Salon.com recently wrote about the “meltdown” of the architecture profession. This article is a the latest in a series of articles that basically saying how hard it is to make a living in the professions. Yes movies portray it as glamorous, but that only becomes reality for a few. For most of us it is a lot of hard work with a few moments of glory when we get to see that space we have been designing being lived in or used.

This year was especially hard for black women architects getting licensed. (I don’t have data for other groups, if it’s out there, let me know.) According to the Directory of African American Architects, only 8 African-American women were licensed in 2011. That is less than half of 2010′s total of 19. However it echoes the bounces and falls over the past 30 years year when the high was 21 (2009) and the low, for several years, was only 1. I encourage those who are reaching for this goal to keep pushing. Of course, HUGE congratulations go to the 8 who completed this step in 2011.

Look back at the 2010 numbers here.

for us to know anything.        Ken Kesey

Metal Snowflake by trec_lit

For the first time in several years, I was home for Christmas. With people I have known all my life. All a little older, a little grayer, a little wiser. I was navigating an in between time of being an adult but still being in the younger set. Balancing the responsibility of taking care of folks while still holding them up as elders vessels.

This year we had Christmas dinner together. When I was younger, we had breakfast together many years for Christmas. Probably because, there were more kids around then and we were anxious to open presents. I was sort of looking forward to falling back to that time but it didn’t happen exactly like that. Also no one put up a Christmas tree. That. Was. Weird. I was looking forward to seeing my grandmother’s brass 12 days of Christmas ornaments on a tree. I guess what I am saying is that Christmas was different this year, not bad, just different. My family is ushering a new era.

A week after coming home I went to see, what I thought was, an art exhibit at the San Francisco Jewish Museum. My friend is a fan of a local architect, Stanley Saitowitz. I have seen a couple of his buildings but didn’t know that he was also an artist. As I walked into the exhibit, I realized the pieces were not just art, but practical objects meant for specific uses. The specific term is Judaica.

Judaica Kabalah Cup by shalom gurewicz

Not only were Saitowitz’s pieces displayed but also photos of similar instruments being used. As I read, I realized that each piece had a specific use and purpose and time when it was to be used. Each object had a ritual surrounding it. It seems that where ever you are you can connect back to the culture through these rituals that have been passed down for ages. The objects become a symbol of that tradition. Community is being built by the continuous sharing of these rituals and the passing down of these objects.

The exhibit made me think back to the objects I cherish in my family, particularly those Christmas ornaments. Honestly, I was also a bit jealous. A lot of my rituals revolve around food and enjoying meals with others but not so much the objects holding or covering that food. I could not think of something I had that would be an “especially beautiful object…considered a praiseworthy way of honoring God’s commandments”(source). It seems so easy for members of that community to step out of the world’s daily monotony back into the cocoon of their community by seeing these objects and remembering the ceremonies attached to them.

Do you have objects that have special meaning because of a ritual they are used for? How do these help build community for you?

After dinner, a cup of tea or coffee is always welcome. Consider this my after dinner post to wrap up this edition of the dinner series.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been writing about food and community, particularly focused around dinner. I had a lot of food related activities going on – hosting a party, construction of a restaurant,and exploring new food options in San Francisco. Of course it is also the season for enjoying really good food, hopefully, with family and friends.

One of the other reasons I have been thinking about writing about food and community is that I have several friends who are pursuing food ventures. It has been fascinating watching these people, who are all trained as designers, add something new to to their plates.

Napa Valley by Sarah_Ackerman

We love good wine but may not have time to traipse around France or even Napa to experience different flavors or figure out what we like. My friend, Terricinia, has started a home wine tasting business to bring fine wine to customers in their home. Clients can taste different wines, learn about the wines from a certified sommelier and make a purchase.

Nik pourin’ up

The Congenial Hour, by my friend Nik, explores the intersection of design and liquid spirits. He posts daily, Monday through Friday, at “the congenial hour, the hour for cocktails,” 6 pm. He writes about drinking culture looking at everything from glass design to what makes a great designed pub, to what people should wear during “the hour”. I like how a discussion about architecture has morphed into a look at all things about the style of the congenial hour.

With City Cookhouse, Chef Zee, has built and is operating a commercial kitchen in the heart of Harlem. Chefs teach classes on variety of cuisines, especially focused on healthy meals, and entrepreneurs can rent the kitchen to make their food. Kids can also take classes there. I love the thought of communal learning and eating.

Want to connect or find out more about these food ventures, go to their websites and follow them on Twitter or Facebook.
The Congenial Hour | Twitter: @thecongenialhr | Facebook Nikolas Hill
City Cookhouse | Twitter: @citycookhouse | Facebook Chef Zee

Enjoy the full meal and see the other posts from the series here.

Did you know that parties are important for communities?

I was recently reviewing a tool used to measure the health of the communities. One of the items measured is the number of block parties held in a neighborhood.

Not long after I came to San Francico I participated in the testing of the Healthy Development Measurement Tool. Yes, the name is a mouth-full, but it is to-the-point. Developed by the San Francisco Department of Health, the tool uses a number of metrics to determine if a development, as proposed, will contribute to or harm the health of a community. These types of tools, in the category of health impact assessments, have been getting more traction in communities, in the US and internationally, as residents try to quantify the expected and/or touted outcomes of new development. It gives community members a way evaluate projects in their neighborhood and compare with the rest of the city or even state or national averages.

