camera obscura threatened

[Simon Nathan <simonwide@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                 Camera Obscura future cloudy

                 Anita Wadhwani
                 OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

                                                         June 6, 1999



                 Land lease expires soon for landmark
                 near Cliff House

                 The Camera Obscura, the well-known San
                 Francisco landmark nestled on the veranda at the
                 Cliff House for more than 50 years, may soon be no
                 more.

                 The camera, one of the few remaining remnants of
                 the Playland at the Beach amusement park, sits on
                 land owned by the Golden Gate National
                 Recreation Area. The lease is up in January, and the
                 camera will have to move to make room for a
                 multimillion-dollar rehabilitation of the Cliff House
                 restaurant beginning in early 2000.

                 Those who enter the pitch-black kiosk are
                 presented with a vivid moving image of a
                 360-degree view of Seal Rock, surfers at Ocean
                 Beach and tourists milling around the Cliff House
                 restaurant.

                 The squat, faded box of a building billed as the
                 "World's Largest Camera" is perched on the
                 balcony overlooking Ocean Beach's Seal Rock. It
                 has been described as tacky and an eyesore. Few
                 of the 2 million tourists who spill off the buses at
the
                 Cliff House bother to venture past the gift shop to
                 visit it, even with its bargain dollar admission.

                 But to the camera's devotees, its lack of popularity
                 adds to its attraction.

                 "It appeals to people who appreciate the offbeat,
                 who opt for the road less traveled," said Chris
                 DeMonterey, who worked at the camera during the
                 1980s and builds temporary replicas for festivals. "It
                 is also one of the few things left that has the ability

                 to genuinely surprise people who just wander in not
                 knowing what to expect."

                 "Wow, this is amazing," said Shirley Alcaide of
                 Durham, N.C., who was brought to the Cliff House
                 by friends. "You get a better view in here than you
                 do outside."

                 The camera, which operates with a periscope-like
                 lens, special mirror and angled glass, beams light
                 and images onto a dish in the middle of a darkened
                 room, much like a 35 millimeter camera refracts an
                 image onto film. Based on a 16th century invention
                 of Leonardo da Vinci's, the technology behind the
                 Camera Obscura is the precursor to modern video
                 and still cameras.

                 The San Francisco camera was built in 1946 by
                 Floyd Jennings, an engineer with a passion for the
                 technology who wanted to start a national franchise
                 of the attractions, which were popular at the turn of
                 the century. The San Francisco Camera Obscura is
                 the last of four built by Jennings. Recently, one in
                 Monterey was closed and turned into a public
                 restroom.

                 Park officials say they need to remove the camera
                 for safety and aesthetic reasons. Plans call for a
                 restoration of the Cliff House to its design of 1909,
                 37 years before the Camera Obscura was built on
                 the restaurant's veranda. The camera's architecture
                 - or lack of it - would be out of step with the
                 original Beaux Arts style, said Ric Borjes, chief of
                 cultural resources for the Golden Gate National
                 Recreation Area. Plans also call for a replica of the
                 Camera Obscura to be installed in a newly built
                 tower at the Cliff House.

                 But for the camera's owner and fans, removing it
                 would mean losing a slice of San Francisco
                 history,and they don't want to see that happen.

                 "The Camera Obscura is a San Francisco icon,"
                 said owner Robert Tacchetto, a former plumber.
                 "The city is slowly losing its sense of history. It
                 won't be the same city without it."

                 Tacchetto inherited the camera in 1992 from his
                 father, who died of a heart attack just a few feet
                 away from the attraction he had visited since
                 childhood. Tacchetto said his father had fulfilled a
                 life-long dream when he bought the camera after
                 retiring from 30 years as a waiter at the Sheraton
                 Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

                 "It's also a part of my family history that's going to
                 be painful to let go," Tacchetto said.

                 It may be too expensive to relocate the camera and
                 find a spot with a suitable view, he said.

                 The Camera Obscura has survived the threat of
                 bulldozers before. In 1979, the park service issued
                 an eviction notice because it was deemed an
                 obstruction to the public's view of Seal Rock and
                 the ocean.

                 But San Franciscans mobilized. A devoted band of
                 fans gathered 10,000 signatures, including those of
                 then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein and the Board of
                 Supervisors led by then-Supervisor Quentin Kopp,
                 and saved the box from destruction when the park
                 service bowed to public sentiment.

                 At the time, it was nominated to the National
                 Registry of Historic Places but the application was
                 denied in part because the structure was less than
                 50 years old.

                 A few of the camera's fans are rallying again. A
                 visitor from Philadelphia is circulating a petition on
                 the Internet to ask the registry to reconsider its
                 status. If the camera was on the registry, the
                 recreation area would have to take another look at
                 its rehabilitation plans, Borjes said.

                 But the fight is far from over.

                 "It's like everything else, you don't realize what
                 you've lost until after it's gone," Tacchetto said. "I
                 just hope it doesn't come to that."


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