skip to main |
skip to sidebar
spotted this colorful little fire plug outside a high school in sacramento over the weekend. a closer look shows it to be an old greenburg, perhaps the la75 model. greenberg and sons were based in san francisco and made many fine old hydrants including an earlier version of the 75 you can check it out here. it hails from the days when horses still pulled the steam powered fire wagons up and down sf city streets and features a post at the top for tying off the team of horses. it may have even seen action in the 1906 earthquake and fire.
i like this little guy above because he has been recognized and made to stand out no doubt by enthusiastic students of fire hydrant study.
yesterday i went to meet my oldest friend downtown for dinner. doing the downtown is always tricky in a car, so i rode down thinking it's always easier to find a place to park on 2 wheels. in the city (san francisco i mean) when i lived there, you could always find a place to park your bike. those spots too small even for mini-coopers and smart cars are no problem when you're two and a half feet wide. in some places you can even get away with parking on the sidewalk. and as i rode by the capitol i spotted these fantastic parking places directly in front. 10 hours parking from 8am to 6pm reads the sign, and no meters! amazing. so even as our state government continues to be embattled in a budget nightmare without any end in sight, it's nice to see them doing the right thing every once in a while. but sshhh, don't tell anybody. someone might see another tax opportunity.
the more i stare at fire hydrants, the more i see. countless sub categories with varied minutiae. this one falls into the domed hat category. these tend to be two toned but i've also seen them in one color or many depending. the yellow and silver combo here is nice. as you can see it comes up through a wooden sidewalk. it sits on one of the side streets in old town sacramento right across from the railroad museum which is interesting because it came all the way from elmira, ny.
i had thought there were certainly plenty of places here in california that still churn these out, but some research discovered like everything else in the world, a once thriving and regional industry has shrunk to a handful of conglomerate interests. but if you would like to see some examples of some beautiful old plugs take a trip here to fire hydrant.org. you'll never look at one the same again.
in the sierras at our family cabin this little hydrant peeks up from a hill across the street. i used to wonder why it sat so exposed. erosion? but as winter drops a big blanket of white, and then the snow plows heap it on, it's all this little one can do to stay above it. clearly the little pine at its base is enjoying the source as well. this will no doubt be a problem in years to come unless somebody else notices it as well.
while walking through the japanese gardens in hayward one day i noticed this little guy hiding amidst the zen. i thought it was a great juxtaposition of the natural and serene with the unnerving yellow mechanical. it's like he's sitting back there screaming "i'm here! hey guys, if there's a fire i'm here to help! i'll be here...waiting...just playing it cool."
i started collecting photos of fire hydrants after reading george nelson's "how to see". they're brilliant, and we take them for granted because they are always there. but the closer i've examined them i realize how very different they are from each other. yet they must all perform the same function.
this one stood (stands) right in front of my old house in san leandro. if you look closely you can see it was made in 1951! this little silent sentinel has been there in all manner of weather year after year. i especially like the added texture of the rust as a result from a slow leak no doubt.
amazingly the local water crew would come around regularly and inspect this little guy as well. i do so love things that are built to last a very long time with minimal maintenance. brilliant!
spotted this colorful little fire plug outside a high school in sacramento over the weekend. a closer look shows it to be an old greenburg, perhaps the la75 model. greenberg and sons were based in san francisco and made many fine old hydrants including an earlier version of the 75 you can check it out here. it hails from the days when horses still pulled the steam powered fire wagons up and down sf city streets and features a post at the top for tying off the team of horses. it may have even seen action in the 1906 earthquake and fire.
