Some time ago I had another visit to San Francisco. I decided to hang out in my old neighborhood, then began wandering near City Hall and my old haunt, the San Francisco Public Library.
As I neared the entrance, which I knew so well, I noticed that now there were two beautiful Asian Lion statues in the front. “Nice,” I thought, and went in. Imagine my surprise when I was stopped at the entrance and told there was admission. “I’m sorry, what?” I said to the woman behind the podium. Of course, she looked at me like I’d lost my mind and said, “Admission is $10.”
“There’s admission to the library now?” I asked. She patiently said, “No, this isn’t the library anymore. It moved down the street.” By now, I’m thoroughly confused and looked up to make sure I was in the right place. The architecture, the stairway, the halls, the ceilings, and the pillars were all in the right places, but I was missing something. The woman could clearly see I was massively confused, and she informed me that “this is now the Asian Art Museum.” “Oh,” I said, clearly disappointed. I had so wanted to go and hide out in the beloved stacks and lean against the pillars I so loved.
I asked her if she had media rates and was pleased (at last) to find out they did. Not much, but hey, a couple of bucks is a couple of bucks. I also asked if it was ok to take pictures, and she said, “Yes, but no flash.” I agreed since I never use flash anyway, and went on my merry(?) way.
As I navigated the staircase to the upper floor, I stopped to admire the sayings carved still in the walls near the ceiling. I always loved those, even if I didn’t know who said them. They were still beautiful to me.
My only real disappointment at this point was that the volumes and volumes and volumes of books were indeed missing, but the art that took their place was incredible. I did take photographs of some of the art, but my mission, as I saw it, was to make sure that no one forgot how beautiful the architecture of not only the former San Francisco Public Library was, but how stunning the new Asian Art Museum is as well.
So, please enjoy the following imagery of this gorgeous building that is still available for public consumption.
Until next time . . .
