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The Endless Grid

by Gand

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1.
The N Judah is a Muni Metro light rail line in San Francisco, California, so named as it runs along Judah Street for much of its length, named after railroad engineer Theodore Judah.[2] It links downtown San Francisco to the Cole Valley and Sunset neighborhoods. It is the busiest line in the Muni Metro system. It was one of San Francisco's streetcar lines, beginning operation in 1928,[3] and was converted to modern light-rail operation with the creation of the Muni Metro system in the late 1970s. While many streetcar lines were converted to bus lines after World War II, the N Judah remained a streetcar line due to its use of the Sunset Tunnel. The line runs from the Caltrain depot in the Mission Bay district to Ocean Beach and the Great Highway in the Sunset District. From the Caltrain depot at Fourth and King Streets, it runs along King Street and the Embarcadero, passing by AT&T Park. It then enters the Market Street Subway, which it shares with the five other Muni Metro lines. It exits the tunnel at Church Street and, after a brief stretch along Duboce Avenue to Duboce Park, enters the older Sunset Tunnel. This tunnel serves to avoid a hill and contains no underground stations. From the western end of the tunnel, the route goes along Carl Street, pass UCSF-Parnassus Campus, towards Irving Street, until it turns onto 9th Avenue for one block and reaches Judah Street, which the N runs on for the rest of its route. On Judah between 9th Avenue and 19th Avenue the N runs on a right-of-way that is slightly raised above the surrounding street. There is a loop in the intersection at Judah, La Playa and Great Highway that the N uses to turn around. The N Judah line stops at large stations for the downtown section of the route and at smaller stops on the rest of the line. Most of the smaller stops consist of nothing more than a sign on the side of a street designating a stop, while other stops are concrete "islands" in the middle of a street next to the tracks that provide access for wheelchairs. Muni bus routes provide service to all downtown stations and other systems with access to the stations are noted. As with all Muni lines, service begins around 5 a.m. on weekdays, 6 a.m. on Saturdays, and 8 a.m. on Sundays and holidays. It operates at high frequencies, mainly between 7 to 12 minutes, and mostly utilizes two-car (150-foot (46 m)) trains during Muni Metro hours of operation. Late night service (after 12:55 a.m.) is provided by the N Owl diesel bus line. This line is generally the same as the daytime N Judah line, except it follows surface streets instead of going through the streetcar-only Market Street Subway and Sunset Tunnel. At the Ferry Portal at The Embarcadero and Folsom, it stays on The Embarcadero to Mission/Don Chee Way, then takes Steuart for one block and then turns onto Market Street, which it follows past all five underground stations served by the daytime N Judah line. It then takes Church, Hermann and Fillmore to get to Haight Street, where it bypasses the steep hill above the Sunset Tunnel, and serves the Lower Haight and Haight-Ashbury neighborhoods. It turns off Haight at Cole, and then rejoins the daytime N line at Carl. On December 5, 2009, SFMTA eliminated the portion of the N Judah line between Embarcadero and 4th & King/Caltrain on weekends and holidays. (That portion is still served by the T Third Street line.) N Owl service was not affected by this change.[4] Weekend service to the Caltrain depot was restored in October 2011. After concerns from riders of constant overcrowding of the trains on the N Judah line, Muni debuted an express bus route called the NX Judah Express on June 13, 2011.[5] Starting off as a pilot program, the NX (stylized as Nx) is intended to relieve overcrowding during rush hours every ten minutes. It follows the western end of the N Judah route from Ocean Beach to 19th Avenue, then operates nonstop from there to the Financial District where it stops at Bush and Montgomery Streets.
2.
