San Francisco Bay Authority

[naftixe 131]

This CJ will only be updated in the new CJ section.

I will no longer continue this thread.

Please visit the new CJ section for San Francisco Bay Authority.

Thanks for following.

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Episode 01
.		The following is a previously recorded CJ entry from the "New CJ"  Area Originally aired on 09/11/2009 Tune-In to the New CJ area for up to date entries...
		Welcome to the San Francisco Bay Authority This is a re-creation of a very large area of the Central San Francisco Bay Area. The following cities are to be included in this CJ: San Francisco Daly City South San Francisco Sausalito Marin City Berkeley Oakland Alameda San Leadro
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The Lay of the Bay This image is the area that I am re-creating. It has been downloaded from USGS and converted for SC4 game play. Facts: each individual tile is ~52 feet / 16m as such, a large map is 256 tiles or ~2.5 miles / ~4km San Francisco City/County itself is ~7 miles/~11km by ~7 miles/~11km The entire region is somewhere in the area of 18 miles / 29 km by 18 miles / 29 km. 324 sq miles / 841 sq km. Needless to say but there are many large, medium and small tiles here, but they are mostly large tiles. I attempt to stay true to the road and transportation layouts To a playable extent I duplicate the real existing zoning. Due to SFO is just barely off the map, I have moved it slightly north to get in here. Also due to limitations, this is not be a brick by brick re-creation but rest assured it is very close.
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San Francisco City/County
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A Great Many Thanks! I wish to personally thank everyone here for the great personal contributions to SC4. I will attempt to give credit when I showcase a specific item used in my re-creation of this region. naftixe

Replied Posts

saywhatman Sep 11 2009 1027AM: Sweet! I can't wait for more!
abcvs Oct 06 2009 1102PM: Looks like a huge project!

[Sky Guy 163]

Cant wait for SC pix!

[Petrovar Ambassador 15]

same here, I know it'll be great!

[Keegan V50 15]

Great start here and good luck in future updates!

all the best

victor

[Mayorm 14]

great start, I will be watching this cj

[cmdp123789 710]

WOW!!! I like San Francisco recreations... hope to see updates soon...

[ironicepitome 0]

schweeeeeeeeeeeeet! now if only you could do Benicia, my uncle lives there

[T-Way 0]

wow, i cant wait to see this. im actually working on my own version of oakland myself.

[naftixe 131]

Episode 02

Originally aired 09/24/2009 in the new CJ section

The Embarcadero (San Francisco)   The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront roadway of the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, along San Francisco Bay. It sits atop an engineered seawall on reclaimed land. The name derives from the Spanish word embarcar, identifying it as the place to embark. It begins at the intersection of 2nd and King Streets near AT&T Park, and travels north, passing under the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. The sidewalk along the waterfront between Harrison Street and Broadway was named "Herb Caen Way..." after the death of celebrated local columnist Herb Caen in 1997. The three dots, or ellipsis, deliberately are included in honor of columnist Herb Caen's Pulitzer Prize winning writing style. The Embarcadero continues north past the Ferry Building at Market Street, Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39, before ending at Pier 45. A section of The Embarcadero which ran between Folsom Street and Drumm Street was formerly known as East Street. San Francisco's shoreline historically ran south and inland from Clarke's Point below Telegraph Hill to present-day Montgomery Street and eastward toward Rincon Point, enclosing a cove named Yerba Buena Cove. As the city grew, the cove was filled. Over fifty years a large offshore seawall was built and the mudflats filled, creating what today is San Francisco's Financial District. The San Francisco Belt Railroad, a short line railroad for freight, ran along The Embarcadero. The roadway follows the seawall, a boundary first established in the 1860s and not completed until the 1920s. During the early-20th century when the seaport was at its busiest and before the construction of the Bay Bridge, the trolly loop, now the trolly plaza, in front of the Ferry Building was one of the busiest areas of foot traffic in the world; only Charing Cross Station in London and Grand Central Terminal in New York City were busier Piers 1, 1½, 3 and 5 (which now comprise the Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District) were dedicated chiefly to inland trade and transport. These connections facilitated the growth of communities in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and fostered California's agricultural business. The Delta Queen docked at Pier 1½, ferrying people between San Francisco and Sacramento. There was once a pedestrian footbridge that connected Market Street directly with the Ferry building and a subterranean roadway to move cars below the plaza. In the earliest days, a maze of cable car tracks terminated here, servicing the ferry commuters. These were eventually replaced by a loop for several streetcar lines. During World War II, San Francisco's waterfront became a military logistics center; troops, equipment and supplies left the Port in support of the Pacific theater. Almost every pier and wharf was involved in military activities, with troop ships and naval vessels tied up all along the Embarcadero. However, after the completion of the Bay Bridge and the rapid decline of Ferries and the Ferry Building, the neighborhood fell into decline. The transition to container shipping, which moved most shipping to Oakland, led to further decline. Automobile transit efforts led to the Embarcadero Freeway being built in the 1960s. This improved automobile access to the Bay Bridge, but detracted aesthetically from the city. For 30 years, the highway divided the waterfront and the Ferry Building from downtown. It was torn down in 1991, after being severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

King Street SPOTLIGHT

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King Street Terminus with I-280

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King Street & 4th Street

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King Street & 2nd Street

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South Embarcadero (ATT Park)

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Central Embarcadero (Herb Caen Way)

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North Embarcadero (North Beach)

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North Embarcadero (Fisherman's Wharf Terminus)

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*-*-*

Special Thanks to all who are following this CJ!

And a huge unpayable debt of gratitute to all those who work so hard on the LOTs BATs MODs and everything I am using to make this CJ possible.

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9 Comments

Retep Molinari Posted on Sep-24-2009 11:18 PM

Nice!

EmergencyManager Posted on Sep-25-2009 2:06 AM

could end up being a massive project! looking foward to more!

(x+x²²/x Posted on Sep-25-2009 9:45 AM

nice!

saywhatman Posted on Sep-26-2009 11:47 AM

Excellent! This looks so amazing. I can't wait for more. Its realistic and everything. I can't wait for you to do where I live!

abcvs Posted on Oct-06-2009 11:06 PM

I really like your classic map! ...and well done on the shore reclaimations.

Retep Molinari Posted on Oct-07-2009 6:11 PM

Hey, buy the way, it's not the "F" down on that side... it's going to be the "E" line.

naftixe Posted on Oct-07-2009 7:18 PM

Retep Molinari: Sorry, typo. At least I got the line in the right place

Retep Molinari Posted on Oct-08-2009 12:48 PM

For real! Well done. I am a bit of a SF transit geek (see avatar) and I am impressed, for what that's worth.

naftixe Posted on Oct-08-2009 6:42 PM

Thanks retep

[naftixe 131]

Episode 03
	A PRESS RELEASE FROM: The San Francisco Bay Authority   Public Relations Department . . . (SFBA, September 28, 2009) - The SFBA-PR has debuted their campaign for the public's awareness on the regional progress of the San Francisco Bay Authority. The key component of the campaign will highlight the strive for accuracy and authenticity which can be achieved in a "Simulated" City environment. The SFBA-PR urges all to remember the technological and knowledge contraints of its designer. The Regional Planning Manager (RPM) has expressed extreme gratitute for the responses received thus far to the SFBA-PR office. Of the contacted comments, the RPM has issued the following responses to be made public. - - - * * * - - - saywhatman: The very 1st post, and we hope we are staying "sweet" in a real sugary way and not coming off as Asparteme. Retep Molinari: Thanks for the one-worded vote of confidence, without ever having seen the project unveiled. EmergencyManager: Yes, it is a very very very very very MASSIVE project. Not one I would recommend for most to attempt. On the NE section of SF city, I have spent probally 100+ hours on it. (x+x²²/x: Another voter in the dark. Kind of like election day when you have no idea on who this person is on the ballot. BUT thanks for the blind trust in this project's potential! saywhatman: I see that you are leaning towards real sugar now that I am showing some progress, instead of artificial sweetner. I always enjoy real people who live in the city I am attempting to re-create, commenting on the work I am doing!

