The Right Lion -- January 8, 2012

Two lions have guarded the entrance to Sutro Heights since the 1880s.  This is the right lion.  The originals were made by Belgian sculptor Guillaume Geefs. The GGNRA replaced them with copies about 100 years later.

Yesterday my daughter took a test at George Washington High School.  I drove up to the San Francisco monument and took some photos.  Then I parked at the lot which replace Merrie Way.  The new visitor center is making progress.  I walked up to Sutro Heights and walked around.  Then I went down the road and took photos of Sutro Baths and the Cliff House.

After the test, we had lunch at Bill's Place.  We both had the Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins Burger.

Charles Addams 100 -- January 7, 2012

Happy 100th birthday to one of my favorite cartoonists, Charles Addams.  When I was young, I enjoyed The Addams Family television show.  Later on I saw his cartoons in The New Yorker and then discovered books of them at the library.  I realized later that the Addams Family was not like other families on television.  The parents loved each other and showed it.  They spent time with their children and encouraged their curiosity.  The children respected their parents.  Very strange.

Train Station #42 -- January 6, 2012

The Southern Pacific built this depot in 1926. The Virginia and Truckee shared the depot until 1950. In the late 1970s, my family took the California Zephyr from Oakland 16th Street to Reno. We arrived at this station. A few years ago, the ReTRAC project eliminated grade crossings by putting the tracks into a trench. At the same time, the station was expanded. The new Amtrak addition has many relics that archaeologists dug up during the project.

I took the photo in July, 2011, but the sign over the door advertises National Train Day in May.

Firehouse #51 -- January 5, 2012

The former home of Chemical Company 2, built is 1898, is on Tenth Avenue between Lincoln and Irving. I took the photo on 10-January-2011.

Conjurer, Illusionist and Pianist -- January 3, 2011

Robert Heller was a British-born American magician who had a successful career performing magic and playing the piano.  He retired from magic in 1875 but continued working as a musician until he died in 1878.  Heinrich Keller changed his name to Harry Kellar to reduce the chance of confusion with Heller.

This program, from Heller's 23-May-1867 appearance in Salt Lake City, was reproduced in The Old and the New Magic by Henry Ridgely Evans, 1906.

Street Car Paces Plane -- January 2, 2012

From the November, 1930 issue of Flying Magazine. Car 126 of the Cincinnati and Lake Erie Railroad was a lightweight Red Devil built by the Cincinnati Car Company in 1929.  The Red Devils maintained high speed service, but the line had no block signals, so they were involved in several head-on collisions.  


Here is a plane which has to travel at its hight speed in order to keep up with a street car.

The fault is not with the plane. The electric car is traveling 90 m.p.h. and the "Pathe News" camera is trying to keep up with it in the plane overhead.

This electric car is reported to be the fastest in the world and is being used for interurban service near Dayton, Ohio.

Happy New Year #5 -- January 1, 2012

I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

 The cartoon by Rube Goldberg shows a man making lots of New Year's resolutions which he may not keep. It is from the 01-January-1912 San Francisco Call.  Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.