On style: An eco-friendly, eclectic and enduring look

Fashion designers are resourceful types. Often, they’re inspired by the spirit and trends they discover while exploring big urban cities – all the while keeping their focus on enduring styles. Good ones even show respect for our planet while exercising a little bit of social equality.

During a recent, Friday evening visit to the month-long Holiday Market in Washington, D.C., located in front of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (8th St. NW & F St. NW)– and just a quick slap shot from Capital One Arena, where the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals were playing – I happened upon the “Naturally Forward” collection from Aria Handmade, an eclectic artisan series of handcrafted apparel inspired by eco-consciousness.

Based in High Point, N.C., Aria Handmade uses hand-harvested seeds from the Amazon rain forest as well as recycled metals and fibers in which to create a variety of apparel, jewelry and recycled handbags. It has designed a line of accessories that incorporate recycled tire tubes into eco-friendly fashion.

As I perused the holiday merchandise displayed in Aria Handmade’s booth, I became smitten by its Optimus Collection men’s wallet. Upon first glance, I realized it’s both fun and practical – and, let’s face it, its urban look definitely gives it a fashion-forward look.

The product details incorporated into the Optimus Collection men’s wallet are impressively cool:

• Made from recycled rubber from truck tire inner tubes and synthetic vinyl from repurposed car seat upholstery.
• Interior water resistant nylon fabric.
• Two interior sleeves for bills.
• Six credit card slots.
• Three multipurpose pockets.
• Zippered coin pocket.
• Clear plastic ID display.
• Snap closure.

According to Aria Handmade’s website, the blending of recycled tire tubes and reclaimed leather together “culminate into stylish, affordable eco-friendly designs that stay true to our commitment of promoting sustainable, eco-friendly accessories that are aesthetically beautiful and functional to use.”

Looking back, it didn’t take much convincing from the very polite and observant salesperson. He picked up on my interest in the wallet as well as a small tote that would be a perfect fit for either my iPad or camera. Let’s face it, the Optimus Collection men’s wallet is just what I had been searching for. After all, for the past half-dozen or so years, I’ve been sporting an Etsy-designed wallet by Prix-Prix created out of fabric from an old men’s necktie mixed with a men’s wool dress coat interior – and lately, it’s started to wear a little thin.

You see, I’ve always had an appreciation for something a little bit different.

SFMOMA – Welcoming an old friend back to the City

Welcome back / The new-look SFMOMA has grown from five to 10 stories.

Last Thursday evening, my wife and I welcomed an old friend back to San Francisco. The San Francisco Museum of Modern ART (SFMOMA) reopened earlier this month after being closed for the past three years while undergoing a massive – and challenging – expansion project by Oslo and New York design firm Snøhetta. The new-look SFMOMA has grown from five to 10 stories. Dropping in on the newly transformed museum after work for a short visit before heading out for dinner and shopping, we delighted in seeing some favorite artworks and architectural features – including some of the gems from the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection, considered to be one of the world's greatest.

The largest living wall in the U.S. greets visitors to SFMOMA.

From first glimpse, there's much to like about the new look and space of SFMOMA, including new galleries, expanded exhibition space, better lighting, greater access, art-filled public spaces, six terraces and sculptural staircases, which offer unique views out to the city.

As visitors step outside onto the main terrace, they are greeted by a giant living wall designed by Habitat Horticulture. It is part art, part landscape and it's the nation's largest public green wall of native plants.

Constellation  (1949) / From Alexander Calder: Motion Lab

We delighted in seeing the Alexander Calder: Motion Lab, which highlights Calder's restless innovation in bringing actual movement into art. We viewed About Time: Photography in a Moment of Change, a thematic exhibition which investigates how photography has profoundly reflected, inflected and transformed our perception of time through its 180-year history. We also saw Model Behavior, Snøhetta's initial sketches and models for the expanded SFMOMA building, located in a challenging and prominent urban site on Third Street, just south of Market Street.

A swarm of chaotic energy /
Studying Antony Gormley's "Quantum Cloud VIII"

Finally, upon ascending to Floor 5, we admired British Sculptors, in which more than forty years of diverse sculpture by artists who were born or reside in Great Britain was displayed.

My favorite was Antony Gormley's "Quantum Cloud VIII," a 1999 steel sculpture that was acquired by the Fisher Family in 2000. According to the sculptor, "Quantum Cloud VIII conceives of the body as a swarm of chaotic energy. A human figure seems to alternately materialize from and disintegrate into the cloud of metal bars."

