Historic Alviso, CA: Thursday Doors 4/52

Copyright © 2016 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Last Sunday while I was out birding I knew I needed to get my Door image sorted out for Thursday Doors this week, and as I drove through Alviso to get to the Wildlife Refuge I thought,

” There’s some old and probably interesting doors in Alviso! I’ll take a spin through the old Cannery area to see what I find.”

For the History Buffs:

Alviso, CA.  is the northern boundary of San Jose, CA, and the Southern boundary of San Francisco Bay.  It once was an independent city, but in 1968 the town voted to consolidate with the city of San Jose, CA. Alviso has no US Mail delivery service. Residents have to go to the Post Office to collect their mail.

Alviso is 13 ft below sea level and had severe flooding in the 80’s, and again in the 90’s.  There was 10ft of water in parts of Alviso. The Guadalupe River, and Coyote Creek both end in Alviso and empty into the Bay via Alviso Slough, and Mud Slough.  Many homes and businesses were ruined in those floods.

There are few businesses in Alviso today.  It’s largely residential, and marsh land.

Speaking of marshland: Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Alviso is part of 6 other wildlife refuges in the Bay Area. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the first urban National Wildlife Refuge established in the United States, is dedicated to preserving and enhancing wildlife habitat, protecting migratory birds, protecting threatened and endangered species, and providing opportunities for wildlife-oriented recreation and nature study for the surrounding communities.

Now onto the Doors! 🙂

Here’s the front door of the Tilden-Laine House.

Tilden Laine House Front Door

Here’s how the whole house looks:

It’s style is called Italianate Victorian.   The home dates back to the early 1900’s. According to Wiki-Pedia it’s still owned by the Laines.

 

Tilden-Laine House Alviso CA

Right next door is what was once The Laine Store. The Tilden family ran the store from 1865-1912. In the 1920’s it became a Chinese Gambling hall.

The Laine Store Alviso CA 2016

I read that the flood watermark was over the top of the doors! On the Wiki page I linked to below are two images of the Laine store one from 1981, and the other from 2007.  It’s pretty interesting to see how much the building has aged in that time. The Laine Store is a Registered Historical Landmark.

After the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1909 the Precita Canning Company moved to Alviso and reorganized and changed their name to the Bay Side Canning Company. It hasn’t been used since 1936. The city is letting the buildings decay.

Bayside Canning Co Doors

The last time I was there back in 2010 or 11, I was shooting portraits I had the model right up near the wall. Now there’s fencing all around the property.  The murals tell the story of Alviso’s history.

Bayside Canning CO

This building below with the two doors I just liked. I can’t find any information about it, but the street is residential though this building doesn’t look like it was a house. It looks like it’s being used for storage today.

Doors White Building Alviso

There are more doors and buildings I would like to photograph here! For more information and history see the link below.

~ history and info gleaned from Wikipedia  Pedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alviso,_San_Jose,_California#History

This post is part of Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors. Click here to see all the doors shared this week.

Nikon Df| Nikkor 28-105mm | Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Hand-held| PS CC 2015

 

MM2/11 Whaler’s Cabin

Copyright ©2010-2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Over the week-end I joined my friend Hai who was hosting a Meet-Up Photography trip to Point Lobos State Park in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA.  A lot of people canceled at the last-minute so there were only 5 of us; which was a lot of fun, and made it easy for everyone to stay together. The weather wasn’t perfect, but there wasn’t a lot to complain about either. We had an overcast sky most the day with occasional bits of blue peeking out of the fog, and clouds, there was no wind, and the ambient temperature was perfect for hiking.

For Leanne Cole’s weekly Monochrome Madness2 this week I’m sharing an image I made of Whaler’s Cabin.

MM2-11 Whaler's Cabin Point Lobos State Park

It was built over 160 years ago by Chinese Fisherman. It overlooks Carmel Bay, and Whaler’s Cove.

My image shows the side of the cabin with a huge Monterey Cypress tree growing up against the wall of the cabin. I really liked how the branches frame the little window.   The upper branch framing the window looks as if it split, but it’s still alive! The Monterey Cypress trees, and the Cypress grove here in the park is one of two groves, and they are the only two that remain on Earth. The other grove is across Carmel Bay at Cypress Point.

Today the cabin houses the Whaler’s Museum which houses some Whaling Tools, and artifacts.  I made the image below of some of the things inside the Museum back in May 2010. Can you imagine how heavy that scuba diving suit must be?

Whaler's Cabin Museum

Outside the cabin there are whale bones, and the huge “try pots” that were used to boil the Whale blubber to render oil.

The Cabin is a Registered National Historic Landmark, and you can read more about its history here.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film|  developed in: CS6, Silver Efex Pro 2, and Perfect Black and White

More to come…

MM2-1 “Whenever you wear your hat, your day will be special”~Margo Nickel

Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I’m going to participate in Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 52 project this year. I’m a little apprehensive, and unsure if I’ll be able to complete all 52 weeks, and produce good work, but I’m going to try!

Yesterday a photographer friend of mine Dali, a colleague of his, and myself went up north to San Rafael, CAto photograph the last Frank Lloyd Wright commissioned building before heading to San Francisco for the Chinese New Year Parade.

The building is the Marin County Civic Center building. I was shooting the escalator when this woman came down the stairs so, I quickly recomposed to make this image.

Need to work on: I wish I had slowed the shutter speed down just a touch slower though. I wanted her to have a bit more motion blur showing movement. I’ll have to practice more street photography to get better at ICM and people blur.

"Whenever you wear a hat, your day will be special."~Margo Nicke

I have a few more images from the Marin County Civic Center Building, and lots from the Chinese New Year Parade I’ll be sharing soon.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm| Hoodman STEEL Ultra Fast Speed Digital Film| Hand-held| developed in CS6 and Nik Suite’s Silver Efex Pro 2

More to come…

Park Hill Condominium Complex ( St Joseph’s Hospital, San Francisco)

Copyright © 2014 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

This is my 5th and Final image for the 5-Day Black and White Photography Challenge.
It is an image I made in the Summer of 2012 while hiking the staircases of San Francisco. By mid afternoon the fog started to roll in over the hills.

The building is Old St Joseph’s Hospital which was built in 1928. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Today the building is a Condominium Complex.

St Joseph's Hopital San Francisco, CA

I’m supposed to issue the challenge to another photographer. I challenge Harold Austin

Nikon D700| AF-D Nikkor 28-105mm| hand-held