353. Out and about in the Bay Area.

Local writer David Weinstein gave a delightful presentation that highlighted some details, stories and pictures from his new book Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area last night. It was held at my third favorite local Berkeley bookstore. (As far as specialty bookstores go, it's #1 on my list.)

I won't bore you with the details--mainly because I'm still savoring them--but I wanted to share a couple of moments with you:


Moment #1, prior to the talk:

About 10 minutes before the talk, a woman and man walked up the row I was sitting in. The row only had four seats. A man was sitting at one end, closest to the center aisle. I was at the other end (I'm tall and don't like being somebody's wall). The woman asked us if both seats were available. I indicated that the one next to me was empty, and the man said he was saving one for his wife. The seat-less man and woman had some sort of exchange, and since most chairs in the room had yet to be filled, I was surprised to see them separate. Before I had a moment to offer my seat to the man, the woman sat next to me, and he was off to another row. I turned to her and offered my seat to her friend.

"We don't know each other," she said.

"Oh! The way you were communicating, it seemed like you did! I'm sorry," I replied.

"We were fighting for the seat," she said while laughing.

"Good thing I placed my bets on you!"

Laughter.

I'm so funny! :)


Moment #2: The talk.

David Weinstein is a local writer. You might have seen his articles in the Home section of the San Francisco Chronicle. I haven't, but he is a regular writer for them. I was very impressed by his presentation, although not for reasons you might think. The material, his knowledge of it, and the images were all done really well. However, what impressed me most was him, the person. His relaxed, truly humble style, and personal ease was so endearing.

His book covers 15 architects that he feels, and rightly so, present a solid and accurate representational history of Bay Area architecture. He briefly spoke about each architect and showed an image or two of their work in a slide show presentation.

When he came to an image of architect Carr Jones's work he seemed lost in thought and in the image. He said, "Carr Jones. It's hard to talk about Carr Jones." He picked up his notes and continued, "...well because I didn't write him down in here." Undeterred and unembarrassed, he seemed to remember what he needed to say, and told us about Carr Jones. That moment was so honest. I was pleased that I wasn't the only one in the room to laugh with Mr. Weinstein.

Moment #3:
Architect Jack Something-Rather (he was in the audience--David knew him and didn't repeat his last name as often as he did the others) selected work was a stunning open interior. The ceilings were at least 15' tall with brilliant sun light, I don't know from where, spilling onto a slate floor. The room at first and second and third glance was expansive. It felt like a holy space, only it was clearly a residential dwelling.

Our docent had this to say with beautiful pauses between clauses: It's a meditative space. It's serene. It's one in which you feel you are living life better than you really do.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if more architecture inspired these sentiments?

My final thoughts:
David Weinstein's stated purpose for writing his book was not only to act as a voice for architecture preservation (SG!), but also to show the people behind the buildings. The architects. The artists. He set out to show that the historical and contemporary creators of our dwelling spaces were/are people with personalities, stories, and personal lives.

Mr. Weinstein honored these artists last night by showing his small Berkeley audience his own beautiful soul.

Now, you get out and show us yours!