Where The Cool People Go-Union Square

I am not a big shopper. I usually wait for the deals at Old Navy-lol (I do go to Macy's and have some designer duds but....), but the other day I was around Union Square in San Francisco and saw all the chic people walking around and decided to snap some pics:

The front of Niketown

Barneys and Macys near each other

The hard thing was trying not to take pics of the street because that would kill any vibe as they are tearing up the street around there, trying to put in a central subway. So that is why the pics are looking up and also all of the stores around there are at least two stories.

Tiffany's

The entrance to Tiffany's

Saks Fifth Avenue

Macy's-This is the women's store, the men's is across the street and it has a Cheesecake Factory inside

People enjoying Union Square in the shadow of great shopping

This is the view from the top floor (five floors up) at Nordstroms which is across the street inside a mall.

And after the hip, cool and rich get done shopping I am pretty sure they head over to the Olympic Club Building which is nearby. It is members only, so I could not get in but the outside is pretty cool:

The Olympic Club

A statue outside the Olympic Club

The other statue outside the Olympic Club

Maybe one day I will be hip, chic and cool enough to start hanging out more in these places instead of walking around-lol

Random House Presents...LOL

Every so-often I have a bunch of pics that I have just taken and do not really fit into anything or I left them out of a blog because they did not fit. So, here just some random stuff:

I want this truck. It was making a right as I took a pic of it

BBQ anyone

The Fountain at Civic Center Plaza-San Francisco

"Breathing Flower"-Choi Jeong Hwa. Near City Hall San Francisco

San Jose Shark radio voice Dan Rusanowsky serving up some ice cream

The entrance to the San Francisco Department of Public Health building which used to be an old hospital

Lunchtime at Civic Center Plaza

I have a bunch more "random pics", but I am going to end it with one of my favorite things I own. It was given to me years ago by a sweet old lady and I love it. It is a signed Billie Holiday album. She was a coat check girl in a club  back in the 40's and asked Billie to sign it and she did:

The front of the album

Billie Holiday's Sig

A Little PCL History

So much to blog about as I have been out and about and taking a lot of pics. Just need to write about it.

Anyway, when I was at the Museo Italo Americano at Fort Mason I saw that they had a lot of old Pacific Coast League (PCL). The old PCL is something that I have really tried to know more about as it was a great league before the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers came out west in 1958.

The PCL had its own culture and a lot of players would rather stay in the PCL then go the Majors as they were paid better and closer to home. But a lot of players from the PCL did go on to Majors including Hall of Famers:  Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Paul Waner, Tony Lazzeri, Earl Averill and Ernie Lombardi.

In the heyday of the PCL, the teams were: Seattle Rainers, Portland Beavers, Sacramento Solons, San Francisco Seals, Oakland Oaks, Vernon Tigers, San Francisco Mission Reds, Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels and the San Diego Padres.

Here is just a little of what the Museo had (It is mostly Oakland Oaks and San Francisco Seals things):

Oakland Oaks jersey

Seals Stadium seats-1931

Oakland Oaks cap

Hollywood Stars cap

1945 Oakland Oaks scorebook

1957 San Francisco Seals scorebook

Baseball-The Museo Italo Americano Way

When I was down at Fort Mason, I saw a place called Museo Italo Americano and saw that they had an exhibit called At Bay-The history of Italian Americans in baseball. Being the baseball nut that I am, it was free and I decided to check it out. Man, it was cool. They did such a great job presenting on how Italians have shaped and become part of fabric of the game. It is one of those things where I need to come back and see it again just to get the scope of it, since they did such a great job:

A Louisville Slugger Bat 1916-1929

Ping Bodie's glove 1912-1919

Ken Aspromonte's San Francisco Seals jersey

Oakland Oaks Bill Raimodi's catcher's mask

The Bay Area has produced many Italian big league heroes, but one family stands above all others and that is the DiMaggio's:

Dom DiMaggio 1950 Glove

Joe DiMaggio autograph ball and card

A Life Magazine Cover from 1939

And they do a great job of weaving the current day into the exhibit:

Billy Martin's 1981 Oakland A's jersey-I used to sit in bleachers a lot that year and watch them

Tony LaRussa's 2011 World Series jersey

So if you want to learn a little more about baseball-The Italian Way, catch the exhibit at the Museo Italo Americano at Fort Mason, it is well worth it.

Beauty-The Fort Mason Community Garden

When going places, I tend to go off the beaten path and "not follow the plan". Well, the other day I was headed down to Fort Mason to get some info (for another blog) and was walking around and I came upon a beautiful area called the Fort Mason Community Garden. The Garden is located inside Fort Mason (which is inside the Golden Gate National Recreation Area-a national park), but  anyway it has been there for over thirty years. What is really cool is that today's garden is at the same spot as the original Fort Mason post garden in 1890. So, this goes back to when it was an important Army base. Now that is pretty cool.

The garden itself is self-supporting and maintained by members and volunteers. They do a great job in doing it. There are a 125 plots and there is an eight-year waiting list to get your own 20x5 ft plot. They are organic which is cool. And all of them are very beautiful to look at:

What a great view

Apples

Sunflower

So, if you are ever at Fort Mason head by there and take a look. You will not be disappointed.

Oh No! Another Bookstore-Book Bay Fort Mason

I do like books a lot that is no secret. One of my favorite bookstores is Book Bay Fort Mason in San Francisco. It is located in one of the most beautiful parts of the city with some of the greatest views of the Bay. I love the place. Book Bay is run by the Friends of San Francisco Public Library, so when you buy a used book there you are helping out the library as well. It is a win-win deal.

Book Bay Fort Mason from the front door

I like the place. It is very clean and well organized. You can easily find the section or type of book you want. Another thing that is cool is that it has a lot of open space so you do not feel cramped:

Another view of Book Bay Fort Mason

You can buy books, old magazines, records, CD's, DVD's, etc there. And they do have some of the coolest things that people have donated to be sold all at good prices:

Old pocket novels

A Reader's Digest from 1940

An All in the Family script guide that was suppose to teach

Kate Smith and Jim Nabors-Two American Classics

Buttons to be sold

Another cool thing is that after you browse for a while you can head to the cafe inside of the place and enjoy a beverage while you take a look at your purchase:

The cafe inside of Book Bay Fort Mason

And that even have a couple of chairs inside the store to relax in:

I love this chair

On this day I only made one purchase, but it was too cool as it was autographed by the author Terry Pluto, who is a great sports columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

False Start by Terry Pluto

Terry Pluto's autograph inside

Book Bay Fort Mason-go for the priceless views around Fort Mason and go for the great books that they have.