The Real Life San Francisco City/County Mass Transit Map

NOMA & SOMA Mass Transit Lines for SFBA

. . Brilliantly made, available on the STEX Without these SFBA could NOT and WOULD not exist!!! Diagonal GLR Station Embarcadero & North Point In- & On- Road Tram Station Jefferson & Mason Station near Fisherman's Wharf 7 Comments sandy32000 Posted on Sep-28-2009 11:51 AM Brilliant!!! It looks almost the same Retep Molinari Posted on Sep-28-2009 11:54 AM Well done! (I live in SF!) You might want to get new streetcar skins of the STEX. Also, I should send you my map of a possible extended Muni Metro system ;-) Retep Molinari Posted on Sep-28-2009 11:55 AM And did you make that transit map? naftixe Posted on Sep-28-2009 12:38 PM I am using SF based skins on my GLR, Trains, Buses, and SFPD cars. The REAL SF transit map I posted was NOT made by me. It is © by urbanrail.net, and it is marked in the lower left hand corner as so. saywhatman Posted on Sep-28-2009 7:06 PM https://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=2111 This is frogfaces subway pack with some SERIOUSLY EXCELLENT BART skins. There are not many elevated BART streches, but it looks very realistic for maybe macarthur station. However, they appear on tram networks too . I have yet to find any good MUNI or AcTransit Buses. What trains an buses are you using? naftixe Posted on Sep-29-2009 3:15 AM I will post a page later with all Transit Plugins used in this CJ. abcvs Posted on Oct-06-2009 11:08 PM Some serious attention to detail going on here.

I-80: Shown here from 101 terminus to the Bay Bridge West Span, set on a diagonal with 3 exits at 7th/8th, 4th/5th, and 1st/2nd/Beale/Transbay. Also includes the massive ramping at the Transbay section. I-280: Very short section shown from the south, splits at Mission Creek. Ramp to 6th Streets and also terminates at King, which turns into Embarcadero at ATT park. US-101: Shown here from 80/101 interchange and heads west to Market/Octavia. BART: Yellow diagonal line on Market. Represented by a subway line directly under Market with its 5 stations. BART then continues east under the Bay Bridge into Oakland. MUNI Subway Ext.: Proposed subway to run from 4th/King NW to Montgomery then north to Columbus then NW to terminate at Broadway. This proposed extension has been built by SFBA for showcasing later. The real plan states it is to ease the transit overload in the Chinatown area, the 3rd/4th street corridors in SOMA, also to provide another transit route to the Caltrains Station at 4th/Townsend and the Mission Bay Campus. The tunnel would be 3 miles and is currently too cost prohibitive with SF currents financial situation. Caltrains: Enters from the south on the I-280 corridor into the massive 4th/Townsend terminal station. A HSR (High Speed Rail) line parallels it and turns into a tunnel that goes to the NEW Transbay Transit Center. MUNI: The purple lines are GLR and represents also the trolly lines of P&M (Powell & Mason), Hyde, California and the F-Line (Embacadero from Market Street to Fisherman's Wharf). The T-line is from Market down the Embacadero to 4th to Mission bay and continues south. MUNI lines to the western parts of the city(i.e. Sunset & OMI etc) is laying inbetween two one way roads that make up Market Street. The reason for this was for stations to work properly and to give Market its bredth of its width in this re-creation. Transbay: The transit hub of San Francisco, created here to the vision of the NEW center that is being built. In this version, alot of NEW proposed Transbay restructuring and buildings are included! Bus Lines: These are everywhere. In this part of the real city, you practically have one on every turn. So, it is that ways here too!

[naftixe 131]

Originally aired on 09/28/2009 in the New CJ section

Episode 04
	San Francisco Bay Authority Public Relations  (SFBA-PR) PRESENTS . . . The Aquatic Park Historic District     Aquatic Park Historic District was a building complex on the San Francisco Bay waterfront in San Francisco, California, United States. It was located within San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and was itself a National Historic Landmark. The district included a "beach, bathhouse, municipal pier, restrooms, concessions stand, stadia, and two speaker towers". It housed the San Francisco Maritime Museum in a Streamline Moderne (late Art Deco) building built as a public bathhouse. The building was originally built (starting in 1936) by the WPA as a public bathhouse, and its interior is decorated with fantastic and colorful murals. The Steamship Room illustrates the technological evolution of maritime power from wind to steam, whilst the second floor displays include three photomurals of the early San Francisco waterfront, lithographic stones, scrimshaw and whaling guns. The third floor gallery was used for visiting exhibitions and was in 2005 exhibiting "Sparks", an exhibition of shipboard radio, radiotelephone, and radioteletype technology. In front of the Maritime Museum is a man-made lagoon on the site of the former Black Point Cove. To the west is the horseshoe shaped Municipal Pier. The lagoon is fronted by a sandy beach and a stepped concrete seawall. To the south was a grassy area known as Victorian Park which used to contain the Hyde Street cable car turnaround. Hyde Street Pier, though part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, is not part of Aquatic Park Historic District. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The Maritime Museum was destroyed in the 2012 earthquake, due to seismically unstable ground from the previous century's landfilling of the area. In 2015, the New Maritime Museum was opened atop 100 foot plus deepened reinforced anchoring piers just to the east of the original Museum. Additional beach was added to the old site and it reopened as an expanded park. It is now at the foot of Hyde Street, next to the Hyde Street Pier.

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A Post Card from the Aquatic Park

TO: Simtropolis Members

FROM: SFBA Tourism Board

 2 Comments

TekindusT Posted on Sep-28-2009 12:45 PM

Wow, very nice and realistic CJ! I don't know very much how SF is, but I like your job very much! Keep the great work!

Blakeway Posted on Oct-01-2009 5:32 PM

You did a fantastic job at Lombard Street! xD I went to SF this summer and I came to that street, there must be more photographs but... xD! GOOD JOB!

TekindusT : SF is simple, there's the golden gate North-West, the Bay Bridge East San José and Airport South, Wine Country North and Pacific Ocean West... xD

[cmdp123789 710]

OMFG!!!! absolutely incredible!!! I loved the update.... Can you post a region view?? I want to see the look of the skyline!!! Are the buildings plop by you??

[naftixe 131]

Majority of buildings are grown, except for key buildings. ie Aquatic park building which is a Maxis Landmark (that is tweaked for jobs). In the downtown update, I think only 5 are plopped, Transamerica, One Rincon Hill, Transbay Skyscraper, Transbay Terminal, and Hilton at Market/Embarcadero.

