Shack-Up on Central Avenue

NOB HILL--We were so optimistic as we sat in the Flying Star across the street from the new Bumble Bee's Baja Grill on Central. Finally that waste of space on the corner was getting a facelift. We watched as openings were cut into the front of the building. They were big enough for garage doors which, we guessed, meant outdoor dining during the summer.

But what a rude surprise unfolded as the work proceeded. They took a buttoned-up, boring office building and turned it into the largest seafront shack imaginable. It was if Southwest Airlines kicked their colors up a notch and decided they needed an outlet warehouse for seaplanes.

What were the owners thinking? What were the architects thinking? Maybe a small brightly painted shack would dazzle the eye with its cuteness and incongruity, but this is the biggest building on the block!

Put this blast of condiment red and yellow in the proximity of Kurt's Camera Corral's parade of awning paint and it is a true stunner. Look at that poor neon scotty...still aglow but losing in the battle for attention.

We, the Coffee Sipping Street Superintendents, also noticed at discernable lack of craftsmanship in the execution of this funky memorial to cannery row. Then again, maybe

1. uneven awnings,
2. wavy sheets of corrigated metal,
3. and lopsided light fixtures

are part of the look they are after. Very well. They have managed to dress down a shack.