April 2025
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April 2025
April 2025
April 2025
This striking mural, The Fire Next Time II by Dewey Crumpler, ignites the curved facade of a recreation building in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. Painted in 1984 and restored in 2020, the mural is a sweeping, flame-filled meditation on Black resilience, inspired by James Baldwin’s powerful 1963 book The Fire Next Time. It stretches across the building’s arched wall like a wave of heat, memory, and transformation.
The structure itself—an otherwise understated community gymnasium—is transformed by Crumpler’s palette of molten reds, sunburst yellows, and sky-washed blues. Central figures emerge from abstract swirls of fire and energy, reflecting themes of cultural rebirth and resistance. The mural is emotional and spiritual, calling attention to the deep-rooted struggles and strength of Bayview’s historically Black community.
Seen from the corner of Newcomb Avenue and Mendell Street, the mural commands the street with a mix of urgency and beauty. The morning light brushes softly across the painted surface, casting the fire-colored tones into sharper relief while harmonizing with the building’s industrial shape.
Bayview is often overlooked in conversations about San Francisco’s art legacy—but this mural proves that some of the city’s most important cultural stories live far beyond its tourist paths. The Fire Next Time II is more than public art—it’s a landmark of artistic truth-telling.
Tucked amid the high-rises of San Francisco’s Cathedral Hill, this low-slung mid-century structure offers a burst of whimsy and artistic charm. While its concrete columns and rhythmic vertical lines speak the language of 1960s institutional architecture, the real scene-stealer is the expansive mural wrapping the building’s west-facing wall. A giant bear, rendered in warm earth tones, gazes at a monarch butterfly—surrounded by painted wildflowers, birds, and bees in flight. It’s a tender, almost folkloric vision that turns a utilitarian structure into a canvas for nature and narrative.
The building itself—likely a former community center, school, or spiritual space—features repeating V-shaped roof gables that give it a unique, sawtooth profile. These angular lines are softened by the naturalistic mural and encircling greenery, creating a dynamic juxtaposition of geometry and organic subject matter.
This stretch of Geary Boulevard, between civic institutions and residential towers, isn’t always known for beauty—but this mural adds a vital sense of play and purpose. Street art has increasingly become part of San Francisco’s architectural landscape, and this bear mural is a quiet triumph. It celebrates California’s ecological identity and hints at the gentle resilience of the city itself.
Whether you stumble upon it during a walk through the Western Addition or seek it out as a photography stop, this mural is a heartwarming reminder that even the most ordinary buildings can be elevated into something extraordinary.
Mural.
© Ian Halsey MMXXIV
New Brighton Old Town is being regenerated. A fascinating small area for street photography as the local people are working together to preserve the heart of the village life once more.
Gemaakt vanaf een hoogte van 200 meter, op het dak van de Main Tower.
Frankfurt am Main, Duitsland
Shot from a height of 200 meters, on the roof of the Main Tower.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Dining al fresco in Bushwick, Brooklyn. So far, only outdoor dining has been allowed in this NYC reopening stage. One photo a day. (175/366) Los Hermanos Tortilleria Mexicana-- June 23, 2020