[naftixe 131]

Originally Aired 09/29/2009 in the New CJ section

Episode 05

	Fisherman's Wharf / North Waterfront is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California, U.S. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street. It is best known for being the location of Pier 39, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, the Cannery Shopping Center, Ghirardelli Square, a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, the Musée Mécanique, the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf, Forbes Island and restaurants and stands that serve fresh seafood, most notably dungeness crab and clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl. Some of the restaurants, like Pompeii's and Alioto's #8, go back for three generations of the same family ownership. Nearby Pier 45, there is a chapel in memory of the "Lost Fishermen" of San Francisco and Northern California though it might not always be open every day. Once a year, the chapel has a service for the lost fishermen. Transportation to Fisherman's Wharf can be provided in a variety of ways. The F Market streetcar runs through the area, the Powell-Hyde cable car lines runs to Aquatic Park, at the edge of Fisherman's Wharf, and the Powell-Mason cable car line runs a few blocks away. Other popular areas in San Francisco, such as Chinatown, Lombard Street and North Beach are all located in proximity to Fisherman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf plays host to many San Francisco events, including a world-class fireworks display for Fourth of July, and some of the best views of the Fleet Week air shows. One of the city's most popular figures is a harmless but controversial resident of Fisherman's Wharf called the World Famous Bushman, a local street performer who sits behind some branches and startles people who walk by. He has gained notoriety during the 28 years he has been doing this.

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	I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the North Waterfront District and Fisherman's Wharf *-*-* Naftixe

3 Comments

dimipol006 Posted on Sep-29-2009 3:33 PM

I like the waterfront very mych & the region photo looks great!

stoney525 Posted on Sep-30-2009 6:47 AM

very nice to see a very good waterfront

abcvs Posted on Oct-06-2009 11:11 PM

Interesting how the high rises are really confined to the Financial District, and then you hit the medium density in the next block.

[naftixe 131]

Episode 06
Originally aired 09/29/2009 in the New CJ section		500+ Page Views Benchmark! SFBA - PR Public Service Announcement . . . Bad Idea! . GOOD IDEA! .

Use SFMTA, MUNI, & BART

save your

green

&

help the planet stay green!

     

I might need to ask the advertising marketing department some SERIOUS questions!

Naftixe

3 Comments

BradySeitz Posted on Sep-29-2009 3:07 PM

Love the jury duty summons. I feel that way with the creditors that call my house, not for me, still too young for that stuff. All I have are student loans. Public tranist is a green idea, too bad in the PA/OH area there isn't that much public transit available, other than small buses that run twice a day.

Great job on the SF bay area!

SR269 Posted on Oct-02-2009 7:50 PM

Every time I put GLR my game crashes,could you help?

naftixe Posted on Oct-03-2009 10:30 AM

Please go to the following forum Simtropolis » SimCity 4 Builders Forum » Modding - Transit Networks » and someone here will help you, also browse the forum looking for you particular situation.

[naftixe 131]

Episode 07

Originally aired 10/05/2009 in the New CJ Section
Replies by naftixe sr269 - I hope you find the answer to GLR issues in the modding transit forums.   bradyseitz -  Thanks, I think it is hilarious too, the summons!   saywhatman & retepmolinari - thanks for the info on SF skins. I am already using skins that are SF based. Later I will list them.   sandy33000 - what do you mean "almost the same". I though I got it dead on. Just kidding, glad you like it! dimipol006 & stoney525 - I love a good conditioned waterfront and work very hard using just a two types of downloaded sea walls. Thanks for noticing the hours of care I put into it.		Russian Hill, San Francisco Russian Hill is an affluent, largely residential neighborhood of San Francisco, California, in the United States. Views from the top of the hill extend in several directions around the Bay Area, including the Bay Bridge, Marin County, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz. Russian Hill is home to the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute, located on Chestnut Street between Jones and Leavenworth Streets. Because of the steepness of the hill, many streets, portions of Vallejo and Green streets, for example, are staircases. Another famous feature of Russian Hill are the many pedestrian-only lanes such as Macondray Lane and Fallon Place, both with beautiful landscaping and arresting views. The Russian Hill area as within Bay Street, Van Ness Avenue, Taylor Street, and Broadway.  Russian Hill is directly to the north (and slightly downhill) from the highly affluent Nob Hill, to the south (uphill) from Fisherman's Wharf, and to the west of the North Beach neighborhood. The Hill is bordered on its west side by parts of the neighborhoods of Pacific Heights, Cow Hollow, and the Marina District. Downhill to the north is Ghirardelli Square, which sits on the waterfront of the San Francisco Bay, Aquatic Park, and Fisherman's Wharf, an extremely popular tourist area. Down the turns of Lombard Street and across Columbus Avenue to the east is the neighborhood of North Beach. Down the hill to the west, past Van Ness Avenue, are Cow Hollow and the Marina districts. The neighborhood's name goes back to the Gold Rush era, when settlers discovered a small Russian cemetery at the top of the hill. Although the bodies were never identified, the bodies probably belonged to Russian fur traders and sailors from nearby Fort Ross, an old Russian outpost north of San Francisco. The cemetery was removed, but the name remains to this day. There is no significant Russian presence here as the city's Russian community is located primarily in the Richmond District. In the early 1900s, Colonel Andrew Summers Rowan, "the man who carried the message to Garcia," lived on Vallejo St. Also on Vallejo street at that time was Mrs. Mary Curtis Richardson, a portrait painter whose painting of the mother and child was copied a million times in postcards during the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915. Life in the neighborhood during the 1970s was used as the base for the fictionalized series Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. The neighborhood was also featured in the early scenes of the 1982 action-comedy feature film, 48 Hrs. The cast of The Real World: San Francisco, which aired in 1994, lived in the house at 949 Lombard Street on Russian Hill from February 12 to June 19, 1994.

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Thanks,

Naftixe

 

1 Comment

Schulmanator Posted on Oct-05-2009 9:34 PM

Coolness! You have put a lot of work into this very nice CJ

[naftixe 131]

