San Francisco, CA — Coit Tower, the iconic white column defining the San Francisco skyline, will welcome visitors Thursday, June 17 for the first time in 15 months, Mayor London N. Breed announced today.
The 210-foot welcoming beacon, which also houses the largest Depression Era art collection in the U.S., normally sees up to 1,500 visitors a day. Health orders shuttered the National Historic Site March 15, 2020.
Coit Tower will resume selling tickets for elevator rides to its observation deck, where sightseers can enjoy 360-degree views of the City and the San Francisco Bay. Masks are required in the elevator.
Visitors can admire the 26 murals inside the tower’s base for free. The frescoes, which depict life in California during the Depression, were painted in 1934 by artists employed by the Public Works of Art Project, a precursor to the Works Progress Administration.
Guided tours of the artwork will be limited to six people at one time. Coit Tower’s gift shop and café kiosk will also re-open Thursday.
“From its panoramic views to the Depression Era frescoes painted on its walls, Coit Tower gives visitors a glimpse of the City’s breathtaking beauty and the resilience of its residents,” said Mayor Breed. “I’m thrilled to open this beloved landmark to the public again.”
The simple fluted tower is named for Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a famously eccentric patron of the City’s firefighters. Coit died in 1929, leaving a substantial bequest “for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city I have always loved.” The funds were used to build both the tower and a monument to Coit’s beloved volunteer firefighters, in nearby Washington Square. Coit Tower was completed in 1933.
“Coit Tower is a special place—not just for tourists but locals who want to see their city in a new and awe-inspiring way. We’re grateful to be able to provide this experience to visitors again,” said San Francisco Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg.
Coit Tower is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday. For more information, visit Coit Tower online.
MAYOR LONDON BREED AND THE SFMTA ANNOUNCE UPDATED TIMELINE FOR THE RETURN OF CABLE CARS
The SFMTA will run mock service starting in August and will solicit the public’s help and feedback ahead of the return to revenue service
San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) today announced that cable cars will once again be resuming service in San Francisco as downtown economic activity returns. SFMTA staff will begin mechanical inspections of the cable cars in mid-July, and by the first week of August, will invite the public onboard free of charge to help provide feedback on customer experience ahead of a fall restart of revenue service.
“San Francisco just isn’t San Francisco without the cable cars running, and this is just the latest sign that City is recovering and bouncing back,” said Mayor Breed. “Today, San Francisco is reopening, which is a testament to all of the sacrifices that our residents and businesses have made over the past year and the fact that we have the highest vaccination rate of any major city in the country. People are ready to once again visit San Francisco and experience everything we have to offer, and we know that riding the cable cars is always high on the list of things that people want to do. I want to thank the SFMTA for all of their work during the pandemic to keep our transit system running under the most challenging of circumstances and for everything they’ve done to bring back service in the City.
Last March, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SFMTA temporarily halted cable car service as part of the city’s emergency response. This decision was made to best protect operators and the public. Muni resources were then shifted to a core network to serve essential workers and accommodate physical distancing on San Francisco’s most utilized lines.
The result was the longest cable car shutdown in the system since the full system reconstruction in the 1980s, requiring significant work to reboot the system and bring it back better. Now, as the City shifts its focus to supporting economic recovery, residents, visitors, and tourists will once again be able to experience the cable cars and hear the iconic bells chiming from Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf, and all of the iconic backdrops in between.
By early September, cable cars will resume revenue service, first to the Powell-Hyde line, and with the Powell-Mason and California lines following shortly thereafter. Service is planned to run from 7 a.m. until about 10 p.m., though cars returning to the cable car barn after 10 p.m. will continue to take riders to Chinatown.
“Our cable cars are a symbol of San Francisco and central to the city’s economic recovery,” said Jeffrey Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “We’re grateful for the public’s help in service testing and operator training as we work to bring transit back better than before.”
Anyone interested in cable car service updates is encouraged to subscribe to text or e-mail updates for more information.
