215. Post street

Mid-century Dwell

Today I'm at a Peet's I rarely visit, on Van Ness (it is of the old, oak and granite style, but so small it's hard to get a seat.) For a time I was blinded by the sun, so had to abandon my laptop for the Dwell magazine I had almost forgotten about in my backpack. 

I have mixed feelings about Dwell magazine, but you have to admire their dedication to Mid-Century Modernism. The "finishing touch" this issue (the little stand-alone feature on the page before the penultimate page, if you're counting the back cover as the final page... I'm confused now) is about Jean Prouvé and a recently published monograph cunningly titled, Jean Prouvé by Raymond Guidot. 

Prouvé is another of those outstanding figures with formal training in neither architecture nor engineering. Seeing his work does take me back to that time, but while I like the strength and simplicity of his furnature, it seems to me to lack the grace one finds in the work of the Eameses and in some of the Scandinavians and Finns.

The final regular feature in this (September-October 2017) issue is of a condo unit on the 31st floor of a Chicago building on the lake. Here they've done a splendid job of recreating everything about Mid-Century Modernism I hated at the time, and I find my taste has not changed. I think it's one of  the most ghastly dwellings Dwell has ever presented. Turn this unit over to me and I would be the one bringing in the crew to gut the place and start fresh, something that usually drives me nuts.

Another feature in this issue shows a smallish apartment in Buenos Aires where the owners (he an architect) gutted the place and found, of course, interesting floors, ceilings, and battered masonry walls in the entry -- all of which they preserved. Now I would have preserved them too, but I would have had mixed feelings about it. The ceiling is interesting, but busy and impossible to keep clean. Ditto the entry. 

It's just as well I can't afford to take on a project like this as I would inevitably be confronted with either preserving something I liked -- but didn't really want here -- or spending money and bringing in more building materials to cover that thing. This would be in some hypothetical space, not my own place. 

A couple days later...

Bank Cafe

My original plans for today haven't worked out, and so I have been pulled here by my desire for a Bun Mee crispy tofu sandwich later this afternoon. On my way home I will hit the Chinatown branch library to return one book and pick up my next. This rarely works out so well, and it would have been even sweeter if the library had opened before 1pm, so I could have hit it on my way here.

This location on Kearny has always been marginal. Kearny is the seam between Union Square and the Financial District -- which works perfectly for a bank cafe but this block of Post has been in transition for years, ever since the Rizzoli Bookstore next door closed. But that is about to change again.

Shreve's (our premier local jewelry store) recently moved from their temporary location where Rizzoli had been, to their new location across the street. And now Britex Fabrics (our premier local fabric store) is transforming the old Rizzoli space for their new location. And since that is next door to (actually the same building as) Gumps (our premier local expensive housewares emporium), this block is suddenly turning into a major destination for people with money. 

I don't know if this has anything to do with the bank cafe's plans to remodel next month, but it might. Honestly, I don't see much overlap in the Gumps/Shreve/Britex crowd and the laptop dependent crowd here in the cafe, but at least the block should be without urine attracting gaps for a change.

All this change might be better for the Mechanic's Institute, which is in the next block down Post toward the subway station. I do expect to join there at some point, but I suspect you would be more likely to find their members in those three other SF traditions than here at the cafe. 

And I do wonder how this retail location musical chairs will play out once the subway under Stockton Street is complete in 2019 (or whenever). Businesses have been chased from Stockton like nervous rodents, causing the retail heart of Union Square to shift to Grant Street. When Stockton Street returns to civic life -- and with another subway station spurring the flow of people at both the Market Street and Union Square (proper) ends -- Stockton will suddenly return to being the most desirable location in the area. Will the shops reshuffle again? 

I don't expect the new subway station (on the Central Line) to do much business at first, so the main benefit will be easier access for people who have been avoiding the construction zone for all these years. Eventually, in ten years or more, Rose Pak's subway will make economic sense and businesses that can afford it will try to cluster around Stockton. Assuming retail shops are still a thing in ten years.

They are now talking about opening just the section of the Central Subway from Union Square to the south in a couple years, to provide better access to the Warrior's new arena (which project has hardly even begun but will probably happen faster than the government projects.) This makes total sense, but I don't think anyone would have suggested it prior to Rose Pak's sudden death this year. I hope her coffin is well secured as I'm sure the thought of her subway opening without the connection to Chinatown proper would have driven her wild. 

I've never been a fan of zombie stories, but I understand there are fast and slow zombies. Rose would be a nasty zombie.