Episode 08 - Originally aired 10/05/2009 in the new CJ section

1200 Views & Thanks!		North Beach is a neighborhood in the northeast of San Francisco adjacent to Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf. It is the Little Italy of the city. North Beach is sheltered from ocean breezes by Russian Hill to the west and often enjoys sunny days when much of the city is shrouded in fog. The American Planning Association (APA) has named North Beach as one of ten 'Great Neighborhoods in America': Mention North Beach and what comes to mind is a mix of images and contrasts: arts, crafts, and jazz festivals; and a storied history involving known writers and musicians, movie sets and nightclubs. Added to this are several historical landmarks; a compact layout that makes walking enjoyable and easy; and a strong commitment to keeping businesses and stores independently owned and operated. Residents have fought to keep North Beach this way, and will continue to play an essential role in preserving this character. North Beach is bounded by Taylor Street, Bay Street, Stockton Street, and Broadway. North Beach is a San Francisco, California neighborhood bounded by the former Barbary Coast, now Jackson Square, and the Financial District south of Broadway (except North Beach institutions extend down Columbus to Washington and Montgomery, where the Black Cat originally was), Chinatown to the southwest of Columbus below Green, and then Russian Hill to the west, Telegraph Hill to the east and Fisherman's Wharf at Bay Street to the north. Typical intersections are Union and Columbus, the southwest corner of Washington Square, Grant Avenue and Vallejo, location of Caffe Trieste, Mason and Francisco, places for much shopping and dining. The somewhat compact layout of the neighborhood consists of three-story buildings painted in light colors dating from the 1920s, when people rebuilt after the earthquake and fire of 1906. The weather is typically San Franciscan: moderate, with occasional sunny hours between noon, after the morning fog burns off, and four, before the fog starts rolling back in from the Pacific Ocean. Originally, the city's northeast shoreline extended only to what is today Taylor and Francisco streets. The area largely known today as North Beach was an actual beach, filled in with soil years ago. This neighborhood, particularly on Broadway east of Columbus, was infamous until fairly recently as home to many of the city's striptease clubs. In the 19th century, the area was the locale of the infamous Barbary Coast. Many of the sex-related businesses seen in Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies, Paul Schrader's Hardcore and TV's The Streets of San Francisco have been converted to other, more mainstream uses. The Condor Club, on the corner of Columbus and Broadway, was opened in 1964 as America's first topless bar. It later became a lobster restaurant, then a New-Orleans seafood/jazz bar; now, again, it is a topless bar. The Lusty Lady, a peep-show establishment, is notable as the world's only worker cooperative strip club. The Broadway strip was also home to the Mabuhay Gardens, the Stone and On Broadway nightclubs, which were important venues in the punk rock scene of the late 1970s to mid-1980s. By the late 1990s, however, the economic facts of life asserted themselves and the area's diverse nightlife became limited to those places that could afford to stay in business. There is a street fair on Grant Avenue on Father's Day and a parade along Columbus Avenue to Aquatic Park around Columbus Day. There is a National Shrine at Vallejo and Columbus and Sts. Peter and Paul Church on Filbert north of Washington Square. The Powell Mason cable car line ends in the outer portion of North Beach where there is no beach. North Beach has a strong Italian American flavor due to its early 20th century history as a neighborhood of Italian immigrants. An alleyway off of Columbus between Kearny and Broadway is named for Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac, who once lived there and frequented the famous City Lights Bookstore on the corner of Columbus and Broadway as well as the numerous nearby bars and coffee shops. Baseball legend Joe Dimaggio grew up in the neighborhood and briefly returned to live there with his wife Marilyn Monroe. Prominent trial attorney Tony Serra has his office near the corner of Columbus and Broadway. The San Francisco Art Institute is located in the Northern end of North Beach, on Russian Hill, while the Academy of Art University has several buildings in the area, including one along Columbus Street and one across Pier 39.

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Enjoy!

Thanks,

naftixe

O Comments

[naftixe 131]

Episode 09 - Originally aired 10/06/2009 in the New CJ section

¤ Thanks Schulmanator!
1400 Views Now being displayed in ®Super Vivid Deluxe Pixellated Color©!		Telegraph Hill, San Francisco CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW

	Telegraph Hill (elev 275 ft, 83 m) refers to a small hilly district in San Francisco, California. Its main feature is Coit Tower, which stands atop the hill. Telegraph Hill is primarily a residential area, much quieter than adjoining North Beach with its bustling cafés and nightlife. Aside from Coit Tower, it is well-known for its gardens flowing down Filbert Street down to Levi Plaza. The neighborhood is bounded by Vallejo Street to the south, Sansome Street to the east, Francisco Street to the north and Powell Street and Columbus Avenue to the west, where the southwestern corner of Telegraph Hill overlaps with the North Beach neighborhood.
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	Originally named Loma Alta ("High Hill") by the Spaniards, the hill was then familiarly known as Goat Hill by the early San Franciscans, and became the neighborhood of choice for many Irish immigrants. From 1825 through 1847, the area between Sansome and Battery, Broadway and Vallejo streets was used as a burial ground for foreign non-Catholic seamen. The hill owes its current name to a semaphore, a windmill-like structure erected in September 1849, for the purpose of signaling to the rest of the city the nature of the ships entering the Golden Gate. Atop the newly-built house, the marine telegraph consisted of a pole with two raisable arms that could form various configurations, each corresponding a specific meaning: steamer, sailing boat, etc. The information was used by observers operating for financiers, merchants, wholesalers and speculators. As some of these information consumers would know the nature of the cargo carried by the ship they could quickly predict the upcoming (generally lower) local prices for those goods and commodities carried. Those who did not have advance information on the cargo might pay a too-high price from a merchant unloading his stock of a commodity — a price that was about to drop. On October 18, 1850, the ship Oregon signaled to the hill as it was entering the Golden Gate the news of California's recently acquired statehood. CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW   The pole-and-arm signals on the Telegraph Hill semaphore became so well-known to townspeople that, according to one story, during a play in a San Francisco theater, an actor held his arms aloft and cried, "Oh God, what does this mean?," prompting a rogue in the gallery to shout, "Sidewheel steamer!," which brought down the house. Sailing ships brought cargo to San Francisco, but needed ballast when leaving. Rocks for ballast were quarried from the bay side of Telegraph Hill. Exposed rock from this quarrying is still visible from the Filbert Steps and from Broadway, where there was a large landslide on February 27, 2007 that damaged property and forced the evacuation of many residents.[2] A redundant station was built at Point Lobos in 1853. However, with the advent of the electrical telegraph in 1862, the system quickly became obsolete and was eventually dismantled, but the hill and its surrounding neighborhood have retained the name of Telegraph Hill. In the 1920s, Telegraph Hill became with North Beach a destination for poets and bohemian intellectuals, dreaming of turning it into a West Coast West Village. CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW
	Coit Tower was built in Pioneer Park atop Telegraph Hill in 1933 at the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the City of San Francisco; Lillie bequeathed one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved". Contrary to popular opinion, the tower was not designed to resemble a fire hose nozzle. This belief persists in part because of Lillie Hitchcock Coit's affinity with the San Francisco fire fighters of the day, in particular with Knickerbocker Engine Company Number 5. Although the architects claimed to have no design precedent in mind,[citation needed] during this time Europe saw the construction of aesthetically designed power stations that could be claimed as prototypes (e.g.: Battersea Power Station). The art deco tower, 210 feet (64 m) of unpainted reinforced concrete, was designed by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard with murals by 26 different artists and numerous assistants CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW The Coit Tower murals were carried out under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project, the first of the New Deal federal employment programs for artists. Ralph Stackpole and Bernard Zakheim successfully sought the commission in 1933, and supervised the muralists, who were mainly faculty and student of the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA), including Maxine Albro, Victor Arnautoff, Ray Bertrand, Rinaldo Cuneo, Mallette Harold Dean, Clifford Wight, Edith Hamlin, George Harris, Robert B. Howard, Otis Oldfield, Suzanne Scheuer, Hebe Daum and Frede Vidar. CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW   CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW After Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads mural was destroyed by its Rockefeller Center patrons for the inclusion of an image of Lenin, the Coit Tower muralists protested, picketing the tower. Sympathy for Rivera led some artists to incorporate leftist ideas and composition elements in their works. Bernard Zakheim's "Library" depicts fellow artist John Langley Howard crumpling a newspaper in his left hand as he reaches for a shelved copy of Karl Marx's Das Kapital with his right, and Stackpole is painted reading a newspaper headline announcing the destruction of Rivera's mural; Victor Arnautoff's "City Life" includes the The New Masses and The Daily Worker periodicals in the scene's news stand rack; John Langley Howard's mural depicts an ethnically diverse Labor March as well as showing a destitute family panning for gold while a rich family observes; and Stackpole's Industries of California was composed along the same lines as an early study of the destroyed Man at the Crossroads. CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW Two of the murals are of San Francisco Bay scenes. Most murals are done in fresco; the exceptions are one mural done in egg tempera (upstairs, in the last decorated room) and the works done in the elevator foyer, which are oil on canvas. While most of the murals have been restored, a small segment (the spiral stairway exit to the observation platform) was not restored but durably painted over with epoxy surfacing.   CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW Most of the murals are open for public viewing without charge during open hours, although there are ongoing negotiations by the Recreation and Parks Department of San Francisco to begin charging visitors a fee to enter the mural rotunda. The murals in the spiral stairway, normally closed to the public, are open for viewing on Saturday mornings at 11:00 am with a free San Francisco City Guides tour.
	CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW   The tower, which stands atop Telegraph Hill in San Francisco's Pioneer Park, offers fantastic views of San Francisco including the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park ("Aquatic Park"), Alcatraz, Pier 39, Angel Island, Treasure Island, the Bay Bridge, Russian Hill, the Financial District, Lombard Street, and Nob Hill. The Coit Tower took 5 years to build.

