Bay Area Bizarre

The Largest "Seashell" in the World

2009-04-02T13:08:00.001-07:00

If you want to listen to your typical orchestra, you can check out the San Francisco Symphony any time. If you’re looking for a something a little more natural, then head over to the Marina District for some acoustic thrills straight from the San Francisco Bay.

Built from stones that were supposedly taken from a Gold Rush cemetery and powered by the ocean, the Wave Organ uses pipes that lead into the water to get you groovin’ to the aquatic beats. When Peter Richards conceptualized the sculpture, he originally based it off an audio recording of water going in and out of a concrete dock in Australia.

The Wave Organ, which is located at the end of Yacht Road and not far from the Golden Gate Bridge, and was built more than 20 years ago, has been providing a unique audible experience to those who come and listen. Put your ear up to any of the 25 pipes, and you’ll be sure to hear something, even if it might sound like a toilet flushing.

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The best time to visit is during high tide, but only if you’re willing to get up at 5:30 a.m., or maybe even earlier. If coffee won't be enough to get you movin' that early, head over in the evening for a soothing sunset by the shore. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to sit in the stereo booth, complete with pipes for your own not-so-private studio session.

Maybe Newton had it all wrong...

2009-03-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

This tree is a descendant of Newton's apple of gravity.

Photo taken by Dexter_mixwith.

You may have heard the story. Or maybe you haven’t. According to Strange USA, in the 1950s, a school bus full of kids were coming home from a field trip when it skidded into a wash. Unfortunately, you know how this story ends. What you may not know is how the story continues.

Drive yourself over to the same spot, park your car in neutral, and let the kids take over from here. As the story goes, the kids who died will push your car out of danger to save you from the same demise. Put baby powder on your trunk and what do you see? Handprints.

All right, all right. So maybe that story is a complete hoax meant to keep new driver’s from playing around, but the real mystery here is what’s going on at a place

like this? I have two words for you: gravity hill.

Now, according to Wikipedia, a gravity hill is nothing more than an optical illusion where the surrounding layout makes a slight downhill slope look like an uphill. I don’t know about you, but from the stories I’ve heard, I can’t imagine that a lot of these hills are nothing bit our eyes playing tricks on us.

For your enjoyment, here is a list of local Gravity Hills in the Bay Area. I haven’t been to these, so I can’t personally vouch for any feelings of motion sickness or weightlessness. If anyone checks them out, comment and let me know what happens:

Antioch, California (site of the fabled bus crash)
The hill is on Empire Mine Road. This road has since been closed to the public. From East/West exit Highway 4 at Lone Tree Way, turn right on Deer Valley Road, turn right on Empire Mine Road. From South, take Ygnacio Valley Road, right on Clayton Road which becomes Marsh Creek Road, left on Deer Valley, left on Empire Mine Road.

Rohnert Park, California
From US 101 Freeway, take Rohnert Park Expressway east to Petaluma Hill Road. Petaluma Hill Road south to Roberts Road. Roberts road east to Lichau Road. At an iron gate with the words, "Gracias Santiago," is the start of the gravity hill section (located on the western slope of Sonoma Mountain.

Here is a video of a family experiencing the
Rohnert Park Gravity Hill.

This video was posted courtesy of Jim.
Livermore, California
On Patterson Pass road, between Livermore and Tracy. On road marker 752 headed towards Tracy.

Vallejo, California
Lake Herman Road off Columbus Parkway. Spot is at the bottom of the first hill where the road merges into single lanes.

Keep on the lookout for a post about one spot that’s a mystery that I have experienced and plan to do so again in the near future. Hint: It’s in Santa Cruz. In the meantime, I don't think I'll be playing around with the physics of Newton's apple tree.

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Map taken from Google Maps

Looking for Chinatown? Take the tunnel!

2009-02-26T08:02:00.000-08:00

Drugs! Sex! Scandal! The mob! Let me guess, you’re first thought is Little Italy, right? Wrong. Backtrack out of North Beach a little bit and you'll find yourself in Chinatown. What may seem like a friendly place with some of the best dim sum around has some darker tales to tell.

