This week: tamales in a Union City parking lot, a rush hour happy hour standby, an urban farm, and a mid-century modern roundhouse. Plus, filling suitcases for foster kids, spotting birds in the city of Richmond, and seeing Berkeley in its heyday through a young artist’s eye.

Where commuters find a bar stool

At the base of San Francisco’s Fourth Street exit, the Hotel Utah Saloon has turned Bay Bridge gridlock into an accidental happy hour, drawing in drivers who decide waiting it out is better with a drink in hand.

The century-old bar and inn still remains affordable, from budget hotel rooms upstairs to food specials that feel almost unreal in 2026. Its $1 Wing Wednesdays, Taco Tuesday deals, and the “Hard Hat Special” keep construction workers, neighbors, and stranded commuters crossing paths. — SFGate

Hidden orchard

Behind a turquoise house in Oakland’s Laurel District, a backyard has grown into a thriving urban garden. Fruit trees, vegetables, bees, and chickens fill the long, sloped lot, which also hosts community gatherings and workshops. The space continues a decades-old vision, blending hands-on urban agriculture with shared meals and seasonal events.

Visitors can learn fruit tree pruning, composting, or other gardening skills while exploring the paths lined with persimmons, papayas, and peppers. Monthly events keep the garden active and open to the neighborhood. — The Oaklandside

Marsh mornings

Richmond’s Dotson Family Marsh drew a record crowd of birders for the city’s fifth annual Christmas Bird Count, despite heavy rain and flood warnings. Volunteers fanned out across the restored shoreline, scanning water and trees for ducks, raptors, and songbirds and spotting rare species like Canvasback ducks and Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

The marsh, protected and nurtured since the 1970s, provides vital habitat that’s slowly bringing back more birds to the area. Citizen scientists kept notes, scopes, and guides close, tracking hundreds of sightings and contributing to a century-old tradition that helps researchers monitor bird populations. The event wrapped with a tally of 178 species across Richmond’s parks and shorelines. — Richmondside

Parking lot tamales

A Bay Area food lover shared a chance lunch stop in Union City, where a couple was selling Guatemalan tamales from a van in a Ross parking lot. Wrapped in banana leaves and made with achiote, they were noticeably larger and heavier than the usual corn husk tamales.

The chicken and pork versions leaned closer to a full meal than a quick bite. A brief conversation placed their roots in Huehuetenango, in Guatemala’s highlands near the Chiapas border. The tamales are $5 each, sold outside the Ross off I-880 in Union City. — Hungry Onion

Color on every block

For decades, Bob Buckter, known around the city as Dr. Color, has shaped how San Francisco looks from the sidewalk up, painting and consulting on thousands of Victorians, churches, and storefronts. His palettes pull out the small architectural details most people pass without noticing, turning facades into layered compositions.

Working largely by instinct and experience, he helped define the bright, playful look that now feels inseparable from the city’s identity. Buckter now focuses on color consulting and recently released a book, Bob Buckter: Architectural Color Design, documenting his work across San Francisco and beyond. — KQED

A round among rectangles

Tucked into a wooded corner of Piedmont, the Leon Meyer house on Echo Lane curves where most homes draw straight lines. Built in 1972, it uses a circular floor plan to open up light, views, and space on a sloped lot, with rooms radiating outward instead of stacking into boxes.

It’s one of the few remaining round houses by Meyer in the Bay Area, and a clear example of his approach to building on difficult terrain. — Eichler Network

Fragments and echoes

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s work feels impossible to pin down — poetry, performance, film, and visual art all fold into one restless, searching practice. She arrived in Berkeley from South Korea as a teenager and grew up alongside the city’s radical energy in the ’60s and ’70s, letting language, memory, and displacement shape her art.

Multiple Offerings at BAMPFA gathers over a hundred works, including early ceramics and fiber pieces never before seen, alongside newer artists responding to her influence.  The retrospective opens January 24 and runs through April 19, with talks, film screenings, performances, and a full reading of her hybrid literary work, Dictée. — Berkeleyside

Traveling light

In the East Bay, foster children often move with little more than a backpack, but a local volunteer is changing that. Margie Morris and her team pack brand-new suitcases with bedding, toys, and essentials for kids entering or shifting between homes, making each transition a bit steadier.

Over the past five years, hundreds of children in Contra Costa County have received these suitcases, tailored to age and needs. The effort relies on donations and volunteers, and the suitcases are distributed through the county’s social services to children in care, on field trips, or reuniting with family. — KPIX

Top Image: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Other Things Seen, Other Things Heard, 1978. Gift of the Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Memorial Foundation.

Previously: Field Notes: Ferry Concerts, Donkey Appreciation, Public Domain Day, and Celebrating Rave Culture

This week: The real story behind the Winchester Mystery House, a historic artist’s studio-turned-artwork, a gifted local teenage violinist, and entrepreneurial high schoolers. Plus, hiking via public transit, the Presidio’s native plants, all things ube, and tasty holiday latkes.

Trail lines and transit stakes

Content creator Bike Curious hiked the De La Veaga Trail in Orinda to draw attention to looming transit budget cuts while demonstrating how residents can reach Bay Area trails without a car.

The moderate route sits on municipal land, with permits available online, and was found through Hiking by Transit’s public database. — Bike Curious

Restoring the dunes

About 100 volunteers gathered at the Presidio’s Sunset Scrub near Lincoln Boulevard last weekend to plant native species as part of an ongoing habitat restoration effort. The Presidio Trust planted roughly 2,000 natives, including coastal buckwheat and dune tansy, to help rebuild sections of the city’s historic dunescape.

