San Francisco. Its official motto is Oro en paz, fierro en guerra — “Gold in peace, iron in war.”
William Howard Taft contributed its most famous slogan when he called it “The City that knows how,” to which disgruntled present-day citizens add: “But when?” Countless other notables have lavished their praise on Baghdad-by-the-Bay, but it remained for a visiting Chicagoan named Keith Wheeler to contribute a line that, in the two years since he first uttered it, has already become a classic: “East is East, but West is — San Francisco!”
– The Late, Great Herb Caen, 1949
I love this picture because it is pre middle finger (it’s being built, and they should have stopped where it is here).
Not to mention the fact that this is a kick ass picture regardless.
nice catch, Mike.
this was indeed taken in March of 2008. and shot on a point-n-click, to boot!
[...] Looked at a few today, for some reason this post on caliber is the one I find most interesting. http://calibersf.com/2009/11/24/the-city-that-knows-how/ . Probably as much for the Herb Caen quote as for the photography. I grew up reading the SF [...]
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