Next time you’re in the Sunset District, go to 16th Avenue and Irving Street to see a piece of history. The now-closed gas station on the southeast corner was once a neighborhood fixture and may soon be gone. This is the story of the old Mohawk gas station and Jack Goldsworthy, who owned the station and lived next door until his death at the age of 86 in October 2012. I was fortunate to interview Jack Goldsworthy in October 2007 and to meet his family and friends in October 2012. I remember Jack as a kind, funny man who was generous with his time and memories. His words in this article are from our 2007 interview. John Henry “Jack” Goldsworthy was born in San Francisco on December 12, 1926. As a child, he went to Francis Scott Key Elementary School and lived in a rented house on 45th Avenue between Irving and Judah Streets (he remembered the old firehouse there). “In those days, it was all sand dunes,” Jack said. “You could buy a lot for $300—$300 for a sand lot with 25-foot frontage by 100 feet deep. Then we had this Henry Doelger. He came out and started to build houses, and then it all got developed.” Also in 1926, Jack’s maternal grandfather, Charles Kleinclaus, opened the gas station at 16th and Irving. The 1930 City Directories list Kleinclaus as “jr mgr” of the Sunset Service Station on the “SE corner of 16th Ave” and Irving. At the time, he lived at 1314 16th Avenue, in the house where Jack later lived. According to Jack, this house once sat on Irving Street near the corner. His grandfather had the house moved to 16th Avenue to make more space for the gas station. He also built the apartment building next door on 16th Avenue. Jack and his parents moved to 41st Avenue when Jack was attending Polytechnic High School. When he was young, Jack worked at the gas station, and as the years passed his memories of neighborhood residents revolved around the work he did on their cars: “Magnola lived up on Judah Street. He drove a Hupmobile, and I used to try to keep it running for him… I remember the lady of the creamery [Ellen Kieser of Kieser’s Colonial Creamery at 1833 Irving Street]. She drove a Buick convertible, and I used to service it… I remember two or three sisters. Their name was Furlong and they ran a department store [Furlong’s Dry Goods at 1301 9th Avenue]. They had a Buick Roadmaster that I used to service for them… We used to go to Whitney’s at the Beach—Playland. Mrs. Whitney had about seven vehicles—a pickup truck, a Cadillac, different ones. I used to try to keep all of her cars running.” After Jack graduated from high school in the 1930s, he received a draft notice. He remembered that during the physical examination, the induction center people said, “You’ve got a bad ankle…go home, go to school, get a job.” But Uncle Sam wasn’t finished with Jack. “Fifteen years later [1954] they called me up again.” He remembered meeting “some interesting people” during the two years he was in the army: “one of Bing Crosby’s sons… and a fellow who played football for Southern California—Frank Gifford…and some guy on television. I can’t think of his name.” Jack remembered that the years at the Sunset Station were rough. They were “pumping gas, fixing flat tires, lubricating cars, and selling batteries,” Jack explained. “It just wasn’t enough. It was something, but it just wasn’t enough. My grandfather had the chance to get a small Pontiac agency. “We’re selling used cars, we’re selling new cars, and we’re working on cars. Things were going pretty good. All of a sudden, an executive from General Motors comes in dressed in a suit and tie. And he says, ‘Look, I know this is a small neighborhood dealership. You’re not downtown on Van Ness Avenue. But San Francisco is a metropolitan city, and we don’t want our products sold out of a little service station. We want a showroom. You don’t have to make a big splash, but we want at least three new cars in the front window.’ “Across the street was a vacant lot,” Jack continued. “Grandfather says, ‘What if we buy that lot across the street and build our showroom there?’ General Motors says, ‘That would be wonderful.’ “So we buy the lot and we clean it up. We are just ready to call the carpenters to come out and put up the new building. All of a sudden, there’s a man here from City Hall. He says, ‘I don’t want you to do any more with that lot. The city is going to take that lot and build a firehouse.’” Jack’s grandfather went to court and asked why the city could not just remodel the nearby firehouse on 10th Avenue, but the fire department argued that it needed a corner lot for the hook-and-ladder trucks. Then the City of San Francisco took the lot by Eminent Domain and things changed for the gas station. “At one time, we had a nice business there,” Jack complained. “It all went downhill” after they had to stop selling cars. Jack’s grandfather gave up on the gas station sometime in the 1950s. The elegant brick gas station building at 16th Avenue and Irving Street when the old Mohawk gas pumps were still in place. - Courtesy of Julie Alden. Historians, neighbors, and preservationists pay attention to the brick gas station office that still stands behind a chain-link fence at 16th and Irving. In fact, in 2012, when the white service bay in the back of the lot was being demolished, emails were flying as people worried that this action signaled the end of the gas station. Relief replaced panic, however, when people learned that the demolition permit was only for the service bay. The City of San Francisco is also interested in the gas station on Irving. In 2007, Jack said that the people who work for the city “kind of like the building.” He explained further: “Once the city came out and said, ‘We like the architecture of the building. It’s old San Francisco—that’s what it is. However, if we have another earthquake… We would like the building raised and we would put rebar in the foundation.’ “I says, ‘I’ll tell you what. You write it up. Let’s write it up and see what it looks like on paper.’ “They said, ‘Okay, we’ll get back to you.’” Jack said in 2007 that he did not hear any more from the city. In his later years, Jack Goldsworthy would sit outside his garage on warm, sunny days and greet neighbors and passers-by. According to San Francisco City Directories, the gas station had several names over the years and was run by different people: Sunset Service Station and Courtesy Service Station (Jack was working there in 1940), Frank and Jim’s Mohawk Service (1960), La Prath Mohawk Service Gas Station (1963), and Louis (later Lou’s) Mohawk Service (1964). One of the last people to run the station (from 1964 to 1980) was Ludwig “Lou” Glowacki. A San Francisco Examiner article in 1980 showed him with the old Mohawk gas pumps explaining why he would likely close the station. In a situation difficult for us to understand now, the article explained that old gas pumps could only show gas selling for less than $1 a gallon. By 1980, gas prices had reached $2 a gallon. For a few years, many stations had been “half-pricing” their gas—doubling the price shown on the pumps. By this time, the Mohawk station on Irving, whose pumps could not go above 59.9 cents a gallon, was engaged in quadruple-pricing. The article noted that two large signs in the window stated that “the price per gallon and the amount of sale is one-quarter of the amount it should be.” The new law required that all old pumps be replaced by new ones before July 1, 1980. Glowacki could not afford the estimated $6,000 required for the upgrade. In the 1980s, Tim Grace's Folk Wisdom Repair sent Christmas cards created by artist Doug Nelson. - Courtesy of Julie Alden and Doug Nelson. Several years later, Tim Grace renamed the business Folk Wisdom Repair and provided car servicing only (no gas) until the 1990s. Each December, Tim put a decorated Christmas tree on top of the station and sent Christmas cards to customers with illustrations of the station by artist Doug Nelson. For many years, Jack Goldsworthy owned the corner lot at 16th Avenue and Irving Street. With his passing, no one is sure what will happen to the historic gas station building. For now, it still stands as a reminder of the early years of the growing Sunset District. Jack is remembered as a warm neighbor and friend, someone who loved cars (and fishing), someone who had a great sense of humor and a talent for good storytelling. With Jack’s passing, two treasures have been lost: Jack Goldsworthy, a man “without a mean bone in his body,” and his connection to the beautiful gas station on Irving Street. _Lori Ungaretti
3.
Tpumps 01:52
We arrived at 8:35 and waited in line...it went out to about the door, which isn't too bad compared to how it was a few days back. We got to the front of the line at 8:55, ordered our drinks, and then waited about another 10 minutes for our drinks to be ready, so it was about 30 minutes total. This is by far the longest I've waited for bubble tea anywhere in the world. The ordering process is very specific. For flavored teas, you have to specify if you want black or green tea, how sweet (regular, light, none), size (regular or very big), and type of add-in (regular tapioca, popping tapioca, taro, red bean). We had the following: Mango milk tea (green), lightly sweet, with tapioca Green milk tea, regular, with tapioca Almond milk tea (green), regular, with tapioca Taro milk tea (green), regular, with tapioca The best of these was the almond milk tea, which is made with a powder. It's therefore lactose free (no actual milk). The difference between this almond milk tea and the version at Wonderful Foods (and many other places) is that this did contain both actual tea *and* the almond milk...but to be honest, I couldn't really tell much difference. It was pretty good though, and not too sweet. The tapioca were on the sweet side, but texturally quite good. Not too soft, but no stiffness. I prefer less sweet tapioca, though. Also, the quantity of tapioca in all of our drinks was small....i.e. a smaller serving of tapioca, compared to many other places. Next best was green milk tea. It seemed like the tea itself was better than most places, with a subtle flavor, not the intense