Ardenwood Farm Railroad Fair Coming Soon - August 30, 2007

If you are looking for something to do this Labor Day weekend, I can recommend the Seventh Annual Washington Township Railroad Fair at Ardenwood Historic Farm Regional Park in Fremont. Every year, the Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources brings in a steam locomotive to join their regular horse-drawn rail operation. There are rides on steam- and horse-drawn trains and handcars. There is a large garden railroad display, and all the regular animals and farm equipment and the beautiful Patterson house.

It's well worth a visit, and it's just across the Dumbarton Bridge, which should not be too badly affected by the Bay Bridge closure.

I took this photo of Antelope and Western 1 on Labor Day, 2006.

What Is This? #1 - August 28, 2007

I've been in a training class this week in downtown San Francisco. Would anyone like to guess what building this is, as seen from our classroom? The first person with the correct answer gets 2 million points. I'll reveal the answer in a future post.

Thomas Flyer - August 26, 2007

San Francisco's Olympic Club sponsored a racing meet at Tanforan Race Track on Sunday, 25-August -1907. The Thomas Flyer won the "five mile Free-for-All race for runabouts", made the fastest mile of the day, and "won both twenty-file mile heats and the final in the distance race of the day."

John Stephenson, Car Builder - August 24, 2007

John Stephenson built what many consider to have been the first horse car, a horse-drawn rail vehicle intended for urban transit, 175 years ago, in 1832, for the New York and Harlem Railroad. His company continued building horse cars, cable cars, and electric streetcars until 1919.

It's Hard Work Being a Cat #2 - August 21, 2007

I took this one on 29-July-2007.

Max Roach, RIP - August 19, 2007

Max Roach passed on the other day. I was surprised to read that he was 83, and yet he had been around as long as I can remember. They used to play his music and talk about him on KJAZ. He would turn up on television sometimes. He always looked really serious, with the glasses and the suits. He wasn't one of the musicians I wanted to be when I grew up (I never wanted to be a drummer), but he was always there.

He subbed in Duke Ellington's orchestra when he was 16. He was one of the creators of bebop. He played on "Birth of the Cool". There aren't many people left (Lee Konitz?) who played on those sessions.

He composed, he taught. He led a good life.

A Tribute to Gertrude Stein - August 16, 2007

I took this in Yerba Buena Gardens on 11-August-2007.