The Bay Area, in photos

january + october

visited: sf (NOT “san fran”), redwood city, stanford, mountain view, san jose

I visited the San Francisco Bay Area twice last year, and meant to write about my trips but never got around to it. I figure I’ll never write that post at this point, but I still would like to share the photos I took, so here they are.

Caltrain

The front of the train, which is a double-decker commuter train. — train! train! train!

Stanford University

I took the Caltrain to Palo Alto station, which sits at the edge of campus; I then took a shuttle bus that dropped me off near the visitor centre.

I can see how visiting a beautiful university campus would make you want to enroll there. California in January is pretty unbelievable. This was like a good summer day in Vancouver.

A long, covered walkway. The arches cast long, dramatic shadows along the path. — i was like wow… such pretty arches…

Looking down another covered walkway, where a biker rides through, framed by the round arch. — these covered walkways were really nice!

apparently this is called an “arcade”

i should learn some basic architecture…??

The loggia viewed from outside. — well, technically the arches are the arcade; the walkway itself is a “loggia”

The Hoover Tower, which features a rounded top and arched windows.

A large archway outside, framed by greenery and palm trees. — so many palm trees…

The top of a building. The arch and pointed roof have intricate sculpted borders.

Rodin Sculpture Garden

A sculpture of a door, framed by statues of Adam and Eve. The door itself is carved with figures from Dante's Inferno. — The Gates of Hell

A sculpture, mostly shadowed, against a cloudy blue sky. The figure stands contrapposto with one arm reaching up. — this sculpture was the subject of one of my pleinairpril paintings that year! (drawn from photo ref)

Messy digital painting of a black sculpted figure standing atop a tall pillar on grass. Tall bushes line the background under a bright cloudy blue sky. — this sculpture was the subject of one of my pleinairpril paintings that year! (drawn from photo ref)

Cantor Arts Center

Can’t believe there’s a contemporary art museum on campus. I had to speedrun this.

The ionic columns of the museum entrance. — ok these are [checks notes] ionic columns right??
i tried to read more about the types of columns and what orders are but then got confused…
wikipedia: “an order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform”

Two sculpted hands made of brass, set on a large black disc. — Tuan Andrew Nguyen, *Nothing Is Ever Lost, Nothing Ever Gained*, 2022. Brass from artillery shells, mounted on black stainless steel.

A large sculpture of a horse made out of driftwood. — horsey in da lobby…

Arizona Garden

I walked over to the cactus garden, which was full of cacti. How nice!

Cactus garden at a different angle, with a bunch of tall, cylindrical, and pointy cacti. — ooo pointy

Redwood City

I took the train up to Redwood City to meet a friend. We hung out at a very cute cafe and doodled.

A yellow house with a colourful sign labeling it ‘The Yard.’

Interior room, lined with windows. On the table is my coffee and half-eaten pastry.

San Francisco, aka, “the city”

On my first trip, I only spent a day in the city itself, since I was staying farther out in the Bay Area.

The billboards of San Francisco are pretty bleak, I have to say

A billboard on the side of the highway that says “SF is so back”, in quotation marks. It points to the website inference.ai. — is it tho

I dunno man. What is this. What are we doing here.

Legion of Honor

Apparently Legion of Honor is one half of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco—the other is the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, which I visited on my second trip.

A distant view of the Golden Gate bridge. — The Golden Gate Bridge was just barely visible from the parking lot.

A Rodin sculpture in the outdoor plaza of a museum, which is a big fancy looking building lined with tall columns, like in the style of the Pantheon. — this architectural style is called “beaux-arts”

i’m learning so much while writing this blog post lol

Me standing in front of some ionic columns, tossing my hair in a very casual, candid way. — [glinda voice] toss toss

Me taking a mirror selfie with my camera inside a room at the museum.

SF Museum of Modern Art

After the Legion of Honor, we went to the SF MOMA. I didn’t take many pictures, but I really enjoyed it. It was bigger than I expected and we had to rush through the last couple of floors.

The highlight was the exhibition of Amy Sherald’s paintings:

Amy Sherald: American Sublime invites you to breathe. Come and be taken in by the colors, shapes, and forms painted by one of America’s defining contemporary portraitists.

This exhibition presents nearly 50 of Amy Sherald’s luminous paintings, including her iconic portraits of Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor, poetic early works, and new works on view for the first time.

Sherald’s artworks convey the quiet power in everyday people and invite viewers to participate in a more complex debate about accepted notions of American identity.

