WEEK 8:

We are truly blessed with amazing weather during each of our field trips. Just as every other week has been, the sun shown down on us as we took a walk through the Lower Haight to the Castro. Though this walk was quite long and exhausting, it opened my eyes to fascinating sites. The atmosphere of the areas where we walked felt very safe and laid back. 

During the walk through the Lower Haight and down through the Castro, there was a change in the culture. The Lower Haight, often lost in the identity of the Upper Haight, the psychedelic, hippie area, is a very unique beautiful district. The Lower Haight is much more low-key and though it has a much smaller number of retail businesses, there are a few cute cafes, restaurants, and many beautiful houses. This area is noted for its efficient bicycle routing, stemming from the Mission District towards Golden Gate Park. This route is known as The Wiggle. Unlike the Upper Haight, there is not as much signage in the Lower Haight. Signs are mostly directed towards the residents of the area, directing them towards restaurants, the few clubs, and towards other destinations. 

We continued the walk, where we stopped at the Harvey Milk Center for Recreational Arts. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office, which is represented in the movie Milk. He was a very big activist that made a huge change in the Castro. Without his activism, the area wouldn’t be what it is today. He is now an icon in the community, all around San Francisco and the world, for his famous and significant political career. Below this Recreational Center, is Duboce Park. This small urban park is a popular site for residents in the area and for dog walkers. Previously the park was referred to as “Dog Shit Park,” as it was very dirty and people didn’t clean up after their animals. Most of the signs, either located on lamp posts or spray painted on the ground, read “keep dog’s on leash” or “no dogs allowed.”

Finally we reached the destination I was most excited to visit, the Castro. This destination is located in a neighborhood called Eureka. This neighborhood is the United State’s first, largest and best-known gay community. All around you see waving rainbow flags, a representation of the LGBT community. The district is very vibrant, it has it’s own atmosphere compared to the hustle and bustle of downtown. This area became very populated during the Summer of Love in the Haight- Ashbury district. We saw many historical places within this district, such as the Castro theater. The signage in this area is most definitely directed towards the LGBT community. In the Castro anything goes. This includes the naked people I saw and the signs for porn and sex shops. The signage is definitely directed towards the community members that live within the area, and the gay community, but it is also directed towards the many visitors that come to experience the very welcoming area. 

The last spot on our trip was Dolores Park, another recreational park that seemed to attract just about everyone playing hooky from work on the warm day. With a view of the city, it is a beautiful place to soak up the sun or have a picnic. We sat there to meet up with the class and enjoyed a delicious, fruity popsicle. Though the walk from school, through the Lower Haight, the Castro and finally Dolores Park, was long and exhausting, the sites were well worth it. I went back to the Castro only a few days later to take some of my friends to explore the area and eat some delicious food. I’m happy to have explored such a distinct area of my city. 

Chinatown and the Financial District:

WEEK 7:

This week on our field trip, we went to a very popular tourist destination, Chinatown. In fact, more visitors come to Chinatown each year than Golden Gate Bridge. The Chinatown in San Francisco is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and is also the oldest Chinatown in North America, built in 1848. Roughly speaking, the Chinatown is a mile by a mile and a half wide, showing just how big it is. On top of this, Chinatown houses the largest Chinese community outside of Asia. It is a very densely populated urban area, with about 15,000 residents living within the 20 block area.  

Chinatown is its own district, meaning it is majorly different from other places in San Francisco. It has it’s own customs, places of worship and languages. While entering the Gateway Arch, that serves as the entrance to Chinatown on Grant Avenue and Bush Street, one is fully immersed in the chinese culture.  Immediately you see the red lanterns hanging from the buildings, the chinese restaurants and shops. Visitors are attracted to this lively, colorful district for the culture, bargain-shopping and restaurants. 

The signage is very different from the other signage we see around the city. As it was said on the field trip, the signage closely resembles what you would see in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, or other major Asian cities. Much of the signage is hanging from the buildings, and is stacked on top of each other.  By this I mean there was signs for others places on top of the buildings while some of the signs are near eye level advertise something else. Much of the signage is in Chinese, but some are simply written in english. A lot of the bargain signs, such as “2 shirts for $10,” were written in english, because signs such as this attract the tourists. Yet there were older signs for a newspaper that was written in Chinese characters, because items such as these are targeted towards the people that live within Chinatown or members of the Chinese community. Finally, another type of signage I noticed was signs written in chinese with translation written under it. One example of this was for a restaurant, written in characters but under that sign it says “seafood restaurant.” This allows both tourists and community members to get information from the signs. 

