Kendall Steele
8 October 2012
FYS: Visualizing San Francisco
Professor Asher
Simplicity
at its Finest
In
a city like San Francisco, where people are busy and spend most of their time
looking at their phones instead of the road ahead of them, it is nice to have a
place to escape from; a place where things are simple and not clouded with
miscellaneous things. At Ocean Beach, the signs are minimal, which allows
people to appreciate what is right in front of them. The beauty of Ocean Beach
is fully appreciated, due to the simplicity of the signs, the Beach Chalet, and
its public availability.
To
begin with, the lack of signs found in and around Ocean Beach is refreshing.
Instead of being bombarded by sign after sign, Ocean Beach’s signs are simple
and only tell you necessary things. Such as, signs that tell you that dogs are
permitted, signs that inform you of whether or not the waves are temperamental,
and where you can find the restroom. These signs are important, and they are
not a distraction. In my opinion, the simplicity of the Ocean Beach signage is
great because it allows people to fully appreciate what is resting below their
feet. People will spend that extra minute looking at the waves crash, enjoy the
feeling of the sand crunching in-between their toes, and really tasting the salty
water as the wind guides the scent down their nostrils onto their tongue. Now
that I have talked about the lack of signage, I’m going to talk about the Beach
Chalet.
When
I walked into the visitor entrance of the Beach Chalet, my jaw dropped to the
floor. All the walls were covered in beautiful frescoes from the 1930s. I loved
this facet of the Chalet, because it is so true to that time period. The
frescoes transport people from the present back to a time of self-discovery and
innovation. Furthermore, the beauty of the Beach Chalet is shown through all
the wonderful artifacts displayed throughout the visitor’s section. Some of
these artifacts include an old deck of playing cards, beautiful China sets, and
pieces of traditional 1930s clothing. So the interior of the Beach Chalet has a
beautiful story that is expressed through frescoes and artifacts. This story
only makes Ocean Beach more unique and stand out from other beaches. Now that I
have talked about the Beach Chalet, I am going to discuss its public availability.
Ocean
Beach is such a beautiful place, and it is doing its best to preserve a part of
history that many have forgotten. So what is so great about this destination is
that it is open to the public. Everybody can enjoy the beautiful frescoes and
beach. In fact, another great facet of this public destination is the fact that
dogs are permitted. I was amazed by the amount of dogs running around the
beach. They were playing fetch and making new doggie friends. At other beaches,
dogs are not so lucky. So its great to see that this public place is even
public to dogs. In my opinion, the fact that this historical site is public is
what is going to keep it running and thriving. For the people will see all the
beautiful work the WPA put into the Beach Chalet, and they would never want to
tear it down.
