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San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘Heart SF' sculpture turns heads after cutting through red tape in new S.F. permit program
A new sculpture at a San Francisco cable car turnaround near the Embarcadero invites people to immortalize their entrance to the city by posing for photos in a giant heart-shaped frame. Dubbed Heart SF, the artwork at Robert Frost Plaza has been an instant magnet for tourists — and a crucial first test of a new program that aims to vastly expedite the city's notoriously slow approval process for neighborhood improvement projects. When the Dibona family of Buenos Aires, Argentina, saw the big metal heart, sandwiched between the giant letters S and F, on Wednesday, they walked up and climbed into the frame, handing a bystander an iPhone to photograph the four of them with the California Street cable car in the background. 'We will post it on Instagram' said Franco Dibona, 18, the family interpreter, adding that they had no idea the new sculpture was there until they passed by it on Market Street, en route to the Ferry Building. 'Every important city should have this.' But the interactive public art would still be stuck in planning, a year or two away, if it were not for the new Love Our Neighborhoods program, which is dedicated toward fast-tracking any project on city property or in the public right of way — including neighborhood Little Free Libraries, sidewalk benches and planters, tiled staircases and murals. The Chronicle wrote in 2023 about the Meyers family, whose Little Free Library effort was thwarted by a complaint that triggered an encroachment citation from the city — and public outrage over red tape. Susan and Joe Meyers supported the legislation that created the Love our Neighborhoods program. Heart SF is the first major project to take advantage of it, the centerpiece of an effort by the Downtown SF Partnership to spruce up the plaza in front of the Hyatt Regency, as a destination branded as the Downtown Gateway. 'The pilot project' 'We were the guinea pig, the pilot project,' said Claude Imbault, vice president of Planning and Economic Development for the Downtown SF Partnership, a community benefit district that oversees 43 blocks of the Financial District and Jackson Square. 'It would have taken two or three years without (Love Our Neighborhoods) and I don't think the end product would have been as good. We were all aligned.' That alignment included three separate city agencies — the Planning Department, Public Works and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency — which in times past might have meant three separate applications and three separate opportunities for frustrating and costly delay. Love Our Neighborhoods has streamlined that into a single dedicated website with staff standing by to help push it through as quickly as possible, including coordinating with other city agencies. The application is touted as taking 45 minutes for most projects. 'While safety and accessibility remain a priority for us as stewards of the public right of way, we want to help guide and support people in their efforts to improve and beautify our shared public spaces,' said Public Works Director Carla Short in a news release. Previously, Heart SF Project would also have required a major encroachment permit, which meant a hearing and approval by the Board of Supervisors, a process that would take a year in and of itself. Now that is covered in the Love Our Neighborhoods application. Three-tiered program The program has three tiers: Tier One, the smallest, requires registration only, no permit and no fee. Tier Two involves larger projects such as murals on bridges or sidewalks, commemorative plaques, and minor landscaping. Groups like nonprofits, community benefit districts or merchants associations submit applications, which may require reviews. Tier Three projects include major projects like lighting, new stairways or retaining walls, and sculptures such as Heart SF. Projects at the third level take longer and require permitting and review, but the Heart SF application was filed Feb. 8 and the permit issued April 11. It took twice that long to get the piece designed and fabricated. It was installed July 24. 'That heart is like a magnet,' said Olajuwon Mitchell, who has run a nearby shoeshine stand for 40 years and never seen anything like the crowds that spontaneously form at the new photo op. 'People come here every three minutes to take a picture. This is going to bring a lot of business, I can promise you that.' Revitalizing Robert Frost Plaza The concept for the installation was developed by Imbault, as a way to revitalize Robert Frost Plaza, a downtown transit hub where the 1-California cable car line meets Muni Metro and BART at the Embarcadero Station. It is an irregular strip of city property on a brick pad. Operating on a $160,000 grant from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Imbault hired SITELAB Urban Studio to develop a plan. 'We wanted a formal gateway that says you've arrived in downtown San Francisco,' said Imbault, 'a place for visitors to sit and get their bearings that tells them this is a place that matters.' The Southern California fabrication firm AD/S did the design and fabrication out of metal and steel for the 2,400-pound piece. The art itself was budgeted at $80,000. It was Imbault who had the inspiration to place it at an angle so that the heart perfectly frames the cable car as it rests at the end of the line. The F-Market streetcar line and BART also stop there, so it is being turned into a transit hub. A Muni shed is soon to be fitted with vintage cable car ornamentation and a large information sign and map contributed by Market Street Railway, Muni's nonprofit preservation partner. Lighting elements and a plaque that brands the site as 'Downtown Gateway' are still to be installed. 'It's really a great team effort,' said Rick Laubscher, President of Market Street Railway. 'You've got city departments, a business association and nonprofits all working together to create a new hub for exploring the historic attractions in San Francisco.' The project cost more than $200,000 overall, and was helped by a $75,000 grant from the Pisces Foundation. This paid for construction of seating areas — though visitors seem most eager to sit either on the metal platform or inside the heart itself. 'It shows the power of small improvements to make an impact,' said Imbault, who described the Gateway as 'a big hit.' And not just for tourists, either. Brenda Dang, a retired federal worker who lives in the Gateway Apartments, walked over to take her holiday card photo with a real camera and was willing to wait her turn — which also meant waiting for the cable car to make it to the end of the line. 'Everybody knows what the cable car is,' she said, after the picture was made. 'So it gets the message across.' Asked to elaborate on the message Dang will send to everyone on her holiday card list, coast to coast and in Hawaii, she said, 'San Francisco is a great place to visit, sightsee and shop. Come on down and check us out.'

