City
Hugo drove through the russet red towers of the Golden Gate with mixed feelings of love and loss as he watched his City dissolve in the rear-view mirror; uncomfortable feelings echoed by the aircraft carrier that passed 245 feet below the deck of the bridge. The flattop headed out to sea flanked by a fleet of warships made Hugo wonder,
how could whales possibly get out of the way of such an armada?
from The Rotting Whale
Water
“Rachel took time to study the man holding court at their table at Red’s.
The venerable inspector was impressive as he thoughtfully fielded random questions about building codes between bites. Attractive, yes, even handsome but for her it was his undiluted passion for the City’s waterfront that drew her in;
it was seductive. “
from The Blind Key
Fisherman's Wharf Circa 1910
As he skimmed the waterfront on his Gitane, Hugo thought how the City had spilled over into the Bay seemingly without remorse but certainly not without consequence. Fisherman's Wharf was in trouble, its magnet for the tourist economy and the fishing industry at risk.
As Special Inspector to the Port of San Francisco Hugo knew of the master plan of 1900 to harbor the fishing fleet at the foot of Taylor and Leavenworth Streets. He savored photographs from that era that recalled old world sailboats tied up to the docks, each with their triangular sail wrapped to the long bow of its crossbar. In his teens his godfather Rocco told him stories of the fishermen divining their weather reports from nature and when shrouded in fog, the crews communicated with other boats on the water by singing to avoid collisions.
from The Singing Lighthouse