The work supports insects, birds, lizards, and rare plants such as San Francisco lessingia and spineflower. The newly restored area now connects Sunset Scrub with the north dunes, creating a continuous habitat corridor between Washington and Lincoln boulevards. — KPIX

Blue conversation

Artist Catherine Wagner’s Blue Reverie at 500 Capp Street fills the late conceptual artist David Ireland’s iconic Mission District home with layers of blue. Ireland spent decades transforming the house itself into a sculptural work, altering floors, walls, and objects to explore space and domestic life as art.

Wagner builds on that legacy, adding photography, projections, and subtle installations that play with light, color, and architecture while keeping a conversation with Ireland’s ideas alive. Hidden blue moons, filtered windows, and glowing furniture turn corners of the home into unexpected moments of discovery. Blue Reverie runs through January 10 at 500 Capp Street, with a catalogue launch on December 16. — 48 Hills

Labyrinth of memory

The Winchester Mystery House has long been surrounded by salacious ghost stories, but most of them were urban legends created by locals and later promoters, not Sarah Winchester herself. These tales helped turn her eccentric home into a tourist draw, which in turn preserved it from demolition.

Beyond the myths, the house is a rare glimpse into late-19th-century San Jose architecture, built in popular Queen Anne Victorian styles and shaped further by the 1906 earthquake. — Bay Area News Group

Oven work and open doors

At Miramonte High School in Orinda, special education students are running a small dog treat business as part of their school day. In Asia Pavicich’s essential skills class, students research what’s safe for dogs, design the packaging, bake pumpkin–peanut butter treats, and sell them under the name Matadogs.

Pavicich started the project to give younger students real, on-campus work experience, beyond practice exercises. It’s also created easy points of contact between the students and the rest of the school community. — NBC Bay Area

Quiet strings, wide reach

Sausalito violinist Sydney Li-Jenkins, 15, has been named a winner of the 2026 YoungArts Competition, which recognizes young artists across visual, literary, and performing fields.

A sophomore at the Branson School in Ross, Li-Jenkins joins a national group of artists whose work reflects a rare level of focus and ambition at this stage. — Marin Independent Journal

Crispy threads

Delfina chef Craig Stoll has put a lighter, gluten-free spin on the holiday latke, balancing crisp potato strands with just the right touch of onion and potato starch. His careful prep — starting the potatoes the night before and pressing out every drop of moisture — keeps each patty tender inside and golden outside.

The latkes are perfect for the Festival of Lights, which kicks off December 14, bringing a fresh take to Hanukkah tables. For those skipping the kitchen, the restaurant offers a to-go option with a dozen flash-frozen latkes, plus add-ons like apple-quince conserva, crème fraîche, or Gingrass smoked steelhead lox. — 7 x 7

Purple by way of Alameda

Alameda baker Henry Awayan has leaned fully into ube, the Filipino purple yam he grew up with and now builds an entire cookbook around. Known for custom cakes at Whisk Cake Creations, Awayan’s The Ube Baking Book gathers more than 50 recipes — from classic halaya to ube focaccia, chiffon cakes, and breakfast pastries — tracing both flavor and family history shaped by his Filipino upbringing and years running a bakery a block from his childhood home.

Awayan plans to teach classes from the book at Whisk in 2026, with details to be announced through the bakery’s website and Instagram. — The Oaklandside

Top image: Winchester Mystery House

Previously: Field Notes: The Cockettes’ Tahara, Christmas Bar, and SCRAP Jewelry Pop-Up

This week: Kids capture Tenderloin in photos; Rainbow Sierrans hike decades-strong; “HOLE” digs theater at the beach; Fairfax still hums Summer of Love; Bimbo’s has secrets; Butterfly Fest blooms; Wonder Funday sparks STEAM; Architecture + the City unfolds; Voices of Adventure screens outdoors.

Back patio school talk

SFUD families are invited to attend San Francisco’s Education Alliance’s monthly Education Meet-Up. They’ll be taking over Hot Johnny’s back patio in the Castro this month on September 16.

The gathering brings together families, advocates, and neighbors to talk about creating a fully funded, inclusive, and supportive local school system. — SF Education Alliance

Butterflies in the garden

The Secret Garden in Elk Grove hosts its annual Butterfly Fest over two weekends, September 13–14 and 20–21. Visitors can take guided life cycle tours at 11 am to see Gulf Fritillaries move from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to orange-winged adult.

Alongside the butterflies, there’s face painting, a coffee cart, and a fall plant sale with perennials discounted for would-be pollinator gardeners. — Sacramento 365

Win tickets to Exploratorium’s Wonder Funday

Enter by September 15 to win a family four-pack of tickets to Wonder Funday, when the Exploratorium transforms into a festival of STEAM-inspired play.

On October 5, Pier 15 will be filled with demos, design challenges, crafts, and performances — all to support science access for Bay Area kids. — Exploratorium

A community built on the trail

For nearly four decades, the Rainbow Sierrans have met monthly, trading laughter and coffee on ridges and redwood paths while shaping queer outdoor organizing. Founded in 1986 as the Sierra Club’s first gay-and-lesbian affinity group, they overcame early pushback to thrive.

Co-founder Bob Walker helped secure huge swaths of East Bay open space (there’s a ridge named for him in Morgan Territory) and left a trove of landscape photos now at the Oakland Museum. The group later created the Bob Walker Conservation Award in his honor.

Today the Sierrans are often older, often women, and still a safe, expert place to learn trails and meet people — many  members found partners on hikes. Leaders are looking to bring younger folks into the loop. Monthly outings vary in distance and difficulty. — The Oaklandside

Fairfax, where the Summer of Love lingers

In Fairfax, peace signs and free parking still coexist. The town of 7,500 has a rhythm all its own: four-hour meters, redwood-ringed parks, and a ballfield once home to a pickup game between Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. Shops like Revolution 9 sell $9 posters and D&D dice, while the Fairfax Variety store remains one of California’s last true five-and-dimes.

