San Francisco, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz

Bob needed to go to San Francisco.  We stayed at the University Club San Francisco.

We dined at John’s Grill (of Maltese Falcone fame)…Every inch of John’s is packed with historical morsels, down to the basement. That’s where the original owner coined, crafted and bottled Gerard’s salad dressing. An upstairs glass case houses a shrine to Humphrey Bogart’s 1941 film noir classic, The Maltese Falcon. It’s based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel, in which private eye Sam Space orders chops, a baked potato and sliced tomatoes from John’s—a combo still available to diners today.

Whenever we go to San Francisco it automatically means a day at Stanford so Bob can reminisce, walk around campus, and visit the bookstore…..walk around some more….visit the chemistry building….walk around some more…

Bob loves the old Chemistry Building…he spent many, many long hours in this building as a student.

I love the collection of Rodin that Stanford has on campus (Cantor Arts Center).   It is the largest collection of Rodin outside of Paris!   Much of the art is outdoors and available 24 hours of the day.  Here are the Burgher of Calais…

We explored St Grace Cathedral San Francisco

St Grace Cathedral San Francisco

Grace Cathedral is an Episcopal Church in San Francisco, California in the Nob Hill area.  It was born of Grace Church which was founded in 1849 during the Gold Rush, and became a cathedral just in time to be destroyed in the Great Earthquake of 1906. Construction of the present structure, in the French Gothic style, was begun in 1928 and finished in 1964. Today, it’s the third largest Episcopalian Cathedral in the nation. Grace Cathedral is a living cathedral especially known for its completeinvolvement serving the diverse San Francisco Bay Area, its “Gates of Paradise” front doors, its indoor and outdoor labryinths, stained glass windows, choirs, a 44-bell carillon and more.

DOORS OF PARADISE

The front doors of Grace Cathedral, facing downtown San Francisco, are called the Doors of Paradise. They are replicas of famous doors in the Baptistry of Florence Cathedral, Italy, the work of master founder and artist Lorenzo Ghiberti. They are his masterwork (1425-1452) and are considered the high point of technical and artistic bronze work in the early Italian Renaissance. The young Michelangelo is said to have dubbed them “Porta del Paradiso,” the Doors of Paradise.

The story of the cathedral replicas is bound up with the originals. For centuries the originals stood in Florence, the golden panels slowly disappearing under layers of grime. In World War II they were under the supervision of Bruno Bearzi, master founder and superintendent of the city’s art works. At first the doors were sandbagged, then taken down and hidden in a railway tunnel. Bearzi discovered the original gilding exposed by rubbing ropes. At last they were moved to the Palazzo Pitti. Partisan railroad destruction prevented their possible export to the growing collection of Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering. After the war, Bearzi cleaned the doors and made gelatin molds of the panels, from which he later cast and finished replicas. He offered the replicas for sale and one of the cathedral completion architects, Lawrence Kruse, heard of their availability. Donors enabled Grace Cathedral to purchase the replicas for the cathedral completion in 1964. The doors are opened for special services and occasions. Each door is over 16 feet (4.8m) tall and weighs over a ton. In Florence, the originals, meticulously restored, are now in the Cathedral Museum with replicas (1990) in place at the Baptistry.

Grace Cathedral has a rich collection of stained glass; some 68 named windows by five artists, in three techniques, covering some 7290 square feet. The 34 windows by Charles Connick Studios of Boston comprise the largest Connick collection in the west. America’s acknowledged master of medieval-style glass, Connick windows are especially known for their rich “Connick” blues. Of special note are the Gospel windows (1930) of the Chapel of Grace, and the nearby Blessed Virgin Mary and Twenty-Third Psalm windows. Connick’s Nine Choirs of Angels choir series are the tallest in America, and the two transept façade windows are the largest in the west. More modern in style, but traditionally-crafted, the colorful eastern aisle Willet Studio windows were designed by Marguerite Gaudin.

There are elaborate murals along both walls of the length of the church. They largely tell the story of San Francisco and the Nob Hill area, including construction and  reconstruction of the church after the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire.

A San Francisco landmark is the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel…it is one of the historic hotels of America.

We went to the Top of the Mark, Mark Hopkins Hotel San Francisco

One of the banquet areas, “The Room of The Dons”, contains a piece of California history. Nine seven-foot-high panels painted by artists Maynard Dixon and Frank Von Sloun in 1926 for the hotel’s opening decorate the upper walls. One panel shows Queen Calafia and her Amazons set against a gold leaf sky. Calafia is the namesake for the state of California.

During World War II, the Top Of The Mark lounge was a favored place for Pacific-bound servicemen and their sweethearts to meet before being deployed.

One of the banquet areas, “The Room of The Dons”, contains a piece of California history. Nine seven-foot-high panels painted by artists Maynard Dixon and Frank Von Sloun in 1926 for the hotel’s opening decorate the upper walls. One panel shows Queen Calafia and her Amazons set against a gold leaf sky. Calafia is the namesake for the state of California.

Our last day there was a cold rainy day so we took a drive to

Santa Cruz