Created between 1999 and 2009, Gormley's Quantum Cloud series reflects on "how the subatomic particles and energy that make up our bodies are integrated with those that compose the universe around us."

Alexander Calder /
Big Crinkly (1969)

There is much to see and enjoy in the 170,000 square feet of exhibition space, and as members, we look forward to going back often to see some of the things we missed during our initial visit. Some of the current exhibits include:

• Paul Klee in Color, which includes paintings and watercolors by the Swiss-born modernist Paul Klee (1879-1940) that explore "his intuitive and theoretical approaches to color."

• German Art after 1960, which is an overview of leading German artists such as Gerhard Richter, Georg Baslitz, Anselm Kiefer, and Bernd and Hilla Becher.

• Typeface to Interface, which features graphic design from the Collection, "a trajectory of iconic type and the evolution of digital tools marking the rapid transformation of graphic design over the past sixty years."

San Francisco / A city that loves art and open spaces.

In its 81-year history, SFMOMA has established itself as a premier showcase for modern art – think Calder, Close, Kahlo, Kelly, Pollack and Warhol. One things certain: There's definitely a new a positive dedication to openness as the museum begins a new dialogue with San Francisco, a city that loves its art.

To read more about what art critics are saying about the new SFMOMA design:
http://www.dezeen.com/2016/05/18/critics-reaction-san-francisco-museum-modern-art-sfmoma-extension-snohetta-mario-botta/

Photos: All photos by Michael Dickens © 2016.

On religion: Finding spirituality through nature

Peaceful summer morning / Stanley Park, Vancouver, B.C.

Summer vacation is a time of the year when many of us take advantage of our beautiful natural resources. We enjoy escaping urban environments in favor of wide open spaces. 

It should come as no surprise, then, that our beaches, lakes, hills and mountains provide us with a much-needed respite from our busy, fast-paced lives.

However, one thing I recently learned that may come as a surprise to you is this: Nature may have a profound effect on our religiosity. 

Golden Gate Bridge /
San Francisco, California.

In an NPR "Cosmos & Culture" commentary penned by Barbara J. King, which I recently read on the NPR website, she noted that in U.S. counties with warm winters, temperate summers and beautiful natural resources -- sounds to me like she's describing the San Francisco Bay Area -- "people's rates of affiliation with religious organizations are lower than in other places, according to a new study."

Fountain Lake /
Albert Lea, Minnesota.

King is an anthropology professor at the College of William and Mary who often writes about human evolution, primate behavior and the cognition and emotion of animals. In her commentary, she cited a study by Todd W. Ferguson and Jeffrey A. Tamburello of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, who wrote in the journal Sociology of Religion: "Natural amenities can be considered as a resource for spirituality that has the power to satisfy some people's need for inspiration, awe and divine connection ... 

Mount Rainier / On a clear day,
you can see it from Seattle.

"When a person hikes in a forest to connect with the sacred, she or he may not feel the need to affiliate with a religious organization because her or his spiritual demands are met." 

Imagine that! God is competing against Mother Nature on Sundays for our spiritual attention.

King writes: "Worshipping God, affiliating with a religious organization and experiencing a sense of spirituality may all overlap -- but certainly they're not the same." She asks: "How do the Baylor researchers distinguish these dimensions, and how did they measure an area's natural resources?" 

Allium summer flowers.

Good food for thought, definitely, and King seeks to answer these questions through breaking down what the Baylor researchers have written in their study.

Granted, not everyone who we see outdoors soaking up nature -- whether it be absorbing sunshine at the beach, jogging around a city lake, hiking through foothills or climbing mountains -- is communing with the sacred. 

However, I think it's pretty cool to know that it's a spiritual experience for us to encounter the sacred in nature.

All photographs by Michael Dickens © 2015.

What a mural can tell us about our glorious past

Our glorious past / A mural depicts the famous Key System
electric trains that connected Oakland and San Francisco.

There are many colorful, vivid and fascinating murals that dot the urban landscape in my Oakland neighborhood. While some of them are reminders of the glorious past history of this East Bay city situated across the bay from San Francisco, in particular, one of them depicts the famous Key System electric trains.

Believe me, there's plenty we can learn from studying a single, neo-WPA mural.