— SF MOMA

Two people in sailor hats share a kiss against a blue background. One wears a striped shirt and yellow pants, the other a white shirt and jeans. — For Love, and for Country (2022)

A portrait of Michelle Obama seated, resting her chin on her hand. She is wearing a long, geometric-patterned dress that features bold black, white, red, pink and yellow shapes, including stripes, triangles, and circles. The dress covers much of the lower half of the image. The background is a soft, solid light blue and her hair is styled in loose waves. Her expression is calm yet contemplative. — For Love, and for Country (2022)

I also really enjoyed the installation The Visitors by Ragnar Kjartansson, where we sat for a little while and enjoyed the music and calm atmosphere. Here’s a YouTube video of it—really such a lovely experience.

“In this mesmerizing hour-long work projected across nine screens, viewers are transported once again to the serene setting of Rokeby in upstate New York as the Icelandic artist and his musician friends perform together in various rooms of this historic mansion.”

— SF MOMA

The exhibit entrance, featuring a photo of a cellist which covers the wall.

Inside the exhibit, where people are lying on the floor listening to music. The musicians are projected on screens all around the room.

City view from the museum upper floor. One of the buildings is black and stands out in the skyline. — view from the balcony.

monolith…

Los Gatos, aka, Netflix

My friend gave me a tour of the Netflix office, which was cool. I’d never been to a big tech office before, and I’ve only ever worked at smaller, scrappier companies. Everything is so fancy?

A meeting room with art of Alien vs Predator on the glass. — apparently all the meeting rooms are named after movies/shows

A Stranger Things set with the letters on string lights on the wall. — apparently all the meeting rooms are named after movies/shows

Golden Gate Park

Here’s the start of trip #2 in October!

de Young Museum

Of course, I loved the Art of Manga exhibit.

“Manga — Japanese comics and graphic novels — have become a global phenomenon. Featuring rarely presented original drawings by major artists, this exhibition showcases the world of manga from the 1970s to today. The exhibition explores manga as a powerful medium for visual storytelling, highlighting themes across genres, from friendship to sexuality to the human condition. Looking closely at each artist’s narrative worlds and creative processes, the exhibition also spotlights manga’s cultural impact today and possibilities for the future.”

— de young

There were so many different works and artists exhibited that I had never seen before. Examining all their different art styles up close was such a treat.

Corner with a large drawing of Inuyasha on the wall, and smaller frames of various manga pages. — inuyasha…

Closeup of a Inuyasha page. The edge of Kagome's hair has been corrected with whiteout. — inuyasha…

A wall covered with pages from One Piece. — there was a room for the printing process of One Piece, and the walls were just covered all over with thousands of pages

Concert

The other main attraction at Golden Gate Park that day was attending the Khalid concert (feat. Lauv + flowerovlove). It started at 3pm, ended around 6, and we were sitting on the grass the entire time, which is the ideal concert experience for me since I am old and decrepit and hate crowds.

A bunch of trees in the park on a bright sunny day. — walked to the concert from the museum and saw some cool trees on the way. good park.

Distant view of the concert stage as Khalid performs, across a crowd of people tsanding on the grass, and closer to me, people sitting. It's bright and sunny.

Golden Gate Bridge

Me posing in front of the bridge. — well, when at bridge, i guess…

Palace of Fine Arts

A cool structure north of the city. Apparently it was built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, but then completely rebuilt from 1964 to 1974.

Closeup of a corner of the structure, which features intricate columns. — hey look, more beaux-arts architecture!

People standing around the structure, which casts strong shadows. The tall columns are several stories high. — and THESE are corinthian columns
u can tell (apparently) by how Very Fancy they are
not me tho i looked at a website that says they are corinthian

The rounded ceiling, with more fancy sculptures. — the rotunda. ~~or, “da rotunda,” if you will,~~ sorry

The tops of more fancy corinthian columns. These ones are capped with boxes that have sculpted figures on each vertical edge.

Other city things

I spent a day walking around the city, which including memorable sights like a Salesforce conference (lol), AI ads (ew), and the Oakland Bay Bridge (nice).

View of the Oakland Bay Bridge and the water. — me when i see water: ooh water

A pigeon on the railing by the water, with more birds in the background. The bridge stretches into the distance in the background. — ooh bird

The cityscape, with the shiny, phallic shape of the Salesforce tower standing out against the sky. — ew salesforce

not pictured: the ferry building, which was pretty cute. I went to Blue Bottle Coffee for the first time.

Food

Lastly: food!!! My friend had excellent recommendations and I ate a lot of delicious food.

Two burgers and fries drenched in what appears to be cheese and sauce. — first meal: in-n-out. can’t say i recommend the animal-style fries, but when in california

Big spicy noodle soup bowl. — first meal: in-n-out. can’t say i recommend the animal-style fries, but when in california

Conclusion

The highlights—aside from, of course, hanging with friends—were the museums, the Caltrain, and the weather. I also liked the beaux-arts architecture. I’m really glad I visited again in October and caught the Art of Manga exhibition.