Thanks,

naftixe

6 Comments 

abcvs Posted on Oct-06-2009 11:17 PM

So considerate of Maxis to include the Coit Tower as a landmark!

Daan300 Posted on Oct-07-2009 2:39 PM

Great job! Keep it up.

tgcela Posted on Oct-07-2009 3:42 PM

this looks great keep it up. When are you going to do South City? and are you going to include the industrial city sign?

cdmiller1978 Posted on Oct-08-2009 6:06 PM

where is castro street?

naftixe Posted on Oct-08-2009 6:41 PM

In Noe Valley, southwest of the area I am working on currently. Noe Valley will be released at a latter time.

Retep Molinari Posted on Oct-10-2009 3:32 PM

Actually, Castro Street--while also in Noe Valley-- is in Eureka Valley. This is the part of Castro that is most famous.

[simcity4fan12 13]

Hey I see my Brownstones in there! Good choice. I really like this City Journal.

[cmdp123789 710]

Well it's excellent... so you have the entire city done already... how about some downtown pics for next update?? I would love to see the downtown area....!!!! WOW so basically you are saying that buildings are zoned?? so you didnt plopped them.... kinda lucky you were to get the buildings to be built right on the area u wantd to... I never get to get my buildings where I want them... SO I PLOP THEM HAHAHHA

[naftixe 131]

Episode 10 - Originally aired 10/14/2009 in the new CJ section

2,000 Page Views! Thanks to all that are following this CJ!		Financial District, San Francisco The Financial District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California that serves as its main central business district. The nickname "FiDi" is occasionally employed, analogous to nearby SOMA. Location The area is marked by the cluster of high-rise towers that lies between Grant Avenue east of the Union Square shopping district, Sacramento Street and Columbus Street, south of Chinatown and North Beach, and the Embarcadero that rings the waterfront. The city's tallest buildings, including 555 California Street and the Transamerica Pyramid, and some other tall buildings, such as 101 California Street and 345 California Street, are located here. The District is home to the city's largest concentration of corporate headquarters, law firms, banks, savings & loans and other financial institutions, such as the corporate headquarters of VISA, Wells Fargo Bank, the Charles Schwab Corporation, McKesson Corporation, Barclays Global Investors, Gap, the Union Bank of California and salesforce.com among others. The headquarters of the 12th district of the United States Federal Reserve are located in the area as well. Montgomery Street ("Wall Street of the West") is the traditional heart of the district. There are several shopping malls in the area including the Crocker Galleria, the Embarcadero Center, the Ferry Building, and the Rincon Center complex.

	CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL VIEW IN NEW WINDOW History Montgomery Street in San Francisco's financial district facing the Transamerica Pyramid. In the foreground is the flagship branch of Wells Fargo BankThe area was the center of European and American settlement during Spanish and later Mexican rule. Following American annexation and the California Gold Rush, the area boomed rapidly and the Bay shoreline, which originally ended at Battery St, was filled in and extended to the Embarcadero. Gold Rush wealth and business made it the financial capital of the west coast as many banks and businesses set up in the neighborhood. The west coast's first and only skyscrapers, were built in the area along Market Street. The neighborhood was completely destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake & Fire (although miraculously, the area's skyscrapers survived), and rebuilt. Because of state wide height restrictions due to earthquake fears, the district remained relatively low-rise throughout the 20th century until the late 1950s, when due to new building and earthquake retrofitting technologies, the height restrictions were lifted, fueling a skyscraper building boom. This boom accelerated under mayor Dianne Feinstein during the 1980s, something her critics labelled as "Manhattanization"[1]. This caused widespread opposition citywide leading to the "skyscraper revolt" similar to the "freeway revolt" in the city years earlier. The skyscraper revolt led to the city imposing extremely strict, European-style height restrictions on building construction city-wide. Owing to these height restrictions (which have been relaxed and overlooked over the years), overcrowding, and changes and demand in the local real estate market, development in the area, as well as the district's boundaries as a whole have shifted to SOMA as the focus has shifted from building office space to high-rise condominiums and hotels. Notable examples include the Four Seasons Hotel, The Paramount (the tallest apartment building in San Francisco and the West Coast),and the Millennium Tower, currently under construction.
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	Rincon Hill (Transbay) is one of many hills located in the greater South of Market in San Francisco, located just south of the Financial District. The top of the hill serves as the anchorage and touch-down for the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. Recently it is transitioning from a former industrial district into a high-density residential neighborhood. The hill is about 100 feet (30 m) tall. Background During and immediately following the Gold Rush, the most prestigious residential neighborhoods in San Francisco were located south of Market Street on Rincon Hill and in the nearby neighborhood known as Happy Valley (centered around First and Market Streets). With the advent of cable cars in the 1870s, the residential trend shifted towards new mansions built on the taller hills north of Market Street especially Nob Hill.[2] The Second Street Cut of 1869, which sliced through Rincon Hill to reach industrial areas to the south, also contributed to the decline of Rincon Hill as a fashionable residential area. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and the resulting fire destroyed the remaining Rincon Hill mansions. It was rebuilt as an industrial and maritime district, benefiting from its proximity to the Port of San Francisco and the Bay Bridge, completed in 1936. However, as the city's industrial and maritime industries declined (as in most US cities), the area became underutilized and rundown.[3] While its potential for housing development has long been recognized due to its proximity to downtown, blight prevented its effective redevelopment. In 1985, the city adopted an area plan for Rincon Hill in the city's General Plan, zoning this area adjacent to downtown for high-density residential development.[4] However, due to the presence of the former elevated Embarcadero Freeway surrounding the neighborhood, development in the area was slow coming, suffered from mediocre architecture, and lacked the pedestrian-oriented streets and open spaces emblematic of San Francisco's cherished neighborhoods. After the physical and psychological barrier of the Embarcadero Freeway (damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake) was removed in the early 1990s, the area within walking distance of downtown rocketed in attractiveness. Recent and planned developments The One Rincon Hill south tower at sunset, looking south The Infinity tower I (July 2008)In August 2005, the City adopted a new Plan for Rincon Hill, which revised the 1985 Plan with three major elements: Design guidelines emphasizing tall, slender and widely spaced towers, interspaces with mid-rise podiums with walk-up townhouses and retail A plan for narrowing the streets to provide more open space A system of development impact fees to pay for public improvements, affordable housing (all located off-site), and other community programs Recent downtown residential development in Vancouver served as a model for this new plan. The tall, residential towers sprouting in this area stretch up to 60 stories tall like One Rincon Hill and will offer tremendous views of the entire Bay Area, for those fortunate enough to afford them. Many people hope that this massive highrise development will spruce up Rincon Hill and, through the thousands of dwelling units coming onto the market, put a damper on San Francisco's housing crunch. The Plan Concerns about the future of the neighborhood Concerns abound that a significant portion of these new luxury units are being purchased by the regional and global elite for pied-à-terres and vacation homes. Unlike other San Francisco neighborhoods experiencing gentrification pains, Rincon Hill historically has had very little housing (save for a few homeless shelters), thus few are being displaced by new development. However, while developers are paying unprecedented mitigation fees for both community infrastructure (new parks, street narrowing) and human services (for the homeless who were displaced), so far all of the developers who have built in Rincon Hill to date have opted to build their required affordable housing off site (as is permitted for almost all new development citywide) in other portions of the South of Market. (The City's Inclusionary Housing ordinance currently requires that if developers opt to build their Below Market Rate units off-site that they must build them within 1 mile of the primary project site). New concerns have developed in the midst of the economic recession and the collapse of the housing market of the late 2000s that fueled the construction boom in Rincon Hill. Many condominium projects have been indefinitely put on hold, or canceled all together, as the construction of the north tower of the Rincon Hill complex, a twin to the first tower has also been put on indefinite hold due to economic fears and low demand.
	The Transbay and Rincon Hill material shown here was part of my source of what the area will look like in the future. I tried to keep it true to the vision, but still constrained by the limits of SC4.

