Ten (10) available Artworks' Title, Medium, Sizes and Prices are listed below. For more information about collecting these art objects, please contact me at hepkatmama@hotmail.com
“Skyline Highwire”
(2002) Photo Montage / Collage on Cardstock with Urethane
& Oil Pastel
29 x 13 ½” x 1” (includes frame)
$800
“JFK Widow Portrait” pair of two paintings limited edition
series
(2008) Gunshot Painting in UV Reactive Acrylic on Artist
Board with 6.55 mm bullet shell casing with brass wire.
Two 5” x 7” unframed objects (pair)
$300 (not separated or sold individually)
“JFK Magic Bullet” individual object (pictured box not
included)
(2008) found object. Sculpture. 6.55 Carcano bullet shell
casing
$75 each (3 available)
“Vice” by Suza Kanon
(2004) 22 mm gunshot painting with Latex and Oil on Board
with Artist Body as Paintbrush
21 ¼” X 12” x ½”(unframed)
$100
“Machine” by Suza Kanon
(2003) 22 mm gunshot painting with Ink, Latex, Oil Pastel on
Board
33 ¼” x 10” x ½” (unframed)
$200
"Starry Blue”
(2002) Photo Montage / Collage on Cardstock with Urethane
& Oil Pastel
28 ¼” x 14” x 1” (includes frame)
$500
“Billboards into the Machine” by Suza Kanon
(2003) Photo Montage / Collage on Cardstock with Urethane,
Letrapress & Oil Pastel
27” x 11 ¾” (unframed)
$200
“meditate”
(2010) Collage on Board with Enamel
5” x 7” (unframed)
$50
“light white”
(2010) Collage on Board with gesso, graphite and UV reactive
acrylic on board
5” x 7” (unframed)
$50
“Schroedingers Birdcage – Copper” sculpture with painting
pair – set of two objects
Below
is a list of places to visit while in San Francisco.Chosen based on my love of
music, food, art, nature, or free / low cost activities.Here
are my Daytrip Reviews- followed by Food
Reviews- followed by a more detailed index list of these places that includes their
addresses and hours of operation.But first let me
share a little Beat influenced music for you to enjoy (for those who know “Naked
Lunch” by Burroughs) during your read ...
Locals
often travel on foot or by public transportation.Parking can be expensive (up to $65 per day
in some neighborhoods).Strongly
recommend visiting a Walgreen's to buy a Clipper Card, which is good on most
public transport and can be refilled as needed.Bikes are seen everywhere, but so are steep hills (not for novices).Taxis are abundant and reasonably priced. You have to love a town where you see businessmen in suits riding skateboards to work in the Financial District.
I
visited neighborhoods like Chinatown, Japantown, North Beach, Mission District,
museums in the Financial District and Muir Woods north of the Golden Gate.I did not bother with the overpriced and
tourist populated Fisherman’s Wharf.Really enjoyed staying with friends in Oakland, where their beautiful
backyard full of fruit trees perked up our breakfast and good times were had winding down in
their salt water hot tub during the evenings.
DAYTRIP reviews --
Treasure Island is just over the
Bay Bridge (which was twinkling with thousands of white lights when I
visited).In a warehouse on the island there is a working artist collaborative that stores & builds
monolithic sized art sculptures on-site together (often they are kinetic
art).The LED illuminated sculpture
outdoors is called “Bliss” and was part of the documentary film “Spark.”Like the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, this is
an amazing repository for many large scale works.Incredibly impressive and recommended.
Bliss
Dancer by artist Marco Cochrane
Heartfullness
by artist Katy Boynton
Charon
by artist Peter Hudson (a ferris wheel sized zoetrope of the styx boatman)
Jewish Contemporary Art Museum offered an
exhibit of Allen Ginsberg’s photographs.Several were published in Ginsberg’s book “Beat Memories“ which is
available on amazon.An intimate
collection of artfully snapped candids featuring the stalwarts of the Beat literary
movement such as William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, etc. often with
handwritten captions.Very much enjoyed
the audio/video that floated throughout the
room of Ginsberg reading his work.Excellent soundtrack for a
literary art exhibit.I was recommended
SFMOMA frequently but they were closed during my visit in August 2013 for construction, it is
said they have a phenomenal collection of contemporary masters.SFMOMA
did loan a small exhibit to the Jewish Contemporary under the exhibit umbrella
of artwork made with spiritual fervor.Fun, modern architecture in this museum with lots of vaulted ceilings
and a well curated collection.
