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Science in the City
Science is all around us. In this video series, the Exploratorium travels outside its walls, sharing stories of engineering, ecology, geology, architecture, weather, sound, and more.
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The Wave Organ is a wave-activated sound sculpture located at the end of a jetty in the San Francisco Bay created by artist Peter Richards and master stonemason George Gonzalez in 1986. The installation is an unlikely sight: a collection of curbstones and cemetery stones that appear in the Bay like an ancient ruin or a strange dream. In this unusual place of discovery and contemplation, the musical phenomenon is only part of the point. In this audio slideshow, Richards shares his inspiration for creating this piece and explores its function as a theater in which many different kinds of human experiences unfold.
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Gerd Mairandres, Head of the Wig and Make-Up Department at the San Francisco Opera for over 30 years, takes us backstage before a performance of Madama Butterfly to share his passion for wigs and makeup and his enduring love of opera.
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Emmitt Watson is a fixture at the Neptune Society Columbarium, where he has worked for over 25 years. Trace his journey from handyman to pacifier-of-hearts to the many people who inurn their loved ones in this unusual and magnificent place.
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Some may spend their golden years in the La-Z-Boy, but 86-year-old Walt Schneebeli and his pals, the "old goats" of the Dolphin Club of San Francisco, find peace of mind by swimming in salty, chilly San Francisco Bay.
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Megan and Rick Prelinger opened their personal library in San Francisco in 2004, seeking to share their collection of books and resources with a larger community. Here, Megan shares her story of making this "hopeful gesture" toward a world where knowledge is accessible to all. As she puts it, "in utopia, there are no closed stacks."
VIDEO
City Lights is a bookstore in San Francisco, but it's a lot more than that. Founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953 as the first all-paperback bookstore, it is now a world-renowned literary landmark and a "beacon of what's possible." Get an inside look at this "kind of library where books are sold" through the eyes of Paul Yamazaki, a bookseller who's worked there since 1970, and will continue to work there, he says, until he's carried out "boots-up."
Watch more Driven: True Stories of Inspiration
