There are usually many conditions attached to a San Francisco apartment lease. You may need to carpet 75% of hardwood floors, or burn candles, or be unable to accommodate a pet that weighs more than 30 pounds. But perhaps the most common warning is to drill holes in the walls, a decision that could result in a break in your deposit if you ever move out.

But for those in older buildings, there is usually one simple workaround that you might not even have realized existed – image rails.

What you might initially think of as crown molding is likely the splint molding running horizontally in space. It’s usually located about a foot and a half from the edge where your walls meet your ceilings, and this molding is specially provided so you can hang artwork or whatever your heart desires on it. With the right hooks, you can easily attach your item to cords hanging from the hook that rests on top of the rail.

Image rails are also useful for heavy old mirrors. pic.twitter.com/nip3jXtUrW

– Rachel Bennett (@mckosky) March 16, 2021

Americans began using picture rails around 1840, and the indispensable home decor remained in vogue for about 100 years. You were born for practical reasons, said Bonnie Spindler, a real estate agent and “the Victorian specialist” of San Francisco, like so many features of the time. Prior to 1940 and the invention of drywall, most of the walls were made of plaster of paris and laths, which can easily crack if someone puts a hammer and nail on the wall to position a painting. Repairing these cracks has been and is difficult and costly, which is why your landlord wants to make sure you don’t.

“Plaster and lath are quite a sturdy form of wall construction, but are prone to the loss of cleaning keys (the cleaning pears that they attach to the horizontal wooden lathes that are lined up between the wall posts) through knocks like a hammer driving in a nail”, said Rob Thomson, president of the San Francisco Victorian Alliance. “Picture rails allow decor to be installed without damaging the walls. They are richly decorated, plain, and everything in between. “

The middle class of the time still wanted well-equipped houses, so residents used picture rails to make their homes look more affluent. “In the Victorian era, these bourgeois people wanted to look like an upper class so they would decorate and make things look like they had a big mansion,” Spindler said. “… They put up portraits, tapestries, large mirrors, framed works of art, and even plates and china. And they didn’t want to screw up their walls. “

Typically, the 1.5 “to 2” molding strips are placed at the junction where the wall ends and the ceiling begins. In homes built in the 1900s, it usually aligns with the top of a window. The rails themselves are sturdy and can be repositioned along the wall.

The construction of these items quickly developed into its own industry, in which craftsmen specialized in various shape patterns as well as hooks for hanging.

Today, San Francisco residents looking to restore a home or stay true to its original design have only one place to find original picture rails. Lorna Kollmeyer, designer, sculptor and mold maker, has owned an ornamental plaster shop in Hunter’s Point for more than 37 years and has an extensive collection of stylish picture rails. If a picture rail in a home gets damaged or someone needs extra, he can bring a piece of his current style to Kollmeyer and she will try to adjust it and make a whole new shape if she can’t.

Image rail exhibited on Lorna Kollmeyer Zierputz in Hunter’s Point.

Lorna Kollmeyer

“It’s a very interesting collection. We tried to create an archive, ”said Kollmeyer. “I’ve come across a number of patterns over the years, but people keep popping up with new and pretty ones.”

She said she was always impressed with how uniquely people use her.

I love her!! Especially for hanging up album covers. pic.twitter.com/owouQPTdIr

– Nikki Collister (@ncollister) March 16, 2021

pic.twitter.com/ZbmntcR717

– Jeff Wozniak (@wozlaw) March 16, 2021

While Kollmeyer’s store supplies ornate and historic moldings, basic versions are sold at your local Home Depot or Lowes and are usually easy to install.

Despite her long history, Spindler said she met a lot of local residents who have no idea what the rails are, even though most houses still have a picture rail. “Very few homes in San Francisco are missing picture rails, and those who do look like someone with their eyebrows shaved,” Spindler said. “You can see that the picture rail is missing.”

Wait is this what this is for? I just moved to SF a few months ago and learned new things every day! pic.twitter.com/6PH00pqv0a

– Josh Jacoby (@xJeebs_) March 16, 2021

Is that a picture rail? Cool … I learned something new today.

– Siva Raj (@jaravis) March 16, 2021

The post The story behind image rails and why so many San Francisco houses have them appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Glenn Whipp

Los Angeles times

Eight months ago, Chloé Zhao drove from her home in Ojai down the 101 Freeway to the Rose Bowl to see the pop-up drive-in premiere of “Nomadland,” the poignant story of a widow dealing with and with grief one on the street community finds group of travelers. While near Pasadena, Zhao noticed RVs and RVs and wondered if they were among the actual “nomads” attending the lively event dubbed the “Telluride from Los Angeles”. She also saw ash clouding the orange sky. The Bobcat Fire burned in the nearby San Gabriel Mountains, adding an apocalyptic atmosphere to a supposedly festive evening.