At Wu Wei Tea Temple, you can sip golden milk, join a Sunday open mic, or simply practice the Taoist art of “doing not doing.” Even with new housing proposals stirring controversy, Fairfax feels like a pocket where the Summer of Love never ended. — SFGate

Swimming in San Francisco’s secrets

Bimbo’s 365 Club has held on to its old-world glamour since opening in 1931, and nothing captures that mystique more than Dolfina, the Girl in the Fishbowl. Tucked behind the bar in a velvet-lined alcove, she appears to float and swim in a tank of water — an illusion of mirrors and light that has outlived nearly every other nightclub trick of its kind.

Current performer Hanna Longwell, who is also directing a documentary on the tradition, described the thrill of sliding into the role, hearing whispers from above as guests tried to guess if they were seeing a mermaid, and later discovering a whole sisterhood of past Dolfinas. Some added glitter, seashells, or wigs; one even juggled a political career while secretly performing. For Longwell, collecting those stories has felt like piecing together a hidden history of San Francisco nightlife — one where empowerment, secrecy, and spectacle all converge inside a fishbowl.

Celebrating architecture in the city

San Francisco’s streets, parks, and skyline are constantly in flux, and the 22nd Annual Architecture + the City Festival celebrates that ongoing transformation. Through September 25, explore three weeks of walking tours, film screenings, panels, youth workshops, and more.

The festival kicks off with an Opening Night Party and the launch of The Reimagined City: San Francisco 2000–2025, an exhibition highlighting the city’s changing architecture and civic life over the last 25 years. — Architecture in the City

Voices of adventure under the stars

On a crisp September evening in San Carlos, the beer garden at Devil’s Canyon Brewery transforms into a gathering of outdoor storytellers and explorers. POST and SYRCL invite you to the Representation Matters Film Festival: Voices of Adventure, where films from the Wild & Scenic library spotlight diverse experiences in the outdoors—activism, community, accessibility, and the thrill of finding where you belong.

Between reels, guests wander among booths for local environmental groups, sip drinks, grab free pizza, and swap stories with kindred spirits. The air is full of curiosity, camaraderie, and the quiet hum of inspiration, both in person and online from September 27–October 5. — Peninsula Open Space Trust

Tenderloin through young eyes

Disposable cameras in small hands capture a side of San Francisco’s Tenderloin often overlooked. For a week in May, 28 students from grades two to five wandered streets, parks, and playgrounds, framing their everyday lives.

The photos record soccer games, family moments, colorful murals, and fleeting moments of childhood — quiet, intimate, and full of pride in a neighborhood usually seen only through crisis headlines.

Mohammed Haidar Khaled, 9, calls the shots through selfies, neighborhood corners, and glimpses of friends at play, preserving a Tenderloin that’s vibrant, connected, and alive in the eyes of its youngest residents. — KQED

Digging together

On an undisclosed San Francisco beach, five performers—and sometimes their audience—dig. Shovels slice through sand, creating a space for sitting, for sweat, for contemplation. HOLE is about obsession, endurance, and the strange joy of shared labor.

Each 75-minute performance shifts with wind, fog, and passerby interruptions, turning digging into theater, theater into meditation. Here, a hole is never just a hole: it’s communal, exhausting, and full of possibilities. Runs the first three Sundays in September at 2 pm and 5 pm.  — Mission Local

Image: SF Neo-Futurists

Previously: Field Notes: Michelle Tea’s 'Valencia,' Boozie Brunch, Culinary Cinema, and California Turns 175

The owner of SF’s Temple Nightclub has bought Oakland’s long-vacant Greyhound station. Plans include pop-up events, a rooftop bar, and eventually multifamily housing, years after ravers briefly took over the crumbling Beaux Arts building.

As San Francisco Business Times reports, the historic Greyhound station at 2103 San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, shuttered since 2021, has been purchased by the Hemming Family Trust for $2.3 million. Paul Hemming, a longtime Bay Area nightlife figure and owner of San Francisco’s Temple Nightclub, is tied to the trust. According to the Alameda County Assessor’s Office and deed records, the sale was finalized in March.

The 60,000-square-foot building was originally constructed in 1926 as the Union Stage Depot. As Oaklandside reports, its Beaux Arts and Renaissance architectural details were once a point of pride in Oakland, but the property fell into disrepair in recent decades. After Greyhound closed the station, the building was briefly taken over by underground party promoters in 2022. The city eventually shut those events down over safety concerns.

As SFGate reports, Hemming confirmed the acquisition during an April 2025 appearance on the “Social AM SF” podcast. He called the building “a unique opportunity” and said he hopes to build “a whole indoor-outdoor immersive entertainment complex in downtown Oakland.”

Plans filed with Oakland’s Planning and Building Department outline a phased renovation:

• Phase 1 would address structural basics, including repairing walls, updating bathrooms, and adding a new electrical room.
• Phase 2 proposes a retractable patio trellis, an elevator, and a rooftop bar. Interior spaces would be transformed to support retail and food service, including a new kitchen and bar amenities.
• Phase 3 could eventually add multifamily housing, though the number of units has not been specified.

Axis Architecture, known for hotel and luxury residential work in the Bay Area, is listed as the design firm. Principal Cory Creath confirmed their involvement but said the project is in early stages and still undergoing “due diligence.”

Paul Hemming’s background includes running a record store and music studio in Oakland before launching Temple Nightclub in SoMa in 2007. As reported by SFist, the club closed in 2024 due to financial challenges but has since quietly reopened, according to its website.

Though no nightclub has been officially proposed for the Oakland site, Hemming’s nightlife history, including venues in Los Angeles and Denver, leaves that door open.

The Greyhound property’s location in Uptown Oakland, a neighborhood that has outpaced downtown in post-pandemic recovery, could make it a new anchor for the city’s evolving nightlife and cultural scene.

