Thursday, January 20, 2011

Howard from 10 to 5



For the first time in years, we walked on Howard Street downtown South of Market from 10th Street to 5th Street, and ran across a number of architectural beauties and horrors...



...including the new loft complex at 1234 Howard, with its stylish metal facade masking a parking garage on the ground floor.



Next door at 1230 Howard is the headquarters for Conscious Youth Media Crew, a nonprofit name that practically screams San Francisco Bay Area.



Further down Howard, there's an enchanting mural...



...not far from a beautiful old factory building...



...and the empty Hugo Hotel with its defenestration sculptures at Sixth and Howard.



Looming over the entire walk was the new Intercontinental Hotel at Fifth, which from the outside reminds one of an Indian casino in the desert somewhere.



Though the interior looks rather more like a W hotel lobby, it still wouldn't have been surprising to hear the ka-ching sounds of slot machines somewhere in the distance.

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