Plate 23, Brenham Place,
off Washington Street |
Two of Arnold Genthe's pictures of San Francisco's
Old Chinatown, pre-earthquake (see bibliography).
Vault lights had been very widely adopted by the turn of the century, so
it's no surprise they show up in some of his pictures.
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Plate 61, Washington Street
off Dupont, 1904
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Vault Lights in Chinatown today:
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The author heard tell the Ferry Building restoration would include vault
lights, so dutifully it was checked it out 1/11/2003. Turns out it's
not vault lights, but "sidewalk lights", a much vaguer thing.
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37°47'43.4"N, 122°23'37.9"W
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What was found were these frosted glass hunks set in long strips down
the sidewalks along the front of the building. Presumably they light up
from below and look cool at night, but they're not really vault lights.
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