A California Castle

Wikipedia

At the beginning of our Big Sur roadtrip, we stopped at Hearst Castle, the publisher's former estate off Highway 1 just south of Big Sur. The property is now a state park and a gorgeous museum. It took decades to build, and was designed by Hearst and Julia Morgan, a prolific Bay Area architect who was also the first licensed female one in California. (She also designed a community center right in my neighborhood, no big deal.)

Whiskies & Weekend Walks

This week I had the absolute pleasure of attending Whisk(e)y 101, hosted here in San Francisco by Women & Whiskies. More and more women are drinking whiskey (or 'whisky' if you're in Scotland, Japan, or another country without an "e" in its name, as I learned) and smart companies are taking notice. While I've attended tastings for Jameson and The Macallan, this event was the most educational/enjoyable for me by far. Hosting ~20 women in a fun, nicely decorated venue, with a Bi-Rite spread(!) shows the Women & Whiskies team knows what they're doing. For this class we had the chance to taste Scotch, Canadian, and American Whiskies... and now I definitely feel more knowledgeable about the different kinds. I already ordered a bottle of my favorite from the night. 

Also recently... The weather has been awesome and I've tried to be outside during my free time as much as possible. My legs were sore from this picturesque hike just north of the Golden Gate, and I've been checking out the architecture in North Beach and the Financial District. There is nothing I love more as a city-dweller than being a tourist in my own city and admiring everything it's made of:

The Sentinel Building in North Beach, in the shadow of the Transamerica Pyramid

The Shell Building (1929) reflected in the Crown Zellerbach Paper Company Building (1959)

San Francisco Architecture

I've always liked the unique architecture around San Francisco. I'll always love the classic Victorian homes and earthquake cottages, but there are some zany designs out there that just add more character to the city. When I first arrived, I saw a building in SoMa with furniture attached to the outer walls, like they'd been thrown out the windows... turns out it's a work of art that required more than 100 volunteers. Here's a couple fun buildings I've seen recently while wandering around the city:

Folsom Street

Hayes Valley (couple blocks from the Aether shipping containers)

(Reminds me of a cheese grater)

 

I was walking around Chelsea last week and came across this ridiculously cool doorway. I shouldn’t have been too surprised since it was in the midst of art galleries, but it was still a fun little architectural find. To me this is one of the things that makes downtown NYC so cool.

It wasn’t until I stepped right up to it that I realized it was Commes Des Garcon and I didn’t have time to step inside or else I would have seen it’s their retail store, not just an office or showroom. Check it out when you’re in the area; I definitely will go on my next visit.

 

Doors in Cartagena