The San Francisco Citizen

This is Wednesday, so that means they’re already preparing for another Friday Night at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. This week’s effort will include Rolando Morales and AudioBus. Per Rolando:

Friday nights at the De Young are a happening place: the whole museum is open to 8:45 and they feature music, film, dance, poetry, tours, etc. Tonight will feature the Rolando Morales Group with the amazing bassist for Airto, Gary Brown; from Nicaragua, the great Latin percussionist/vocalist Danilo Paíz; the wonderful keyboardist from Spearhead, Bob Crawford; from Brazil, the great drummer from Steve Winwood and Airto, Celso Alberti; and Rolando Morales leading the journey on guitar, guitar synthesizer and vocals.

And AudioBus? Well, they’ve got two “trips” scheduled for the night but they appear to be sold out now. You can always show up early and try to become a  stand-by fare. ”Human Street Textures” is the theme for this bus.

This whole Night at the Museum thing is quite lively, attracting folks who aren’t heavy museum goers. Here’s what it looked like last week:

Refreshments!

Dancing!

Chihuly! An evening docent tour, check the schedule to when they offer this.   

Kid-friendly activities:

And they had packed house to hear a lecture about Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and a few other topics from William Maynez, mural historian at City College of San Francisco:

See you there!

Well, as promised, park officials over at the Presidio led a tour on Sunday describing new proposals for the area around the Main Post.

Yesterday, a good turnout of about 75 people went on a 1.5 hour tour of El Presidio and the Main Post. Tour participants inside the Presdio Officer’s Club, click to expand:

It’s your Presdio, of course, so feel free to attend other walking tours scheduled for this summer:

Come see for yourself what proposals for the Presidio are all about. On this easy-to-moderate 90-minute guided walk, Presidio Trust staff will describe the birthplace of San Francisco at the heart of the Presidio – the historic Main Post – and discuss ideas for revitalizing it as the heart of an urban national park. Learn about proposals for a heritage center, an archaeology lab, public uses in the iconic brick barracks, a park lodge, reuse of the historic theatre, and a museum of contemporary art. Get answers to your questions and find out how you can make your opinions heard in this public process.

July 14th will be the next big event in the process of Bringing Back the Heart of the Presidio, as they say.

See you there!

Well, just kidding about the San Francisco Chronicle Urban Design Writer John King wanting to move La Pyramide du Louvre, but wouldn’t that big old museum in Paris be so much nicer if this modern glass pyramid were moved, say, just 150 yards to the south?

If you agree (or even if you don’t), head on over to Curbed SF and get your vote on about the siting of the soon-to-be fabulous Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio.

Juxtaposition! Sacrebleu! Quelle horreur! Caio Basillio via Flickr 

And while you’re at it, you might as well mark your calenders for the walking tour of the Main Post of the Presidio scheduled for 2:00 PM on Sunday, June 15th: 

Come see for yourself what proposals for the Presidio are all about. On this easy-to-moderate 90-minute guided walk, Presidio Trust staff will describe the birthplace of San Francisco at the heart of the Presidio – the historic Main Post – and discuss ideas for revitalizing it as the heart of an urban national park. Learn about proposals for a heritage center, an archaeology lab, public uses in the iconic brick barracks, a park lodge, reuse of the historic theatre, and a museum of contemporary art. Get answers to your questions and find out how you can make your opinions heard in this public process. Layered clothing and comfortable shoes are recommended.

Of course, comfortable shoes are always recommended. See you there, mon frère!

Plans for fixing up the Presidio are afoot. You like modern art, right? Well then brace yourself for the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio (CAMP) (or “Contemporary Art Museum Presidio” as the Chron refers to it).  

Will northern San Francisco be flooded with people like this on a daily basis? Well sure, but it’s only going to be a thousand or so extra folks per day, if you average it out.

Still afraid of the future? Then check out some of the stuff that will be finally be open to public access via a well-made video of Art Critic Kenneth Baker and famous GAP-per Don Fisher. Or take a look at related documents and see the schedule for the upcoming walking tours.

Oh, that’s right, you don’t mind art, but it’s that crazy new building that’s the issue? Here’s a photo of a photo illustration (which probably shouldn’t be labeled a “photo” but oh well) that shows one possible layout. Or check out this view below. That’s not so scary, is it?

Of course not. See? You were worried over nothing. Let’s take a few more views. Here’s Christmas present (click to expand):

And here is Christmas future (note the cut-and-cover tunnel where wobbly Doyle Drive used to be and an assortment of birds with 50-foot wingspans):

But before anything gets started, the people in charge of the Presidio will make sure that all voices are heard so everything is nice and legal. To wit, here’s the Presidio Trust Executive Director (and UC Santa Barbara alum) Craig Middleton accepting input from local residents just last week:

Plans for improving the Presidio have been brewing for a while and now things are approaching a full boil. Now’s your chance to get involved, if you want. Your choice.