The Historic U.S. Coast Guard Chimney Rock Boathouse.

Chimney Rock is located at the eastern spur of the Point Reyes Headlands. The Chimney Rock area is a popular destination for visitors wishing to view elephant seals, birds, and wildflowers. The 1.75-mile (2.8-km) round-trip Chimney Rock Trail leads along the ridge crest of a narrow peninsula, offering spectacular views of Drakes Bay and the coastline stretching to the southeast. The historic Chimney Rock Lifeboat Station offers a glimpse into the harrowing jobs of rescuing crew and passengers from ships that ran aground along this rugged coastline.

Come Prepared

• Print out the Chimney Rock Area map. (125 KB PDF)
• Fuel: The closest gas station is 20 miles (32 km) away in Point Reyes Station. Be sure you have sufficient fuel in your vehicle for a minimum 40-mile (64 km) round-trip drive, not including side trips to other points of interest within the National Seashore.
• Weather: Visitors may experience stiff winds, cool temperatures, fog, and/or rain at Chimney Rock; so dress appropriately. Wear layered clothing.
  National Weather Service Forecast for the Chimney Rock area
• Water: Bring a water bottle. There are no potable sources of water at Chimney Rock. The nearest potable source of water is a water bottle filling station/water fountain located near the east end of the green garages that are located approximately 100 yards (100 meters) before one arrives at the Lighthouse Visitor Center or a water fountain located in the courtyard of the Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Center at Drakes Beach. Bottled water is not sold at Point Reyes National Seashore’s visitor centers or bookstores.
• Food: There are no food services west of Inverness, which is a thirty-five-minute drive from the Chimney Rock parking lot. Bring food from home or purchase food at one of the stores or restaurants in West Marin before heading out to Chimney Rock if it is close to mealtime.
• Restrooms: Restrooms are available at the Chimney Rock parking lot from 6 am to midnight. Be sure to use the restrooms before heading out on area trails.
• Phones: Cell phone reception is very minimal to nonexistent in the Chimney Rock area.

• Drones: Launching, landing, or operating a remotely operated aircraft (aka “remotely piloted aircraft,” “unmanned aircraft,” or “drone”) from or on lands and waters administered by the National Park Service within the boundaries of Point Reyes National Seashore is prohibited.

  If you observe drone use in Point Reyes National Seashore, please call park dispatch at 415-464-5170 or contact staff at the nearest Visitor Center as soon as possible. If you observe drone use in other National Park Service areas or if you find photographs or videos online or elsewhere that were illegally taken within National Park Service areas from drones, you can report the violation to the National Park Service tip line at 888-653-0009 or by email.

• Pets: Dogs may be walked in the parking lot and along Chimney Rock Road west of the parking lot (i.e., back toward Sir Francis Drake Boulevard); otherwise, dogs are prohibited. Please be aware that most visitors to Chimney Rock are away from their vehicle for an hour or longer. Please do not leave your dog unattended in your vehicle; leave your dog at home instead. This prohibition does not apply to working service dogs, which are allowed on trails and in public buildings. If you have a service dog, please inquire at a park visitor center for information before heading out to the Chimney Rock area. Visit our Pets page for more information about visiting Point Reyes National Seashore with your dog.

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Sir Francis Drake Boulevard passes through a number of ranches on its way to Chimney Rock and the Point Reyes Headlands.

The Drive

Chimney Rock is located at the eastern-most end of the Point Reyes Headlands. Drive west ~19 miles (~30 km) on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. After passing through the “A” Ranch, turn left at the Y signed for Chimney Rock and follow Chimney Rock Road ~0.9 miles (~1.5 km) to the Chimney Rock parking lot. Chimney Rock Road is only about ten feet (3 meters) wide, but serves as a two-way road. Please observe the speed limit and look ahead to keep watch for oncoming traffic. If you do notice a vehicle heading your way, pull into the next turnout until the other vehicle has had a chance to pass.

Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is windy and slow-going, so allow forty-five minutes to drive the ~20 miles (~32 km) from the Bear Valley/Olema/Point Reyes Station area to the Chimney Rock parking lot (one hour and thirty minutes round-trip), not including any time you will spend in the area. Allow one hour and forty-five minutes for the drive (three hours and thirty minutes round-trip) from the Santa Rosa area, northwest San Francisco, or the northern East Bay. Many visitors spend at least an hour or two in the Chimney Rock area.
Directions to Chimney Rock from the Bear Valley Visitor Center.

