Capping San Francisco’s Panhandle Freeway: a Plan That Never Happened

San Francisco Panhandle Freeway Cap 1967, Cross-Section

The plan made a lot of sense. If you were going to have a freeway running right through San Francisco’s Panhandle, which itself connects to the eastern end of Golden Gate Park, why not partially cap it off? Edmund G. Burger, principal at Burger & Coplans, wasn’t the bad guy here, not by any stretch… Continue reading Capping San Francisco’s Panhandle Freeway: a Plan That Never Happened

Birth, Life, and Death of the Niles Backyard Monorail

Carol Pedersen Riding the Niles Monorail

Backyard dreamers are those true visionaries who build their dreams at great expense and for only personal reward. They are seized by a vision and they must realize this vision in physical form. If anybody can be called the patron saint of backyard dreamers, it would have to be Kim Pedersen of Fremont, California. In… Continue reading Birth, Life, and Death of the Niles Backyard Monorail

Pink Floyd in 1889

Pink Floyd 1889

Fans of Pink Floyd know the origin story by heart. Band member Syd Barrett combined the names of two blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. But the name Pink Floyd predates all of that. We’ve got the Pink Floyd who, in 1889, killed Cornelius Lowden: Then, of course, there’s the Michigan Pink Floyd who… Continue reading Pink Floyd in 1889

May They Forever Be Old: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Death at Age 44

Growing old means that people you once viewed as old are now younger than you. Life is always safest when you are buffered on all sides. We buffer ourselves with family and friends. Money is a buffer. The battlefield is safest if you’re the person in the middle, not the edges. Life’s edges bring great… Continue reading May They Forever Be Old: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Death at Age 44