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New Kid On The Block
6 October 2017
One thing about a city that never changes is that it is constantly changing. We were walking down a side street the other day when we looked up and saw a new kid on the block. It's the Salesforce Tower, which has been called many other things, including the Tower of Babel.
Tower of Babel. Technically, it's the Salesforce Tower but anyone who's ever talked to a salesman knows it's really the Tower of Babel.
Still, it looked pretty good standing out there in the sun by itself. So we stopped, took our camera out of the bag and lined up the shot.
Later, we realized there was a lot more going on in that composition.
There is, for example, the irony of the scrawny tree, which seems to have no hope of ever achieving maturity, let alone health.
There is a city program to plant trees on the street. It's good for the air, which, in turn, is good for us. But this lone specimen seems like a poor argument for it.
It isn't the only living thing on the street, fortunately. The older couple walking away from the camera frame a homeless person sitting on the sidewalk a few yards in front of them.
And we have the obligatory jaywalker on the left, too. It wouldn't be a city street without one.
The parking garage sign is predominant but not in a loud way. It's also part of the joke. That tree is no park.
And if you're into architecture, you'll see an earthquake-era building on the left that seems to stand resolutely for some other set of values than Salesforce. And it is obstinately getting some fresh concrete. Long may you stand.
Expect to see the Tower of Babel show up in a lot of San Francisco shots from now on. At least until the next major earthquake anyway.