RVs and Trailers

Recreational vehicles (RVs) and vehicles pulling trailers with a combined length in excess of 24 feet (7.3 meters) are prohibited on Chimney Rock Road. If you are traveling with a trailer or are driving an RV towing a passenger vehicle, consider unhitching at the bus/RV/trailer-only parking lot at Bear Valley and taking only the passenger vehicle for the drive out to the Chimney Rock area. Overnight parking/camping in RVs and trailers is prohibited throughout Point Reyes National Seashore.

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Parking

The parking lot at the Chimney Rock Trailhead can only accommodate twenty vehicles. As a result, parking space availability is very limited, particularly in the afternoon. Please observe all “No Parking” signs. Please refrain from parking along the shoulder of the road or off of the pavement. Doing so kills vegetation and increases erosion.

Parking Lot

Chimney Rock Parking Lot

• 
  
  20 total spaces
  

• 
  0 oversized spaces
  

• 
  37.995124821, -122.979734524
  

A small paved parking lot with space for 20 vehicles. Park here to hike the Chimney Rock Trail, walk to the Elephant Seal Overlook, or visit the Historic Point Reyes Lifeboat Station. A vault toilet is located at the southeast corner of the parking lot. The Chimney Rock Parking Lot is approximately 45 minutes by car from the Bear Valley Visitor Center via Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

Parking Fee

No parking or entrance fees are charged at Point Reyes National Seashore.

Cost: $0.00

Closures & Seasonal Exceptions

Amenities

Accessible Lot
Yes
Number of ADA-designated spaces
1
Number of ADA van-accessible spaces
1
Number of ADA step-free spaces
0
Total number of spaces
20
Number of oversize vehicle spaces
0

Accessibility

The parking lot at Chimney Rock has one van accessible parking spot and is composed of asphalt. The path to the Elephant Seal Overlook involves a rather short but moderately steep descent along an asphalt driveway (which is degraded in places), and then a flat traverse along a rammed-earth 0.2 mile-long (0.3 kilometer) trail. Individuals in wheelchairs may need assistance with the descent and accent of the driveway.

Individuals with a Disabled Person parking placard or plate may drive their personal vehicle to the Lifeboat Station’s Boathouse parking area. Please drive slowly and carefully since this section of the one-lane access road doubles as the pedestrian path from the main Chimney Rock parking lot to the Boathouse. Volunteers sometimes staff the Boathouse on weekends and holidays from January through March. The Boathouse’s first floor and boat bay are wheelchair accessible. There is also an accessible restroom within the Boathouse. At other times, visitors may explore the Lifeboat Station grounds, where wayside exhibits provide information about the U.S. Lifesaving Service and U.S. Coast Guard history at Point Reyes.

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Stay on designated trails

The only official trails in the Chimney Rock area are shown in the map to the right.

Hiking along the bluff tops can be unsafe and is not recommended. Stay away from cliff edges. Loose soil and/or rock can give way suddenly and you may fall. Do not climb cliffs.

Visitors walking off of official trails and paths trample vegetation, which may lead to the death of the trampled plants. Over time, as more and more visitors use a route, it starts to look more and more like an official trail, and more and more visitors use it, resulting in a feedback loop that makes the “trail” look “official.” However, these “social paths” tend to exacerbate erosion and harm threatened and endangered species. These paths also can lead to locations where visitors may be more at risk to injury, endangering themselves and any potential rescuers.

Do not “hop” the fences to get a “better” photo or for any other reason. Fences and other barriers are there for your safety. The bluffs and cliffs in the Chimney Rock are prone to collapse with little warning. Stay well away from the bluff tops. Individuals who are found on the wrong side of fences will be cited for entering a closed area.

During the winter, hundreds of northern elephants seals can be seen from the Elephant Seal Overlook.

Elephant Seal Overlook

From the Chimney Rock parking lot, walk down the driveway 150 feet (~50 meters), bear left at the Y, and continue along the Fish Docks access road another 260 feet (~80 meters) to the trailhead for the Elephant Seal Overlook Trail. The relatively flat dirt trail leads 850 feet (~260 meters) northwest to the Elephant Seal Overlook. While it may be possible to view northern elephant seals from here on any given day of the year, December through March is the period during which visitors may view several hundred elephant seals hauled out at the southwest end of Drakes Beach as the seals return to give birth and to mate.

Please visit our Viewing Elephant Seals page for more information.

Chimney Rock Trail

This spectacular 1.75-mile (2.8 km) hike offers views of Drakes Bay and the Pacific Ocean and is renowned for great spring wildflowers. Rocky cliffs drop off steeply to the water, so there is no beach access. While it is possible to see a few whales any given day of the year, from March through May, dozens to hundreds of gray whales migrate north past Chimney Rock every day. Fog and wind can make this hike challenging. Start this hike from the southeast corner of the Chimney Rock parking lot.