22-07-2025
- Entertainment
'Not Quite Dead Yet' by Holly Jackson is our 'GMA' Book Club pick for August
This twisty thriller follows a young woman trying to solve her own murder. ''Not Quite Dead Yet'' by Holly Jackson, the New York Times bestselling author of the "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" series, a young adult crime thriller with millions of copies sold and a hit Netflix series, is our "GMA" Book Club pick for August. In "Not Quite Dead Yet," her first adult novel, Jackson introduces Margaret "Jet" Mason, a young woman who uses her last few days to solve her own murder after being fatally wounded in an assault. At 27, Jet has never been able to finish anything. She's dropped out of school, abandoned a promising career and ended countless relationships. Her town's annual Halloween festival serves as a stark reminder of her unfulfilled life, each familiar face in the crowd making her feel more disconnected. But she's about to leave it all behind for a fresh start until, just as she walks in her front door, someone attacks her from behind, fracturing her skull and leaving her for dead. Thirty-six hours later, Jet wakes up in the hospital to devastating news. The attack has caused a bone fragment to press against her brain, and an aneurysm is forming that will soon rupture, leading to certain death. "Jet has two choices: Undergo immediate surgery to remove the bone fragment, with less than a ten percent chance of survival. Or don't, and die sometime in the coming week," a synopsis reads. "With the odds stacked against her and death a foregone conclusion, Jet knows what she has to do." "She has never finished anything in her life... until now," the synopsis continues. "With her last remaining week, she's going to find out who murdered her." Read an excerpt below and get a copy of the book here. By clicking on these shopping links, visitors will leave These e-commerce sites are operated under different terms and privacy policies than ABC will receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Prices may change from the date of publication. This month, we are also teaming up with Little Free Library to give out free copies in Times Square and at 150 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Since 2009, more than 300 million books have been shared in Little Free Libraries across the world. Click here to find a copy of ''Not Quite Dead Yet" at a Little Free Library location near you. Read along with us and join the conversation all month on our Instagram account, @GMABookClub, and with #GMABookClub. *************************** Jet walked across The Green, onto the street beyond. It was dark, but not yet late enough to worry about it. The town was still thrumming and shrieking, with departing cars and the undead. A gaggle of teenagers outside the little church, too loud and giggly for just sugar. Found Mom and Dad's liquor cabinet, she'd bet. Past the houses beyond, Jack-o'-lanterns still glowing outside, mean triangle eyes glaring back at her. Someone hadn't bothered carving theirs; just a bunch of naked pumpkins and gourds, lining the steps up to their front door. Jet turned up College Hill Road, saluting the skeleton hanging outside the Romanos' at number 1, its limbs creaking and flailing in the fall breeze. Up the hill to number 10. Home. This big obnoxious house that Dad had renovated and extended, and extended again. It stuck out against the normal houses on the street, against the Finneys' directly opposite at number 7. Jet might just hate the Masons too, you know. She jogged up the large, ringed driveway, past her truck, giving it an affectionate pat on the cargo bed. A Ford F-150 in powder-blue. Mom thought Jet had bought it just to piss her off. Mom wasn't totally wrong. Just one Jack-o'-lantern outside their red front door, but its eyes had blown out, gone dark. A bucket on the front step with a sign: Please help yourself. One candy per person. What world did her mom live in? Damn, the bucket was empty. F--kers. Jet searched her jacket pocket for her house keys, the Ring doorbell camera eyeing her, so she eyed it back, stuck out her tongue. She unlocked the front door, and Reggie was at her feet in a rush of red fur and a helicopter tail, the happy squeaks he only made for her. He jumped up and pawed her knees. "Hello, hello, handsome. Who's a good boy, huh?" Jet bent to tickle him behind the ears. Those silly, long, English cocker spaniel ears. The dog ran off, skittering around the corner and back two seconds later. "Oh, did you bring me some dirty socks?" Jet said, thumbing his muzzle, the proud wiggle of his little body at the sacred offering. "Thank you so much, my absolute favorite." Jet closed the front door and moved through the hall, crisp white walls and Moroccan rugs, too neat, too styled, like a show home, and -- man -- was Jet in trouble every time she dared to treat it like a home, dropping crumbs or leaving her boots out. Through to the kitchen at the back of the house, Reggie trotting in behind her. There was a plate of cookies on the kitchen island. Sophia had baked them, dropped them around earlier, black-iced bats and orange pumpkins. Sophia did things like that. Baked. Jet picked up a bat, bit off its head. Damn, they were actually good. She finished it