The Key Route Plaza mural, a 23-by-14-foot colorful and historic mural created by local artist Rocky Baird in 2005, tells a story about a bygone era of transportation that once connected Oakland and San Francisco, two major northern California cities on opposite sides of San Francisco Bay.

The Key System electric trolley car company established its first transit depot at Key Route Plaza, at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and 41st Street in Oakland, in 1904. The orange and silver train depicted in the mural that is located on what formerly was part of the transit depot is Car No. 159 on the C-Line which, according to a historic plaque, made its final departure from Piedmont Station on April 19, 1958 at 6:45 p.m.

The quixotic creator of the Key Route, Francis Marion "Borax" Smith, is a larger-than-life giant figure shown in the mural. He was a Nevada mining magnate who made his fortune in borax before he lost much of it in transit. The key that he is holding "has three rings at its handle to symbolize three lines to Berkeley, Oakland and Piedmont. The long stem represents the Key Pier, which carried trains about three miles over the bay, and the teeth represent the ferry slip," wrote Sam Whiting in a 2005 San Francisco Chronicle article.

At its height during the 1940s, the Key System had over 66 miles of track and serviced the hills and dales of Oakland and Berkeley as well as other East Bay cities like Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, El Cerrito, Richmond and Albany.

A historic plaque at the site of Key Route Plaza.

According to the commemorative plaque at Key Route Plaza, back in 1939 it took the streamlined trains 27 minutes to travel from Oakland's Piedmont Station over the Bay Bridge to the First and Mission Station in "The City." Not bad considering that in 2014 it still takes 20 minutes to travel by light rail transit on BART from MacArthur Station in Oakland to Embarcadero Station in San Francisco.

The Key Route Plaza mural is filled with other symbolism, too. There are sections of the mural in which we see figures representing the Black Power and Women's Suffrage movements as well as a link to U.S. military might and our need for petroleum.

According to the artist, who was interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle about the mural, "the mural took two months of research and three months of painting." At a cost of $5,000 to create, Baird sold off the window seats in the train at $500 each to help raise funds.

Today, half of the depot sits idle while it awaits refurbishing into a cafe, while the other half has morphed into a popular municipal parking lot, which tells the fate of a train system that was displaced by the rise and popularity of the automobile.

To learn more about the history of the Key System: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_System

To read more about the history of Oakland's electric trains: http://www.oaklandmagazine.com/Oakland-Magazine/January-2008/When-Trains-Ruled-the-East-Bay/

Photos by Michael Dickens ©2014.

A simple question with a complicated answer: Where do you want to live?

Copenhagen Concert Hall at night. /
The No. 1 best global city according to Monocle.

Our cities are designed for living, working, cultural entertainment and late nights. Even fresh starts. Some cities have it figured out, some don't.

From transportation to green space, retail possibilities and residential settlements, it's always interesting to find out what makes a good city a great place to live.

The July/August issue of Monocle
rates the 25 best global cities.

Each summer for the past seven years, Monocle, the London-based global magazine that's a must-read for its coverage of international affairs, business, culture and design, has presented a special quality of life rankings with a top of the world list of the 25 best global cities.

"Too many major cities, including some of our top 25, all but shut down on a Sunday -- we believe a city should be a seven-day operation," writes Monocle's Steve Bloomfield and Michael Booth, in the introduction to this year's top of the world list, which appears in the magazine's July/August 2013 issue (issue 65, volume 07). "We asked our team or correspondents and researchers to judge how easy it is to arrange a spontaneous dinner with friends on a Sunday night. Are the restaurants open? Can you buy groceries and wine?"

Other common factors which Monocle studied include: crime rates, weather, education, health care, transportation and "an airport with a host of international destinations." Of course, it helps if a city has good plazas and outdoor cafés as well as art galleries that stay open late and museums that are free, too.

It did not surprise me that few U.S. or North American cities made Monocle's Top 25 -- Honolulu at No. 17 was highest ranked while my beloved San Francisco ranked 24th. Nor, should it be surprising that six of the top 10 were European cities, including this year's No. 1 Copenhagen.

No. 14 Paris /
The Pyramid at the Louvre is always a buzz of activity.

Why did Copenhagen rank No. 1 and not Paris (ranked No. 14) or London (which did not even rank in the top 25)? Here's why: "World-conquering urban quality of life requires the trickiest of balancing acts -- between progress and preservation, stimulation and security, global and local. Perfection is unobtainable, of course, but Copenhagen is striking one of the best deals right now.

