Skulls” exhibit, then dinner that night at Camino, the wood-fired restaurant in Oakland. For desert we stopped at Mel’s on Lombard, split an, ahem, chocolate malt, and played Otis Redding on the juke box. We’re so bad.
Photo by Fred Lyon
Article in Slate by Jordan G. Teicher here
“At 90, Fred Lyon is a legendary San Franciscan photographer. He is now known for capturing the ethereal feel of the city and its people, but in the 1940s and ’50s, Lyon was scrabbling to gain a footing in the magazine industry. Luckily, it was a good time to do so: San Francisco was entering a new golden age, consumed by a post–World War II hunger for creative expression. His new book, San Francisco: Portrait of a City 1940-1960, out last month from Princeton Architectural Press, is a portrait of the city bursting with life, from its streets to its stores to its grandest palaces of art and culture.
Based 3,000 miles from New York—the center of the publishing industry—Lyon was left mostly to his own devices because editors knew he could be relied upon to organize, shoot, and deliver a story on deadline. What he strove for was “seduction, creating images that demanded more space than had been planned for them,” he said via email.…”
From Evan Kahn
Granville Island is a public market across a narrow stretch of water from downtown Vancouver. Lots of tourists, yes, but it’s solid. Everything there seems to be of high quality, not the usual krap you see at street fairs. The food market is the best I’ve ever seen. Here are some photos from last month.That’s Victor Pollan standing by his artistically designed fish display.
Read More …
My friend Louie and I started out the morning with Irish coffees and split a crab omelette out by the beach. Beautiful sunny day, fresh ocean breezes AND whales now migrating north. Lots of them cavorting off Ocean Beach, on their way back north after having calves in Baja.