off, wiping her sticky fingers on one of the dishtowels by the stove, a matching set of three: little marching lemons, and oranges and avocados, because everything had to match in this house. Jet turned and passed the cookies again. F--k it, actually; she took one of the pumpkins too, wandering through the wide, corniced archway into the living room. Cookie in mouth, she reached into her pocket for her phone. Unlocked. Thumb finding Instagram before her eyes did. She bit off half the pumpkin, the sweet orange icing cloying against her tongue. Girls from school or college who were now married, having anniversaries and babies. Or no weddings and babies, but fancy dinners and sipping glasses of champagne to celebrate new jobs. That could have been Jet too, a humble-brag post about a big promotion at a firm with an acronym everyone pretended to recognize. If she hadn't quit and left Boston overnight. Jet finished off the cookie, sticky fingers against the screen. It didn't matter. Jet had time to find the right thing; she had all the time in the world, remember? And then life would really begin, and when it did, you better believe she'd be shoving it down all of their throats in return. Just you wait. Reggie stood in front of her, started to whine. "Sorry bud. Human cookies." The whine lowered, sinking into a growl. "Wh–" A rush of feet behind. A fast crack to the back of her head, the wet of splitting skin, crunch of skull. The phone slips from her hands. No growl anymore but a scream. Jet should scream too but another explosion, harder. The feel of blood, the sound of things breaking inside her head. Someone's killing her. Jet can still think that, but she blinks and the light doesn't come back and.... *************************** Audio excerpted courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio from "Not Quite Dead Yet" by Holly Jackson, read by Alex McKenna. © 2025 Holly Jackson, ℗ 2025 Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved.


Chicago Tribune
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Highland Park to see Little Free Art Galleries popping up around town
Art will soon be popping up all over Highland Park thanks to an innovative concept created by The Art Center Highland Park. Little Free Galleries will be installed in every neighborhood in the city. Inspired by the popular Little Free Libraries, the Galleries will give people the opportunity to borrow a piece of art or leave a piece of art of their own for someone else to borrow. Credit for the concept goes to James M. Lynch, Executive Director of The Art Center. 'It was really inspired by what happened during COVID,' Lynch explained. 'We were shut down and we quickly converted to online classes. In the first two weeks, we had 80 classes up and running online.' But Lynch said that he wanted something more concrete. 'I had this little box at home. I painted it red and I wrote, 'Don't panic.' Inside it said, 'If you need art. Here.'' He filled the box with notebooks, multicolored pens, sidewalk chalk, and clay, and placed it outside the building, near the parking lot. 'I kept it stocked during COVID because you couldn't come in and do art,' Lynch said. The idea of creating Little Free Galleries arose because Lynch, an avid reader, said, 'I survived COVID with the Little Free Libraries.' Lynch noted that he has a list of projects he wants to undertake at The Art Center, and the time seems right for this one, as he has a 'super capable' intern this summer. 'We can't move our building,' he said. 'We want to do outreach to as many people as we can.' The plan is to have Little Free Galleries in each of Highland Park's nine neighborhoods. They will be placed on private properties. When The Art Center sent out a notice about the Galleries, 'a bunch of people asked if we could make one for them,' Lynch said. The project is still in the planning stage, but Lynch noted that there can be different types of Little Free Galleries, such as ones just for show, where people can come and view the art. There would be a QR Code directing people to an exhibit at The Art Center. Other Galleries will be ever-changing. 'We want people to take a piece of art and leave a piece of art,' Lynch said. Lynch is creating a prototype for the Little Free Galleries at home and is currently negotiating with someone from one of the neighborhoods regarding installing one on their property. In some cases, The Art Center will be using boxes that are the same size as the Little Free Libraries, which can be purchased ready-made. 'Engaging other artists in the project, the size and what they look like is going to vary according to the artist,' Lynch said. 'And that's going to be fun.' The participating homeowners will be responsible for the Little Free Gallery on their property. 'We want everybody who has one to own them,' Lynch explained. 'We're not going to police them.' He added that they are discussing making little scrolls of poetry with a local poetry club for the galleries. There may also be art supplies in the Galleries. Students at The Art be creating some of the artwork placed in the Galleries. Lynch concluded that, 'A healthy community needs the influence of the arts. It's one of the key ingredients of a healthy society.' The Little Free Galleries will help spread that message.