jasmine stuff you often get at places like Quickly and even Wonderful Foods. The syrup at the bottom almost tasted honey-like, which I liked okay. I think it could be worth seeing what their plain green iced tea tastes like. Next best was taro milk tea, which had a good taro flavor, but was a bit too chalky. This was also made with powder I think, but they didn't quite mix it well enough to give it the right mouthfeel. Bright purple, and I couldn't particularly tell that there was any green tea in it (though there was). Finally, the mango milk tea was the worst. It's not something I'd normally order, so it's possible this combo wouldn't work anywhere, but I thought it was too sweet (despite ordering it less-sweet). Seems like they just made milk tea, and then added mango syrup (I noticed they are using Torani syrup for their syrups). But overall the combo was kind of gross, in my opinion. Might be our fault for ordering it, though it's featured on the menu. Prices are pretty reasonable ($2.75, I believe, for most regular milk teas), which are a large size. So, I probably wouldn't dislike this place if there were no line, but as it stands now, I see no reason to go to TPumps when Wonderful Foods is two blocks away and is, in my mind, just as good (if not better). After our drinks, the friend who had ordered the mango milk and I passed by Wonderful Foods as we walked back to the car, and since she had been disappointed with the mango, I brought her into Wonderful Foods to introduce her to their bubble tea (she had never been). She ordered an almond milk tea (hot) which we both thought was much better than anything we tried at TPumps! So, glad that I checked this place out, but I certainly won't return until the line goes down below 5 minutes. _"Dave MP"
4.
The Sunset District is the largest district within the city of San Francisco, and with a population of over 85,000 it is also the most populous. Golden Gate Park forms the neighborhood's northern border, and the Pacific Ocean (or, more specifically, the long, flat strand of beach known as Ocean Beach) forms its western border. The Sunset District's southern and eastern borders are not as clearly defined, but there is a general consensus that the neighborhood extends no farther south than Sigmund Stern Grove and Sloat Boulevard and no farther east than Stanyan Street (just east of the Parnassus campus of the University of California, San Francisco) and Laguna Honda Hospital. Prior to the residential and commercial development of the Sunset District, much of the area was covered by sand dunes and was originally referred to by 19th century San Franciscans as "the Outside Lands." The Sunset District and the neighboring Richmond District (on the north side of Golden Gate Park) are often collectively known as The Avenues, because the majority of both neighborhoods are spanned by numbered north-south avenues. When the city was originally laid out, the avenues were numbered from 1st to 49th, and the east-west streets were lettered A to X. In 1909, to reduce confusion for mail carriers, the east-west streets and 1st Avenue and 49th Avenue were renamed. The east-west streets were named in ascending alphabetical order in a southward direction after prominent 19th-century American politicians, military leaders, or explorers; 19th-century Mexican landowners; and Spanish conquistadors. 1st Avenue was renamed Arguello Boulevard, and 49th Avenue was renamed La Playa Street (Spanish for "the beach"). Today, the first numbered avenue is 2nd Avenue, starting one block west of Arguello Boulevard, and the last is 48th Avenue near Ocean Beach. The avenue numbers increase incrementally, with one exception: what would be 13th Avenue is known as Funston Avenue, named after Frederick Funston, a U.S. Army general famous for his exploits during the Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War, and for directing the U.S. Army response to the 1906 Earthquake. The east-west streets in the Sunset appear for the most part in alphabetical order. These streets are: Lincoln Way(bordering the south side of Golden Gate Park), Hugo (from Arguello to 7th Avenue only), Irving, Judah, Kirkham, Lawton, Moraga, Noriega, Ortega, Pacheco, Quintara, Rivera, Santiago, Taraval, Ulloa, Vicente, Wawona, Yorba, and Sloat Boulevard. "X" was originally proposed to be Xavier, but was changed to Yorba due to a pronunciation controversy.
5.
