before you got here

A web of asphalt was spun over the mouth of San Francisco. Deep dark overpasses that coiled and snaked like the closely tucked tubes of an abandoned waterslide. Mysterious hyper-urban shapes. A stark and sudden transformation from the golden rolling hills of Berkeley to the grit and juggernaut of The City. A place where all things became literal, where the shells of homeless tucked into the shadows thrown by the looming Financial District. Be ready, it warned, anything can happen.

In ’89 the earth decided to give that gauntlet a shake and a face lift, inspiring the stewards of San Francisco to pull down what remained. Things got a little cleaner, a little softer. The double-decker freeway along the Embarcadero came down, bit by bit chunks of overpass were replaced by chunks of sky.

It feels different now, entering The City. The old growth is cut away and glass condos pierce the sky like flowers run wild. A cover worthy to judge this book by.