Mimi Plumb used to live on the outskirts of town where the rents were cheaper. Nearby, on top of the hill, were folded layers of radiolarite, a sedimentary rock composed of the fossilized skeletons of microscopic creatures called radiolarians. A large crack in the hillside was a reminder of the constant threat of an earthquake.
Warm Water Cove , along the bay, was a spectacle of abandoned tires and cars. One day Plumb photographed the power plant smokestack as flames destroyed the 25th Street pier. He watched planes fly over the city dump filled with mountains of cardboard.
“ The downtown buildings, on the far horizon, reminded me of Oz. My cat, Pearl, kept watch from the roof of my apartment” - Mimi Plumb.
Plumb's life was marked by nights dancing to Crystal Pistol at the Mission, or listening to the polka punk band at the Oasis. Neil, who played the clarinet, wore faux fur pants and had a crest on his head. Sometimes they played pool at the Palace Billiards. At the Exotic/Erotic Ball a pilot and a nurse were hiding in the dark corners. A man in a suit regarded Plumb with icy eyes as she fired her flashlight at him.
Plumb spent her days visiting abandoned schools and dilapidated gas stations, a billboard reading "Dangerously Like Homemade."
For Plumb, the magical sound of San Francisco's cable cars was a world away, and the idealism of the 1960s seemed gone. The golden city of San Francisco, frayed around its edges, showed the widening gap between rich and poor.
The images of "The Golden City" were taken between 1984 and 2020.
First edition (2022)
First impression
Large format hard cover