Image: Partha Chakraborty/Google Maps

Previously: Day Around the Bay: Temple SF Nightclub in SoMa Announces It’s Closing Permanently

This week’s mix of culture, nature, and flavor includes queer hikes, show-tune karaoke, booza ice cream, an Oakland-based wine company, Lake Temescal swims, Foster City Eichler homes, SF skate history, and bold films at BAMPFA.

Pride in nature

Several LGBTQ+ groups around the Bay Area are hosting outdoor events during Pride Month to create inclusive, welcoming spaces in nature. Activities include birdwatching with Queer Birders Bay Area and Queers of a Feather, which provide gear and beginner-friendly guidance. Queer Surf hosts beach events and lessons that celebrate gender diversity in surfing culture.

Branching Out Adventures and the Rainbow Sierrans lead hikes and camping trips with a focus on accessibility and community-building. The San Francisco Hiking Club, active since the 1980s, continues to connect queer people through weekly scenic treks.—KQED

Show tunes and karaoke

A Broadway-themed singalong bar is opening in SF’s Marina District on June 26, offering a full immersive musical theater experience, including show-tune karaoke, red carpet photo ops, and themed cocktails like the “Ozmopolitan.” From Hamilton to Phantom, it’s your chance to belt it out with fellow fans. Early reservations are now open via SFBucketList.—SFBucketList

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Summer swims and scenic trails at Lake Temescal

Lake Temescal, a serene reservoir in the Oakland Hills, is open daily for the 2025 summer swim season. Just under an hour from SF via BART and bus, it features a sandy beach with lifeguards, a peaceful trail, fishing, picnicking, and WPA-era architecture.

Temescal Creek was dammed in 1868 to provide drinking water to the East Bay, and the lake’s stone beach house dates to the 1930s. Two playgrounds and shady groves round out this East Bay gem.—Secret San Francisco

San Francisco’s skateboarding culture and legacy

SFGovTV’s new short documentary explores how San Francisco helped shape global skateboarding culture. More than just a pastime, skating is part of the city’s identity—etched into its hills, plazas, and neighborhoods. The film highlights its gritty history, iconic street spots, and influential skaters.—SFGovTV

Booza in the Bay

Booza, a stretchy traditional Arab ice cream, is making its mark on the Bay. The rare treat is available at Berkeley’s Roast & Toast, where Palestinian owner Fadi Alhour serves classic and cardamom-rose flavors topped with pistachio and crispy kataifi.

Booza is also sold at Levant Dessert in Menlo Park and SF’s Dalida, and a few local markets carry packaged versions made in Texas. Its elastic texture comes from orchid root and tree resin, making it dense and slow-melting—perfect for summer.—Chronicle

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Changing the face of wine—from Oakland

Jonathan Yang and Tiffani Patton are reimagining wine from their base in Oakland. As the duo behind Laughing Gems, they craft natural wines that reflect their Chinese American and Black and Korean American heritage—designed to pair with the bold flavors they grew up with.

Their fizzy Muscat Pet-Nat and orange Muscat “Florascent” cut through rich foods, and their labels feature playful designs by local artists. They got their start at Purity Wine in Richmond, and now they're building a culture that feels like home.—EaterSF

Eichlers, bayfront living, and fair housing

Foster City is home to 200 Mid-Century Modern Eichler homes built between 1964–1966 across three neighborhoods. Known for their open layouts, glass walls, and indoor-outdoor flow, the homes reflect a bold vision of equitable housing championed by developer Joseph Eichler, who sold to buyers of all races when discrimination was still legal.

While some have been remodeled, others are being lovingly restored. Their legacy is matched by Foster City's original vision of blending modern living with open space and nature.—The Eichler Network

Global stories and bold directors at BAMPFA

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive’s Summer and Fall 2025 film lineup explores memory, identity, and endurance across international cinema. Programs include Robert Altman at 100 and In Lonely Places, expanding noir into uncanny suburbs and isolation.

Retrospectives of Tsai Ming-liang, Mikio Naruse, and Tarkovsky highlight solitude and human connection, while works by Vivien Hillgrove and Bruce Conner showcase transformation through editing. From The 400 Blows to A Photographic Memory, it’s a season of storytelling that spans continents and generations.—Broke-Ass Stuart

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Top image: Still from 'A Photographic Memory,' screening at BAMPFA on June 28 and July 20

Previously: Field Notes: New Peninsula Trail Network, Nesting Falcons, and Black History in California

This week, 4/14-20, we present a few stand-out events among a huge roster of Earth Day, Easter, and 420 festivities, including Nerd Nite, a Tenderloin walking tour, a comedy-dating show, and a spirituality and psychedelics conference.

Thursday

• Nerd Nite SF celebrates its 150th show at the Rickshaw Stop this month. Explore the universe, unravel modern evil, and debunk pelvic health myths in one unforgettable evening. Talks include cosmic origins with physicist John Groh, a sharp look at societal darkness from teacher Parsa Moein, and a myth-busting pelvic health session with Dr. Karah Charette. Plus: tunes by DJ&Jelly and a pop-up from SF Public Library.

Friday

• At the Love Isn’t Blind comedy-dating show at the Foundry, silent bachelors compete for one lucky bachelorette through games like unlocking their phones and calling their moms. Audience members join the fun with relationship-status wristbands and help from a roaming wingcouple. “Let's judge a book by its cover,” proclaims the event’s tagline.