Photo of a park employee standing over and pointing at a newly developed fissure along the Chimney Rock Trail on December 21, 2015.

Fissures Near the Chimney Rock Trail

Cracks were reported on a portion of the bluff near the Chimney Rock Trail on December 21, 2015. These fissures could indicate the possibility of a weakening cliff face in the area. The land may be unstable and a collapse or erosion could occur. Visitors are reminded to stay on designated trails.

Bluffs along the California coast are inherently unstable. They are prone to crumbling and sliding, especially in wet weather. It is very dangerous to climb or walk along the edge of cliffs. Be aware of falling rocks if walking near the base of a rock face.

View:
Close-up photograph of the fissure. (172 KB jpg)
Photograph of the area with the fissure from the southeast. (117 KB jpg)
Aerial photograph of the location of the fissure marked in yellow. (216 KB jpg)

The Historic U.S. Coast Guard Chimney Rock Boathouse.

Historic Lifeboat Station

Despite the efforts of the men and women who worked at the Point Reyes Lighthouse, which was constructed in 1870, ships continued to wreck on the rocks and beaches along the dangerous Point Reyes peninsula. In 1889, the U.S. Life-Saving Service opened a Life Saving Station on the Point Reyes Beach, the first of two built at Point Reyes. The U.S. Lifesaving Service was combined with the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915. In 1927, the Coast Guard moved their operations moved from Point Reyes Beach to the protected waters at the southwest end of Drakes Beach near Chimney Rock. Eventually modern technologies eclipsed the need for the Lifeboat Station at Point Reyes. In 1969,the Point Reyes Lifeboat Station was closed and, shortly thereafter, was transferred to the National Park Service for preservation.
Visit our Lifeboat Station History at Point Reyes page for more information.

The Lifeboat Station buildings are visible from the Chimney Rock Trail and the station’s access road (which is open only to NPS and other authorized vehicles). Visitors may explore the Lifeboat Station grounds, where wayside exhibits provide information about the U.S. Lifesaving Service and U.S. Coast Guard history at Point Reyes.

Today, the Historic Lifeboat Station at Point Reyes National Seashore is primarily used as an educational facility for non-profit groups learning about the resources of the natural and cultural resources of Point Reyes. The Boathouse is sometimes open to the public from 11 am to 4 pm on weekends and federal holidays from January through March, if volunteer staff is available. The Boathouse contains the historic Coast Guard Motorized Lifeboat CG-36542 and has the last intact marine railway on the West Coast. Kids activities, a 10-minute video on elephant seals, and complimentary hot beverages (cocoa, tea, coffee) are available when the Boathouse is open, along with hands-on interactive activities allowing both children and adults to learn about seal and whale adaptations.

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This story is part of WBUR’s “The Third Act” series, highlighting people who worked full careers and re-invented themselves later in life, often in surprising and inspirational ways.

In 1967, the all-girl band Ace of Cups burst onto the San Francisco rock and roll scene, attracting a big following and touring with some of the most famous musicians of the era. They earned a rave review from Jimi Hendrix.

It was a dream while it lasted. A documentary called “Revolution” about the 1960s West Coast counterculture shows the five bandmates playing barefoot as they rip through a raucous rendition of their song, “Stones,” before a crowd of ecstatic, dancing fans.

The Ace of Cups were having their moment — and then they disappeared.

Now, more than a half-century later, the band members are back together, with an unlikely third act proving rock and roll dreams never die.

Some of the stories in WBUR’s “The Third Act” series are about people who reinvent themselves later in life because they’re not ready to stop working. Some are about people who have no choice but to keep working. This story is about musicians who are using their third act to reconnect with their past and pursue a passion.

Ace of Cups was born at the end 1966, when 19-year-old Denise Kaufman, a singer who played harmonica and guitar, met guitarist Mary Simpson-Mercy at a New Year’s Eve party hosted by the psychedelic rock band, Blue Cheer, in Haight-Ashbury.

“She was jamming some blues up in this bedroom, and I wandered in, and I pulled out my harmonica and we started playing together,” Kaufman said.

Simpson-Mercy asked Kaufman if she wanted to join an “all-girl band” that she and her friends were starting.

“My first reaction was, ‘Well, that sounds really weird,'” recalled Kaufman. She had played in plenty of groups in which she was the only woman, but had never even seen a band made up only of women.

“I’d never thought of it, truly,” she said.

Of course, there were plenty of women rock stars at the time, from Janice Joplin and Grace Slick to Tina Turner. But they all fronted bands of male musicians. An all-girl band that played barefoot and rocked their own instruments? That was something different.

