A nice discovery on Valencia in San Francisco. A bookshop with the old allures, not sophisticated, but just like bookstore were in the old days. You find a lot of beat literature, and other famous literatur from the bay area, as from international writers around the world.

Bought The San Francisco noir book. The dark side of San Francisco, with its fault line danger, the mysterious fog and the colorful people, the artists, the homeless, the white collar people in the financial district. Makes San francisco a melting pot for beautiful and noir stories, to be continued. I also like the cover of the book a lot!

Another visit just flew by. I stayed at the mission on South Van Ness. A funky area, with mainly a latino population.
It was real walking weather, and strolled around at Valencia, a clear blue sky, made my photograph shooting colorful. Nice light, very green and Sunday, everybody is outside, it seems, at Dolores park in the morning it still kind a quiet, but at late afternoon, the park is populated with all kind of a people. One playing guitar, others playing on Chinese music instruments, ice cram guy walks by. People with dogs passing by. All the murals in the neighborhood, make it interesting to just walk around and enjoy the view of all this artistic work and melting pot of people.

San francisco is really a mellow place, and something about this mission district, makes it even more relax, hanging out there. Not to crowded yet, almost no tourism, although it is always hard to tell who the tourist is.

Arriving on Halloween, gave me the opportunity to enjoy the special atmosphere of ‘Dia de los muertos‘ in San Francisco. A colorful spectacle, I didn’t join the 2nd November, but strolled around, and find some pittoresque shops.

New discoveries at Point Lobos, Land’s end. The sun was bright, and a clear blue sky. A perfect day for some photo shoots at the cliff house and the coastal area. The walk goes whole the way by the coast and at the end brings you to the Seacliff area. Beautiful views of the Golden gate bridge, and a different nature part of San Francisco. The photos are on flickr.

Did some exhibitions, one of them was Warhol Live, in de Young museum,  this was one visit of so many to Warhol exhibitions, did some secret video taping, with Flip video. Still love the art work, and the period in general…. flourishing times in New York.

While in the Golden Gate park came across some concert early in the morning, or afternoon. Sorry forgot the name.

And on the other side some people were doing some form of new tai chi maybe?

One of my other famous spots is the Yerba Buena Gardens, close to the MOMA museum South of Market, it was a sunny Saturday afternoon, together with some friends just hanging out!

Another amazing visit to my favorite city!

Strolling around in ChinaTown and on Columbus Avenue, the sun fully embraces us, while having a good lunch at Delucchi, and nice chat at Washinton Square with Heather. A true fan of San francisco with beautiful stories.

The evening brings me to a poetry reading from Bill Berkson at the City Light Bookstore, it feels like blending into a San francisco life. God i love doing this and it makes me just feel like home.

Strolling at Point Lobos, the golden gate with all its glory just around the corner, spectacular views, haze on the ocean, makes it all a bit vague, the waves breakdown on the rocks, the current is strong, the wind blows and refreshes my mind. If you don’t get inspired here, you will never will.

One of my photos got selected for the San Francisco city guide, developed by schmap.com. schmap is platform to consult destinations, and to create your own guides!

I guess everybody who knows a bit about San Francisco, knows Harvey Milk, in the 70’s he got elected, and fought for the gay people in San Francisco, the gay movement was born. The main mission was to be treated equal and to have the same rights as everybody else. Some may see it as an attraction in San Francisco, but I feel that gay people feel at home in San Francisco, usually highly educated people, with a different view on life. During the 80’s with the upcoming AIDS epidemy and the haunt on gay people, made it even more important to have ths movement. Even today in 2008 they are not treated as equal. Just  a few weeks ago, there was a NO to proposition 8, even in San Francisco, unbelievable!

The trailer is there and previews are in some selected places, cool they are also pre screenings in the apple stores. I can’t wait to see this movie…, hopefully also in Europe soon. Will travel filmfestivals and art cinemas.

This is a catalogue of an exhibition organized by the Whitney museum of American art, New York, 1996. I’m looking for a copy, so if someone has this and it is good condition and would like to sell, I would like to buy….it.

Also other reference material about this exhibition, it also was in San Francisco in the M.H. Young Memorial Museum in 1996.

Just send in by my correspondence David Olivier, morning fog coming in from over the hill, view from Sausalito.

Sausalito is a charming waterfront community that lies across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

Hi. My name is David, I was born and raised in San Francisco, and I’ve been a professional tour guide here for about 25 years. After all this time I must confess that I still love my job. I feel privileged to be able to introduce people–especially first-time visitors–to this most cosmopolitan, most sophisticated, most photogenic of American cities. Simply put, what I get to do for a living is to show people the beauty; not only of this city, but all California and the American west.

It’s no surprise that San Francisco is repeatedly voted by Americans as their ‘favorite city to visit’. For many Americans it’s a bit like traveling to a different country. Europeans constantly tell me that it’s the most European city in the U.S., and the Italians say it’s the most Mediterranean. Apart from the obvious physical attractions–the hills, the water, the light, the homes–I think that’s largely due to the truly unique character and feel of San Francisco. After all, this city was mostly founded by adventurers and gamblers and dreamers from around the world who came in search of gold and a better life. Today there’s still an underlying sense of being on the frontier here, an environment which inspires personal freedom and transformation, and which attracts creativity and opportunity. San Francisco is always on the cutting edge of social change in America. There’s probably no greater proof of the city’s desirability as a place to live than the property values, which happen to be the highest in the nation.

Yes, it’s rather a cliche, but I do indeed leave my heart in San Francisco every time I go out of town. When I come back, and I’m crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to get home, I’m always a little thrilled to see the fog, the Pacific ocean, the city skyline, or that golden sun about which Tony Bennett sings. No, it’s not a perfect city, but I have yet to find one more appealing.

By David Olivier