Saturday

• Historian Linda Day’s Hot Pads, Cool Town: Living in the 1920s walking tour delves into the Tenderoin’s post-1906 rebirth through its architecture and vibrant nightlife. Learn how residents “lived large” in small spaces, creating a rich cultural scene in early 20th-century San Francisco. (You’re sure to see many Rousseau buildings along the route.) Tour tickets also include admission to the Tenderloin Museum.
• Celebrate Earth Day at Yerba Buena Gardens on April 19 with live music, hands-on eco-activities, and a Green Business Expo featuring local sustainable vendors. Enjoy family-friendly fun like tree planting, nature tours, and giveaways. Free and open to all—RSVP encouraged!
• Sea-loving youngsters should head to the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park for Junior Park Ranger Day, a free day of hands-on fun exploring maritime history and culture. Try activities like boatbuilding, ropemaking, scrimshaw, and catch the returning Mermaid puppet show. All ages welcome.

Sunday

Sunday is jam-packed with a slew of the usual spring festivals and Easter events, including the Cherry Blossom Parade and Festival, Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race, and the beloved Hunky Jesus Contest.

• While 420 was canceled at Hippie Hill, there’s an adults-only 420 Easter egg hunt over in Oakland on Sunday as part of the Spirituality & Beyond 5 + Oakland Psychedelic Conference. This two-day gathering at the Kaiser Center features psychedelic pioneers, spiritual leaders, and community voices exploring the intersection of consciousness, culture, and plant medicine. Expect keynotes, cannabis-friendly zones, and a free outdoor fair with vendors and live programming.

A little Sunday evening reading, inspired by the extensive research of architectural historians Michael R. Corbett and Anne Bloomfield.

The Rousseau family were integral players in the launch of the City Beautiful Movement in San Francisco in the early 1900s and are credited with being one of the first firms to build large, multi-story buildings in town. Their projects often boasted premium amenities such as  built-in vacuums as well as quality materials and ornate design details.

Patriarch Charles M. Rousseau was a Dutchman who graduated from the Éscole des Beaux Arts in Paris and moved to San Francisco in 1888 by way of St. Louis and New  York. He assisted the renowned Arthur Page Brown on projects such as  the S.F. Ferry Building before starting his own firm.

Charles  M. and his oldest son Charles Jr. were partners for a few years until  Charles Jr. left to start his own firm in 1902. His younger brother  Arthur then moved up from draftsman to partner.

Charles M. and Arthur’s relationship with Charles Jr. appeared  contentious after he left the firm. In 1907, Charles Jr. published  multiple news items distancing himself from the “other” Rousseaus who  were facing a lawsuit alleging that one of the pair’s projects at Turk  and Taylor Streets was “lopsided.”

After Charles M. died in 1918, Arthur and his younger brother Oliver,  also a partner at the firm, switched to real estate and construction,  overseeing large-scale Union Square projects such as the Chancellor  Hotel and Hotel Adagio.

Arthur and Oliver kept up a very public playboy lifestyle early in their  careers when they both married (and divorced) two prominent socialites.  The drawn-out sagas appeared in the local papers for months on end (pictured at top),  likely due to the era’s fault-based divorce law requiring couples to  prove they were the victims “of cruelty, adultery, or abandonment.”

Straight  and narrow Charles Jr. managed to steer clear of the gossip columns,  and Arthur and Oliver eventually got their personal lives straightened  out.

Later in their careers in the early 1930s, Arthur and Oliver created a series of modestly-priced yet elevated-in-style, single-family homes in the Sunset located along what’s now officially known as the Rousseaus’ Boulevard Tract Historic District. Oliver was the mastermind behind the design of the Rousseau Homes while Arthur focused on the real estate side of the business.

At  the center of the Rousseau development were two model homes dubbed The Sunset House, located at 1564 and 1568 36th Avenue facing Sunset  Boulevard, which was newly built at the time. The development extends along 34th through 36th Avenues from Kirkham to Lawton Streets. The brothers each lived in the development for a few years once it was  completed — Arthur at 1500 36th Avenue and Oliver at 1598 36th Avenue.

S.F. Richmond Review describes the Rousseau Homes as “representing a uniquely Bay Area version of storybook-style architecture.”

In a 2004 S.F. Chronicle article,  proud owners of the coveted Rousseau Homes refer to them as “a touch of  luxury at a more economical price” and “better built and proportioned,  roomier, classier and more ornate than the competition.” Additionally,  “[Oliver] put a little charm in every house, and each one is just different enough to make it attractive.”

When one of the Rousseau Homes was up for sale in 2014 for the first time in 47 years, S.F. Curbed reported on the interior features: “Mediterranean archways or ornate medallions adorn the facades, and the interiors are at once formulaic and romantic,  mixing vaulted ceilings and interior patios with sunken living rooms —  as though a ranch house had signed up for castle lessons.”

Check out this Hoodline feature for an in-depth look at the Rousseau Homes.

Plans have been approved for a striking modern mansion to be built on property with sweeping Golden Gate views that is currently occupied by a nearly 90-year-old home in SF's Sea Cliff neighborhood, and the owner is Tom Steyer.

The plans are for 496 Sea Cliff Avenue, the current occupant of which is a large, 5,500-square-foot home built in 1938. As the Chronicle tells us, the Planning Department has approved permits for Tom Steyer and his family trust to construct a 7,500-square-foot, three-story manse on this cliff-top property.

Steyer, 67, actually owns two next-door properties, and the plan seems to be to keep 494 Sea Cliff Avenue intact — perhaps with him and his family occupying that home while the other is under construction.

The plans for 496 Sea Cliff, as SF YIMBY first reported last month, include a 900-square-foot ADU (accessory dwelling unit).

The design by Sean Bailey Design and Studio Earth Work is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's work, with structural concrete walls, cedarwood soffits, and cascading plants off of terraces — with green roofs as well planted with native vegetation.

Steyer, a well known environmental activist, gained his wealth as founder of the hedge fund Farallon Capital. Longtime SFist readers may recall that Steyer spent $10 million back in 2017 on a national ad campaign calling for Donald Trump's impeachment, saying that he was threatening news organizations and pushing the US "to the brink of nuclear war." This was two years before Trump would ultimately get impeached for the first time.