Ace of Cups from the 1960s. In back, from left: Mary Simpson-Mercy, Diane Vitalich and Marla Hunt. In front, from left: Denise Kaufman and Mary Gannon. (Courtesy High Moon Records)

Along with Kaufman and Simpson-Mercy, Ace of Cups included drummer Diane Vitalich, keyboardist Marla Hunt and Mary Gannon, who played bass and called the chance to play in the band “miraculous.”

“I grew up in New York and girls just didn’t play guitar in my era,” Gannon said. “What could I do to perform and be the artist that I was?” Ace of Cups provided the answer.

In bootleg tapes from the ’60s that captured Ace of Cups practice sessions and performances, you can hear the band’s energy — as it embraced folk, soul and unbound rock and roll with edgy grooves and sharp songwriting.

Ace of Cups performing in Dolores Park, San Francisco. (Courtesy High Moon Records)

“It’s bad for you but buy it,” the women chanted in one of their songs that poked fun at the commercialization of 1960s America, adding, “If you had our product, everyone would love you.”

“They were great players and played some great music,” former Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen told Rolling Stone magazine in 2022. “They put it all out there.”

It didn’t take long before the group gained an enthusiastic following around San Francisco, while getting to know some of the biggest names on the rock scene.

“We were just living sort of a dream in a way,” Simpson-Mercy said. She recalled seeing Jimi Hendrix for the first time at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

“I had never heard anything like this,” she said. And she had never seen anyone set a guitar on fire, as Hendrix did to conclude his performance.

“I couldn’t believe it, because I had learned that you always treat your guitar with respect,” Simpson-Mercy said. “When he did that, I just thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s flipped out.'”

A week later, at Golden Gate Park, Ace of Cups opened for Hendrix, who, while touring abroad a few months later, told Melody Maker, the British music magazine: “I heard some groovy sounds last time in the States, like this girl group, Ace of Cups, who write their own songs and the lead guitarist is hell, really great.”

To the band members, it felt like they had reached a kind of pinnacle. Simpson-Mercy said after that experience she dreamt about Hendrix for years and imitated the way he played barred chords, using her thumb to cover the sixth string.

“I still play that way,” she said.

The late rock guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix during a performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. He called Ace of Cups “groovy,” and said lead guitarist Mary Simpson-Mercy was “hell—really great.” (Evening Standard/Getty Images)

From there, Ace of Cups continued to take off. They toured with Jefferson Airplane, played shows with Joplin, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grateful Dead and opened for The Band’s first show ever.

But for all their young success, they never recorded an album. Some record companies expressed interest, but nobody offered them a contract.

“I think that they weren’t quite sure what to do with us, how they were going to market us,” Gannon said.

Even landing gigs could be a challenge, like when they tried to book San Francisco’s Peppermint Lounge.

“Our manager called there and talked to the booking guy,” Kaufman recalled. “And he goes, ‘Yeah, an all-girl band — absolutely — we’ll book them. But they have to play topless.'”

The Ace of Cups passed on that gig. Sexism was a real challenge in the business, Kaufman said. By 1972, the band was pretty much done.

“We started having children, so that kind of changes your whole situation if you want to go out of town for a gig,” Kaufman said.

“Before too long, a little baby is gonna be born,” they sang in “Life in your hands,” one of the last songs they performed before splitting up.

Simpson-Mercy lived off the grid for a while, embracing the back-to-nature movement in northern California, and eventually became a mental health counselor. Vitalich worked as a massage therapist. Kaufman co-founded a school in Hawaii, worked as an EMT, and then moved to Los Angeles, where she went to music school and taught yoga to celebrities, from Quincy Jones and Jane Fonda to Madonna and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

As a single mother, Gannon found the transition difficult, and for a time relied on odd jobs and food stamps. “I was pretty lost when the band stopped playing,” she said. “That was really my dream of everything, the band.”

Eventually, Gannon got a degree in special education and launched a new career. But the music dream never died. The band would get together every now and then, until finally, in 2011, George Wallace of High Moon Records saw them perform and was bowled over.

Wallace became a mentor and a backer for the group. He encouraged Kaufman, Simpson-Mercy, Vitalich and Gannon to go into the studio and record some of their old ’60s songs and develop new material. (Hunt did not continue with the band.) In 2015, he offered them a contract. Three years later — more than 50 years after they first played together — the four remaining members of Ace of Cups released their debut album.

Ace of Cups, together again: Mary Gannon, Diane Vitalich, Denise Kaufman and Mary Simpson Mercy in the studio. (High Moon Records/Rachel Wright)

“The Ace of Cups, why they weren’t signed — it’s unimaginable to me,” Wallace told KQED, the NPR affiliate in San Francisco, in 2018. “They were ahead of their time. And at the age of 70-something, they haven’t lost a step — in their playing and their songwriting and their spirit.”