Thanks,

naftixe

7 Comments

tim.12.game  Posted on Oct-14-2009 3:33 PM

DUDE, i'm freaking out with so much information.

I still love this CJ, wish I could make something like this or Jargeah

stoney525 Posted on Oct-14-2009 5:32 PM

thats a very intresting update with so much good info

keep up the goodwork

naftixe Posted on Oct-15-2009 9:25 PM

Due to the overwhelming amount of information and detail in this central area, I spend the next couple of pages showcasing the Financial, Rincon Hill and Transbay areas. Welcome to the beating heart of SFBA!

Retep Molinari Posted on Oct-18-2009 4:13 PM

Hey, I think that you would fins this useful: a full SF planning department zoning map!

http://www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp?id=35228

Good luck!

naftixe Posted on Oct-18-2009 7:12 PM

I have it printed out already 5 by 5 sheets of paper tapped together and tacked to the wall next to my computer. I have had this for about a year since my first attempt. Thanks though.

But I have to slightly change minor things for it to work within the confines of sc4

sumwonyuno Posted on Oct-21-2009 3:39 AM

This is a well done attempt at recreating a real life city in SimCity, and the story and descriptions only add value to this city journal. I don't have a problem with Maxis content being used because of the lack of available custom content. And, yes, the limitations of the game are there but you've been creative within those confines.

k50dude Posted on Nov-02-2009 10:51 PM

Interesting... Like it! Reminds me very much of San Francisco. The skyline in other updates and way too many trams/rails. Keep up the good work!

[naftixe 131]

Episode 11 - Originally aired in the new CJ section on 10/28/2009

Over 2700 Views! Thanks
		Welcome to the New Transbay After years of dilapidation and industrial flight from the area, a neo-urban landscape has developed. This new area is an all-inclusive zone that discourages long automobile commutes and promotes the cleanliness of public transport. Large green open spaces surrounded by towering residential and commercial zones. Many of the streets in this area will (in real life) and now (in this SC4 version) show off tree-lined streets with extra-wide pedestrian ways. More open park spaces are shown here. Also the new Transbay terminal is finished, with a large bus depot system, Caltrains commuter line that is extended from its old terminus at 4th/King to 1st/Mission area. Also shown here is the HSR (High Speed Rail) line that goes from San Diego to Los Angeles up to San Francisco, and across the bay to Oakland. A BART subway station is also housed here in the new terminal. If you look close enough you will see the massive I-80 exit interchange system that connects Transbay & Financial to points north and east via the Bay Bridge to Oakland and other points south via the 80 & 101.

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Enjoy,

naftixe

Bonus - Progress Regional PIC

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2 Comments

boon1234 Posted on Oct-29-2009 7:52 AM

I like your recreation skills - it looks great from region view. The way the buildings sit among the diagonals is very un-aestheticly pleasing. Diagonals are very hard. But great work, hope to see more.

Retep Molinari Posted on Nov-01-2009 1:40 AM

I can't wait to see your big updates!!

---

This CJ is now current in both the "old" and "new" CJ's.

Over 3,500 views has been made in the New CJ section for SFBA!

Updates will be primarily in the New CJ, then a rerun will be posted in the old CJ at a later date.

Currently this CJ is rated 4.00 Stars in the New CJ section with 17 votes.

Please continue to vote in the new CJ section.

Please feel free to comment in either or both the New CJ and the Old CJ sections of SFBA!

Thanks to all, and happy simming!

[cmdp123789 710]

WOW amazing... no words to describe how incredible this is... is this the only city recreation you are making? cause I'd love to see a NYC and a washington DC recreation of your skill!!!!

[redrummage 9]

So real its scary!

Well my lack of skill compared to yours is scary I should say.

[Larks2242 251]

Cool city Naftixe, looks just like the real thing!

[naftixe 131]

SFBA- Replies

Sky Guy: The pix are here

Petrovar Ambassador: Thanks for the confidence.

Victor Valdes: Thanks, more are coming.

Mayorm: Hope you are still watching.

cmdp123789: I am glad you like SF re-creations. I will try to point out which buildings are plops, I don't plop, except for landmarks. I hope you liked downtown. Sorry no DC or NYC, I tried and failed a few years ago, maybe I will play with them later after I am done with SF Bay.

Ironicepitome: I think Benecia is just out of range of my region, but thanks.

T-Way: I definitely will need some help when I cross the Bay to Oakland in this region. I do not have any source material for the eastern side as of yet.

simcity4fan12: I like brownstones too, I have a lot of wall-to-walls from STEX.

Redrummage: Thanks.

Larks2242: I try to keep it like the real city.

[Muck308 55]

This cj is extremely thorough. Very nice.

[naftixe 131]

Tenderloin & Downtown

 