Golden Gate Park, Haight Ashbury. Damn near every person you walk past will say “BUDS”. Most are Heroin junkies and will rip you off if you are not careful. Make sure you open the bag, and don’t go for the sneaky money-weed transfer, that is how they rip you off. Just go to GG park and check it all out. another reporter added: “Golden Gate Park is the place to buy weed. However, many outsiders do not know exactly where to go. When one gets to the end of Haight Street that has Amoeba Music Store on one side, go across the street to the park and follow the path under the bridge. Keep following the path. It will turn right after about a hundred feet, and from there you will be able to see a what is known as “Hippie Hill”. On the hill, you will see clouds of smoke continually rising. This is where you should go to buy. If you have not been offered already, go to the hill and ask pretty much anyone, but preferably someone smoking. If you feel uncomfortable asking, just make eye contact with as many people who look like they could be selling as possible. There is also a drum circle that starts some time in the afternoon, which can be fun to join once you’re baked.” and also: “you can find weed downtown. pretty much anywhere on market there will be people slingin and you can just walking around asking people and find it but if you dont want to do that then across from the mall on market and fifth by the escalators is a popular place for dealers to congregate. they mostly sell weed prepackaged in dime bags but sometimes they will try to rip you off. never pay more than ten for a little baggie and if you dont like the size of the sack then feel free to ask any of the other dealers around and they will offer to sell you a better sack. you wont get a fat sack but the weed is pretty damn good and theres a lot of purp.” a recent report is: “I was in the city 6/2007. I strolled down Haight St. to Golden Gate Park and made a very easy connection. I walked through the tunnel and as I passed through to the other side a voice from the bushes to the left I heard “buds? you need buds?” I said “where are you?” a young man came from the bushes and said he had “buds, what do you want?” I said “an eighth” he said “$60″ they were smallish buds but very good quality. I was in and out of there in a few minutes time, easy for a traveler from out of town. “ and: “Go to the Haight-Ashbury area and look around for dirty, homeless, an raggedy people. Usually they have dreads or nappy hair from not washing it. The people there are really cool, though some of them are hardcore drug addicts they are generally cool people. They might not have weed but they will take you on a journey to go find weed. Theres a park down the road where homeless people are sleeping and smoking joints, and other people johhing or walking their dogs. The people in Haight-Ashbury tend to sell more quantity’s of weed then small bags. It’s very hard to find some one who well take the amount of a ten sack(which is most likely roughly .6 grams) out of their giant ziploc bags of the sweet sweet cheeba. It is also extremely rare to find someone who already has a bagged up sack for ten, which is good because you should always look at the bud before you buy it and the quanity of it because these hippies try to rip you off. It’s also the coolest place to walk around when your really high, there’s graffiti of the legend Bob Marley, and an awesome picture of Lennon, Hendrix, and Jim Morrison on the side of a building. There are awesome head shops, a very cool record store called Amobea Records, the Haight-Ashbury street sign, along with the clock that doesnt say 420 anymore but thats what time the clock stopped in Haight and 420 has been connected with marijuana ever since. Crazy street preformers, coffee shops, punks, hippies, its one of the most fun places i have ever been. Me and my two best friends have come up with a goal to vist almost every big city and smoke their weed and just check it out. I will be trying to write a summary on each place I go. Hope you have fun.”
6.
The western part of the Sunset borders the cold northern Californian Pacific Ocean coastline, so it tends to get much of the fog San Francisco is famous for. The Sunset can be foggy for many consecutive days during summer. The fog typically retreats toward the west in late afternoon, presenting a pleasing sunset. The Sunset's finest weather is usually from mid-September through October, when regional air patterns transition from onshore to offshore weather and the area is free of fog. Sand carried by Pacific Ocean winds can be found on roadways and driveways within the first five to ten blocks east of Ocean Beach.
7.
