The Vesuvio Cafe

The Vesuvio Cafe is one of those unique San Francisco places. It is really not a Café but more of a saloon. It is located in North Beach right across the street from the famous City Lights Bookstore. The Vesuvio was first established in 1948 and remains an historical monument to jazz, poetry, art and the good life of the Beat Generation. Vesuvio attracts a diverse clientele: artists, chess players, cab drivers, seamen and business people, European visitors to this day:

Having a beverage and looking at the wall of City Lights Bookstore

The Vesuvio is one of those truly San Francisco places. It was a regular hangout of Jack Kerouac and other famous Beat poets and has become ground zero for pilgrims on the Beat trail ever since and I enjoy every visit I have there.

Books From Eragny Press

I was at the San Francisco and they presented this exhibition which celebrates San Francisco printer
Robert Grabhorn's love of books.  Grabhorn’s large personal library of books is related to the history of printing and the development of the book. It includes thirty of the thirty-two Eragny Press books which were printed by Lucien and Esther Pissarro.

Eragny Press was started by the Pissarro's in London in 1894. Lucien was a painter and engraver, however, and not a printer. Esther was neither but proved to be a quick study and dedicated worker. Together they taught themselves how to be printers and publishers. They didn't have much money and Lucien and Esther were artist-printers, perhaps naive, and definitely not businesslike. They hoped sales and subscriptions would support their small business. But they also consistently undervalued their own work. Eragny press was only in business for 20 years but today the Eragny Press is highly recognized as one of the leading art private presses of its times, with exhibitions regularly displayed in such august institutions as the Ashmolean Museum and various prestigious universities. Needless to say, all printed works are highly sought after:

"Christabel, Kubla Khan, Fancy in Nubibus and Song from Zapolya"-Samuel Taylor Coleridge-1904

"C'est d'Aucassin et de Nicolette"- Francis William Bourdillon- 1903

"Some Poems"-Robert Bowning-1904

"Of Gardens, An Essay"-Francis Bacon-1902

 

"Les Petis Vieux"-Emile Verhaeren-1901

 

"Les Ballades"-Francois Villon-1900

The first Eragny Press book-"The Queen of the Fishes"-Margaret Rust-1894

"Autres Poesies"-Francois Villon-1901

 

"La Belle au Bois Dormnat et Le Petit Chaperon Rouge"-Charles Perrault

"Some Old French and English Ballads"-Robert Steele-1905

See these books were amazing The Marjorie G. and Carl W. Stern Book Arts and Special Collections Center at the San Francisco Main Library did a wonderful job in putting together this display.

Baseball, Star Wars and Fireworks

I went to the A's-Rangers game over the weekend and it was Star Wars night with fireworks. I am usually a baseball geek who takes pics of the game and really follows the action at the yard but this time I just decided to have fun and enjoy myself. So sorry if I didn't get a ton of game shots:


Baseball:

Rangers pitcher Jason Grilli

Rangers pitcher Cole Hamels

Rangers pitching coach Doug Brocail

The Oakland Coliseum at night

The infield (they let us on the field for fireworks)

The Oakland Coliseum from the BART tracks

Star Wars:

Fireworks:

I had a wonderful time at the ballpark (even if they played music from Rouge One instead of the classic Star Wars tunes) and I did visit the Darkside:

Music Monday: All about School

For this Music Monday, since most schools are in session, we are going to celebrate with some songs about school

 

And because I want to:

Hope everybody has a wonderful school year.

The View from 150 California Street

I found more public open space in a building at 150 California Street in San Francisco. Went up to the sixth floor and it was beautiful up there. The cool thing was that there was nobody else there with me:

I love all the public open spaces on top of buildings in San Francisco.