San Francisco Landmark - Coit Tower

Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill, in my opinion, are very important landmarks in San Francisco as they stand high above the city. Lighting up at night, the Tower is impossible to miss and prominent within the cities skyline. Coit Tower was built on Telegraph Hill in 1933.The art deco tower is 250 feet tall and was designed by architects Arthur Brown Jr. and Henry Howard with murals by 26 different artists and numerous assistants. It offers fantastic views of San Francisco, the bridge, ocean and city itself. When I visited the tower the views and beautiful setting of it amazed me. It really captures the essence of San Francisco.
The murals inside the tower also seem to reflect the spirit of the city, with very "leftist" political and social themes related to the Great Depression and socialist political movements. Amongst the scenes painted are a banck robbery, a scene from the harbor and a look inside a department store. They are bright and powerful, painted in a Diego Riviera style they give a brief history of the Calfornian experience of the Great Depression.

Brautigan Response - October 16th

I’ve chosen to look at the poem ‘San Francisco’, which although was only found by Brautigan in a Laundromat in San Francisco, I think, reflects Brautigans style and portrayal of the city very well. When I first read ‘San Francisco’, the repetitive style and rhythm made me want it to continue and go on. The tone is almost cheeky, flirty and is more upbeat than Brautigan’s poetry, that is until the final line ‘it was lonely’. Of course this depends on how we read the poem, as this may not be a stark, jolting depressive line intended to leave the reader pondering and reflecting perhaps the isolation and loneliness one can feel in a city such as San Francisco. Instead we could read this line as a jovial take on San Francisco life and everyday details so important to the inhabitants of the city, such as laundry.

This suits the black comedy and satirical touch always present in Brautigan’s poetry.This all fits well with beat image of counter culture, straying from the mainstream and finding humour in darker places. The Laundromat seems to work so well in this poem as it symbolises the working people, the everyday lives of those in the city, and the underlying meanings of these everyday occurrences. This is what Brautigan seems to do much of his poetry; taking something small and reading between the lines, whether it is sleeping, eating or sex.

Ferlinghetti response

The idea of 'contado' seems very apparent in the poems by ferlinghetti. The images he creates of San Francisco at times contrast but also compliment one another. One of my favourite poems is 'Yachts in the Sun', in which we see his paradoxical portrayal of the city with the beautiful 'white sails in sunlight', set against images of Alcatraz, bones and imprisonment. He brings up the idea of San Franciscos long history, suggesting it has been somewhat forgotten being buried deep down under the 'glass of the sea'. Glass however, implies we can see this history and crime of the city and it remains a part of San Francisco, the people simply choose to ignore it perhaps, as indicated when he says 'as the so skillful yachts so freely pass over'.

To me, contado embodies the idea of contrasting images, the country and the city, an influx of wealth from poorer places. 'In Golden Gate Park That Day' we see this again, an almost strange but calm scene is created by Ferlinghetti. The poem is relaxed, with the birds, meadow and fruit. There is also a flute, and although it's beaten up and not played in the poem, it suggests a light hearted, upbeat rhythm is being portrayed by this couple. This is all joulted at the end line however, 'except a certain awful look of terrible depression'. Again a very contrasting image to the sunny, breezy image of san francisco Ferlinghetti puts forward earlier in the poem.

These contrasts and joulting lines of negativity set amongst positive imagery serves to, in a way, give an accurate reflection of the city itself. It's so diverse with such different people and surroundings throughout the city, Ferlinghetti highlights this in his poetry.