Suddenly, the band was on NBC’s Today Show, playing their song, “Feel Good,” their first single since splitting up in the early ’70s. Older and grayer, perhaps — three of them are now grandmothers — but still playing with the energy of a half-century ago.

“Working in the studio was just the most incredible thing to happen to us at this time,” Simpson-Mercy said. “In some ways, it was just as incredible as what happened back in the ’60s.”

The record includes appearances by Taj Mahal, Buffy Saint Marie and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. And thanks to all the songs they wrote decades ago, there was no shortage of material to fill the double album. Kaufman said the recording finally proclaimed to the world that Ace of Cups actually existed — and is still going.

“We had nothing to show except for some posters,” Kaufman said. “We never got to go in the studio with our music and create it. It was like having children that never got to be out in the world and play.”

When the band started touring again, Kaufman would tell audiences, “We’re from the ’60s, in our 60s.” Now in their 70s, they’re reminding people that this stage of life can still be the start of something new, rather than the beginning of an unavoidable decline.

“I think there are new possibilities there to really make that last third of your life really as good as it can be,” Gannon said. “It’s something to look forward to now.”

Since their debut album, Ace of Cups has released a second album and an EP. They’re still rocking, well into their third act.

Mary Simpson-Mercy, Mary Gannon, Diane Vitalich and Denise Kaufman of the Ace of Cups. (High Moon Records/Rachel Wright)

Have you re-invented your life in a surprising or inspiring way? If so, we want to hear about it. Email us at thirdactstory@gmail.com.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Long-running hard rock and metal cover band Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance brings its two-fisted celebration of heavy sounds to San Francisco Elks Lodge #3 on Post Street Saturday night.

Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance show flyer

Brian Mello and Grant Kerber

A tribute act so good it requires two names, Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance has a history going back to the late ’90s when it would occasionally hit San Francisco clubs when not playing house parties and backyard barbecues, though a fan-run website presents an elaborate band mythology that dates back even further. Fronted by consummate bar-boogie-ing showman Arnold “Action” Jackson (also known as Ajax Green, who played in ’90s SF alt-country band Granfaloon Bus and more recently with garage power-pop trio the Wrong Words), the group powered by the massive drum kit of band engine Doug Pooch (aka Russ Blackmar) — who has blown-up photos of himself on his double-bass heads. 

THUNDERBLEED aka BLIND VENGEANCE live at Hemlock Tavern 3/17/18 by
kustomgreaser on
YouTube

While the line-up has changed since the early days, the current version of the band has included guitarist Brian Mello (formerly with the Morning Line, the Bellyachers and currently a member of Harold Ray and East Side Dynamite) for a number of years. Thunderbleed shows are an unrepentant celebration of rock, being a rocker and liking to rock. For this show at Elks Lodge #3 in Union Square benefiting the Elks National Foundation, fans can expect well-executed takes on radio hits and deep cuts from the likes of UFO, AC/DC, April Wine, Blue Öyster Cult, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy when the band takes the stage. DJ Malderor and DJ Foodcourt play appropriately loud “muscle car classics” before and after the band plays.

Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance
Saturday, Sept. 23, 7 p.m. $10
Elks Lodge #3 

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Carlos Santana, 75, is a guitarist who pioneered Latin jazz-rock fusion and won 10 Grammys. He is the subject of Carlos, a Sony Pictures documentary due out this fall and currently touring nationally. He spoke to Marc Myers.

Carlos Santana, 75, is a guitarist who pioneered Latin jazz-rock fusion and won 10 Grammys. He is the subject of Carlos, a Sony Pictures documentary due out this fall and currently touring nationally. He spoke to Marc Myers.

When I was 9 years old, sharing was not easy for me. As I sat on the sofa in my violin teacher’s living room while he was in the kitchen, my hands found nearly $2 in change between the pillows.

When I was 9 years old, sharing was not easy for me. As I sat on the sofa in my violin teacher’s living room while he was in the kitchen, my hands found nearly $2 in change between the pillows.

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After my class I went to the candy store and spent all the money on M&Ms and Baby Ruth bars. At home, my mother hung out laundry outside, so I started eating the sweets and ate it all up.

When she found out I’d spent almost two dollars on candy and wasn’t sharing it with my brothers and sisters, she left it to me. After that day, sharing became second nature to me and eventually expanded into music and performing.

My parents met in the Mexican city of Cihuatlán. My father José was a professional violinist and entertainer who played at shows. There wasn’t much work in town and the woman he was dating, Josefina, had seen too many American films. Both wanted a better life.