Media contact: David Perry / David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com
World’s Original Rainbow Flag Returns to its City of Origin
Created for 1978 Gay Pride Celebration in San Francisco Was Thought Lost for 40 Years
4 June 2021 – San Francisco, CA: Surrounded by community leaders, elected officials and other history lovers, San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed today officially welcomed back the long-lost original Rainbow Flag to the city that first saw it fly in the 1978 Gay Freedom Day celebration that featured then San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. This historic artifact will be added to the permanent collection of the GLBT Historical Society and will be on display at the society’s museum(www.glbthistory.org) at4127 18th Street in San Francisco’s internationally known Castro District. The flag is the centerpiece of the exhibition entitled “Performance, Protest and Politics: The Art of Gilbert Baker.”
“I am thrilled to welcome back this important piece of LGBTQ and San Francisco history to its original home,” said Mayor Breed in remarks at a ceremony marking the flag’s unveiling. “This flag represents so much to people across the world, and they will now be able to visit and see it for themselves. Our history as a city and a nation is inseparably connected to the LGBTQ movement, and this symbol serves to remind us all of this history.”
In April 2021, the GLBT Historical Society received an archival donation of an extraordinary, unique piece of history, now being publicly unveiled during the Pride season: a fragment of one of the two monumental rainbow flags first raised on June 25, 1978 in San Francisco’s United Nations Plaza at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Displaying the original design’s eight colored stripes, it was created by Gilbert Baker (1951–2017) and hand-stitched and dyed with the help of Lynn Segerblom (Faerie Argyle Rainbow), James McNamara, Glenne McElhinney, Joe Duran and Paul Langlotz and other volunteers and friends. Thought to have been lost for over 40 years, the fragment was recently rediscovered and is the only known surviving remnant of the two inaugural rainbow flags.
“I love that our iconography evolves, as we do as LGBTQ communities coming together under the same queer umbrella. I grew up with the pink triangle and the lambda sign and was happy when the pride flag by Gilbert Baker became popular,” said Tina Valentin Aguirre, Board Member, GLBT Historical Society. “Today, I love the Transgender, Nonbinary, Bear, and Progress pride flags. And if I see a Mexican pride flag, I’m in love, because it’s a mash-up and there’s something revolutionary about that. Yay for pride in all guises!”
“Rainbows are of nature, and Gilbert Baker’s creation represents every aspect of our nature: communities of color, the differently abled, all genders and expressions,” said Terry Beswick, Executive Director of the GLBT Historical Society. “Gilbert Baker not only created a symbol of our movement, but that creation has actually pushed our movement forward.”
The GLBT Historical Society collects, preserves, exhibits and makes accessible to the public materials and knowledge to support and promote understanding of LGBTQ history, culture and arts in all their diversity. Founded in 1985, the nonprofit is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of LGBTQ public history. The Society’s operations are centered at two sites: the GLBT Historical Society Museum, located since 2011 in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood and the Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Research Center, open to researchers in San Francisco’s Mid-Market district.
“San Francisco’s LGBTQ community deserves a world class museum to properly document our history,” California StateSenator Scott Wiener said. “We owe this to Harvey Milk, Gilbert Baker, Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin, and all the trailblazers that came before us. We’re going to make this museum a reality, and it will be such a benefit to this community. Let’s get it done.”
“I want to thank the people of San Francisco for making this place the home of the rainbow flag,” said Charley Beal, President of the Gilbert Baker Foundation. “The flag means something to a lot of people. Its significance is global.”
The Gilbert Baker Foundation (www.gilbertbaker.com) exists to protect and extend the legacy of Gilbert Baker, the creator of the LGBTQ Rainbow Flag, as an activist, artist and educator.
Also present for the unveiling ceremony were GLBT Historical Society Board Chair Maria Powers and San Francisco District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and San Francisco City Treasurer José Cisneros. Sponsors for the exhibit are the Gilbert Baker Foundation, ABSOLUT® Vodka, Rythm and Big Run Studios.