City Lights Bookstore
There is an independently owned bookstore in North Beach with three floors of books designated as a Historical Landmark. The top floor holds classics and poetry, there portraits of great writers line the wall near the ceiling. This upper room is also used for smaller poetry readings and has windows that look out into Kerouac Alley below as well as eyeshot of the cheap tenement rental across the street. Quite appropriate to look out the window at a clothesline of working class people who use a rooftop as a soccer field for their kids.
The Beat movement in art & literature grew out of earlier movements like dada surrealism, bauhaus, french bohemian and grew into a counter culture movement that includes hippies (Beat is often tied to jazz music, spoken word, modern art, cinema verite and french new wave film). Described as non-conformists, who rejected materialism, living often as transient bohemians, with interest in experimentation, alternative sexuality, esoteric mysticism, and spontaneous creativity in art, music and writing known for "explicit portrayals of the human condition." Kerouac defined Beat to be like "beatific, upbeat, on the beat," somehow divine and in synch with the flow of the universe.
When I visited City Lights Bookstore I was led up those stairs by the sound of poetry being read aloud, drawn to the smell of printed text on paper. Words had rolled up the walls of the alley & into the window, sound emanating throughout the building so that you could hear the poets' beckon. Poetry can be so essential and down to earth. Some primordial & intrinsic expression, uttered outloud on the street itself for whomever chooses to listen. It was pretty great to get to the top of the stairs & realize the poets were actually outside in the street and the sound simply carried by the speakers, delightful. I found my way outside & enjoyed a large poetry reading. Diverse range of writers mixed with poetry devotees and occasional interested passerby.
The bookstore opened in this location in 1952, later venturing into publishing during 1955 with Lawrence Ferlenghetti, raided in 1957 for selling what was considered obscene poetry such as Ginsberg's "Howl", and defended by the ACLU in protection of First Amendment free speech rights. In what became known as a precedent establishing verdict for the publishing industry, that case helped paved the way for what we know as modern American literature, more free of the constraints of over-reaching legal censorship. "during the trial of Ferlinghetti, respected writers and professors
testified for the defense. Judge Horn rendered his precedent-setting
verdict, declaring that Howl was not obscene and that a book with 'the slightest redeeming social importance' guarantees First Amendment protection. Horn's decision established the precedent that paved the way for the publication of such hitherto banned books as D.H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer". The media attention resulting from the trial stimulated national interest," - from wiki
All of the books mentioned above were on the Pope's Banned Book lists for decades (meaning ex-communication for readers). For example, Henry Miller was an American writer who had to publish in France during the 1930's due to his home country's puritanical censorship practices and difficulty in shipping and distributing such literary work (his work wasn't printed in America till 1961 with even more obscenity trials for the 30 year old book). The bookstore's trial sensationalized several of the writers and by 1958, 'beatnik' had become a pop trend much to the originators dismay. So unfortunately instead of being respected for taking the legal risk that freed publishing from many shackles of censorship, the beat movement got written off as some sort of fashion statement to be rolled out into a trite, static, tv stereotype (e.g. Mayard G. Krebbs off "Dobie Gillis" 1959-1963) wearing berets and beating bongos. I was more attracted to Beat literature due to its influences of Buddhism, Taoism, meditation, Algerian mysticism, jazz as spontaneous expression of trained musicians, writing as stream of consciousness on the level of automatic-writing.
I
could devote an entire blog to this one bookstore.But, I really like books even in the age of Kindle (someone recently told me books will always exist, if nothing else as art objects to be collected & displayed).So I felt lucky to visit the mecca of the literary Beat
Movement. I bought an illustrated hardback copy of poetry from 1794, written and illustated by William Blake called "Songs of Innocence and Experience" instead of a t-shirt. I skipped the "beatnik" kiosk at vesuvius & went to caffe trieste where they roast their own beans instead. http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/sie/
^one of many quotes on
the sidewalk in Kerouac Alley\/ between City Lights and Vesuvius
San
Francisco has some amazing parks, including famous Golden Gate park.I visited Washington Square Park in North Beach near City Lights Bookstore,
then later went to Delores Park near
the sanctioned & vibrant graffiti painted walls of Clarion Alley skirting
the Mission District.