"The Danish capital has hit the top spot this year not just because of its daring art scene, its matrix of cycle super-highways and its pioneering approach to street culture but also its ability to define itself as a global city. Copenhagen's wonderful self-reinvention continues to impress."

As for what the magazine said about San Francisco, in a nutshell it wrote: "Northern California's spectacular city scores high on tolerance and urban verve but tech-dollars continue to drive up the cost of living." I'd have to agree. As much as I would enjoy living in the Inner Sunset, within walking distance of Golden Gate Park, the cost of buying or renting is somewhat prohibitive. Thus, living across the bay in Oakland, I believe, is a better value.

No. 19 Vancouver, B.C. /
This western Canadian city hosted the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Here's Monocle's world list of the 25 best global cities for 2013:

1. Copenhagen

2. Melbourne

3. Helsinki

4. Tokyo

5. Vienna

6. Zürich

7. Stockholm

8. Munich

9. Sydney

10. Auckland

11. Hong Kong

12. Fukuoka

13. Kyoto

14. Paris

15. Singapore

16. Hamburg

17. Honolulu

18. Madrid

19. Vancouver

20. Berlin

21. Barcelona

22. Amsterdam

23. Portland (Oregon, U.S.)

24. San Francisco

25. Düsseldorf

No. 22 Amsterdam /
The city's bicycle culture and canals are an appealing.

In looking over Monocle's top 25 best global cities list, I've been lucky enough to have visited eight of these cities in my lifetime -- Copenhagen, Helsinki, Paris, Honolulu, Vancouver, Amsterdam, Portland and, of course, San Francisco, which I get to see nearly every day. There are many more on Monocle's list I would love to visit some day in the future like Sydney and Berlin.

Does the perfect city exist? Not likely. Will it ever? Probably not. And, of course, what works for some of us, doesn't for all of us. Yet, it's nice know that there are a handful of good cities throughout the world whose quality of life makes me want to live there some day.

No. 24 San Francisco /
The de Young Fine Arts Museum in Golden Gate Park.

By the way, one reason the San Francisco Bay Area (which has been my home for nearly 18 years) is a great place to live is because it is easy to arrange a spontaneous dinner with friends on a Sunday night; great restaurants are open on Sunday nights; and you can buy groceries and wine on Sundays, day or night.

And, having a Major League baseball team -- the San Francisco Giants -- that's won two World Series titles in the past three years is a nice bonus and adds to the quality of life, too.

Where do you want to live?

Photo of Copenhagen Concert Hall courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
Photo of Monocle courtesy of monocle.com.
All other photos by Michael Dickens, copyright 2010, 2012 and 2013.

Urban design: A public market complete with a "green living room"

Ping pong, anyone? / A green living room
at the Emeryville Public Market

The Public Market sits just across the bay from San Francisco, wedged between Berkeley and Oakland, in Emeryville, Calif. This 14-acre, mixed-use site is an urbanist's dreamscape. It has good office, retail and dining space, a cineplex, and good access to public transportation. The Public Market has undergone an urban transformation over the last year thanks to a new, private ownership group (Center City Reality Partners) that has infused fresh money to match its new look and changed attitude.

While there is still an international food court that's always bustling most weekdays at lunchtime, there are some new retail shops -- Guitar Shop and Urban Outfitters --complemented by a Peet's Coffee & Tea shop that always seems to be abuzz with activity.

According to the San Francisco Business Times, the new owners received a Catalyst Communities Pilot Project grant of $1.35 million to pay for "electric vehicle charging stations, a solar carport, models of recycling and composting, environmental education and a science display on the project's green features." Much of this grant has already come to fruition since the beginning of the year.

One thing which I find very appealing about the new-look of the Emeryville Public Market is the transformation of a once under-utilized patio space outside the former Border's Books into a snazzy and colorful urban park.

With the brick facade of the recently-opened hipster Urban Outfitters clothing store as its backdrop, this expansive urban park space, which also includes a lush, green grassy knoll, is complete with a ping pong table, colorful red and blue Adirondack-style lounge chairs, and a variety of brick and wood benches. It's a very inviting space to come and relax, whether enjoying a cup of coffee or a snack, reading a summer best-seller, or merely soaking up some Bay Area sunshine.

The Emeryville Public Market is located at 5959 Shellmound Street, Emeryville.

Photograph by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013.