Re: What to do in San Francis

[JPORTER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Porter, Julie)]

Re: What to do in San Francisco ...
 
> Major casualty was the
> central dome of the snow white, glass-paned, Victorian gingerbread
> conservatory of flowers built for the mid-winter world's fair of 1894. The
> papers are saying there is not money to rebuild it. Major casualty is likely
> to be an 80-year-old giant rhododendron which blooms briefly and
> spectacularly once a year. A tropical plant it, is not likely to survive the
> exposure to the Northern California elements brought about by the
> destruction of the dome.
 
Ghad, you gave me a scare, I finaly saw pictures of the damage on the news last
night. No where near what you report. From your description it sounded like the
dome itself was gone. It mostly lookes like lots of broken glass, which
probably does the plants no good, however the weather has beem mild lately and
the news said that there are emergency mesures in place.
This is one of my favorite places to photograph. My costumers group was there
last fourth of July in 18th century costume. The giant rhododendron makes
wonderful background. although I like the pond on the south wing. The north
wing on the other hand has a lot of light. I might drive by next week and take
a look though. This building as I have been told is an exact duplicate to one
that was the core of kew gardens in london, It was made by the same firm. I
have not confirmed this. The news mentioned that it was a protected National
landmark, loosing it would be like loosing the GGBridge, the ferry building (a
great photo op, now that the freeway is down) or coit tower.
 
There is a photo in the city that I want to get, although when I go by it I am
trying to get somewhere. Maybe someone from out of town can get it for us
locals. This is a block or two up market from Van Ness where what is left of
the centeral freeway crosses over market. The freeway is in use and propped up
by a bunch of steel centering. On one of the pylons is posted an orange Higway
department sign that says something like:
What should be done with this Freeway
o Retrofit it
o Remove it
o leave as is
call caltrans at 1 800 XXX-XXXX
and give us you opinion.
 
 


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