Nature is an
essential way to take a moment during travels and ground your energy,
rejuvenate yourself & save a little money while you catch your breath.I am a big fan of park picnic baskets, brown
bag liquid lunches, sitting in the grass, humming on a pipe and people
watching.Apparently Jack Kerouac was
known to lounge around daytime drinking in Washington Square Park, nurturing
his alcoholism and scribbling genius prose.The author even documented a nap in this North Beach park in his later
book “Big Sur” which documented his further descent into the addiction that
eventually killed him.Below is a quote
from the book about his day in Washington Square park:
“So Ben ... sees I’m going
overboard crazy and I need sleep — ‘We’ll get a bottle!’ I yell. But end up,
he’s sitting in the grass of the park smoking his pipe, from noon to 6 P.M.,
and I’m passed out exhausted sleeping in the grass, bottle unopened, only to
wake up once in a while wondering where I am and by God I’m in Heaven with Ben
Fagan watching over men and me. And I say to Ben when I wake up in the
gathering 6 P.M. dusk, ‘Ah Ben I’m sorry I ruined our day by sleeping like
this’ but he says: ‘You needed the sleep, I told ya’—‘and you mean to tell me
you been sitting all afternoon like that?’—‘Watching unexpected events’ says he
…‘What happened while I was
asleep?’—‘Oh, people went by and came back and forth and the sun sank and
finally sank down and is gone now almost as you can see, what you want, just
name it you got it’—‘Well I want sweet salvation’—‘What’s 'sposed to be sweet
about salvation? maybe it’s sour’ …I
feel good because I’ve had my sleep but mainly I feel good because somehow old
Ben (my age) has blessed me by sitting over my sleep all day and now with these
few silly words … It’s been the only peaceful day I’ve had in California, in
fact, except alone in the woods”
SUTRO BATH RUINS & SUTRO HEIGHTS
garden park--
If
you love nature and ruined architecture, then put on some good walking shoes
and take a hike around Sutro Baths along Ocean Beach.Beautiful crashing waves, rocky boulders cresting from
the earth, dramatic ruins of a bygone era, mysterious cave tunnel, precarious
staircases... its enough to make you want to wear dramatic victorian garb & write
poetry.Sutro Baths was built around
1896 as the largest indoor pool complex in the world with grand vaulted
ceilings, glass skylights, pools and eventually an ice skating rink. A fire in 1966 utterly destroyed the facility
leaving only geometric and angular pools for algae & wildlife to reclaim.However now it is under the watchful eye of
the NPS & open to the public. Next
door is the still open & updated, Cliff House Restaurant (which offers
Sunday brunch for $50 per person with bottomless mimosas) and across the street
is Sutro Height Park and garden.Lots of
free parking in the immediate area.The
National Park Service offers a map that includes miles of hiking trails that go from the
stone parapet observation deck overlooking the garden in Sutro Heights, down to
the crumbling ruins of Sutro Baths and the not-to-be-missed cave to the north
of the bath ruins.A staircase to the
North of the ruins leads to a trail around the Golden Gate Park area and USS
San Franciso memorial that runs along the beach of the Pacific Ocean. Lands End trail is in the same area.South of Sutro Baths, is the Cliff House
restaurant that has beautiful ocean views and was built by the same Adolph
Sutro who created the rest.Cliff House offers public
restrooms, $$$ dining, and a gift shop for tourists.Self guided tours of the Sutro Bath Ruins,
Cave and Sutro Heights garden park are all free.
View
of the Sutro Bath ruins taken from with a Canon PowerShot S70 suspended from a
Delta Levitation Light kite. The veritical line running thru the photo is the
kite line.Photo Credit: Kato4 taken 11
June 2007
Daiso is a small chain
of dollar stores that sell small Japanese products including kitchen gadgets,
stationary supplies, beauty accessories & lots of little whimsical,
practical objects.I was disappointed to
have missed their shop in Japantown, but they have another location near Market
Street by my hotel which even my boyfriend found fun.They have an online shop but it is very
limited in comparison to the inventory at the storefront location.This is not an anime shop, however if you
love random kawaii characters, unusual shapes & colors then you will be on
cloud nine.
Its
a lonnnnnnng , breathtakingly lovely walk from the parking lot to the mountain-top paradise known as Nature Friends Tourist Club.A beautiful drive along the Panoramic Highway
north of San Francisco takes you to the town of Mill Valley.Nestled in the Muir Woods, the spot is
perched on a mountain with a spectacular view.Styled like a German chalet in the Alps, typically only open to private
members however they are open to the public one Saturday out of the month if
you check their calendar.So say you
wanted to start your own fraternal organization, base it on a love of community
& hiking in the green mountains, then you end up building your own amazing
German influenced biergarten/clubhouse chalet then you have the right idea.Nature Friends Tourist Clubs are found all over the world and are based
on the concept of hiker cabins you would find in the Alps to rest in, these
depend on the honor system to maintain.Nature Friends Tourist Club serve beer till
their supply runs out and it is CASH ONLY, with nary an ATM to be found in the
trunks of any of these lovely trees.Beer, Forest, Hiking, Clean Air and they even offer board games to
guests.Delightful place to bring a
picnic.Members have the luxury of
RSVPing one of the handfuls of cabins on their property for overnight
visits.Wear good footwear, LNT &
enjoy the beautifully groomed & maintained hiking trails where you find the
occasional bench after walking much incline.So nice of them to share their beautiful space with us.I feel like I should keep it a secret so it
doesn’t become overrun, but the smart folks there keep it to themselves the
rest of the time & that is a good thing for everyone.