Posted on Jan-27-2010

After a 3 month hiatus....         OVER 5,000 Views Thanks to the Loyal Fans! The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco California. Location The Tenderloin is a dense downtown neighborhood located in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, nestled between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. It encompasses about fifty square blocks and a conservative description has it bounded on the North by Post Street, on the East by Mason Street, on the South by Mission Street and on the West by Van Ness Avenue and Ninth Street. The northern boundary with Lower Nob Hill can range as far north as Pine Street in western sections of the Tenderloin, such as the Polk Gulch neighborhood. The extension of the Tenderloin south of Market Street in the vicinity of Sixth, Seventh, and Mission Streets is known locally as Mid-Market and is "Skid Row," or sarcastically as "the Wine Country," an allusion to "winos" (street-dwelling alcoholics). The northern part of it beginning at Post Street is called a variety of names, including Tenderloin Heights, Lower Nob Hill (widely used in real estate listings) or The Tendernob. The eastern extent, where it meets Union Square is known as the Theater District. Part of the western extent of the Tenderloin, Larkin and Hyde Streets between Turk and O'Farrell, was officially named "Little Saigon" by the City of San Francisco.               History There are a number of stories about how the Tenderloin got its name. One is that it is a reference to an older neighborhood in New York with the same name and similar characteristics. Another is a reference to the neighborhood as the "soft underbelly" (analogous to the cut of meat) of the city, with allusions to vice and corruption, especially graft. There are also some legends about the name, probably folklore including that the neighborhood earned its name from the words of a New York City police captain, Alexander S. Williams, who was overheard saying that when he was assigned to another part of the city, he could only afford to eat chuck steak on the salary he was earning, but after he was transferred to this neighborhood he was making so much money on the side soliciting bribes that now he could eat tenderloin instead. Another version of that story says that the officers that worked in the Tenderloin received a "hazard pay" bonus for working in such a violent area, and that is how they were able to afford the good cut of meat. Yet another story, also likely apocryphal, is that the name is a reference to the sexual parts of prostitutes (i.e., "loins"). The Tenderloin borders the Mission/Market Street corridor which follows the Spaniards' El Camino Real which in turn traced an ancient north/south Indian trail. Sheltered by Nob Hill and far enough from the Bay to be on solid ground, there is evidence of a community living here several thousand years ago, and when the area was excavated in the 1960s for the BART/MUNI subway station at Civic Center remains of a woman dated at 5,000 years old were found. The Tenderloin has been a downtown residential community since shortly after the California Gold Rush in 1849. It had an active nightlife in the late 1800s with many theaters, restaurants and hotels. Notorious madam Tessie Wall opened her first brothel on O'Farrell Street in 1898. Almost all of the buildings in the neighborhood were destroyed by the 1906 Earthquake and the backfires that were set by firefighters to contain the devastation. The Tenderloin was immediately rebuilt with some hotels opening by 1907 and apartment buildings shortly thereafter, including the historic Cadillac Hotel. By the 1920s, the neighborhood was notorious for its gambling, billiard halls, boxing gyms, "speakeasies," theaters, restaurants and other nightlife depicted in the hard boiled detective fiction of Dashiell Hammett who lived at 891 Post Street, the apartment he gave to Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon. In the mid-1900s the Tenderloin provided work for many musicians in the neighborhood's theaters, hotels, burlesque houses, bars and clubs and was the location of the Musician's Union Building on Jones Street. The most famous jazz club was the Black Hawk at Hyde and Turk Streets where Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, and other jazz greats recorded live albums for Fantasy Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With housing consisting almost entirely of single room hotel rooms, studio and one bedroom apartments, the Tenderloin historically housed single adults and couples. After World War II, with the decline in central cities throughout the United States, the Tenderloin lost population creating a large amount of vacant housing units by the mid-1970s. Beginning in the late 1970s, after the Vietnam War, the Tenderloin received large numbers of refugees from Southeast Asia—first ethnic Chinese from Vietnam, then Khmer from Cambodia and Hmong from Laos. The low cost vacant housing, and the proximity to Chinatown through the Stockton tunnel, made the area attractive to refugees and resettlement agencies. Studio apartments became home for families of four and five people and became what a local police officer called "vertical villages." The Tenderloin quickly increased from having just a few children to having over 3,500 and this population has remained. A number of neighborhood Southeast Asian restaurants, banh mi coffee shops, ethnic grocery stores, video shops and other stores were created at this time which still exist. Prior to the emergence of the Castro as a major gay village, the Polk Gulch at the western side of the Tenderloin was one of the city's first gay neighborhoods and a few of the gay bars and clubs still exist on Polk Street. Parts of Polk Street now cater to the recent gentrification of the neighborhood - such bars as Vertigo, Hemlock, and Lush Lounge. Both the movie and book The Maltese Falcon were based in San Francisco's Tenderloin. There is also an alley, in what is now Nob Hill, named for the book's author (Dashiell Hammett). It lies outside the Tenderloin because the boundary was defined differently than it is today. Some locations, such as Sam Spade's apartment and John's Grill, also no longer lie in the Tenderloin because local economics and real estate have changed the character and labeling of areas over time. In July 2008, the area was designated as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.         Characteristics Nestled between successful commercial areas and high priced residential areas, parts of the Tenderloin have historically resisted gentrification, maintaining a seedy character and reputation for crime. Squalid conditions, homelessness, crime, illegal drug trade, prostitution, liquor stores, and strip clubs give the neighborhood a seedy reputation. However, these conditions have also kept rents in the area more affordable to low-income and working class people in a city that is among the priciest in the country. Abandoned architectural landmarks are also located here, such as the old Hibernia Bank located on the corner of Jones and McAllister Street, near a methadone clinic. UC Hastings, California's first law school, and the oldest law school west of the Mississippi River, is also present in the neighborhood. Parts of the neighborhood serves forms part of the theater district. Prominent theatres include the Geary, the home of the American Conservatory Theater, and the Curran, Golden Gate and Orpheum Theatres operated by the Shorenstein Nederlander Organization. Alternative theaters in the Tenderloin include EXIT Theater, which operates four storefront theaters and produces the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the New Conservatory Theater, the Phoenix Theater, the Off-Market Theater, The Last Planet Theater and others. Alternate galleries include The Luggage Store, the 509 Cultural Center, the Shooting Gallery and others. The neighborhood has many bars dating to prohibition and before with dive bars, including some left over from when the neighborhood housed large numbers of merchant seamen such as the 21 Club and the 65 Club. New, trendy bars have surfaced in the neighborhood, some designed as imitation speakeasies. Many bars have entertainment including Lefty O'Doul's piano bar, the Dixieland-oriented Gold Rush, and the drag bar, Aunt Charlie's. Larger live music venues include the Great American Music Hall and the Warfield Theater. Historically, the Tenderloin has had a number of strip clubs, although their number has decreased in recent decades. The most well known is the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater. Crime The Tenderloin is a high crime neighborhood, particularly violent street crime such as robbery and aggravated assault. Seven of the top ten violent crime plots (out of 665 in the entire city as measured by the San Francisco Police Department) are adjacent plots in the Tenderloin and Sixth and Market area. The neighborhood was considered to be the origination of a notorious Filipino gang Bahala Na Gang or BNG, a gang imported from the Philippines. In the late 1960s to the mid 1970s, the gang was involved in extortion, drug sales, and murder for hire. Graffiti art is a common feature in the neighborhood as a featured artist Tie One was killed in the neighborhood. Dealing and use of illicit drugs occurs on the streets. Property crimes are common, especially theft from parked vehicles. Violent acts occur more often here and are generally related to drugs. The area has been the scene of escalating drug violence in 2007, including brazen daylight shootings, as local gangs from San Francisco, and others from around the Bay Area battle for turf. 14 of the city's 98 homicides took place in the area in 2007. The Tenderloin has been the home of Raphael House, the first provider in the city of shelter for homeless parents and children, since 1971. It is an ethnically diverse community, consisting of families, young people living in cheap apartments, downtown bohemian artists, and recent immigrants from Southeast Asia and Latin America. It is home to a large population of homeless, those living in extreme poverty, and numerous non-profit social service agencies, soup kitchens, religious rescue missions, homeless shelters and Single Room Occupancy hotels. All of this comes together to make this one of the most diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco. The Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC)has offered important social services to the poor of this neighborhood for decades. According to its Director, Randy Shaw, the clinic's "mission is to prevent tenant displacement, preserve and expand the city’s low cost housing stock and to provide comprehensive legal assistance to low income tenants. The Clinic is successful in fulfilling this mission by providing free legal services, securing SRO units through the Master Lease program and offering comprehensive support services to our clients." Religious institutions providing community services to the Tenderloin include Glide Memorial Church which was founded by Cecil Williams in 1963, and Saint Anthony's, a program of the Franciscans. Both provide meals and other social services to poor and homeless residents and others. Glide and the surrounding neighborhood provided much of the setting for the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness. Recently, residents have spearheaded a local arts revival with the creation of The Loin's Mouth, a semi-quarterly publication about life in the Tenderloin and Tenderloin Heights area. The Loin's Mouth was conceived of by its Editor, Rachel M., in the spring of 2006 and released its first issue in June the same year. It has a current circulation of approximately 6,000. Parks & Recreation Historically, the downtown Tenderloin had no parks between Union Square to the East and Civic Center Plaza to the West until a number of activists, organizing around the City's Citizens Committee for Open Space, advocated for more open space in the Tenderloin in the 1970s. As a result a number of parks and playgrounds were created including first Boeddeker Park, a multi-use facility, then the youth oriented Tenderloin Playground, followed by a number of mini-playgrounds. Boeddeker Park, located at the corner of Eddy and Jones Streets, is one of the most used parks per square foot in the City but has had difficulty meeting the needs of the neighborhood's varied communities. It is often unused by children and is commonly occupied by drug addicts and intoxicated people during the daytime. Periodically there are efforts to improve the park, such as holding free concerts. The Tenderloin Playground, on Ellis Street between Leavenworth and Hyde Streets, has attractive indoor and outdoor recreational facilities and hosts a number of community and family events. Sgt. John Macaulay Park, named after a San Francisco police officer who was killed in the adjacent alley while on duty, is a small gated playground at the corner of O'Farrell and Larkin Streets. Although the park is located across the street from a strip club, it is frequented by parents and children from the neighborhood.       Sorry for the three month delay, technical difficulties Hope You Enjoyed your visit, Naftixe

