Houses to Dream By

The idea of a poetics of place has always intrigued me--how particular environments harmonize (or clash) with our thoughts and moods. Today, walking with the kid through the Inner Richmond district, I came upon an interesting architectural phenomenon on 2nd Avenue between Balboa and Cabrillo: all the houses were uniform in style, something almost unheard of in any one particular block in the Richmond. They all had steep sloping roofs, which allowed for a garrett-like room upstairs with one smallish window overlooking the street (a perfect hideaway for an artist); they appeared to be houses from the latter part of the 19th century, but were not Victorians.

I wish I knew a little more about architecture, and in particular, the architecture of this city. But suffice it to say that these houses looked eminently liveable--more relaxed and less stuffy somehow than the trussed-up Victorians of the Haight, more inviting and friendly than most of the Richmond's older houses. These houses hidden away on an unfrequented block of the inner Richmond seemed to invite me to relax and stroll at a more leisurely pace. Which I did.

Was also intrigued by the large number of quirky shops and restaurants that have sprouted up on Balboa Street, from 6th to 2nd Avenue. From the general contractor whose storefront logo reads, "Building better--building greener" to the fish and aquarium store, to the Chinese restaurant advertising itself as a "seafood tea house" (if someone can explain what that is--or on second thought, I'd rather not know, it's more fun that way), Balboa Street feels like the future of San Francisco.

An entirely different atmosphere prevails in Glen Park these days--at least, in the part of Glen Park on and around Chenery and Diamond Streets. The large number of "holistic" health centers, yoga studios, and gourmet grocery stores that have appeared in recent years indicate a neighborhood that, though entirely working-class just a couple decades ago, has given itself over these days to the nouveau-chic set, a group whose favorite activities center heavily on personal health, fitness and "enlightenment." The architecture of Glen Park, however, consists of an eclectic jumble of older and newer houses, which almost makes up for the nouveau-chic feeling of the neighborhood's business establishments.