FOOD Reviews (addresses listed
at the end of the blog)--
Had
fresh seafood at both Swan Oyster Depot
in Nob Hill and R&G Lounge in Chinatown.Swan Oyster Depot is over 100 years old and serves the freshest seafood remarkably
fast.Tasty crab and serious selection
of oysters, divine clam chowder.Worth
the wait. Simply delicious, fresh seafood, understandably the best seafood in
the city and frequently voted so. On the other hand R&G Lounge recommends reservations, but the chinese food is
authentic and crab looked as good as Anthony Bourdain said it would be.Chinatown is full of cheap chinese food featuring
carnival barkers on the curb hawking to bring in tourists.R&G was full of local asian diners, tasty food
and no hype.
The
Ferry Building is on the Embarcadero
near Pier 1.It is like a food court /
mall that ONLY sells foodie fabulousness in little shops.Tons of shops who produce their own fare, such as locally made cheese,
sausages, vinegars, regional raw honey and the like.A few days a week they allow a farmers market to spring up outside on
the sidewalk.Great place for a cheap
but refined lunch bought inside & enjoyed outside in back where the pier views the
Pacific Ocean. This place is a must for any chef or serious home cook.
Bang San Thai is near enough
to the Financial District to deliver and the food did not disappoint. Had papaya salad, curried chicken, rich
succulent Tom Kha soup was delivered still hot, savory and happily enjoyed from my hotel
room the one night we chose to stay in.
Mario’s Bohemian Cigar overlooks
Washington Square Park near North Beach & City Lights bookstore.Excellent Italian food, full bar and
coffee.Service was quick & polite.While in the North Beach area we visited
Caffe Trieste to taste their in-house roasted coffee.This place is serious about coffee, they are
not starbucks so don’t roll in their talking venti bla bla bla.Caffe
Trieste is a landmark on any Beat History tour & it is still visited by
Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Over
in Mission District we hooked up our soda fix at The Fizzery which offered hundreds of specialty soda pop & microbrew
like colas.This candy & soda fix
was an accidental find before I gave up walking up hills and waited inside
before calling a cab.
The
most fulfilling foodie adventure of my entire trip was the tour at Sunce Winery north of the city, in
Santa Rosa which is tucked into the Sonoma Valley wine country.Lovely drive across the Golden Gate
Bridge.Owned by a family & less
fancy that some of the bigger wineries, but down-to-earth, super nice and
generous with the pour.Loved the
educational part of the tour where we saw how casks are stored, cared for and
later bottled.After the wine tasting
(from white to red), we took a stroll through the vineyards before heading back
to the hotel.This winery is not as old
as some of the other Sonoma Valley wineries, but this family kept vineyards in
their home country of Croatia for generations before moving to California.This artisinal skill is evident in the flavor
spectrum of their wine and blends.Excellent wines and they do ship.
INDEX LIST
Transportation
/ Daytrip Activities & Restaurants by Neighborhood:
Random
/ Financial District / North Beach / Telegraph Hill / Ocean Beach / Japantown /
Mission District / North of SF / Nightlife spots
Transportation
-
Daily visitor passes available on BART & MUNI or get a
*
$30 Clipper Card from Walgreens (works
on all BART, MUNI, F Line Streetcar, Commuter Ferry) refill as needed.
-
Mike’s Bikes Rental - chain open since 1964, original location at 1233 Howard
St 94103.
*
$6 Tollway on Golden Gate Bridge to return (free to leave) one time payment
877-229-8655
Random Places of Excellence
*Swan Oyster Depot $$, 1517 Polk St. (bt. Sacramento &
California in Nob Hill) – local seafood.Open 10:30a – 5:30p everyday closed on Sunday.Won Best of sf for last 14 years. Only 20
seats, super friendly & not rushed.AMAZEBALLS fresh crab & oysters (no veg).
