is IT there?

In Rebecca Solnit's Hollow City the City is portrayed as a shell of what San Francisco used to be.

It was at one point in time a place that sheltered and nourished the artistic people that it is so

famous for. She argues that now the culture of the city has leached out of it in recent years

because of the commodification of the image of San Franciscan artist and the neighborhoods in

which they live. She tells of how after the dot-com boom in the Silicon Valley these traditionally

affordable districts began to be taken over. The neighborhoods that had for so long housed and

nurtured artists began to be converted to bars, restaurants and expensive chic apartment

housing and now cater to the white upper middle class that was quickly rising in the

computer-generated valley.

She also talks of the demise of the ethnic areas that add so much vibrancy to the City itself. The gentrification that has taken over the City has been done so by “yuppifying” the once multicultural fabric of the City. African American and Latino neighborhoods have been bought up and replaced with moneymaking attractions for the white suburbanites that now flock to the city for a good time. The housing they once occupied has been converted to high-rent districts where only the wealthy can afford to call it home.

Solnit paints a picture of two cities. One is of a city whose culture, both artistic an ethnic thrives and paints the whole town in vibrancy. The other is a city that is bought and paid for by the gentrification of the old vision of the city. It is drying up and left for the only ones left who can afford it anymore.

In Tripmaster Monkey the City is not devoid of anything culturally, except maybe the place for Whitman. He struggles to find where he, a Chinese-American, fits in. For the city is full of culture, from every park to every statue there is meaning and history. Where Whitman himself fits in is not always so clear to him. The images of the past pervade this book and the ethnic identities of its past inhabitants are still a palpable foce for Whitman. He sees a city that can be at times a cliché of his Chinese heritage with its strong China town. He also sees the city as perfectly American in many places but cannot seem to find a place that is uniquely both, like he is. The City of Tripmaster Monkey exudes the essence of all the ethnic and artistic elements of its past in creating what it is today. The artistic elements of the city are not lost for Kingston. Her Whitman finds something he can always identify with in this aspect of the city. He sees is as alive with artistic energy and potential. This city has never lost its spark and thirst for more in the realm of artistic culture.

Play On This

The store Upper Playground, originally located at 220 Fillmore Street
San Francisco CA, is a landmark for the urban art scene of the present era. They have expanded their store to include eight locations worldwide but are still known as a San Francisco brand, store and artistic revolution. This store specializes in screen tee art produced by graffiti artist from around the world. One look at their gallery on their website lets you know that they are not confined by the physical parameters of the Bay Areabut that their specific type of merchandise and grassroots art spans the globe. They feature artist from across the globe and filter those artworks trough the lens of Bay Areapop culture.

Graffiti has become an integral part of the Bay Area and the influence it has is only spreading. Upper Playground is a prime example of how this art form has increased in popularity and found a permanent home within the contato of SF. The fact that Upper Playground found its home in San Francisco speaks to how graffiti and progressive alternative art have a place within this multi faceted city. San Francisco has long been seen as a city of rebellion against the acceptable practices of “normal society” and graffiti is a perfect match for that image.

One of the most interesting things that I found when researching this store, which I recently visited for the first time a few weeks ago, was that it, and the art they produce, have had an affect on the political campaign of Barack Obama. One of the artists they commissioned for posters about this campaign produced a highly successful and influential poster that started out its commercial life as a t-shirt for the brand. They, as a brand, commissioned artwork from several artists, some local and others not, in order to raise money for the Obama campaign. The poster pictured here has become an icon of this election. This in an of itself is a testimony to how connected a place such as Upper Playground is to its city and The City’s legacy of political activism on the liberal front. I know that sounded cliché but I do believe that Upper Playground represents all of these things and if you take the time to visit these links below you will see it is not an exaggeration.

http://www.vimby.com/video/life/us/all/detail/6531

This is a link to a video of the opening of Upper playground in LA. It demonstrates how this type of culture, that first found its home in San Francisco, has flourished in other large urban cities.

http://blog.drjays.com/index.php/2008/02/26/upper-playground-supports-barack-obama/

