1. Dual Views: Labor Landmarks of San Francisco
Labor Archives & Research Center
Exhibition March 19 – August 7, 2015. Opening event April 2.
San Francisco State University Library, 4th Floor Gallery
Curator/Author : Kim Munson (kim_munson@yahoo.com)
Photography by Wendy Crittenden & Tom Griscom

2. Opening Event!
• Join us for our opening event Thursday,
April 2 from 5-7pm at the Special
Collections Gallery on the 4th floor of the
library on the SFSU campus.
• The program includes a talk by Professor
Robert Cherny on the significance and
history of the landmarks in the show, and
the artists Crittenden & Griscom speaking
about their work.
• Show will be up during regular gallery
hours through August 7. A LaborFest
speaker event is being planned in July.
Exhibition Catalog
• 75pg book features exclusive photos,
interviews and resources.
• Available from iTunes and Blurb print on
demand: http://blur.by/1zhkQ0r

3. Invisible to us, the streets of San Francisco are layered with the sweat and blood of generations of working people,
who built (and rebuilt) this city, raised their families, and fought for their rights.
In 2008, in the recovery following the web 2.0 tech crash, LARC’s San Francisco Labor Landmarks Guidebook
inspired three SFSU graduate students to investigate this explosive history: photographers Wendy Crittenden
and Tom Griscom and art historian Kim Munson. We grew curious about how these past events left their mark
in the physical environment. Did anyone remember the blue collar roots of these neighborhoods and landmarks?
With these questions in mind, Wendy and Tom wandered the city separately like modern day flâneurs, giving
us a glimpse of these locations through the lens of their dissimilar yet complimentary styles.
Tom's classic black and white panoramas, contrasted with Wendy's skewed color c-prints, call to mind past and present,
time and space, the ethereal and the tangible, showing the significance these sites have in the city's vitally important
labor history. They enhance our appreciation for the sublime, and often dark, beauty of these landmarks. Some sites
have become icons, while others have been long forgotten, left in a state of decay or completely reclaimed by nature.
We decided to show this work now, as San Francisco experiences yet another reinvention, struggling to decide what kind
of a city it wants to be, and should be. A future imbued with an intelligent recognition of the value of its past is more likely
to be a city we will all want to live in.
Introduction

4. Tom Griscom, Port of Oakland, 2008. Inkjet Print, 17” x 36”

5. Wendy Crittenden, cranes, 2008. 30” x 30” C-print mounted on aluminum.

6. The Waterfront & Bloody Thursday
The working piers that drove the economy of the city are now museums, restaurants and tourist attractions.
Following the 1989 earthquake, the freeway that surrounded the water’s edge around the Embarcadero was
demolished, opening up new waterfront view property. Blocks of million dollar condos seemed to appear
overnight, followed by a classic open-air baseball stadium, home of the SF Giants. Red’s is one of the last
holdovers from the 1930’s, on that spot since 1928.
The corner of Mission and Steuart Streets in front of the Audiffred Building (itself one of the only surviving
buildings from the 1906 earthquake), is the location of one of the most violent labor conflicts in SF history
between police, armed guards and maritime workers in 1934, which tragically included the shooting of two
workers, and injuries to hundreds of others. The National Guard roamed the Embarcadero with bayonets and
machine guns. It was followed by a solemn funeral procession down Market Street and, a few days later, the
first city wide General Strike in the US.
At the site, Crittenden was reminded of bullets flying while looking at a wire array from a trolley turnaround,
while Griscom chose to view the site from a distance, centering it at the end of a long line of contemporary
buildings that have grown up around it. Griscom’s photos of Market Street, site of the funeral procession, will
also be on display. The gallery exhibition will include many historical artifacts from LARC’s deep collection of
items related to this event include newspapers from the time, vintage photos, the autopsy
report on the shooting of the two workers, artwork, and more.

7. “Next to the Audiffred Building, a post with MUNI wires immediately
reminded me of bullets flying through the air.”
~Wendy Crittenden
Wendy Crittenden, bloody thursday, 2008. Two 30” x 30” C-prints mounted on aluminum.

8. Tom Griscom, Beale Street, 2008. Inkjet Print, 17” x 83”

9. Wendy Crittenden, red's, 2008. 30” x 30” C-print mounted on aluminum.

10. Tom Griscom, Red’s Java, 2008. Inkjet Print, 17” x 67”

11. South of Market
Prior to the redevelopment of the Yerba Buena Gardens area, the demolition of the
Embarcadero Freeway, and the 1990’s tech boom, the SOMA area was mostly light
industrial and a tough neighborhood with affordable housing.
As a sign of strength after the violence of 1934 strikes, several maritime unions and
supporting industries built meeting halls and factories on Rincon Hill. The architecturally
heroic 1940’s fortress of the Sailor’s Union of the Pacific, and Klockers Blacksmithing are
two of the most significant remaining buildings.
The gallery exhibit will also include photos from the Yerba Buena redevelopment, drawings
and photos of sailors and the sailor’s hall, and a set of iron tools that may have been
manufactured by Klockers.

