Strange Closets

When I wrote about The Curiosity Shop’s online shop last fall, Albert left a comment saying, “I wish I had more money to buy random, interesting and weird things for my home,” and I share in his sentiment. So when my friend Marla told me The Curiosity Shoppe was located on the trendy Valencia shopping [...]

White Furniture’s classic, simple window beckoned me, but one thing led to another, and I wound up snapping just a few photos of the store’s exterior, which is located on San Francisco’s Market Street. But intrigued and suspecting White Furniture was a vintage store or a smaller Design Within Reach, I looked up their website, and [...]

Located in San Francisco’s Western Addition / Lower Haight / NOPA neighborhood,  The Other Shop feels very much like it could be in Austin, Chicago or any other city.  Owls? (Check) Anatomy? (Check) Antlers? (Check) But like any good shop, The Other Shop has its own distinct character and energy, each booth contributing a different [...]

The Herbert Hotel and Herbert’s Mexican Grill. No judgement here, because for all I know, both establishments are excellent. And they both look very nice. But isn’t this a strange concept? ◊ ◊

Work took precedent on this rainy day, but after slogging through a few rough drafts, my brain was fried, so I took a walk around San Francisco’s Union Square, surprised to observe the large number of hotels where I’ve stayed on past trips. In fact, thanks to Priceline, I’ve stayed at several different hotels on [...]

Describing a place as touristy conjures up images of senior citizens on tour buses and camera-toting oblivions holding up traffic. The Golden Gate Bridge is definitely touristy. I was the camera idiot, and there were loads of senior citizens and everybody else too. The word ‘throngs’ seems apt. But the landmark’s also spectacular and even [...]

Built atop Telegraph Hill, Coit Tower offers another example of San Francisco art deco architecture. Like the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tour is touristy, but it too held up well, offering fantastic city views, gorgeous murals commissioned under the WPA program and a very, very old elevator. ♦ Have a nice weekend. To signal my [...]