The real San Francisco lies below the streets, sidewalks, and buildings, hidden from view. This famous city is known for its beautiful setting of water, trees, hills, and beaches, but relatively few people know of its true natural state. Before it was built up and paved over, the earth here was a diverse ecosystem of creeks, marshes, sand dunes, estuaries, and densely forested hills. Over this landscape roamed elk, rabbit, bears, bobcat, and mountain lion, and the now-crowded bayfront teemed with mollusks, otters, dolphins, and whales, while huge flocks of birds blocked out the sun overhead. Today, only about two percent of the city's natural areas remain as they were.
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Collected by San Francisco historians Greg Gaar and Ryder W. Miller, these vintage photographs show a San Francisco that no longer exists. But in addition to an untouched natural landscape, readers will also see how nature adapted over time to coexist with a crowded modern city. It is a poignant and engrossing story that holds more relevance than ever as cities around the world attempt to reconcile their place in the natural order. Collected by San Francisco historians Greg Gaar and Ryder W. Miller, these vintage photographs show a San Francisco that no longer exists. But in addition to an untouched natural landscape, readers will also see how nature adapted over time to coexist with a crowded modern city. It is a poignant and engrossing story that holds more relevance than ever as cities around the world attempt to reconcile their place in the natural order.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
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Reminders of what it was,
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This review is from: San Francisco: A Natural History (Images of America) (Paperback)
Reading this book was like pulling a well-loved but worn teddy out of the chest. I recalled hiking the city's hills, creeks and dunes in the fifties, flying kites up on Bernal Heights and sliding down Twin Peaks on cardboard. ...and thought about what's been lost. If that was the sum, it would be an interesting read.Gaar and Miller took it beyond a catalog of losses to present successes and achievable steps for preservation and restoration. The city has taken a beating, being filled, leveled, dredged, paved and infested with non-native species--thanks to our own manifest destiny. San Francisco: A Natural History makes a strong case for embracing what was ours while sharing our city's natural landscape, past and present, in word and image.
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First Sentence:
San Francisco once had one of the world's largest concentrations of ocean-produced sand dunes. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Francisco, Twin Peaks, Mount Davidson, Islais Creek, Mount Sutro, Ocean Beach, Bayview Hill, Laguna Honda, Market Street, Alan Hopkins Collection, Greg Gaar, Mission Creek, Lobos Creek, Adolph Sutro, Black Point, Eureka Valley, Glen Canyon, Kite Hill, Lone Mountain, Marilyn Blaisdell Collection, Sunset District, Tank Hill, Treasure Island, Bay Area, Carleton Watkins New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
San Francisco once had one of the world's largest concentrations of ocean-produced sand dunes. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Francisco, Twin Peaks, Mount Davidson, Islais Creek, Mount Sutro, Ocean Beach, Bayview Hill, Laguna Honda, Market Street, Alan Hopkins Collection, Greg Gaar, Mission Creek, Lobos Creek, Adolph Sutro, Black Point, Eureka Valley, Glen Canyon, Kite Hill, Lone Mountain, Marilyn Blaisdell Collection, Sunset District, Tank Hill, Treasure Island, Bay Area, Carleton Watkins New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 9
books:
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- Real Estate by Rh Value Publishing in Back Matter
- The Garden Book (Mini Edition) by Editors of Phaidon Press in Back Matter
- Treasure Island (Classic Library) by Robert Louis, III Stevenson on page 99
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson on page 99
- Treasure Island by Louis Robert Stevenson on page 99
See all 9 books this book cites
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