King Philip was built in Alna, Maine in 1856. Seven years later she was being advertised as "a strictly first-class clipper ship with quick dispatch" and "well-known to shippers as one of the best and most reliable vessels in the California trade. Stands A-1 for seven years". With a wooden hull and three masts, she was a medium-sized clipper displacing 1,100 tons. She was named for Metacomet (who was known to the English as "King Philip"), a war chief or sachem of the Wampanoag Indians. Metacomet was the Wampanoag's leader in King Philip's War. The ship carried cargo from the Eastern United States to San Francisco, and called at Baker Island for guano. The route required going around Cape Horn, which is famous for its enormous storms. The historian Samuel Eliot Morison has called this kind of ship "the noblest of all sailing vessels." The fastest-ever clipper ship, Flying Cloud, once sailed from New York City to San Francisco in only 89 days; the King Philip, although fast, was not as fast. King Philip had a turbulent history, including at least two mutinies or sailors' rebellions, with the ship surviving being set on fire on both of those occasions. Finally, on January 25, 1878, 22 years after she was built, the King Philip left San Francisco Bay under Captain A.W. Keller, bound for Port Gamble, carrying no cargo. A steam-powered tugboat had towed her out of the Bay, in order to help her maneuver in the dangerous waters. At that exact moment, an accident caused the death of the captain of a ship that was nearby, and the tugboat crew was called upon to help out with that emergency. Left on her own without the tugboat to steer her, the King Philip dropped an anchor, but the anchor did not hold fast, and the clipper drifted with the current towards the breakers of the beach and ran aground in heavy surf, which caused the ship to break apart. In its news article, the Daily Alta California described the scene: “Left helpless, anchors gone, sails clewed up, no friendly breeze, no hope, the gallant craft strikes and strikes the sand as if in anger, but powerless, as the hard, cold beach starts her timbers, tears her rudder out, crushes her keel and mashes her stout timbers in matchwood…”
8.
Sunset Reservoir is one of three terminal reservoirs in the Regional Water System in San Francisco, California. The reservoir is the city's largest reservoir and is located in the Sunset District at 24th Avenue and Ortega Street, is owned and maintained by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Completed in 1960, the subterranean reservoir was constructed as an 11-acre (4.5 ha), 1,000 by 500 feet (300 m × 150 m), concrete basin, now containing 720 floor-to-ceiling columns. With its maximum depth of 33 ft (10 m), the reservoir's capacity is 270 acre·ft (330,000 m3) with average daily flows of 46 acre feet (57,000 m3) through 42-inch (1.1 m) inlet/outlet pipes.
9.
Woodside International School is an accredited, college-preparatory, and co-educational independent private high school in San Francisco, California, for American and international students. Woodside successfully combines the best elements of a public school, a religious school, an independent college prep school, an English private school, and a home school. It provides diversity, structure, a broad and inclusive curriculum, learning support, good discipline, understanding, flexibility, and moral guidance. Woodside is unique in its ability to truly engage and empower every kind of student both from the Bay Area and from overseas - Woodside School Staff Our program provides personal tracking of each student’s progress that no large school is able to match, and our faculty is committed to giving the every student the attention they deserve. We are located in the Sunset District of San Francisco one block from Golden Gate Park and within easy commute distance from all over the Bay Area. Applications for enrollment are accepted all year long.
10.
Here we see the Enbus Judahcus retreating into haven for a well-deserved rest.

about

The Endless Grid is a tribute to the Sunset District in San Francisco, CA.

It contains reflections on the Sunset District's history, future, infrastructure and relationship with the elements--ocean, fog, sand, wind. It is also a reflection of my personal history in that neighborhood and my ongoing connection with it.

Though I've spent most of my life in the Richmond, I feel the Sunset is my spiritual home. I lived there during the formative years of my life (2006-2009) and went to school there (Woodside Int'l School) until 2010, when I transferred to International High School as a junior.

Most of this album was recorded between June and September 2013. The final edit was created July 2014.

In memory of Libra McClung and Jack Goldsworthy

credits

released July 12, 2014

Sample on track 1 from "Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Sample on track 9 from "St. James Infirmary Blues" by Bass 10

Track 10 named by Roger Krupetsky

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Gand San Francisco, California

Ambient, ambient techno, dub techno, new age, place-oriented music. See also bromf-sf.bandcamp.com.

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