Have you ever fallen into a rabbit hole of discovery on the Internet, only to find yourself, at…read more3am, looking at pictures of seemingly abandoned buildings on islands off the coasts of California or Mexico, which you found by zooming into said islands on Google maps and looking through the posted photos, then wondering who the hell this random guy named Christian is who posted the photos not even five months ago?
What is Christian's story, you wonder, as you continue to look through the other attractions of the island, which does not include residential or commercial buildings, only to discover a few hiking trails that lead seemingly to nowhere...but what's this? A campsite with no electricity, running water, or bathrooms? Just a field on an island designated as a campsite, reached by some trail made by a dude with a machete, or something? But despite the lack of these amenities...there are picnic tables! Who decided first that it should be a campsite? Who brought the tables? What are the backstories?
I've found some neat places online using this exact technique, and I've been fortunate enough to visit such places. It's cool to stand in the location of such a place after seeing all the pictures online and building it up in your head, and honestly, what makes these places better is when there aren't a ton of people crowding around when you get there, trying to take a picture for their Instagram.
Sometimes, like in the case of this house, I do the reverse and come upon a neat building, art piece, or other landmark as I'm out doing other things, then furiously search the Internet for more info on the history. For me, the places that are a bit mysterious are the coolest finds.
We came across this spot accidentally; we had gone to see the mission in downtown and stopped to check out Treasure Island on the way back. We drove around a bit looking for a good place to see the skyline, and came upon this very unique bit of Yerba Buena, which is somewhat hidden on the side and requires you take some twists and turns down a side road.
Although there is an informational board in front of this house that suggests many people visit this place, the houses are surprisingly well-kept, with all windows intact and walls free of graffiti tags, and things are generally not trashed by garbage human beings. Looking into and around each of the houses, I got the sense that this is an area that is largely unvisited, especially compared to the neighboring areas of San Francisco, and now even Treasure Island. I wanted to do my own digging to see how well-known this weird circle of Victorian-style houses, juxtaposed beneath the modern industrial backdrop of the various overpass-bridges, are to people my age online.
The results were interesting. One Reddit post with someone claiming you can rent these out for events. Quite a few articles discussing some cool historical facts, like how the Navy wouldn't let the developers of the overpass build over the house if it would block the sunshine (this house was where Admiral Chester W. Nimitz lived the last years of his life). You can easily see the curve of the overpass, as if someone nudged it out of the way. Not a whole lot more on it, other than apparently Willie Brown (past SF mayor) trying to make it the mayor's ceremonial mansion (god, please don't).
Overall, despite not being able to go inside any of these houses, they're kept in beautiful condition by someone I'm assuming to be a groundskeeper, and a stop here is worth it for the view alone. Just don't mind the whizzing and whirring of the cars commuting from above.