Steyer has also been a megadonor to the Democratic Party, and he briefly ran for president himself in 2019/2020.

A project that's been ongoing for two years at California College of the Arts in San Francisco seeks to imagine new ways to rebuild the town of Greenville, which was virtually leveled by the 2021 Dixie Fire.

There are a lot of open lots and ruins that remain in Greenville, a historic mining town in the mountains of Plumas County. Before the Dixie Fire tore through it in August 2021, Greenville was home to about 1,100 people, and its devastation was one of the early stories to come from the massive fire, which would go on to burn for three more months and scorch parts of four other rural counties.

Greenville was the largest of the small towns that took the brunt of the fire, which largely burned through uninhabited forest land — the smaller towns of Taylorsville, Crescent Mills, Paxton, and Indian Falls also suffered major damage. In total, the fire destroyed 1,329 structures, most of them in Greenville.

But the long process of rebuilding is underway in Greenville, much as it has been in Paradise, which burned in 2018's Camp Fire. And a former student in the architecture program at California College of the Arts suggested that the school undertake the project of reimagining the town from the ground up.

As NBC Bay Area reports, two years into the effort, there have now been nine courses and six instructors dedicated to it in the school's architecture department, with students doing everything from imagining new affordable housing units that could have income properties (both regular and Airbnb rental units) attached, to designing new community spaces that could double as economic hubs for local makers.

"Oftentimes when we’re in school we focus on the physical constructs of architecture, the buildings themselves," says Peter Anderson, a professor of architecture at CCA, speaking to NBC Bay Area. "But this is a perfect chance for them to really see that whatever they’re working on is related to people’s lives."

Students have been making regular trips to Greenville, traveling five hours each way to meet with stakeholders and community members as they draft plans for the town — which is a census-designated place in the unincorporated county, and has no proper city government.

Tyler Pew, an alum of CCA who now has a private practice, grew up in Greenville, and he first proposed the idea of s single course to the school's faculty.

But with many of CCA’s faculty being "deeply involved in practices that focus on climate resilience, climate change, and sea level rise," as an article on the school's website explains, the project quickly grew.

"What I was blown away with was that CCA said, 'Why don’t we make this more than just a class? We could make this an entire program,'" Pew says in the piece.

Anderson, for instance, taught a studio course focused on how to reuse or remake existing materials in the town. One concept was using pine cones and needles, which are abundant and flammable and need cleaning up on the surrounding forest floor, to make new, fire-resistant building materials.

And Anderson, who specializes in material technology, suggests that even in a fire-prone area like this, the building material of choice should be wood — but not just old-fashioned timber.

"We have a town that burned down catastrophically. Why would we rebuild it with wood?" Anderson asks rhetorically. "There is a lot of new technology such as mass timber that is actually very fire resistant because of how it’s made. This new way of using wood makes it thicker and when you expose it to fire, even a severe one, the outer layover will char and provide a protective layer for the inner surface."

The tangible outcomes of this work have yet to be realized, but the students' enthusiasm and ideas appear to be working well for the community that has to rebuild.

Sue Weber, a former nun and resident of Greenville, said she admired "how powerfully empathetic" the students have been. "We don’t think about when personal past trauma meets the current trauma, how it allows old wounds to reopen again. And I saw how students handled these moments with incredible empathy," Weber says, speaking in the school's article.

Weber adds, "Having these young energetic, unbelievably gracious and powerful people come to our community — ones who our community has fallen in love with — we trust them as we trust Tyler. They were able to help get us out of our paralysis, while we rebuilt our community."

Previously: Images From Greenville, the Latest California Town Decimated By Wildfire

Frank Lloyd Wright's only oceanfront house, on Carmel Point near the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, just sold for its asking price of $22 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Despite the high price, the single-story house was originally only 1,200 square feet and was built for $125,000, with an addition of another bedroom and studio in 1956. The famous architect originally designed the house, also known as “the cabin on the rocks,” for Della Walker around 1950.

Esperanza Carmel LLC, a real estate investment and development company, reportedly purchased the property from descendants of Della Walker, according to local paper the Carmel Pine Cone. The company is owned by Patrice Pastor, a Monaco-based businessman and property developer, and it owns several other properties in the Carmel area.

It’s his only oceanfront house, and Wright planned for it to look like a boat cutting through the water. It was also immortalized in the 1959 movie A Summer Place, which is well-known for its musical theme, and even received the federal historic designation by the California State Historic Resources Commission in 2016.

The house features a signature Wright “Usonian” design, which has elements like  flat roofs with generous overhangs and cantilevered carports, built-in furniture and shelving, tall windows, and a central hearth.

The ocean-facing property features three rooms that offer unobstructed views of the ocean, while the low roof is adorned with copper shingles.

The living-dining room boasts a floor-to-ceiling fireplace surrounded by built-in furniture. The unique hexagonal floor plan creates a honeycomb-like appearance.

In addition, the window frames are painted with Wright's signature "Cherokee Red" color, and the glass windows are reverse-stepped.

Wright reportedly designed the house for the home’s owner, Della Walker after she wrote him a short letter in 1945 asking him to take on the project, according to Art News. “I am a woman living alone,” she said. “I wish protection from the wind and privacy from the road and a house as enduring as the rocks but as transparent and charming as the waves and delicate as the seashore. You are the only man who can do this —w ill you help me?”

Frank Lloyd Wright designed the home to resemble a ship’s bow cutting through water.

You can see a house tour here.

Image via Wikimedia/Greghenderson2006.

The Miami-based architecture firm that designed the Infinity towers, troubled 33 Tehama, and the mostly hideous Trinity Place has just unveiled renderings for a curious new residential tower — with a cube at the top that appears to float above the rest of the building.

