Visitors to San Francisco’s Chinatown next month will have the opportunity to enjoy the 19th Annual Autumn Moon Festival.  Moon Festival celebrations are not yet commonplace in the US, although they’ve been held in Asia for over a thousand years.  The festival is a changing of season event, a time to give thanks for a plentiful summer harvest, and the changing of the moon and the seasons.  Often equated to a sort of “Chinese Thanksgiving,” it’s a way to mark the passing of one season to the next, and to give thanks for the abundance of life.
Of course, just like …read more

Fans of all things Disney will soon have a new museum to check out – The Walt Disney Family Museum, set to open October 1st, 2009 in San Francisco.  The museum will be contained in three historic buildings in the Presidio, a former barracks, a former gymnasium, and a former storage facility.  These buildings will include 10 galleries dedicated to chronicling the life of Walt Disney.
The story of Disney will evolve from the drawings of his youth, to the founding of his first company (Laugh-
O-GramFilms), to the birth of Mickey Mouse, to the opening of Disneyland.  Along the way, you’ll …read more

Deciding where to eat when you’re on vacation can often be an exasperating experience.  After spending hours going back and forth with “I don’t know, where do you want to go?” you may find yourself starving, frustrated, and ending up eating something that you really don’t want.  Yeah, I’ve done that before!
San Francisco, a city full of great food options, wants to make the decision a little easier for you with its website Taste SF.
Organized into useful sections like Inspiring Views (great ideas for special occasions) and brunch, as well as by type of cuisine, price range, and neighborhood, …read more

For over 90 years, the Palace of Fine Arts has been a part of the history and culture of San Francisco.  Originally designed for the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition, to celebrate the completion of construction on the Panama Canal, it was also a way for San Francisco to come back after its infamous 1906 earthquake and fire.  It is representative of classic Roman and Greek Architecture, complete with a rotunda, stately columns and adjacent lagoon.
After the Exposition closed, the Palace of Fine Arts went through numerous “lives” before eventually becoming part of the San Francisco Park System.  It fell …read more

At the top of Telegraph Hill, in San Francisco’s Pioneer Park, stands one of the prominent buildings of the city’s skyline – Coit Tower.  Along with the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid, it is one of the most recognizable sights in the San Francisco.
The art deco tower was built in 1933, with funds donated by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, after whom the tower was named.  Folklore claims that the tower was designed to look like a fire hose nozzle, and was a tribute to the firefighters of the 1906 earthquake fire.  Although this may be more urban legend than …read more

Continuing on with our year celebration here are my four favorite posts from Offbeat October 2007…
The Remainder House – green and lovely.
Jonesing for San Francisco – because who knew you could build the city out of Jello? plus, LOCUS Architecture is pretty fly too.

The World’s Best Offbeat Gingerbread Homes – not appropriate for Halloween month, but I did it anyhow, and all that gingerbread was so darn cute.

Offbeat Home for Sale: Want Wood Paneling? This house still makes me laugh out loud. It’s not very cool, but it is fun.
October was a busy Offbeat month actually, we had blog action …read more

Honestly, why would you just paint your house beige or tan when you could do this instead…

The two above are from Arch Zine – and there are a ton of other nice murals located at this post. This next slick mural is from The Cool Hunter and I’ve love it since I first saw it (this is one of those that’s been sitting around in my bookmarks for months). I bet you can’t guess what business this building houses. Visit Cool Hunter to learn more.

And then there’s this… A mural that’s way too cool for school. A little poppy what …read more

Usually when I feel like going somewhere else it’s Humboldt or Montana. Then, every once in a while, I start feeling like a sprinkle of San Francisco. It’s a crowded city which I don’t adore but even with all the people it still feels large around you.
The thing about the city is you can walk everywhere still. Once I stayed in this awesome hostel on the edge of China Town and I’d walk to the Haight, the park, and than over to SOMA. At twilight you could walk to the water and see the bridge starting to twinkle.
And then of …read more

Here at the b5media Home & Dining Channel we decided to ring in the new school year with some ‘back to school’ posts. As previously mentioned, I haven’t started, but today’s the day.
I suppose you should know, if you’re looking for someone to wax poetic, on a blog, about back to school time; then I’m really not your girl. I unschool my own son and I’ve only met one elementary school I adore. If I get my way, I may just be featuring this amazing school later this week. As for the rest… I’m not a fan.
This works out though, …read more

In case you haven’t heard, West Coast Green is coming on full force this year.
West Coast Green, the largest residential green building conference in America recently released it’s full line-up of presenters and exhibits for this year’s show taking place on September 20-22, 2007. The show, which will be held in San Francisco, has two days worth of educational programs for builders and designers in the industry and then allows homeowners in on the final day (wish I could go).
Sadly, I cannot go and I’m guessing this won’t fit into most of your schedules either. So I’m hoping that up …read more