 

[SounderBruce 173]

Very nice recreation, naftixe!

[naftixe 131]

Civic

 

Posted on Jan-28-2010

Computerguy: Thanks!           Civic Center, San Francisco California. The Civic Center in San Francisco, California, is an area of a few blocks north of the intersection of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue that contains many of the city's largest government and cultural institutions. It has two large plazas (Civic Center Plaza and United Nations Plaza) and a number of buildings in classical architectural style. The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (formerly the Exposition Auditorium) is one of the few remaining buildings from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition[2]. The United Nations Charter was signed in the War Memorial Veterans Building's Herbst Theatre in 1945, leading to the creation of the United Nations. It is also where the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco (the peace treaty that officially ended the Pacific War with the Empire of Japan, which had surrendered in 1945) was signed. The San Francisco Civic Center was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 Location The Civic Center is bounded by Market Street on the south, Franklin Street on the west, Turk Street on the north, and Leavenworth and Seventh streets on the east. The Civic Center is bounded by the Tenderloin neighborhood on the north and east and by the Hayes Valley neighborhood on the west; Market Street separates it from the South of Market or "SoMa" neighborhood.     History The Civic Center was built in the early 20th century as home to a massive City Hall and Hall of Records, both of which were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. It was planned and rebuilt in its current layout by noted architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham, whose plans for a neo-classical Civic Center was to serve as the centerpiece of a similar theme for the rest of the rebuilt city as part of the "City Beautiful" movement. However, the Civic Center was the only part of his plans actually to be constructed. The current City Hall and the Exposition Auditorium were completed in 1915, in time for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. The War Memorial Opera House and its neighboring twin, the War Memorial Veterans Building (which together were the nucleus of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center), the Main Library, and the State and Old Federal buildings would be built later, during the 1920s and 1930s. During [[World War II], Army barracks and Victory gardens were constructed in the main plaza in front of City Hall and the Library. The 1950s through the 1970s and 1980s saw tall post-modernist Federal and State buildings constructed in the area; an underground exhibition facility, Brooks Hall, was built beneath the Civic Center Plaza in 1958. The Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and Harold L. Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall were added in 1980. The 1990s saw the construction of a new Main Library with the conversion of the old Main Library building into the Asian Art Museum. In 1998, the city officially renamed part of the plaza the Joseph L. Alioto Performing Arts Piazza after the former mayor. Its central location, vast open space, and the collection of government buildings have made and continue to make Civic Center the scene of massive political rallies. It has been the scene of massive anti-war protests and rallies since the Korean War. It was also the scene of major moments of the Gay Rights Movement. Activist Harvey Milk held rallies and gave speeches there. After his assassination on November 27, 1978, a massive candlelight vigil was held there. Later, it was the scene of the White Night Riots in response to the lenient sentencing of Dan White, Milk's assassin. Recently, Civic Center was the center point of the Gay Marriage activism, as Mayor Gavin Newsom married couples there.     Attractions and Characteristics The centerpiece of the Civic Center is the City Hall, which heads the complex and takes up two city blocks on Polk Street. The section of the street in front of the building was renamed Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett, a local African American activist. Across the street on McAllister Street is the headquarters of the Supreme Court of California. Across from that building is the Asian Art Museum, opened in 2004 in the former building of the San Francisco Library which is now in a newer building constructed in 1995. West of City Hall on Van Ness Avenue is the War Memorial Opera House, where the U.N. Charter was signed in 1945 and the Treaty of San Francisco was signed in 1951. To that building's left is the Davies Symphony Hall, to its right the Herbst Theatre. North of City Hall is the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Courthouse for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and State of California office buildings. South of the main Civic Center complex on nearby Mission Street, is the head courthouse of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which sits across from a newly constructed Federal Building complex. A monument to James Lick and the Manifest Destiny is located in the middle of Fulton Street between the Library and the Asian Art Museum. The section of Fulton Street between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets has been pedestrianized and re-developed into a monument for the United Nations and the signing of the UN Charter in 1975, when the Bay Area Rapid Transit subway was constructed under Market Street. The 2.6-acre (11,000 m2) pedestrian mall was designed by Lawrence Halprin.[7] . It was rededicated in June 1995, by visiting members of the UN General Assembly as part of its 60th anniversary, and renovated and rededicated again in 2005 during the World Environment Day event. Presently, it is the scene of a small Farmers Market as well as a large equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar. Because the Civic Center is located near the skid row Tenderloin neighborhood, Civic Center has a seedy, run-down, high crime reputation and appearance with large amounts of Homeless encampments which has prevented it from attracting the large amounts of tourists seen in other areas of the city. Despite repeated redevelopment of Civic Center over the years aimed primarily at discouraging the homeless from camping there, large amounts of homeless continue to camp and loiter in the area. Despite such a reputation, its central location also makes it the center of many of the City's festivals and parades. Many of the cities street parades and parties from San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade, to its St. Patrick's Day parade, to San Francisco's version of the Love Parade, the San Francisco LovEvolution party are held at Civic Center. Civic Center Station is a subway stop for both BART and the Muni Metro. The F Market historic streetcar line and many Muni bus lines run nearby. The Fox Plaza condominium complex is also located nearby. Educational Institutions Civic Center has two Universities located there; the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and the private The Art Institute of California – San Francisco.     Thanks for all your loyal support, Naftixe