The Chronicle's architecture guy John King just picked up the story of 620 Folsom after SFYimby wrote about it last week, following the submission of the renderings and a few scant details to Planning from developer Align Real Estate. The proposed 62-story tower will certainly stand out on the skyline if it gets built — though King is no fan, and calls the design and height "far out of kilter with its surroundings."

The building is a mostly conventional, no-frills square-box tower with one defining feature, a five-story, 108-foot-high cube hovering, seemingly detached, over the rest of the building. This cube — or as the developer calls it, "a subtle glowing lantern" — will feature four floors of residences as well as a roof level mechanical floor. And the void over which it hovers is actually a glass-walled "amenity floor" with a fitness center, two lounges, and shared work spaces. As the developer describes it, "the building’s cubic form reflects a design that is both unique and expressive of its time, but also complementary to its historic Bay context." I dunno about that.

King rightfully points out that "renderings aim to deceive" and that this magically invisible amenity floor won't be so invisible in real life. And we can assume that the finished building, should it be approved as is, won't be quite so sleek and pretty when it is rendered in steel and glass instead of on a computer.

And how does a purely glass-enclosed floor support the weight of a five-story cube? Planning Director Rich Hillis tells the Chronicle, "In the rendering it looks pretty neat. I’m not sure how you actually build it, though." (A simplified floor plan suggests that the glass walls will surround a fairly conventional steel support structure, but who knows how you make that structure disappear like it does in the rendering.)

The architect, Arquitectonica, designed the attractive Infinity towers nearby in SoMa. But they're also responsible for 33 Tehama, whose residents have been displaced by a massive flood near the roof, as well as the behemoth Trinity Place at 8th and Market — the scale and monotony of which is well disguised in the firm's photos.

The building as proposed takes advantage of the state's density-bonus law, which allows you to build taller if you include 15% affordable units — something San Francisco already requires of all developments.

The plan is for 826 rental units, 691 of which will be market-rate and 135 of which will be affordable. The unit mix will include 118 studios, 118 one-bedrooms, 472 two-bedrooms, and 118 three-bedrooms, with a mix of each on each floor.

The floor plans suggest virtually no retail space on the ground floor facing Folsom Street, with just a small carve-out for a "cafe."

The development would replace a a low-slung, three-story brick building currently on the property — two doors down from The FlyTrap restaurant, near the Bay Bridge approach.

As SFYimby points out, this tall tower won't be alone in the part of town — an SOM-designed, 491-foot tower at 95 Hawthorne is also in the entitlements phase.

Will Planning let this slide through, given San Francisco's urgent mandate from the state to build more housing in the next decade? We'll see!

Plans have been submitted for a five-story, 31-unit condo development on the site of a former artists' studio warehouse and gallery in Duboce Triangle, designed by Stanley Saitowitz and his firm Natoma Architects.

Socketsite first revealed plans for the proposed development at 67-69 Belcher Street back in June, at which point it called for 36 units. The plans call for razing the existing warehouse structure — born a furniture warehouse in 1919 and converted to art studios and a pretty fab loft in the 1980s — and building up higher than the neighborhood currently is zoned for. The development team will, then, be seeking a density bonus.

Socketsite now reports that the plans have now been formally submitted to Planning, after some refinement and a scaling back to 31 units — with a mix of 19 two-bedroom units, 11 three-bedrooms, and a single one-bedroom unit. The total development is 54,000 square feet, and includes a basement garage for 15 cars.

The modern design is striking both in its simplicity and in the use of brick — something not often seen in Natoma Architects designs. And the angled, two-sided bays across the facade echo the Edwardian bay windows of the Duboce Triangle neighborhood.

The Examiner reported on the property when it hit the market in 2007 — it wouldn't end up selling, and as Socketsite tells us, it was later packaged as a development property, listed for $12.5 million in 2016, re-listed in 2020 for $10 million, and then finally sold for $4.9 million this year.

The owners who converted it into its current state, with a loft residence in one half and raw gallery/studio space in the other, were artists and business partners Spaulding Taylor and Win Ng. They purchased the building in 1977, with Taylor building out his half with a loft in 1983. But Ng passed away in 1991 without completing the conversion of his half. (The pair had also owned a retail store together that specialized in Asian-inspired cooking supplies, ceramics, and kitchenware called Taylor & Ng.)

Taylor sold the property in 1996, and there appears to have been renovations to the loft since then. A recent inhabitant, as you can see in the video below, owned quite a guitar collection. But wow, that loft is rad.

The Federal Building at 7th and Mission, which is now 14 years old, is undergoing a major redo of its beleaguered, often litter-filled plaza.

Architect Thom Mayne's bold design, which is actually a three-building complex including the low-slung "annex" and the restaurant/cafeteria space at the corner, called for an open plaza of crushed granite with a path snaking through it, concrete benches along the sides that doubled as security blockades for vehicle bombs, and a light element by artist James Turrell that appears to continue from the ground up through the center of the tower to the square light-well garden.

As the Chronicle reports, the $3 million makeover of the plaza includes new concrete pavers, greenery, and an imposing, eight-foot-tall, galvanized steel fence that's meant to secure the plaza at night. The fence is being cheered by neighbors in residential buildings nearby, who say that the Federal Building plaza has been a neglected, windswept and terrible space from the get-go, and in recent years it's served as a nighttime drug market.

The General Services Administration (GSA), the federal agency that owns the complex, held a series of workshops with building employees and neighbors in 2019, and the plaza project came out of those discussions. And Supervisor Matt Haney was vocally critical of the feds around that time, calling on the GSA to take "urgent action" on this "public safety and public health crisis."

"The addition of the perimeter fence is necessary to address illicit activity that had been occurring and ensure the security... after business hours,” says a statement from the GSA, and they add that the fencing will "maximize the use of the plaza for employees, visitors and the public."