Chinatown has a rich history. Chinese immigrants began coming to the area between 1850 to 1900’s, from China’s Guangdong Providence. The immigrants came to work as shopkeepers, mine workers in the Gold Rush, and as hired workers. The large number of immigrants came over and were able to form their own town within the city. Historically, there was a lot of racial tension and riots in response to the growing number of immigrants. As the tension began to grow, the U.S. government passed the Chinese Excursion Act, which greatly reduced the number of Chinese allowed into the country. This greatly effected the population of Chinatown. After World War II, this law was retracted- the 1950‘s, and the growth began again after this time. In response to the racism, a labor recruiting organization was created to provide the community a voice, and this organization still stands in the community today. In 1906, when the San Francisco earthquake hit, Chinatown was destroyed. We did however, visit a church in Chinatown that was not destroyed in the quake. It served as a shelter to the community in the time of need. 

After visiting Chinatown and researching the unique area, I was interested in the history of this district. The picture below shows the area before the 1906 earthquake. The area doesn’t look like it does nowadays, the buildings and the signage looks completely different. A reason for this, was when the Chinese immigrants came to San Francisco they faced discrimination, poverty and language barriers. They lived in this area for their protection, being separated from severe racial violence. When the earthquake hit and destroyed most of the area, the people living in this area were able to rebuild the area to fit their culture. The image below was from before the earthquake. You can see that the buildings don’t look like they do today.

Wherever you go in Chinatown there is always something to visit. Each shop is unique, with many different souvenirs, each delicious chinese restaurant is different, and the chinese temples varies from the others. The architecture is very much so like what you would see in China, with the pagoda-like roof and the lampposts that are decorated with dragon motifs. Chinatown, the very well visited, large, unique district in San Francisco has a rich history and culture. I was happy to be able to pick up a few souvenirs from the trip to remember everything amazing I saw. I enjoyed being immersed in a different culture, the chinese culture and can’t wait to go back to visit. 

Union Square and The Tenderloin:

WEEK 6:

For the first time in our San Francisco signage class, we travelled to the downtown area. This was a change of scenery from some of the other places we have travelled over the last few months. Downtown is filled with people, tourists and a different atmosphere from other places in San Francisco. As a class, we hopped on the MUNI, to Market Street/ Union Square area, continued down to an area of the Tenderloin, then over to the civic center, and public library. These destinations fall into a theme I have seen notably around the city. That is that the atmosphere, lifestyle, and people that inhabit that area can change within one or two blocks of another district. 

The first of a few destinations was Market Street, an area around Union Square. We entered Westfield Mall, through Bart Station to begin. The Bart Station is full of commuters and people traveling around the Bay Area. The signs are very informative to help direct people, for example there were signs leading to where to buy tickets, informational booths, and how to get to the certain tracks. We exited the station underground, into Westfield Mall where the atmosphere and audience changed instantly. A upscale mall such as this one, is targeted to the consumers of San Francisco. Interestingly enough, not only does the mall target a certain audience, but each individual shop targets its own audience. Stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle target young adults and teenagers, while stores such as J. Crew and Bloomingdales is targeted to adults mostly. Union Square is a area full of tourists, business people, and a completely different economic class. The signs are visually appealing, colorful, and detailed to these types of people. I always love visiting this area. 

As we continued our walk, the areas were transformed within a few short blocks. Signs we saw in Union Square, that were brightly lit up began to disappear.  Only a few blocks away the signs began to start falling apart, be hand written or painted onto the wall. Much of the signage looked as if it needed to be updated or completely demolished and rebuilt, however, this area lacks money so this is not an option. The atmosphere began to change, the area was full of people from a much lower economic class. Many people approached us asking for money and there was a lot of homeless people that found the streets as their home. These people were the audience of the signage in the area. The purpose of this signage is to inform people about things such as homeless shelters, where to get cheap food, how important clean drugs are and signs for liquor stores. I found interestingly, that there was signs for San Francisco State University at one point in this district, flying high on lamp posts. These signs typically don’t apply to the people in this area, so it was interesting to them on the streets. I figured because it was on lamp posts in the streets, it could be targeted to people driving through as it would be in their eye view. 

Finally we visited the public library, a massive beautiful white building. This was our final destination on our trip. We explored around the library, and found the photo archives highlighting the history of San Francisco. The library is a place for the whole community to visit, and use as a resource. I saw many signs advertising, not only the different sections of the library, but that it was a public space. For example, the restroom signs explained that they were public restrooms.

Through looking at historical photos from these districts I found some interesting pictures. Though it isn’t as historical as some of the other photos, the picture below depicts a sign in The Tenderloin. The sign says “Ask: Are you choking? This is the universal choking sign.” This sign gives us a picture into the environment around The Tenderloin. Something as well known as the choking symbol, isn’t known by the people of The Tenderloin. In addition, the sign includes a picture of the symbol, in case people looking at the sign cannot read. 

  In San Francisco, a matter of blocks can change everything from the people that reside in the area, the economic class, the atmosphere and the signage. The Tenderloin is not a district I can see myself revisiting for the fun of it. However, I very much enjoyed being downtown and in the Union Square area. I’m glad we got to see another side of San Francisco, such as The Tenderloin, and were able to make our first trip downtown.