We tried to put the creek into our mural. Mona sketched it on paper. Seth painted it on the wall—three times before getting it the way he liked it, with the street names of the Wiggle bike route shimmering in the water. We carefully mocked reality with brown (Franciscan chert) rocks on the one side  more »

Or at least rediscovered… A 25-acre Phelps’ Lake in San Francisco’s Panhandle? I’ve just solved a mystery described in my previous research on the south area of Divisadero street. Back when it was a winding path through the dunes, Devisadero, as it was known, connected the Mission Dolores to the Presidio. The incorrect story had  more »

New rumors about Mission Dolores history have hit the papers! In addition to Hadley’s post at Mission Local, mentioned in my previous entry, which breaks the story with a perfect synopsis of the latest research, Carl Nolte has, over the weekend, published an article printed on real paper—front page above the fold and in color  more »

The recent (November 17) Shaping SF panel discussion at CounterPULSE was recorded and is posted here. If it’s been topped by more recent podcasts, search or scroll to “Watersheds Lost and Found: San Francisco, Guadalajara, Yuba.” My part of it was the San Francisco part, of course, and I was joined by Derek Hitchcock of  more »

You never know what kind of weather you are in for in San Francisco, but Sunday morning was amazingly warm and pleasant — the perfect day to walk and talk about water and the history of the city. We started in Golden Gate Park, heading over to Stow Lake first, then down to the Botanical Garden,  more »

Check out what interesting stuff I’ve sleuthed up for the “trek” I’m leading with Nature in the City on November 14th. The tour will start in Golden Gate Park, because since the late 1800s, the Laguna Honda watershed has been a main source of water for irrigation of the Park. The creation of the irrigation  more »

A report spreads for decades but makes no sense. How intriguing and frustrating. In a newspaper column from (unconfirmed date) April, 1919, Edward Morphy says that the lake in my neighborhood was destroyed by the 1862 storms with which I am so intrigued. But the detail given makes absolutely no sense. Says Morphy: …probably the  more »

This is the nerdiest of the standard Thinkwalks. Three and a half hours of walking on water. No sinking. This year’s version of the water tour focuses on the history of the Dolores Creek watershed, above the Mission District. We’ll examine water’s artful sculpting of our hills and shorelines based partly on this book chapter  more »