Scope and content:

Asawa made a seven-panel frieze for the carriage entrance of a hotel at 55 Cyril Magnin Street (near Powell and Market Streets) with bas-relief images of San Francisco area people and places, similiar to the Hyatt fountain on the other side of Union Square. Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall were architects for the then-U.S. Hotelier Associates property, and Asawa was contracted through a broker for the project.

Since brass would be too heavy for the scale of the panels, Asawa used glass-fiber reinforced concrete, her first experience with the material. The reliefs originated in carved styrofoam, which was then coated with a layer of bakers clay (using 700 pounds of flour) and sealed with wax. After having a series of molds created, the concrete panels were produced by Lafayette Manufacturing in Hayward.

Design planning for the frieze began with copious research at the Bancroft Library, San Francisco Maritime Museum, the California Academy of Sciences and elsewhere. There are many sketches, photocopies, and photographs here, some of which may have been recycled from the Hyatt project. Albert Lanier, Cyril Magnin, cable car gripman Fay Royal Baxter, and many others are represented on the panels.

Architect Bud Duffy did the renderings. Paul Lanier and a friend built the plywood base from Albert's design. The workshop team also included Mae Lee, Mary Lee, Naoe Fukuyama and Laurie Lanier, as well as apprentices Robert Rajiewski (Academy of Art) and SOTA students Tamie Passalalpi and Erwin Lerias. Full credits are on the frieze itself. "San Francisco Yesterday and Today" was unveiled October 4, 1984. Tickets were sold as a benefit for the School Of the Arts. The hotel is now known as the Parc 55, owned by Wyndham Hotels.

Language:

English .

Contents

Access and use