Saturday, July 31, 2010

Eyeballs of Glory: More Cellphone Shots and the End of the Big Grey Bus Stop

I’ve been super-wordacious lately, and I’m still stuffing the notebook with more of it every day.  Let’s take a little break and get photographic, shall we?  We’ll start with more of my vaunted cellphone shots, low res but high impact, and then I’ve got a special treat for you but I don’t want to spoil it.  Or you, but sometimes I can’t help myself. 

First, this was cemented to the side of a building in the neighborhood.  It’s the second best use for a mousetrap I’ve ever seen.

Old Joe’s Ice Cream Saloon is now closed.  The new place is bigger and doing more business but it’s not as much fun.  Here’s the old sign.  They should have moved it across the street. 

I was in L.A. a few weeks ago and stayed in this hotel.  Logan’s Run, without Carousel.  Took this one out my hotel window.  Kinda cool. 

Near my office, there’s a set of steps that wend down to the bay.  The tide washes up and down them, and not long ago was sending lapwaves back and forth across the concrete landing.  This is what it looked like when the waves hit each other right in the middle of the steps.  Can I tell you, it made my day.

And now this one is the intro to all the good stuff, for real:

I’m heading back east shortly for a vacation and by the time I get back the old TransBay Terminal will be no more.  A temporary facility has been set up across the street from my office, and a new terminal for buses, trains, and, I think, hovercraft will be erected on the site of the old 1940 structure that’s getting demolished while I’m out of town.  I never really thought it would happen, but now it really looks like it’s gonna.  In honor of the impending deconstruction, they opened the place up for photos in ways it hasn’t been opened for decades, unveiling hidden rooms and long-boarded-up amenities.  I went in with my tripod and got some good photos of the newly-exposed stuff as well as the long-exposed stuff.  I also went back and reposted a few old photos I’d put up years ago after a previous visit, that got wiped out when I changed hosts back in the day.  The image above is from yesterday - I took it under the First Street bus bridge, where they installed a cool light-sculpture a while back.  Some other good ones are here:

escalators
diamond
colors
stairs and hallway

Those all date from 2004, I think.  There’s a whole bunch more new stuff and a little more old stuff now waiting for you on the photos section of this blog, which I have not updated for a very long time.  Well, it’s now worth checking out again, my friends.  There were some good photo ops at the swan song of the TransBay Terminal, and I took full advantage of them.  I know full well that I won’t be getting another shot at it.  See you when I get back, and maybe if I take my camera I’ll even have something to show for it.  Otherwise, you’re stuck with more essays - the fairytale hag, bike-riding, meditation on an apple tree, and crap like that.  Don’t say you weren’t warned, and I’ll try to make it worth your while if you wind up stopping by again.