Photo taken by Jarek Piórkowski

Let me guess (again), you’re thinking illegal fireworks and other nifty back-of-the-store deals, right? Wrong. We’re talking even darker. That’s right! We’re talking about the Chinatown tunnels. You might be asking yourself, “What are you talking about?" Well, it’s time to stop guessing and start digging!

Chinatown has not always been a San Francisco destination; it’s been more commonly associated with being related to the stranger and to the darker side of the occult. So drinking herbal potions made of crushed rhino horn isn’t your cup of tea? Well, skip the green tea and keep on the look out for the real party place, an opium den.

You may not find a den today, but you may find the remnants of one by looking below your feet. Although there is no proof, rumor has it that there' s a wide system of tunnels below Chinatown that have been used for everything from opium dens to smuggling slave girls to mobsters escaping from the police! According to Dr. Weirde, the 1906 earthquake covered up most of these tunnels, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be found. Still think it’s a rumor?

The History Channel show Cities of the Underworld recently visited San Francisco, and one of the places they checked out were these exact tunnels. Recently, someone mentioned to me that even PG&E knows of their existence and even location, so maybe a little more digging will bring us deeper into the underbelly. Supposedly one of the entrances can be found in the Donaldina Cameron House, which housed its share of refugees from the slave trade in the past.

This video was found on YouTube. For the full clip, please visit the History Channel

If you want to try your luck before digging, how about a fortune cookie? If you're lucky, it'll lead you in the right direction.

I left my heart in San Francisco...and died

2009-02-19T08:31:00.000-08:00

You’ve got your San Francisco checklist. You’ve marked off walking the Golden Gate Bridge, visiting Alcatraz, smelling the sea lions at Pier 39, and enjoying an espresso in North Beach. Whether you’re a local or a tourist, you feel like you’ve seen it all, done it all, and are ready to do it all over again. Well, you’re wrong.

That’s because what you may not realize is that the San Francisco Bay Area is home to surprising twists and turns almost anywhere you go. So if you’re ready to heighten your knowledge of the area to a whole new level, get rid of that fanny pack, put the visor away, and take a walk on the other side.

Our first destination is a tour that goes bump in the night. There are a lot of creepy things that come out when the sun goes down, and I’m not talking about the living. When darkness fills the sky, the dead come out to play. The San Francisco Ghost Hunt tour starts at 7:00 pm, but by that time, the ghosts are already awake. This tour is jam packed with ghosts, stories, and ghost stories, all about San Francisco’s spooky history.

The tour starts at the Queen Anne Hotel, which, as you’ve probably already guessed, is haunted! Jim, the tour guide dressed as if he were a ghost of the times, will greet you in a friendly manner, but once the tour begins, he’ll add a twist of fright to his friendly demeanor. You’ll have a chance to explore the hotel, and maybe even enter the most haunted room of them all (and no, it’s not 1408).

After you leave the hotel, make sure you have an ectoplasmic pack, because you’re about to go ghostbustin’. The tour takes you around the Pacific Heights district, stopping at several haunted locations. You’ll even have a chance to check out some of the oldest Victorian houses in San Francisco. Just make sure you keep your eyes peeled, because if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of the supernatural. Then again, maybe you’re lucky if you don’t.

This tour is not just about ghosts, but the history lesson of San Francisco that you didn’t learn in school. A lot of the stories explore the history and influence of women in the city, both in the flesh…and not. Not a block goes by without Jim telling you a story that makes you check over your shoulder, just in case. Jim also has some twists up his sleeves that will make you think twice before calling Bloody Mary in front of the mirror again.

At this point, you might be thinking that all of this is a joke. Well, go ahead and stick to walking the Golden Gate a couple hundred more times. But my group has photographic proof that this tour is alive even after death.

The next time you encounter a ghost, who you gonna call? Not me, that’s for sure.