So they fled and made their way to Autlán, 75 miles northeast. There they started a family. I was the middle of seven children spread over 13 years.

We lived there in different houses until I was eight. Our houses usually had two bedrooms and no electricity or water, just an outbuilding. My brothers Tony and Jorge and I shared a room.

My father was charismatic and my mother questioned everything. She had to. He was away for months to earn money. At home, mom had rules and didn’t hesitate to enforce them.

She divided up chores in the mornings and explained exactly how to do them so the house was immaculate. “We’re poor,” she said, “but we’re not filthy poor.” There wasn’t much time left for affection.

My father put all his love into his violin. As a player, he was a powerful storyteller and captured my imagination. In the mid-1950s, Papa followed the money and traveled north. Eventually he was in Tijuana, a party town, where he played mariachi, boleros and polkas. He sent for us in 1955.

My mother sold our stuff for cash and we all took cabs. It’s been a long, hard journey and there’s no turning back. Along the way, I was able to empathize with my mother and the struggle. I told her that one day I would buy her a house with a refrigerator and a washing machine. She smiled and patted my head.

After two tough years in Tijuana, we moved to a better area. A year later my father started teaching me the violin so I could earn money. I started playing the song with my guitarist brothers on the street for 50 cents.

I loved sharing music and making people feel good. Soon I was playing the violin with my father and his friends. In search of a better payday, he took the bus to San Francisco. He planned to be gone for a year. After he left, I stopped playing the violin. My mother noticed that my interest in music was waning.

One day in 1961 she took me to the park to listen to a band with electric guitars playing early rock ‘n’ roll. The solo guy was Javier Bátiz, who turned my head. I was 13 and started following him.

My mother wrote to my father asking him to buy me an electric guitar. He had a friend drop off a big fat Gibson. I listened to everything, ripped songs off records and taught myself to play what blues players did.

The Mexican community in San Francisco had expanded, and my father played regularly at the Latin American Club in the city’s Mission District. He formed one of the city’s first serious mariachi bands.

In late 1962, the club owner supported our move to San Francisco so we could join Dad. That’s where I started my first rock band. The turning point came in 1966 when Paul Butterfield was too stoned to play a Sunday matinee at the Fillmore Auditorium. I tuned in and got the attention of concert promoter Bill Graham, who booked my band. We needed a name, so we called ourselves the Santana Blues Band.

Today, my wife, Cindy, and I live in Las Vegas and vacation at our home in Hawaii. We married in 2010 and moved into our home in Las Vegas about six years ago.

Beginning in the early 1970’s, I bought my mother a number of houses in the Bay Area when the neighborhoods where she lived were declining. The last was 45 minutes northeast of town. She gasped when she saw it.

She said, almost whispering, “My son.” What I saw on her face was shock and gratitude. It’s an amazing feeling to tell your mom when you were little that you’re going to make her life better, and so are you.

Santana’s spiritualism

mom lesson? She taught me that spiritual, disciplined people can see more rainbows and wonders than others.

Vegas house? It’s like a warehouse with high ceilings. Inside is a lot of wood. I am not a plastic and synthetic type.

Why? Diving in and feeling the water hit my face and body is like playing the guitar. I will be transported somewhere else.

Hawaii? There everything becomes more emotional in the sense of gratitude, gratitude and deep appreciation. It’s like discovering new places in my heart.

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An Indigo Girls concert on a foggy day in San Francisco at the Stern Grove Festival during Pride weekend. It seems almost too stereotypical to have the pioneering LGBTQ folk group perform just hours after the parade, but the sold-out crowd didn’t mind being part of an obvious Bay Area cliché.

“I will always love Amy (Ray) and Emily (Saliers) and they are like lesbian royalty at this point,” said Oakland’s Allison Goldberg, who is seeing the Indigo Girls for the seventh time.

“Today represents the best that San Francisco has to offer: breathtaking natural beauty and a culture where you don’t compromise on being yourself,” said Rachel Prensky-Pomeranz, fellow Indigo Girls fan, of Stern Grove Festival. The Indigo Girls were the second group to perform at the concert series that year. Big names like Patti Smith and the Flaming Lips are slated for later this summer. Too $hort and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead headlined the festival last year.

Singer-songwriter Neko Case opened the afternoon with her mix of folk and pop-inspired music. Case seemed in awe of the opportunity to open for the Indigo Girls.

“I’m going to cry a lot today,” Case told the crowd.

The atmosphere didn’t collapse between the start and the headliners. Festival resident DJ LadyRyan kept the energy high with tracks ranging from AC/DC to Prince to Shania Twain.