This blog talks about the endorsement of Barack Obama by Upper Plaground. The poster, which they started to distribute, became one of the most important images of the entire canpaign and is pictured in the blog.

http://vodpod.com/watch/1011515-new-obama-tees

This link is to a video made by upper playgound of the various other artist’s designs that they made into t-shirts to support the Obama campaign.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/upper-playground-seattle

This is a review of the new store in Seattle Washington and it demonstrates the reach of this brand / store throughout the country. The response to this store is centered on the knowledge of the brands origins in San Francisco and its urban ties.

www.upperplayground.com

This is the website for the store. It has links to the brands various projects which include, but are not limited to, art showings, political events, blogs, news site, toys, videos, skate board team and much more. It demonstrates more so than any of the other websites how connected to the outside world this place is.

Yes, We’re Open

Yes, We’re Open

As I read this poem, Howl, by Allen Ginsberg, I see a man who observed the events of life as they took place all around him. He is a great decoder of the moments in life that people look at but never really see (if I may be so cliché). The poem Howl embodies these moments of life as Ginsberg saw them occurring. The inescapable realness of these moments was enough to shatter the beautiful illusions that these great minds of his generation had let themselves create. For me, Ginsberg’s Howl centers itself on the collapse of these minds under the heaviness that poured down on his generation as they attempted to change or re-imagine their reality.

Each time a line begins with “who” the audience can prepare itself to be thrown into a moment of time, a state of mind or a combination of the two. One of my favorite scenes of life that Ginsberg take us on is “who studied Plotinus Poe St. John of the Cross telep- / athy and bop kabbalah because the cosmos in- / stinctivly vibrated at their feet in Kansas.”(pg. 12) In this scene I see a coup1le of people who were once delegated to a small town in northern Kansas and looking for a way out. I see them having an “epiphany” and jumping on the next train west. They now wander the streets looking for their “angry fix” of truth that they just can’t seem to find. The reality of life as a hipster who let’s “themselves get fucked in the ass” by the events they once dreamed would let them mimic the manic joy of an acid trip settles in. They must now “open antique / stores where they thought they were growing old and cried.” Life doesn’t suck but it doesn’t change all that much. Ginsberg knew this truth and saw it destroying the newly minted ideals of his generation. He sat down and wrote Howl.

Trout Fishing and The City

Trout Fishing and The City

         

In the work by Richard Brautigan, “Trout Fishing in America,” his experience with trout fishing in and around The City (San Francisco) is the backdrop for his vision of what The City stands for. The moments and events he has experienced within the bay area pepper this work. In placing the action of his “novel” within this context he is painting a picture of the San Francisco the he knows and sometimes loves. The physical attributes of the landscape weaves themselves in and out of his short prose-like poems and a description of exactly where he is and what is surrounding him often begin each short chapter.

He repeatedly places the action, such as in the chapter about fornicating in a damned up part of a local hot spring, within the context of the landscape around him. In this passage he details the rundown manmade hot spring pond as being filled with “green scum” and dead fish floating around its edges. Yet despite these vile decorations this spot has served him and his wife as a romantic getaway from the trials of urban living. He even waits until the dead fish passes under his wife’s chin to start making love to her, as if it was a green light. This theme of decay engulfing the landscape, or at least it’s rough and neglected edges, is a recurring theme. Brautigan does not run from it but instead embraces them and finds “excitement” of all forms in it and uses it as a muse for his work.

 Furthermore, Brautigan often begins his short chapters outside. This constant interaction with the open, outdoors of the City makes me think that he did not find comfort in the large urban setting of the city. The outdoors almost seems to be his living room. One such short chapter where he does his living outdoors is the one explaining his after work routine: he goes to the park across the street from a church, buys a bottle of sweet port wine, and he and his friends sit and drink and compare the relative advantages of opening a flea circus to checking into a mental hospital. They sit for hours, until the sun begins to drop and the air take on a chill, to venture home. He lives, drinks, plays and fucks outside in the free spaces that pocket the bay area. This is his definition of life in San Francisco.