24-06-2025
- Entertainment
'The Compound' by Aisling Rawle is our 'GMA' Book Club pick for July
The novel explores how reality TV distorts survival, desire, and control. ''The Compound'' by Aisling Rawle, the author's debut novel, is our "GMA" Book Club pick for July. The story follows Lily, a bored and beautiful twenty-something who joins a wildly popular reality show set in a remote desert. To win, she must outlast 19 other contestants by surviving in the Compound the longest, competing in challenges for luxury items like champagne and lipstick, as well as essentials to outfit their communal home, such as food, appliances and even a front door. "Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart?" a synopsis reads. "As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation." "When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she'll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams -- but what will she have to do to win?" the synopsis continues. "The Compound" offers a chilling, addictive look at how entertainment, control and survival collide when the cameras never stop rolling. Read an excerpt below and get a copy of the book here. By clicking on these shopping links, visitors will leave These e-commerce sites are operated under different terms and privacy policies than ABC will receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Prices may change from the date of publication. This month, we are also teaming up with Little Free Library to give out free copies in Times Square and at 150 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Since 2009, more than 300 million books have been shared in Little Free Libraries across the world. Click here to find a copy of ''The Compound" at a Little Free Library location near you. Read along with us and join the conversation all month on our Instagram account, @GMABookClub, and with #GMABookClub. In the morning the boys still hadn't arrived, and we started to worry. I opened my eyes -- the first to wake, again -- and reached for a phone that wasn't there. I woke up properly then, and looked around at all the other girls sleeping soundly. I couldn't see them well in the dark, and I seemed to have forgotten most of their names. The small trace of familiarity from the night before had vanished, and I was reminded that they were strangers to me. In that moment I would have given anything to have gone home. I padded through the house, checking for any changes. In the living area, the screen was still blank. I walked outside, and fancied that I would see the boys waiting for me by the pool. But there was no sign of them. It might have been peaceful outside -- all that flat, pale land stretching out into the distance -- but I disliked the extreme quiet, and went into the kitchen, where I made coffee while keeping an eye out the window. Then I made a huge pan of scrambled eggs and wolfed down what I judged to be a moderate amount. I thought of how ugly I must look on the cameras, stuffing my face alone in the kitchen, my hair unbrushed, my face not yet washed. I finished eating as quickly as I could. When I returned to the bedroom, the other girls were awake. They had been talking, but stopped when I walked in. Mia looked at me with wide eyes. "There you are," she said. "We didn't know where you had gone." "I got coffee," I said. "Why did you get up before everyone else, though?" "I don't know," I said. "I just woke up." "Were you just wandering on your own? That's so weird," Mia said. "No," I said. "I just made breakfast. I made eggs for everyone." "Thanks, Lily," Jacintha said. "That was really thoughtful." I met her eye, and felt a profound rush of gratitude for her, as though she had stopped me from falling off a cliff. After we ate, we took our coffees to the outdoor dining area. There were no chairs, and we stood self-consciously, leaning against the wall, hips cocked. It was difficult to know how to plan our day. We decided to go back to preparing the house in the morning; we could spend the afternoon relaxing and getting to know each other. Cleaning was hard in the heat, particularly in the kitchen, where the temperature was so extreme that we were forced to take frequent breaks, sprinkling our faces and necks with water. When we were done, we changed into our bikinis and got into the pool. I noted the relative flatness of everyone's stomachs, and found that, while Sarah had the most toned abs, I was a sure contender for the shapeliest hips. The pool was enormous; even with the ten of us in at the same time, there was still room left for about fifty refrigerators. We were not as reserved as we had been the day before; we did handstands and splashed each other. Mia and Eloise raced each other, and I swam as deep as I could, keeping my eyes open under the water and navigating around the blurry shapes of the girls' legs. But where were the boys? As we lay in the shade, snacking on tortilla chips and guacamole, I wondered if they had been hurt. Four years ago one of the boys had broken his leg on the way to the compound and had been stranded for twelve hours before the show's execs got to him. It would have taken less time but he had said, over and over, that he didn't want anyone to come get him and that he could make it to the compound eventually. He was taken home immediately. I knew I was going to drive myself mad with thinking, and asked Jacintha if she wanted to play ping-pong. It