San Francisco Beautiful Points Of Departure Masonic Avenue Corridor 17 Editorial Photo

Going back to the end of the Eighteenth Century, cities big and small across America were suddenly dealing with a whole new problem of 'Urban Blight' when there were massive population growths from new immigrants as well as people moving in from smaller towns looking for better jobs. This not only caused the cities to become congested and over crowed, but the over crowding itself made the cities to look even less attractive. To help make the cities more attractive again, starting in Chicago, 'Beautification' projects were begun, like this one along Masonic Avenue leading up to the juncture with Geary Boulevard in the Richmond District of San Francisco, has lots of new plantings and public art at the bus stop. Pedestrians can now comfortably sit on a bench and bicyclist have bike only lanes. For this 'Points of Departure' art display, artist Scott Oliver randomly asked various people at this location three questions: 'Where were you born?' 'Where would you like to go, that you have never been to?' 'Where are you going right now?' From these responses, Mr. Oliver made directional pointing arrows, with the name and distance to that location, and placed the arrows on poles under the palm trees. As enjoyed 28 December 2023.