Fans enjoy the Indigo Girls concert at the Stern Grove Festival on Sunday, June 25 in San Francisco.

Paige K. Parsons / Stern Grove Festival

The crowd was just as enthusiastic as at other Pride weekend events, but perhaps a little less rowdy. A group of concert-goers were seen shooting LaCroix cans before the Indigo Girls moved on – full of hangover-free thrills.

The Indigo Girls set lasted just over an hour. During the performance, they mixed their biggest hits, many of which have become campfire hits, like “Least Complicated” and “Power of Two,” with newer tracks from their latest album and a superb cover of Dire Meerenge’s “Romeo and Juliet.” .

A huge crowd at @sterngrovefest was able to watch the Indigo Girls on Sunday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/mYlVcpvXh4

— Gabe Lehman (@lehmanga) June 26, 2023

“It’s great to be in San Francisco, especially during Pride Month,” Emily Saliers said toward the end of the show. “It’s an incredible experience, something to remember fondly.”

The performance, like the rest of the day, was mostly cheerful, but the band also used their platform to comment on current political issues.

“Send this to all the school librarians where they ban books,” Amy Ray said, most likely a reference to numerous “Don’t Say Gay” efforts across the country.

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls perform at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco on Sunday, June 25th.

Paige K. Parsons / Stern Grove Festival

The Indigo Girls closed with three of their most famous songs: “Galileo”, “Go” and finally “Closer to Fine” to which the amphitheater audience sang along, many with tears in their eyes.

“Stern Grove Festival is a true Bay Area gem. Growing up, I used to go there as a kid and [I] “They took for granted both the beauty of the park and the sense of community it fostered,” said Prensky-Pomeranz, who grew up within walking distance of the amphitheater. “Coming back as an adult for the first time, I now know that this type of experience doesn’t happen in every city.”

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Mission Rock Development in San Francisco has been under construction since last year, and prefabrication is an important part of building the project. The 28-acre mixed-use development, valued at $ 2.5 billion, is a public-private partnership between the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Giants and commercial real estate company Tishman Speyer.

Prefabricated building systems company Clark Pacific worked with owners and design firms like Henning Larsen, MVRDV, Studio Gang, and WORKac to come up with a prefabricated solution that also matched the aesthetics of the project, adding natural and iconic Californian scenes to the exterior.

Permission granted by the Port of San Francisco

Clark Pacific carried out the design work for free, with an agreement that the prefabrication contract would be awarded if the project’s design goals and budget can be met. It has since been awarded the project.

When Mission Rock is fully built in 2026 and is on the San Francisco waterfront and a bridge from the Giants’ Oracle Park, it will be up to 2.8 million square feet and include:

• 1,200 residential units, 40% of which will be affordable.
• Improvements in public access to the water.
• Resilience against a 66-inch sea level rise and adjustment features.
• 8 hectares of new parks and open spaces.
• Up to 1.4 million square meters of office space.
• More than 200,000 square meters of retail and manufacturing space.
• Refurbishment of the historic pier 48.

For example, elevated loading ramps have been designed so that they can be used as pedestrian paths when the water level rises.

Jim Lewis, director of sales at Clark Pacific, said the early collaboration style between the prefabrication team and the Mission Rock team was similar to the way the company operates at Apple’s “Spaceship” headquarters in Cupertino, California, and was necessary to a design to reach. Prefab house balance.

The challenge is to make these projects constructible and still aesthetically pleasing to the customer. A large team of engineers and designers plays a key role.

“We have integrators in various disciplines within Clark Pacific,” he said.

As part of this collaboration, Lewis said, the customer starts with a list of must-haves and then the team goes from there.

“And then we do a deep dive internally,” he said, “to see if we can change materials, change thicknesses, change a little detail, change the window profile … and then we work on it.”

Efficient and beautiful

Using prefabricated houses on such high profile projects should help expose the misconception that prefabricated houses are always useful, according to Lewis.

“It’s totally changing,” he said. “You can do iconic architecture and have it pre-fabricated. You just have to start early.”

The COVID-19 pandemic naturally presented a challenge to the process as many of the typical face-to-face presentations and meetings were virtual, he said. The gatherings, which were held in person, had to be carefully planned to comply with social distancing and other safety guidelines.

But when it comes to protecting against COVID-19, prefabrication also offers some advantages. If a significant portion of a project is prefabricated off-site, fewer on-site craftsmen are required.

Often, Lewis said, there is little control over who goes in and out of a project site. This is easier to control in a prefabricated “production bubble”.

“It’s a game changer,” he said.

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Hennin Larsen was commissioned to design Building G as part of the Mission Rock project. Photo credit: Henning Larsen A / S.

