One More Big show to Go

Two shows down and one more to go. The San Francisco American Craft Show, put on by the American Craft Council, was, as always, a fun event. The venue, two of the old warehouse piers at Fort Mason, is unique and picturesque. The days were fairly sunny, but cool with the fog constantly hanging around the Golden Gate.

Several of our friends were there in both buildings selling, or rather attempting to sell, their crafts. Yes, the economy has caused a downturn in the fine craft business. The only successes came in the clothing and jewelry booths. After less than stellar sales in Bellevue, San Francisco was very disappointing. Hopefully, my next show, the Sausalito Art Festival this coming Labor Day weekend, will be successful.

But as you can see from the pictures, taken by our friend Sandra (thanks), shows that we were enjoying ourselves and did have a lot of traffic in our booth.

Stella lived, for a short while, not far from Fort Mason, part way up Russian Hill at the end of Chestnut Street. When we were a-courtin' we used to frequent restaurants and stores in the Chestnut/Marina neighborhood. Whenever we stay in The City for a show, we love to stop by our favorite restaurants, Ashoka, for classic Indian food, and Dragon Well, for good Schezwan-style dinners. The Chestnut area has recently gone through a resurgance, after several years of empty storefronts and run-down buildings, and the cornerstone is the remodeled Marina theater. This used to be one of the large classic movie houses that each neighborhood in San Francisco had. It was last run by Century Theaters, but they never did much to keep it up. Now, the lower floor is a large Walgren's Drug Store, and the theater portion has been upgraded to a multiplex-style venue, with the smaller theaters upstairs. The building itself retains the old look.

Well, now it's time to get ready for the next big show. After this one is over, I'll have a month to recuperate before the Open Studios weekends. My studio will be open this year on the second and third weekends in October. The first weekend is for South Santa Cruz County, from the yacht harbor south to Watsonville; the second weekend is for North Santa Cruz County, from the yacht harbor north, including downtown Santa Cruz as well as Scotts Valley and the Mountain communities of Felton, Ben Lomand, Boulder Creek, and Bonny Doon, and further north to the San Mateo County line. More to come.