San Francisco Urban Wineries and Wine Bars
As you head to San Francisco for the AAG with visions of the Golden Gate Bridge, colorful old street cars and steep sloped streets, consider exploring the wines of San Francisco. Although world-renowned Napa and Sonoma Valleys are a short drive north of San Pablo Bay, there are much more convenient options within San Francisco…
Point Reyes National Seashore: A Brief History of a Working Landscape
A working landscape of Point Reyes National Seashore. Just a mere forty windy miles north of San Francisco is a popular natural wonder. Point Reyes National Seashore and the Phillip Burton Wilderness Area are prime destinations for visitors near and far. While many visit these places to fulfill their quest to get away from the…
A New Rx for the Food Movement in San Francisco
With large-scale demand and a mission to protect public health, hospitals are emerging as the next frontier of the sustainable food movement. Health care institutions spend $12 billion in the food and beverage sector each year,1 and a single hospital can have an annual food budget of $1–7 million or Even small shifts in foodservice…
The World a Model Makes
The San Francisco Bay Model. Photo: John Elrick. When geographers touch down in San Francisco this spring, they will encounter a socio-natural world produced in part through technical efforts to understand and manage it. As a primary means by which such efforts were pursued in the Bay Area during the postwar years, the San Francisco…
Bay Area Open Space Is ‘Not’ Open Space
The San Francisco Bay Area has more open space within its borders than any other metropolitan area in the United States, an intriguing state of affairs for a regional population approaching nine million people. While so much open space provides a scenic landscape and exceptional opportunities for outdoor recreation including hiking, biking, horseback riding, and…
San Francisco, on the Golden Edge
The AAG returns to San Francisco for its annual gathering in 2016, our fourth visit following successful meetings there in 1970, 1994, and 2007. Given the unique strengths of geospatial science for the synthesis of human, physical, economic, historical, demographic, and other elements into a composite picture, the San Francisco Bay Area is a rich…
A Taste of New Deal Alphabet Soup in San Francisco
One of several controversial panels at Coit Tower. A library scene painted by Bernard Zakheim, in which patron (fellow muralist John Langley Howard) pulls a copy of Das Kapital from the shelf. Photo: Shaina Potts for the Living New Deal. Mural: Bernard Zakheim Coming to San Francisco for the annual meeting next spring will mean…
Geographies of Sustainability in the San Francisco Bay Area
When geographers descend on San Francisco next year for the annual American Association for Geography meeting, most will undoubtedly stroll past one of the Powell Street parklets, located near the downtown conference hotels. Designed by landscape architect Walter Hood, with funding from Audi, the parklets are celebrated by Dwell magazine for beautifying one of the…
San Francisco Water: Environmental Sensibilities v. Environmental History
San Franciscans pride themselves on their progressive environmental sensibilities, but there are tensions between these sensibilities and the city’s environmental history. The story of the city’s quest for water makes this clear. As San Francisco grew on its narrow, hilly peninsula, the city quickly depleted its artesian aquifers. Once residents polluted the city’s creeks with…