The fence is already basically up according to the Chronicle, and next will be soil, plants, and a new "pollinator meadow" along the berm at the building's base, with native plants meant to attract bees and butterflies.

When the building was under construction and completed in 2007, it was a flashpoint for locals, many of whom appreciated Mayne's design by many of whom never have. The narrow, concrete floor plates of the building with operable windows are meant to be naturally cooled with the prevailing breeze in San Francisco, but it's not clear whether these office floors ever really open their windows and shades as intended. The building is home to offices of the Department of Labor, USDA, Social Security Administration, and other federal departments, and is a supplement to the Philip Burton Federal Building on Golden Gate Avenue.

Chronicle architecture critic John King hailed the building as "both daunting and dazzling" when it was completed, noting the "origami whim" of the steel mesh curtain that folds its way down the main facade over one part of the plaza.

Mayne received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2005, just as construction was getting underway on the tower. But this specific federal building was cited by critics in both the George W. Bush and Trump administrations as an example of designs that weren't traditional enough to deserve federal funding. Trump issued an executive order in February 2020 titled "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" that denounced all modern designs and declared "the classical architectural style stall be the preferred and default style" for all future federal buildings.

The Federal Building was the focus of multiple protests during the Trump Era, and messages about sending Trump to prison were projected multiple times on its Seventh Street-facing concrete facade.

Related: Haney Says Feds Should Take Responsibility For Rampant Drug Sales In Federal Building Plaza

All around the world architects use the octagon to beautify their buildings. The Dome of the Rock has a characteristic octagonal plan. The Tower of the Winds in Athens is another example of an octagonal structure. It's no surprise that San Francisco, a city influenced by European ideas and culture, is home to buildings like the Feusier Octagon house, now for sale at $8.6 million.

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In the 1850s, the time the property was constructed, octagon houses were in vogue, thanks in large part to the book “A Home for All; Or, The Gravel Wall and Octagon Mode of Building” by Orson Squire Fowler, according to San Francisco’s planning commission.

Fowler argued that eight-sided homes were better for one’s well-being, in part because it meant every room in the house would get sunlight at one point during the day. Similar to studies showing people are generally happier near the sea, the same could be said of those bathed in sunlight throughout the day.

It was last sold to the Billman family for $2.8 million in 1998 and listed unsuccessfully for $5.2 million in 2012. After several years of price cuts, it was offered as rental for a mere $10,500 per month. Now, the Feusier Octagon House on 1067 Green St. in Russian Hill is listed for $8.6 million. If you love sunlight and have relatively deep pockets, take a gander.

Octagon houses are rare. Besides the Feusier House, there are only two others in existence in San Francisco, one of which is the McElroy Octagon House.  In 1952  the home was spared from demolition by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in California, a group that seeks to preserve historic buildings. PG&E, who owned it, agreed to sell them the home for $1. The house was restored by University of California's former Dean of Architecture, Warren C. Perry. During the restoration, the original layout of the house was changed so the space would be more functional as an event space. By 1953, the building opened as a museum and event space. Though no one lives there now, the McElroy Octagon House still possesses that same old majesty and grit from the old days.

Lastly is the Land's End Octagon House. Also known as the Point Lobos Station, its tenders used to watch the Golden Gate, and signal the arrival and type of incoming ships using visual flag signals. Built in 1927, the little octagon building is now hidden in a batch of trees at Land's End. It was one of three lookout stations at Land's End. Point Lobos replaced an 1889 building, located near the present site of the USS San Francisco Memorial, which was removed to make way for a scenic overlook for tourists.

Though octagon houses are strange and unique, they still seem to hold a small spot of weird in San Francisco's heart of architecture.

Image courtesy of Elisa Rolle

A Marina District home with views of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge has just set a neighborhood record as the most expensive single-family home ever to hit the market.

The custom-built, new-construction home at 435 Marina Boulevard hit the market on Friday, and as the SF Business Times reports, the list price far exceeds the last most expensive home to sell in the Marina — 3560 Baker Street, which sold for $8.7 million last year.

The sellers are tech founder and real estate magnate Manouch Moshayedi and his wife Sophie. Their daughter Camilla Moshayedi is the listing agent.

As Camilla Moshayedi explains to SFist, "The home is truly unprecedented for the area and offers countless rare features, a striking design, unobstructed views and unparalleled scale." And to command this list price, she says, "It is unlike any home built in the Marina before and will be difficult to replicate. Most comparable homes in the city are much more vertical in the design, while this home has very large floor plates on each level due to the extra-wide 50-foot lot."

As the listing describes, it's a 5-bedroom, 7.5-bath home of 7,039 square feet. The Moshayedis purchased the property in 2014 for $5.4 million and built the new structure there as a second home. However now they say that are not using it enough now that they have grandchildren in Southern California.

"It has all the amenities that we could need and the indoor-outdoor feel that we love,” Mr. Moshayedi says, speaking to Mansion Global. "It was constructed to stand the test of time and incorporates the highest quality materials."

The Moshayedis reportedly spent a great deal of time in the kitchen, and therefore outfitted it with "top-of-the-line Gaggenau appliances, Bulthaup cabinetry, Calacatta counters, three sinks, three dishwashers, and an Equipex salamander [the same appliance can be found at The French Laundry and similar restaurants]."

The home is equipped with a Savant smart home system, and features an elevator in addition to solar power, a water purification system, home theater, and a four-car garage.

The view from the expansive roof deck and two other front decks is likely what will sell this place. But whether they get that asking price remains to be seen.

The most expensive home ever sold in San Francisco was 2920 Broadway, which sold for $39 million in 2019. Another Pacific Heights manse at 2799 Broadway was also seeking that price when it was listed last October, but the price has since been reduced to $37 million.