Mayor London Breed announced on June 9, 2021 that San Francisco will align with the State’s reopening plan which is expected to remove nearly all COVID restrictions, including capacity limits, physical distancing, and mask requirements when it is announced this coming Tuesday, June 15, 2021.
While the above is a great next step in returning to pre-pandemic life, the COVID restrictions requiring capacity limits, physical distancing, and mask-wearing in the workplace will still be in effect on June 15th regardless of the State and City announcements. Only California’s workplace regulators (CAL OSHA) can remove such restrictions and they plan to meet on Thursday, June 17, 2021 to decide how closely workplace rules will align with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reopening plan. The new rules aligning with the Governor’s plan could be adopted and potentially go into effect by June 28, 2021.
As we await to hear from CAL OSHA, capacity limits, physical distancing and mask-wearing requirements will continue to be in effect for the lobby and common areas of the Flood Building.
We look forward to working together to safely repopulate the workplace. Please contact the Property Management Office at smarko@wilsonmeany.com with any questions.
LIVES OF THE LINERS:CRUISING & CRUISE SHIPS – JUNE 12, 2021
From Bill Miller
June 6-12th 2021
Sun Jun 6th: The once innovative 52-year-old Skyward is now gone!The Singapore-based Leisure World was delivered on Dec 1969 as the Skyward for cruise services along with her near-twin sister Starward. Both the Skyward and Starward were the first purpose-built ships of Norwegian Cruise Line. They were also supportive & helping sisterships: In 1979 a boiler room fire broke out on board the Skyward, and consequently her engines had to be stopped and her passengers transferred to the Starward. She was operated by her original owners until 1991, when the Skyward was purchased by Johnson Sembawang Ship Management (with Nassau registry) to become the Shangri-la World and afterward operated short, often overnight cruises out of Singapore. After going through several name changes in the 1990s, the now renamed Leisure World was rebuilt and renovated in Jacksonville, Florida and sold to so-called Queenstown Investments in 1995. In 2000 she was sold to New Century Cruise Line, who operated her as a casino/entertainment ship out of Penang. But following the opening of the two legal land casinos in Singapore, ship casinos’ business suffered badly. As a result, all the casino ships closed down except for the Leisure World. In April 2021 New Century Group sold the vessel for $3 ½ million for scrap, with the intention of breaking the ship in Alang and, by early June, was en route to India.
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line today announced it has received a green light from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct a simulated sailing. Following all requirements outlined in the CDC’s Framework for Conditional Sailing Order, a closed-group test cruise will include a full evaluation of Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line’s cleanliness and safety protocols, according to a press release. A small, private group of pre-selected, fully vaccinated passengers will join a group of fully vaccinated crew members onboard the Grand Classica, departing Jun 25th for a two-night round-trip cruise from the Port of Palm Beach to Grand Bahama Island.
Florida & the CDC: The parties were ordered to mediate by Jun 1st and began meeting May 27th. The mediation period was extended by a day, to Jun 2nd, and today an impasse was reported. This sends the case back to a US district judge in Tampa. According to legal sources, since Florida is seeking a preliminary injunction, a hearing on the case would be expected soon and a ruling shortly. Florida’s lawsuit charges that the CDC lacks the authority to shut down the cruise industry and claims ‘each day that cruises — a singled-out industry — cannot operate, Florida suffers irreparable harm.’
Above: MSC Fantasia & Adonia at Tripoli
Royal Caribbean, the world’s 2nd largest cruise operator, posted a loss of $1 billion for the last quarter. Meanwhile, RCCI start-up cruises in Europe and Asia have carried 125,000 passengers to date, but with only 21 reported cases of Covid. The company also put a halt on the rehiring of Indian crew members during the recent outbreak in that country.
Viking Ocean’sViking Sun has changed hands – in a cooperative with China Merchants, she has hoisted the Chinese flag, changed names to Zhao Shang Yi Dun and has become China’s first fulltime luxury cruise ship for cruising from the port of Qianhai.