12. Wendy Crittenden, sailor's union of the pacific 1, 2008. 30” x 30” C-print mounted on aluminum.

13. Wendy Crittenden, klocker's blacksmithing, 2008. 30” x 30” C-print mounted on aluminum.

14. Glen Park
Former site of the Giant Powder, the first commercial dynamite factory in the United
States, opened in 1868 by the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, who held the patent on the
process. Due to a series of accidents, the company moved several times, each time further
from populated areas. It has since become an urban oasis, completely reclaimed by
nature.
“In my imagination, it’s like a progressive series of Wiley Coyote-type
explosions heading ever further out of town.”
~Kim Munson

15. Tom Griscom, Glen Park Grasses, 2008. Inkjet Print, 17” x 60”

16. Tom Griscom, Glen Park Trees, 2008. Inkjet Print, 17” x 56”

17. Wendy Crittenden, giant powder 1, 2008. Two 30” x 30” C-prints mounted on aluminum.

18. Wendy Crittenden, giant powder 2, 2008. Two 30” x 30” C-prints mounted on aluminum.

19. Dogpatch
Dogpatch is a light industrial area that is rapidly gentrifying and the site of the historic Copra
Crane. The Copra Crane is the last of its kind left after the move to containerization and it
has been the focus of an active preservation effort.
“In the end, what we decide to preserve, repurpose or forget
is a testament to what we value as a society.”
~ Tom Griscom

20. Tom Griscom, Copra Crane, 2008. Inkjet Print, 17” x 60”

21. Tom Griscom, Cesar Chavez, 2008. Inkjet Print, 17” x 77”

22. Wendy Crittenden, crane, 2008.
Two 30” x 30” C-prints mounted
on aluminum.

23. North Beach
Harkening back to the history of the Barbary Coast, North Beach was the site
of the Lusty Lady, the first strip club in the US to lead successful organizing
campaign to become part of the SEIU. Using humorous phrases like “bad girls
like good contracts,” the dancers won agreements on fair pay and worker
safety. It existed as a worker –run collective for several years, but was
squeezed out of business in 2013.

24. Tom Griscom, Lusty Lady, 2008. Inkjet Print, 17” x 42.5”

25. Wendy Crittenden, lusty lady, 2008. 20” x 20” C-print mounted on aluminum.

26. Tom Griscom
Tom Griscom (MFA SFSU 2009) is a photographer and
educator based in Nashville, TN. His photographic work
has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, as
well as publications dedicated to fine art photography.
His editorial work has appeared in such publications as
Outside Magazine, Scientific American, Blackbook, and
Nashville Arts and is commercially represented by
Gallerystock. He has taught classes at the International
Center of Photography, The Maine Media Workshops,
The School of Visual Arts, and is currently a full time
faculty member at the Nashville Art Institute and a
visiting artist at Watkins College of Art and Design.
Wendy Crittenden
Wendy Anne Crittenden (MFA SFSU 2009) is an artist
based in San Francisco. Her work has been exhibited
around the Bay Area as well as in Southern California.
Of late, she has been focused on detailed and humorous
drawings partially based on famous phrases and folk
tales, both for exhibitions and for children’s book
illustrations. Her drawings, prints and photography have
been shown in San Francisco Bay Area venues such as
Color II; SFSU Fine Arts Gallery; Intersection for the
Arts; Branson Fine Arts and Santa Rosa Junior College.
She (along with Munson & Griscom) participated in the
collaboration Syndicate for Yerba Buena Center for the
Art’s Bay Area Now 5 triennial event, which involved a
walking tour and gallery installation with video and
photographs of the historic union involvement in the
visual and performing art spaces of San Francisco.All photos © Tom Griscom,
Wendy Crittenden 2008.

27. Kim Munson
Kim Munson (MA, SFSU 2009) is an independent art
historian, writer and curator living in the San Francisco
bay area. Her articles on contemporary works on paper,
the movement of comic art into museums, art and the
law, and graphics used by the labor movement have
appeared in the International Journal of Comic Art, the
Comics Journal on-line, Icons of the American Comic
Book from Captain America to Wonder Woman, The
American Comic Book, Comics Through Time and other
publications. Her paper, 100 Years Hand-in-Hand: a
Brief History of the AFL-CIO Logo was commended by
the AFL-CIO Union Label Dept at their 100th anniversary
convention. Kim has also been Creative Director for tech
companies, production coordinator for a large
manufacturer, and a scenic artist for film, TV & theatre.
Labor Archives
Few regions can rival the rich, lively labor history of the
San Francisco Bay Area. This history is preserved in
primary source and vintage history materials at the
Labor Archives and Research Center (LARC). Founded
in 1985 by trade union leaders, historians, labor activists
and university administrators, the Labor Archives is a
unit of the J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco
State University. The Labor Archives has an Advisory
Board drawn from the labor, academic and community
leaders of the Bay Area. LARC and its Director,
Catherine Powell, were recently recognized with a
special award from the Reference and Service Users
Division of the American Library Association.
LARC’s publication San Francisco Labor Landmarks
Guide Book was one of the guiding inspirations of this
project.