Vistas & Byways Review - Fall 2020
  • Contents
    • In This Issue
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Bay Area Neighborhoods
    • Inside OLLI
  • About Us
  • Contributors
  • Submissions
  • Archive
    • Spring 2020
    • FALL 2019
    • SPRING 2019
    • Fall 2018
    • SPRING 2018
    • FALL 2017
    • FALL 2016
    • SPRING 2016
    • FALL 2015

BAY AREA ​NEIGHBORHOODS



THE BAYVIEW DISTRICT IN SAN FRANCISCO
A Photo Journal
​by Elsa Fernandez


There is a tedious and nervous monotony in our lives. It’s August 10th and we who live in what Gary Kamiya calls “The Cool Grey City of Love,” are living under a restrictive burden called a pandemic. Our freedoms to wander this wonderful place we call home, have been physically and behaviorally curtailed. It feels like our lives have been diminished and depreciated. Across the country, the thousands of lives lost add to our universal burden of fear and sadness. Eventually, it will pass and I look forward to reconnecting to everything I love in this diversely striking city that is San Francisco.
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My favorite movie of 2019 was The Last Black Man in San Francisco and I immediately fell in love again with this city, especially, a neighborhood that many bypass and avoid. I’ve always wondered why? Bayview did have a rough reputation that it outgrew. Now, it is a colorful and eclectic place to spend a morning, to explore the hills and parks, grab lunch at Radio Africa and watch the sandpipers cavort maniacally on the sands as the tide rolls out. 
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Hop on the T Muni line. As you ride along 3rd Street and cross the Islais Creek Bridge—look west and marvel at the Pier 92 Grain Silo Art Project—illuminated, animated murals located at the Port of San Francisco’s grain silos on Islais Creek. They are striking, like a combination of Kandinsky’s “Color Study” and “Blue Segment”—soaring high, arresting the eye like a grand gateway to Bayview. 

INDIA BASIN SHORELINE PARK

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Dogs are welcome - nothing to worry about buddy!

​A tranquil place to wander through—let your furry friend breathe the clean air and feel the mud and sand on their paws. Perhaps you can catch a glimpse of Alameda across the Bay or look for seaglass on the narrow beach. I’ve found cobalt blue shards of glass—probably from Milk of Magnesia or Vicks Vaporub bottles. Our environmentally challenged forebears created garbage dumps along the bluffs of the coast—and we have the beginnings of seaglass.
 
San Francisco Bay is a birdwatcher’s paradise with a wealth of seabirds along the shoreline. I’ve seen Canada Geese, Mallards, Herons and Egrets. This stretch of the West Coast is called the Pacific Flyway--one of the 4 flyways in North America—routes used by migratory birds for their annual migrations. San Francisco Bay is an important stopover for them. 
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The pandemic might have squashed my travel bug. But, hey . . . as I walk down to India Basin Shoreline Park, the view of San Francisco Bay unfolding before my eyes is a million dollar one, rivalling the best. Capri, Portofino, Mykonos—all beautiful. But looking down over the Bay, it’s easy to understand what Tony Bennett was singing about. 

SCRAP

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A utilitarian warehouse on the corner of Newcomb and Mendell with giant whimsical frescoes painted on the exterior, SCRAP is The City’s Non-Profit Creative Reuse Center—that supports students, teachers, artists and crafters since 1976. They come here to buy donated low-cost art supplies and participate in fun interactive community workshops for adults and kids.   

BAYVIEW OPERA HOUSE

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​The Bayview Opera House is a lovely, elegant Italianate building. Founded in 1888, it’s said to be the oldest existing theater in San Francisco—a City Landmark. In March 2011, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Recent performance—“Wanting Memories” by the San Francisco Girls Chorus and the PUSH Dance Company. It is very much of an accessible neighborhood center.

FLORA GRUBB GARDENS - GARDEN CENTER


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Looking for All Good Pizza and a friend’s recommendation to try their Prosciutto and Fig Jam grilled panini, leads me to an unusual place--Flora Grubb Gardens, Garden Center, on Jerrold Avenue and Third Street. I stop to check it out.

I was fascinated by the variety of palm trees, indoor plants, succulents—I would have loved to take home a Brahia Clara Palm. I headed for The Potting Bench section—everything you need to create your own urban retreat for home . . . something uniquely yours . . . like a dish garden with succulents or protea. Not possessing a green thumb, I asked an associate for recommendations and settled for the “Friendliest Houseplant in the World” (the ubiquitous Snake Plant) in a painted terracotta pot.

Reluctant to leave, I stopped at the Ritual Coffee kiosk inside the Garden Center and enjoyed a cup of La Pinona Honduran Coffee before catching the T Line back home.

This is the Bayview District—odd and elegant, brash and beautiful. I can’t wait for the day that Mayor London Breed and Dr. Grant Colfax declare “We’re open.”


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elsa Fernandez grew up in Asia. She has lived in San Francisco since 1970 and never gets tired of this lovely city. She has traveled the world and still gets excited flying back home and to finally land at SFO. Her family is scattered around the world—India, Australia, Dubai, England, Ireland and Argentina. She is a political junkie and majored in Journalism and Political Science. She loves music and plays the piano quite well. One of her dreams was to own a piano bar in upcountry Maui . . .  she would probably call it the Maui Moon! Writing poetry is an emotional outlet for her.
Other works in this issue:
Poetry
Her Only Son
The Squirrels of Candlestick Point
Inside OLLI
Book Review  -  Dreams and Blessings  -  6 Visionary Poets

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IN THIS ISSUE

BAY AREA NEIGHBORHOODS

FICTION

INSIDE OLLI

NONFICTION

POETRY

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Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at San Francisco State University​.​
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Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University (OLLI at SF State) provides communal and material support to theVistas & Byways  volunteer staff.

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  • Contents
    • In This Issue
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Bay Area Neighborhoods
    • Inside OLLI
  • About Us
  • Contributors
  • Submissions
  • Archive
    • Spring 2020
    • FALL 2019
    • SPRING 2019
    • Fall 2018
    • SPRING 2018
    • FALL 2017
    • FALL 2016
    • SPRING 2016
    • FALL 2015