Zhao was initially dejected, wondering if the audience could even see the makeshift screen through the soot. But as the evening played out and Zhao was watching the movie from the back of the parking lot – after glancing at “The Empire Strikes Back,” which happened to be playing at a drive-through next door – she realized that both take and the timing were perfect.

“I wouldn’t ask any other way about a philosophy that I believe in very much: Everything happens for a reason,” says Zhao. “It brought people closer together.”

“Nomadland”, which won the Oscar for best picture on Sunday, had this effect on people. Watching Fern (played by Oscar nominee Frances McDormand) on a literal and spiritual journey of discovery was deeply touching for the audience and academics, who were largely confined to their homes for the past year of the pandemic. That Rose Bowl screening was, in fact, the only Oscar contender many people in the industry have seen outside of their living room in the past 12 months, and it kicked off the awards season in a surreal way.

“They had a combination of nomads with their rigs and a lot of Los Angeles people with their Teslas who had no idea how to turn off the lights,” recalls producer Dan Janvey. “It was really nice to hear people express their affection by honking their horns. It’s an unusual way of feeling something. It was strange. “

“Nomadland” beat all fall film festivals in one way or another, winning the Venice Golden Lion (which was not merged for those in Europe personally), the Toronto Audience Award (a mix of virtual and personal programming) and screening as the centerpiece selection at the almost fully virtual New York Film Festival. It immediately became the Best Picture Best-seller and received rave reviews that received multiple awards from prestigious groups of critics, including the National Society of Film Critics’ Best Picture Award.

But the “Nomadlands” trip wasn’t without a couple of speed bumps. The film’s portrayal of people living on the margins of society has been scrutinized, and the scenes of Fern working at an Amazon warehouse and participating in the online retailer’s CamperForce program have been criticized for having the harsh realities in the workplace that many employees face.

“The visual power of the film and its emotional core, Fern’s grief over the loss of her husband and her previous life, preoccupies the audience, not Amazon’s problems,” wrote ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis. “You could easily get away from the movie if you got a good look at the toll Amazon imposes on its workers, including temporary ones.”

These complaints made some headlines, but did not tarnish the picture in the eyes of voters. Nomadland weathered the delayed awards season, won top visuals at the Golden Globes, Producers Guild Awards and the British Academy Film Awards, and won four Independent Spirit awards on Thursday, including image and director.

In fact, Beijing-born Zhao won almost every directing award, including from the Directors Guild and BAFTA. When she won the Oscar, she was the first woman of color to receive the award, and she joined Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) as the second director to be honored.

The win for “Nomadland” was the fourth time in the past eight years that a Searchlight film won the best picture. This is a remarkable run that includes “The Shape of Water” (2018), “Birdman” (2015) and “12 Years a Slave” (2014). (Slumdog Millionaire won in 2009.) Disney acquired the specialty studio when it bought 21st Century Fox in 2019. Her longtime senior executives Steve Gilula and Nancy Utley recently announced their retirement and made the Oscar for best picture a lovely (and fitting) picture farewell gift.

The win for “Nomadland” obviously felt different, obviously due to the tumult of the past year and its ongoing impact on a film industry that was struggling to recover. But there was another distinction peculiar to the time, yes, but also positive in terms of access. Since the cinemas were closed or the capacity was reduced, Searchlight entered into a partnership with Hulu and released “Nomadland” on the streaming platform on February 19 at the same time as the theatrical release. Anyone who wanted to see it just needed a decent internet connection and Hulu membership (or trial).

“This was one that you didn’t have to wait for it to come to your town to see,” says Janvey. “It was nice for people to have that option.” He hopes that moviegoers will have such alternatives in the future.

Zhao shot “Nomadland”, built her own RV, called it Akira and drove through the west, exploring places, meeting nomads and listening to their stories. “She takes you to a place of trust,” says McDormand, “and is really intrigued by people and their stories, which makes you want to keep sharing.”

Many of these stories ended up in the film, including a key scene with temporarily living advocate Bob Wells, who spoke movingly of the grief that consumed him after his son’s death. His scene with McDormand – two people who share the grief over the loss – became the backbone of the film and resonated with viewers as they grappled with their own feelings of heartbreak and distress over the past year.

“A lot of people, especially people this age, live this lifestyle because they were brought out on the streets through loss or grief and their recovery and choose this lifestyle to heal from,” says Zhao.

Little did Zhao know we were all trying to heal from something when she started filming in the fall of 2018. The time for the arrival of “Nomadland” couldn’t have been happier – for everyone.

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