was tucked around the side of the house, and we played for a while -- I think probably an hour. There was a ball but no paddles, so we played with our hands. I thought that Jacintha was a relaxed kind of person, but she became tremendously competitive once we started to play. She liked to do victory laps of the ping-pong table while I crouched on the ground to retrieve the ball. "What time do you think it is?" I asked her between sets. She pointed above us, at the sun. "It's hard to be sure, but I think around three or four. It's definitely the afternoon." She came to stand beside me and pointed up, again. "See?" I nodded, but I didn't understand precisely how she knew. For me, the sun was just the sun. She turned to face me. She wasn't wearing sunglasses, and only minimal makeup, and her face was clear to me. "Do you think any of the boys will be Black? There's usually one, but not always." "Maybe," I said. I thought about it, then said, "I'm sure there will." "If it's all white boys, I'm screwed," she said. "The white boys never go for the Black girl." "You're stunning," I said. "Any of the boys would be lucky to have you." "You think?" she said, and twisted her earrings around. "Well, you have nothing to worry about anyway. Is that your natural hair color?" I laughed. "What do you think?" We went back to the lawn, where the majority of the girls were sunbathing. "Where were you?" Mia asked. "Why are you always disappearing?" "We were playing ping-pong," I said. She looked like she didn't believe me. What could I say? We were playing ping-pong. Jacintha and I took a seat a little bit away from her, and Candice came over and sat cross-legged on a cushion beside us. Candice had changed out of her swimsuit and into a crochet dress patterned with pretty greens and blues. She wore her long, thick hair in a high ponytail. I could see the beads of sweat on her neck. "Don't worry about Mia," she said. "She'll lighten up once the boys get here." Some of the girls had decided that they would make dinner for everyone. They went inside, intent on their task, and I felt impressed by their industriousness. All I could think of doing was getting cool. Eventually lying about got boring too, and Jacintha asked me to help her sort out some kind of makeshift door for the bathroom. I've always been useless in these kinds of situations: I don't have any sort of mechanical understanding. I've never assembled furniture myself, and I've never voluntarily looked inside the bonnet of a car. But Jacintha seemed to know what she was doing, and I encouraged her and made affirmative noises. In the end, she just hung a sheet over the doorframe. It was easy to move and provided a degree of privacy that we could live with, for now. When dinner was ready, we ate tacos outside and covered our mouths as we spoke. I got the impression that everyone was saving their more interesting talking points for when the boys came; I know I was. Jacintha sat next to me, and I was glad that we were becoming friends. She was nice, and smart, too. Already the ten girls had split into two cliques: throughout the day, Vanessa, Sarah, Melissa, Becca, and Eloise had kept to themselves, cleaning upstairs and eating lunch by the swings, and at dinner they sat a little apart too. Privately, I thought that the second group -- comprising Candice, Susie, Jacintha, Mia, and myself -- was the better one. The other girls were boring and had nothing much to add to a discussion. Mia, glancing at them, remarked, "Vanessa's the only one of them who's pretty, anyway." We were slightly more tense that night, and some of the girls were impatient with each other, interrupting or rolling their eyes. We drank more than we had the first night, too, and struggled to find things to talkabout. Only Susie remained enthusiastic; I don't think the fact that there was a sort of gag placed on our conversation topics bothered her at all. Susie could talk about anything. "I don't even want the boys to come," she said. "We're having so much fun without them." We went inside eventually, to shower and to tend to the burns that we had accumulated. I had a long, red burn running up the length of my arm from when I had fallen asleep in the sun. We lathered aloe vera on each other, until the room smelled sharp and sweet, and we walked around with slow, hesitant steps. I slept poorly, waking constantly. I kept curling my arms under my chin in my sleep, and then wincing myself awake. Eventually I lay like a starfish on my back, listening to the cool rush of the air conditioning and the even breathing of the other girls. The following morning, the boys arrived. *************************** Audio excerpted with permission of Penguin Random House Audio from THE COMPOUND by Aisling Rawle, read by Lucy Boynton.


Axios
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
"The Librarians: The Next Chapter" brings fans books and artifacts inside Little Free Libraries
Little Free Libraries is partnering with TNT's new series " The Librarians: The Next Chapter" to open more little libraries in select cities. The big picture: When the show premieres Sunday, 10 new Little Free Libraries will open along with books and exclusive merch inside 200 existing libraries across the country. Fun fact: The new libraries have a custom design inspired by the show and were donated charitable organizations in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Diego.