I did this series in pen-and-ink, to evoke its venerable subjects in a venerable medium.

Each print is made with archival ink on archival paper, measuring 11 x 14 inches.  I personally proof and sign each one.

These prints are available for purchase at https://adrianruyle.etsy.com

SITE OF THE LEGENDARY PALACE HOTEL

Like a rather pallid Phoenix, the present hotel sits astride the ashes of a renowned hostelry which once hosted heads of state and other personages of the age – such as Bernhardt, Kipling, Wilde, Caruso.

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PLAYLAND AT THE BEACH

 

This amusement park was for generations one of San Francisco’s most beloved and popular landmarks. On some days as many as 50,000 people were treated to the raucous electric voice of Laughing Sal, her rasping siren-call cajoling them into the Fun House.

 

The magic of Playland was bulldozed to the ground in 1972 to make way for a better deal for developers: cookie-cutter condominiums.

 

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THE CLIFF HOUSE OF SAN FRANCISCO

The present Cliff House is the fourth one built on the same site. Shown is the third structure, which before it burned down, was a many storied Victorian castle with a panache which finds no echo in the spare, cost-conscious lines of what stands there today.

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PALACE OF FINE ARTS

The Palace of Fine Arts is the sole remaining building from the gigantic Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. After the fair ended, everything else fell to real estate investors, who sliced and diced the grounds into urban sprawl.

Miraculously, this beautiful structure still stands – the finest monument left by its architect Bernard Maybeck. It looks down magisterially on the junk that sprang up when developers got hold of the fairgrounds.

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MAGIC MERRY GO ROUNDS

There are only a handful left of the fine old carousels, crafted before the advent of plastics and loudspeakers.

As I sketched this beautiful example in Tilden Park, with its carved horses in full gallop, their eyes glittering and nostrils flaring, I felt not only a physical presence but the end of a whole romantic era .

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THE CYPRESSES OF GOLDEN GATE PARK

Golden Gate Park was laid out by William Hammond Hall, the first park engineer. In 1871 he planted the cypresses we can still see today, as the backbone of park planning.

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