Building G is the northernmost building in the Mission Rock master plan. Photo credit: Henning Larsen A / S.

Mission Rock is expected to be completed by 2026. Photo credit: Henning Larsen A / S.

Mission Rock is a mixed-use waterfront project developed by the San Francisco Giants baseball team, real estate company Tishman Speyer, and the Port of San Francisco in San Francisco, USA.

The mixed-use project, spread over 11 hectares, will create a meeting place for the residents of San Francisco in the neighborhood and in the community. This includes residential, commercial and retail space as well as parks and open spaces.

The planning phase of the project began in 2007 and lasted ten years. Construction on the mixed-use estate began in 2020 and is expected to be completed in 2026.

The project aims to create a new open space for public use, provide affordable housing and create new jobs for residents. It will also redevelop Pier 48, a historic former sea shed in the city.

Mission Rock location and details

Mission Rock is under construction at Seawall Lot 337 and Pier 48 on land in McCovey Cove Harbor by Oracle Park in San Francisco, California.

The project will strengthen public space by creating 32,000 m² of new public parks and open spaces. There will also be around 1,000 to 1,600 new rental units, one to 1.4 million square meters of commercial space and 250,000 square meters for restaurants and retail outlets.

Mission Rock’s buildings will be surrounded by public spaces that will be seamlessly connected to the planned China Basin Park near Oracle Park.

Mission Rock is developed in phases and consists of four buildings consisting of two residential and two commercial buildings, known as Building A, Building B, Building F, and Building G. Other components of the project are a 20,000 m² China Basin Park and a building for retail and restaurant areas.

Mission Rock’s Building One design and details

The architecture firm MVRDV is building the 23-story, 240-foot building A in Mission Rock. The building’s design encompasses a topography influenced by California landscapes, creating a mix of low and tall buildings that are critical to a number of public spaces, around the landscape from China Basin Park, through the building, into the building expand center of the master plan of the project.

Building A is in a prime location next to the ‘Handshake Plaza’, which serves as the entrance to Mission Rock via 3rd Street Bridge. The undulating balconies extend to the west facades of the building, while the numerous overhangs on each floor create lively terraces.

The 395,000 m² building will include several apartments and approximately 58,000 m² of office space, including retail space on the ground floor and a private lobby area. Building A was designed with a holistic, sustainable strategy aimed at achieving LEED Gold certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

The exterior of the building will incorporate green in various components including the canyon, residential balconies and on the roofs of the project’s platform level.

Building B details

Building B is an eight-story office building with a topography inspired by the natural surroundings of San Francisco. It will provide a lively work area with access to terraces.

Over a gross area of ​​300,000 square feet, the building will unfold a series of layers that create a sense of topography and spaces that become terraces. The horizontal layers are connected vertically by several carved gardens that serve as outdoor meeting rooms for employees.

Building G.

The northernmost building in the Mission Rock master plan, Building G, is a 13-story building influenced by the striped basalt columns of the Devils Postpile National Monument in eastern California.

The tower will be in the form of a detailed rock wall with a mass of stacked blocks and vertical scissors highlighted by green terraces and a textured natural facade at street level.

It will rise from a mesa on the fifth floor and feature sheltered roof terraces that will offer views of the San Francisco skyline and regional attractions such as the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park Stadium and the Bay Bridge.

Building F.

Building F, a residential tower, is to become a central social center and a meeting point for the community in the neighborhood.

The 23-storey building with 255 residential units will have a base that is intended to reinterpret the typical tower pedestal and the steps and lead to a mesa-like room with planted terraces and seating.

The residents can follow the activities in the main public square from the terraces. Shops and cafes will be set up on the ground floor, while the mesa will provide amenities for residents of the entire neighborhood.

China Basin Park

China Basin Park is a proposed waterfront park in the Mission Rock project. It will be surrounded by 3rd Street, the Bay, McCovey Cove, and the Mission Rock neighborhood. The park is to become a regional travel destination and offer a new cultural and recreational center.

The park’s topography will include a number of urban landscape areas, including a lawn overlooking the Bay Bridge, tide shelves, a central plaza with a restaurant pavilion, and a seashell beach.

Contractors involved in the Mission Rock project

Building A was designed by MVRDV with the support of lead architect Perry Architects and landscape architect GLS Architecture. Magnusson Klemencic Associates was hired to provide structural engineering for Building A while PAE Engineers was hired to provide mechanical, electrical and plumbing work.

WORKac designed Building B, Adamson Associates and YA Studio, while Studio Gang designed Building F and SCAPE designed the China Basin Park. The Danish architectural office Henning Larsen received an order for the design of the G.

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