Gambling ships: The market for Far East gambling cruises has declined considerably in recent years and has spelled the end for two more veteran passenger ships (see mention of the Leisure World above). The Amusement World, built back in 1967 as the Swedish cruise ship-ferry Patricia, has now gone for scrap. Following in her wake is the Hong Kong-based Metropolis, which began her career in 1976 as the Soviet cruiseship Kareliya (and later renamed Leonid Brezhnev).
Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras (below) made her U.S. debut this morning, docking for the first time at Port Canaveral’s Cruise Terminal 3, built specifically for this vessel which is the first in the Americas powered by eco-friendly Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and also features the first roller coaster at sea.
Bits’n Pieces: Royal Caribbean international has received approval from the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) for two more simulated sailings with volunteers onboard. The CDC has approved the giant Allure of the Seas and even bigger Symphony of the Seas for test cruises. The Allure will depart on Jul 27th from Port Canaveral, while the Symphony will sail from PortMiami on Aug 1st. … MSC is now resuming cruises from Spain after a 16-month pause. … In New York, commuter ferry traffic jumped by 50% between May 1st and Jun 1st.
Queen Mary in Long Beach: For the first time in over 40 years, the City of Long Beach regained full control of the Queen Mary, effective, Jun 4th. The City is committed to preserving the historic Queen Mary, ensuring the ship is properly restored and cared for. “For the first time in decades, Long Beach has full control of the Queen Mary. We will be fully engaged in the preservation of this historic landmark and are incredibly grateful for this opportunity,” said the Long Beach mayor Robert Garcia. .
Above: Final sailing in Sep 1967 (Des Kirkpatrick Collection)
Royal Caribbean International has announced that six of its ships will begin sailing from major US cruise ports in Florida and Texas in Jul and Aug. The full fleet will be in operation by the end of 2021, according to the company. The cruise line’s comeback will kick off on Jul 2nd in Miami with the 3,600-bed Freedom of the Seas embarking on a special Fourth-of-July weekend sailing to CocoCay according to an announcement.
Germany: The MV Werften Shipyard has received a loan commitment from the German Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) following several months of negotiations with federal and regional government representatives. This includes federal guarantees for the post-delivery financing of Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Endeavor. This means that the expedition style Crystal Endeavor will be delivered in June and that construction of the 208,000-ton, 1,122-ft long, 4,700-passenger Global Dream (below) will continue. The Dream and a planned sistership will use artificial intelligence and robots for many customer-facing services, with extensive use of voice and face recognition.
Mon Jun 7th Carnival Cruise Line today confirmed its plans to return to guest operations from Port of Galveston on Jul 3rd with the Carnival Vista, followed by the return of operations on the Carnival Breeze on Jul 15th.
Tue Jun 8th Italy: Anti-cruise ship campaigners in Venice claim they were “deceived” by the Italian government as hundreds protested against huge vessels docking in the historic city’s port on Saturday. Residents were caught by surprise on Thursday when a cruise liner sailed into the lagoon city for the first time since the pandemic began, despite Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government declaring that the ships would be banned from the historic centre. The 92,000-ton MSC Orchestra took on 650 passengers before leaving for Bari, in southern Italy, on Saturday.
The Millennium at Juneau
Wed Jun 9th Norwegian Cruise Line announced additional summer voyages from New York, Los Angeles, Port Canaveral and Miami. In addition, the line is putting the Norwegian Encore, its newest ship, in Alaska in place of Norwegian Bliss. Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings’ 28 ships, including Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, will resume beginning in July and phasing in through early 2022. NCL’s newly announced deployments include, from PortMiami, the Norwegian Gem on seven-day cruises beginning Aug 15th and a four-day voyage to the Bahamas in November. The Norwegian Escape will start sailing Nov 13th to the Caribbean from Port Canaveral. Additional itineraries on the Norwegian Breakaway are open for sale to Bermuda starting Sep 26th from New York.
