121 - San FranciscoStories from the Model City, Part Two

Published: Aug. 13, 2019, 1 p.m.

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In the late 1930s, during the depths of the Depression, 300 craftspeople came together for two years to build an enormous scale model of the City of San Francisco \\u2014 a WPA project conceived as a way of putting artists to work and as a planning tool for the City to imagine its future.

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The model was meant to remain on public view for all to see. But World War II erupted and the 6,000 piece, hand carved and painted wooden model was put into storage in large wooden crates \\u201call higgledy piggledy,\\u201d for almost 80 years.

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The story of this almost forgotten, three-dimensional freeze frame of the City in 1938 leads us on a journey through the streets and neighborhoods of San Francisco \\u2014 contemplating the past and envisioning the future with poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, historian Gary Kamiya, writer Maya Angelou, the current \\u201cKeeper of the model,\\u201d Stella Lochman, and many more.

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In this episode, part two of three, the San Francisco model triggers stories of urban development and identity in a city poised on the edge of the continent, built on landfill, steep hills, and the dreams of immigrants and pioneers. We visit the Fillmore, Irish Hill, North Beach. We hear stories of The Glen Park Freeway Revolt and a plan to pave over the Bay.

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The Kitchen Sisters produced this story for SFMOMA\\u2019s Raw Material podcast in conjunction with their Public Knowledge program, \\u201cTake Part\\u201d in which the museum partnered with the San Francisco Public Library and artists Bik Van Der Pol to engage the community in a series of talks and events around the model.

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