I was looking through the tool recently and discovered that one of the metrics (called indicators in the tool) is “Number of neighborhood block party permits”. This indicator comes under the Social Cohesion portion (called elements) of the tool.

The SF tool also has measurements of items like average proximity to a large grocery store, amount of park space per person in a neighborhood, and electricity usage per household among its 125 indicators. The tool also gives residents a snapshot of the existing conditions in their neighborhood using quantifiable data. This can be useful for advocacy work. The San Francisco tool has maps that people can use to compare one neighborhood to another.

Back to the block party measurement: I found it a really interesting way to measure the connectedness of community. I remember visiting a friend in Washington DC and her housemate was busy organizing a block party for their street. I imagine a lot of coordination and communication is required among neighbors. I have helped with our neighborhood street fair, but in the explanation of the indicator they specifically exclude these. The focus is on an event small enough to get people to met their neighbors but that also requires some bureaucratic logistics and planning to get a street closure permit. Usually these are all volunteer efforts, while a street or neighborhood festival may have paid staff leading the work.

Leland Avenue Street Fair Photo by VVBOOM

I wanted to learn more about the start of the friend’s DC block party, so look for a follow up post with an interview.

Is there a regular block party that you attend or help organize? How has it brought your community together?

For the past two months, in the building I have helped shepherd through construction, we have been constructing a restaurant. It has been a vision for this particular location for almost 10 years, long before I started on the project. In other neighborhoods where commercial activity is already vibrant and non-stop, one small restaurant may not be a big deal. In fact, in some neighborhoods in San Francisco, when one business closes there are several others lining up to take their place. Yet in this place, this “food desert”, one restaurant is a big deal.

I live and work in places labeled “food deserts”. You may not even know what that means if you don’t live in such a designated place or are not involved with health, food or fitness advocacy. The US Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as “a low-income community without ready access to healthy and affordable food” (source). On the ground, what this really means is that people may have to travel above the average time to get to a full service grocery store or that they do not have access to an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables at local stores. The term was actually quantified fairly recently “to be used with other data to determine eligibility for Federal funds.”

The reality for me is that there no is large grocery store in my neighborhood. There are two bodega type stores. For dining, there are a few restaurants but definitely not the large selection of cafes, coffee shops and eateries found in other San Francisco neighborhoods.

This summer a new grocery store opened that can be arrived at by a 10 minute transit ride or drive from my house. Right beside the grocery store will be two new restaurants. These new places give people in the neighborhoods where I live and work new food options, particularly for lunch and dinner. Because the three restaurants are either expansions or permanent homes for existing places, hopefully, they will come with their own following. Residents here will finally get what other neighborhoods have taken for granted in the number of quality dining places, and the neighborhood will hopefully attract outside economic infusion.

Do you have a favorite neighborhood dinner spot? How important is it to your neighborhood?

San Francisco is a food lovers gastronomic paradise. Although I haven’t proven the theory, I am sure you can get just about any kind of food in the city or at least within the nine county bay area. Plus there are chefs fusing food traditions making new creations so that diners get food from two, three or more cultures in one sitting. My daughter and I are always discovering new places to eat.

One of our faves is the food truck extravaganza known as Off The Grid. Although the gathering is hosted in several places, we have only been to the Friday evening one. Basically, 30 food trucks and tents are set up in a parking lot at Fort Mason, a former military base at the northwest edge of San Francisco. A band plays while hundreds of people get food from the vendors, then stand or sit, eat and chat, while figuring out which truck to go to next.

The first time I went I didn’t know what to expect. I have been to county fairs and street fairs where food is sold from grills under canopies. This takes that and multiplies it making food the focal point.

I also couldn’t help comparing it to a mall food court. It has some of those elements but is still different. First all of the vendors are local small businesses, so you are supporting the local economy. Second, it is outside so the air is not stale and you can see the sun. Third, there is no mass marketing blinking or florescent lights shining in your face. Like a mall food court, you have choices. However, most of the portions are not oversized and the prices are reasonable so you can try multiple dishes. With 30 vendors, choosing is probably the hardest thing. If you come with friends, sharing is advised to get a taste of different foods.

On the business side, trucks are in demand. Manufacturers are getting bogged in orders (source). Off the Grid has added new locations. Some of its regular trucks have also expanded to add second trucks to be at multiple locations. Also, at the beginning of the summer, San Francisco announced a program to help entrepreneurs take their food business mobile (source).

Just like there are restaurants that have regulars, I am sure that the Off the Grid spots have their regulars. Most of the truck have built their own online communities and following using social media. You can find them individually or go to one of the various websites that track the truck locations.

Off The Grid is great for dates and family dinner out. You see groups of people from young to old, with and without children. My daughter loves that I can give her some money and let her roam with a friend to figure out what they want to eat. Families and friends stand in line chatting and get-in where they fit-in to find a spot to eat. Unlike going to a mall, you feel a sense of community with those enjoying food all around you. You can feel comfortable asking strangers what they are eating and from which truck they procured the dish because with so much food you are bound to miss something.

For the Fort Mason Off the Grid, there is also the wonderful views and the history rich location that just add to the whole experience.

In what ways have you found community at a food event or gathering?
All photos by Gary Soup

Read the other articles from the series here.

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