MSC Cruisesannounced yesterday a resumption of sailings out of US ports. The world’s third-biggest cruise brand said it would restart departures out of PortMiami on Aug 2nd with a single ship, the 4,500-passenger MSC Meraviglia. The line said a second vessel, the 3,502-passenger MSC Divina, would resume sailings out of Port Canaveral, Florida, on Sep 16th.
The Viking Sun at St George’s, Grenada
Barbados welcomed the first commercial cruise in 15 months when the Celebrity Millennium sailed into Bridgetown early on Tue Jun 7th.
Above: The Silver Whisper at Sydney, Nova Scotia
Thu Jun 10th Saga Cruises’Spirit of Discovery is preparing for her re-launch on Jun 27th. The ship was initially launched on Jul 10th 2019, but had only recently taken to the waves when COVID-19 locked down the country. Her first sailing as restrictions lift will see her depart Tilbury on Jun 27th on a six-night Scottish Highlands & Islands cruise. The ship will then go on to complete two 6-night itineraries from the Northern Isles to the Fjords on Jul 3rd and 25th respectively, and in between will take in a Great British Isles Adventure cruise from Jul 11th for 14 nights.
Royal Caribbean International’sAdventure of the Seas made its arrival into Nassau today ahead of its Jun 12th sailing, the first cruise for the Royal Caribbean brand in North America since Mar 2020. It will leave Nassau on Sat Jun 12th, at reduced occupancy, commencing the first in its “7-Night Bahamas & Perfect Day” summer series.
Carnival Cruise Line will have its Carnival Vista back in operation from Galveston in July and the company will require 95 percent of guests aboard to have proof of a COVID-19 vaccination, according to a letter sent to guests. Carnival said 95 percent of guests will need to have had their final approved COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days prior to sailing and will be required to present proof of vaccination at time of check-in. Vaccinated guests will not be required to wear masks or maintain physical distancing.
Fri Jun 11th Australian Cruising: The international COVID-19 situation continues to pose an unacceptable risk to public health and, in an “appropriate response to that risk,” the emergency period that has been in place since Mar 18th 2020, will now continue until Sep 17th 2021.
Holland America Line is canceling the remainder of the summer 2021 European sailings aboard two ships, Nieuw Statendam and Volendam. This affects cruises that were scheduled to depart from Sep through Nov, along with the Collectors’ Voyages (combined cruises) associated with those departures. In addition, after an expected on-schedule delivery from the Fincantieri shipyard Jul 30th, new Rotterdam will remain in non-guest operations until its Sep 26th cruise from Amsterdam. Plans for the Rotterdam’s naming ceremony are being finalized.
Celebrity: In a release: “The moment we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. This past Saturday, the Celebrity Millennium led the entire industry back into service in the Caribbean from St. Maarten after 15 long months. It was an emotional experience for our guests and crew alike and we couldn’t be more excited. And there’s more to come!”
Celebrity has added news: The long-awaited debut of our most revolutionary ship — the Celebrity Apex.Bookings are now open for exciting new sailings this summer to the captivating destinations of Greece, Israel and Cyprus.
Bygone sailings: The Nieuw Amsterdam at Boston
Fri Jun 11th News from the UK: Dave Smith in Southampton reported yesterday: “The cruise ship MSC Virtuosa was refused permission this week to dock at Greenock in Scotland as the cases of the virus are rising.”
Sat Jun 12th Caribbean Waters: Yesterday, two people on a fully-vaccinated cruise ship tested positive for COVID-19, Celebrity Cruises said in a statement. The two guests were sharing a room onboard the Millennium, the first ship with paying customers to sail from North America since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, reports said. The two passengers are asymptomatic but in isolation while the cruise line conducts contact tracing, the statement said. All passengers and crew have to show proof that they’re fully vaccinated, reports said.
Out of the old shoebox:
Below: The Mauretania berthed at Naples (1964)
Thank you to all our readers, correspondents, those “agents” in faraway places!