* R& G Lounge $$ Chinese 631 Kearny St., Chinatown San
Francisco; (Bourdain recommended salt & pepper crab). Vegetarian friendly
full bar
*
American Steel (burning man art whse
in Oakland)
* The Ferry Bldg. closes at 6pm (acme bakery, cowgirl creamery cheeses,
far west fungi, boccalone salumaria, beekind honey, stonehouse oil &
vinegars) 1 Sausalito (embarcadero @market street, pier 1)- San Francisco Ferry
Bldg San Francisco, CA 94111 with farmers market, cafes & artisanal food
stores, via F streetcar running along Market Street that turns north at the
embarcadero. http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/merchant_list.php
-SFMOMA closed for renovations when I was
there Sept 2013
-
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts $10 12-8 701 Mission Street SF, gallery/performance
hall/lovely garden park with free lunchtime outdoor concerts
-
Jewish Contemporary Art Museum 736 Mission @ 3rd $12 11a-5Allen Ginsberg photo
exhibit & part of SFMOMA’s collection currently on display
-
Bang San THAI $, 505 Jones St. (in tenderloin, but has free delivery to our
hotel)
-
Cartoon Art Museum 655 Mission Street $711am -5pm, closed monday
North Beach (pier 7ish)
*
City Lights Bookstore 261 Columbus
Av @ Broadway 94133 10a-midnight (literary mecca of SF) www.citylights.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Lights_Bookstore
-
Exploratorium Science &
Interactive Museum (6-10 Thu $15. All other days is $25) Willard Aylum suitcases
exhibit in West Gallery– near Pier 15 on Telegraph Hill
-Telegraph hill staircase & Coit Tower -
both free to explore, observation deck
- TCHO Chocolate at Pier 17 near Telegraph Hill-free samples, hour
tour by reservation at 10:25 & 1:55pm http://www.tcho.com/tour/
Ocean Beach
*Sutro Baths Ruins 48th @ Point Lobos Ave. cave & free
nature area -National Park Area. Beautiful and free entry.Lots of free parking nearby.
*Sutro Heights Park across the street
from Cliff House & Sutro Baths. Lovely view
Ocean Beach – free parking,
free admission way too cold to swim in
-
Cliff House, 1090 Point Lobos Av. – expensive restaurants but nearest restrooms
to Sutro
ichiban
kan and daiso are dollar stores full of fun random japanese items, but maido
has costly variety.
-
Maido - 2nd floor 1581 Webster St, San Francisco (variety)
-
Ichiban Kan 1625 Post St - Miyako Mall 22 Peace Plz, Ste 540 - (between
Buchanan St & Laguna St)
*
Daiso 22 Peace Plaza (in the same
building as Ichiban Kan, has own generic. Also has location in financial
district on Market Street) www.daisojapan.com
- Kissako
Tea House: Japan Center, 1581 Webster Street, #195, San Francisco, CA $8.75
bento meal
- Super Mira: 1790 Sutter Street (supermarket with hot take out
counter in back)
* Delores Park (south on delores st @ 18th)simple casual, nice people smoking, less
touristy that golden gate park
* make out room, bar &
lounge - 3225 22nd St @ Mission, SF – free entry, divey lounge
bar w cheapish drinks. Stopped in for a poetry reading & drinks.
-
five & diamond clothing store.510
valencia near 16th. Alt wear
* The Fizzery (allllll the bottled soda pop varieties) 2949 Mission
St, 11:45a – 7pm
North of San Francisco (lovely drive across golden gate bridge)
* Nature Friends Tourist Club – chalet style hiking 30 Ridge Ave.,
Mill Valley 94941 open select days to guests (check their website) north
outside city, cash only beer, byob allowed, picnic baskets encouraged. off
Panoramic Hwy.http://touristclubsf.org/
* Sunce Winery1839
Olivet Rd Santa Rosa 95401(707) 526-9463 operated by Frane
Franicevic.Family owned & operated
in Sonoma Valley.Free tours for groups
of less than 6 people. www.suncewinery.com
Nightlife (check fb for
times & djs)
Underground
SF - 424 haight (djs)
Monarch 101 6th
St10p- 3am (djs)
Public Works, 161 Erie Street, SF, CA
- 21+,(djs)
Lounge 3411 in Oakland (djs)
Boom
Boom Room (oldest blues club west of Mississippi)in fillmore, motown
& soul
Yoshi’s Jazz Club (big room, expensive
meals) 1330 Fillmore, SF 94115
Gallery of my vacation photos at (mostly grafitti, nature & sunce
winery):
HUGE gratitude to my friends,
guides & hosts for helping me enjoy california – much love to heather
blaikie, kelli lewis, stacy young, rudy peev, mike clagg & mike steele. Without their
help this travel blog would not have been possible.
